Cold metal traced her throat. The weight of the blade pressed against skin, not cutting her. Not yet.

  The clock struck midnight.

  BONG! The massive bell boomed.

  Vibration carried through the beams and shuddered the floor of the bell tower. Lucia’s foot slipped. But her body remained pinned to the wall, held there by the hand crushing her skull.

  For a moment, darkness swallowed her vision, leaving her blind. Then moonlight sliced through, catching the eyes of her attacker as they stepped out of the shadows, eyes wide, recognition flashing like lightning.

  BONG! The hand on her mouth loosened. Lucia pushed it away at once.

  “What are you doing here—” came the voice.

  “What the fuck?!” Lucia barked back.

  “You know how to curse? That’s a first!”

  Another toll punched through the stone.

  Lucia’s glare sharpened. V was already smirking, shoulders dropped into her usual stance, mischief skimming across her face.

  “Did you follow me in here?” V asked.

  “I thought you were an intruder!” Lucia snapped, then flinched as the bell swung and struck, the sound reverberating.

  “And your first thought was to run toward one?!” V shouted back, wincing through the echo.

  “And that’s coming from someone walking around with a knife in her pocket?” Lucia shot back, side-eyeing the blade still resting near her throat. “You could’ve sliced me open.”

  BONG!

  V casually plucked the blade away then held it up to the sliver of moonlight. “No, not with a butter knife I cannot. At least not so easily.”

  Lucia blinked. Of course. A knife stolen from the dining hall.

  The bell struck again.

  She grabbed V’s arm. “What are you even doing here? And don’t say it’s for the nightly views.”

  V’s jaw hung open for a beat, surprised to hear her own deflection thrown back at her.

  The bronze bell caught moonlight as it struck once more. This time more…annoying, even for usually unbothered V.

  “Leave. I’ll be back before you know it,” V pushed Lucia away toward the stairs.

  Yet Lucia turned, slapping V’s hand away. “You’re hiding something.” Her eyes searched V’s face until she caught the twitch.

  She should’ve walked away. But she didn’t.

  The next toll made them both wince.

  Lucia ducked out into the tower’s upper floor, circling the space like a mother catching her kid sneaking home with junk in their pockets.

  “Hello?!” V called, voice swallowed by the thunder of the bell dangling between their heads.

  Lucia’s eyes combed through the dark. That glint that had drawn her up here, it wasn’t the kitchen knife. She knew that now.

  Then she spotted it.

  “Binoculars?” Lucia stood, holding them up. The side engraved in scratched lettering: Convent property. BONG!

  She shoved it toward V’s face. “Where’d you get these?”

  The bell swung too close. For a second Lucia thought it would take off their heads. But V grabbed her, yanking them both back into the shadowed recess just in time.

  They landed against the wall, standing opposite, catching their breath. The bell bellowed to their side. For a moment, it seemed they had agreed to a nonverbal truce. But Lucia didn’t let go. Her eyes glued to V who was actively avoiding them.

  Her eyes soon dropped to V’s hands. Those hands were stronger than how Lucia remembered. That earlier grip around her mouth throbbed. She wondered what made her sister react as such, a blade to the neck, palm pressing the other shut. That was not the reaction of an amateur. That was an expert doing her work.

  It struck her then that she had missed it all. Lucia was so caught up trying to make sure V didn’t get in anyone’s way when she should have been chasing the reason for V’s arrival. And if she did, she would have noticed the way V ate like she hadn’t eaten in days, always running for seconds. How she jogged before dawn, in full alert. How she seemed to have mapped the entire convent in her head within a day, not getting lost once.

  Most of all, she would have noticed the faded tattoo at the side of V’s neck barely hidden under the collar of her shirt.

  The final toll boomed.

  The mechanical timer wound down. The motor cut out, and the bell coasted to a stop.

  Quiet, at last. The sound of breathing resurfacing once more.

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  The cold night breeze slowly drifted past the silent two. V's veil following the wind. Lucia’s hand clenched around the binoculars as she watched V finally look at her, possibly ready to speak.

  But it was Lucia who spoke first. “You are strong.”

  V burst into laughter. “Well, thank you. First compliment I’ve ever gotten from you.”

  “I’m not sure it's a compliment.”

  “Well, in my line of work it is,” V slipped.

  Lucia’s brows drew together. “Your line of work? You mean being a novice nun now requires muscle?”

  V only rolled her eyes. But her mouth was wide shut.

  Lucia’s eyes dropped to the mark on V’s neck. V was sure to tilt away. A crack of concern flashing through.

  Lucia reached out and tugged the collar, catching V off-guard, revealing a marking of a rectangle with flame within. Lucia froze. She had seen it before.

  “What’s this—”

  “It’s none of your business—”

  “It is now. You’re within the convent walls. This concerns me now.”

  V shrugged then turned away. “I’d rather not. It’ll only bring trouble to you.”

  Lucia snorted. “And you think you’re not trouble already?” Her voice was rising. “I’ve been scrambling all day to make sure you don’t step out of line or get noticed by the superiors. Do you know how much trouble I could get into?”

  V turned, finally looking at her. Something flickered between her eyes.

  “So it’s a nuisance that I’m here?”

  Lucia threw her arms up. “What do you think? I’ve been chasing you in the mornings, covering for you during training, distracting Sister Cathy every time you act out. I even defended you when you called a Brother a prick!”

  “A sanctimonious prick,” V corrected. “And he deserved it, that bastard—”

  “So yes, you are a nuisance.”

  V’s grin returned. “So you want me gone?”

  Lucia hesitated for a second. It was only this morning she felt the gut wrenching feeling of seeing V’s bed empty when she woke. Still she was quick to answer, “I think I’ve been very clear about that from the beginning. I’m not sure why you are here. But you're definitely not here to be a nun.”

  She turned, ready to storm out. Done with the games. Done covering for V’s little escapades. Two days and three nights, and it already felt like a month.

  She was about to step out when V spoke. “Alright fine, since the cat’s out of the bag, I’ll come clean.”

  Lucia turned around to see V pointing to the tattoo on her neck then raised her brows. “Don’t you want answers?”

  Lucia didn’t respond. Just watched her sister step into the moonlight and lean against the bell tower rail, unable to figure out her sister’s play.

  “I’m not here for your little analog Faith…”

  “Obviously.” Lucia rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. Her fingers still clenching the binoculars.

  “...I’m also not here to destroy your life. In fact, I only found out you were here a week before the assignment.”

  “Assignment?”

  V smiled. “Yes. That’s what we call it. Assignments. Missions. You name it. In fact, this is the biggest mission yet. All geared towards one impending outcome. One very important goal. They’d have statues built of us if—when—we pull it off.”

  “So someone’s paying you to do this? Join a Faith?”

  “Oh no,” V smirked, casually flipping the butter knife, then catching it without looking. “No one's paying me to join your little cult—”

  She caught Lucia’s glare and raised her hands in apology.

  “Not paying—sponsoring.” V clarified.

  “Sponsors? What sort of sponsors?”

  “I can’t tell you that. Confidentiality…stuff.” V wiggled her fingers dispelling the words while rounding the platform’s edge.

  “Let’s just say for the past ten years I’ve been climbing the ladder of this little…organization,” V continued. “At the start I picked up menial work like intel runs, gathering supplies, after hour clean-ups. But when you keep doing something for a long time, you eventually get the hang of it, then you strive to become the best.”

  Lucia shook her head, unable to follow. V was rambling, probably on purpose.

  “So what do you exactly do? Your organization…your business?”

  “It's not exactly a business, more like a service to the world…” V stepped forward then plucked the binoculars from Lucia’s hands. She paused, gulping hard, as if the next few words about to leave her tongue were out of force not will, “...I run the Southern division of the most successful rebellion group of the world, ‘The Lantern in the Mist’.”

  Lucia faltered. That name. That symbol. That night.

  The bell tower dissolved around her. Suddenly she was thirteen again. Back to that night of the Upheaval. The night that shifted it all.

  The graffiti of the symbol, rectangle with a flame, had been sprayed across her childhood home, wedged between a skyscraper and the slums. The graffiti never meant good news. It meant they had been marked by the rebels for not picking a side.

  She remembered standing in front of the door that night, her small hands searching for a flashlight as the grid electricity blinked shut.

  “Run! It’s coming!” Little Lucia heard two men at the end of the emptied streets. The sirens were blaring again. Red spotlights moved in the sky above, drawing closer. “By decree of the Node, all rebels must surrender,” the monotonous voice boomed from far away. If it caught her she’d be gone for at least two weeks.

  Her hand finally caught the flashlight. It flickered on as she scraped for the door handle, planting her small hand on it. The sensors beeped. The lock disengaged, but weakly. The door had already been forced open.

  Her light swept across the insides. It was gutted. Their small square of living turned upside down. Someone had been in here.

  Suddenly her foot stepped on something wet. Her beam froze on the pooling red at her heel. The rusty smell hit her nose. She gulped, then followed it, straight to the only image that would stick in her mind for the next ten years.

  V snapped her fingers in front of Lucia’s face.

  Lucia blinked.

  Her heart still pounded, but her eyes locked on V, standing there in the bell tower.

  V's cocky grin faltered for just a moment. “Look, this isn't how I wanted you to find out.” She said, scratching her head. “But since you already know…”

  Lucia stepped forward and grabbed her sister by the collar.

  “You joined them? You joined the rebellion that night, ten years ago?” She hissed.

  V smiled. A smaller one now. Almost sad. “You knew it back then. You always knew I’d join the rebellion. I am a rebel.”

  Lucia’s voice caught in her throat. She shook V before letting the words out.

  “She waited for you. That night. She was waiting for you!” The very words she wanted to say for so long. The image of that body, blood pooling, lying on the dirty floor and calling out those haunting words, replayed in her mind.

  But V only leaned closer. Her face shifting to something darker. “And what did you do?...”

  Lucia’s face numbed. Her blood turned to water as she watched V say it. Say those words.

  “...You killed her.”