“I did not immediately share news of the obfuscation spell, which was clearly non-consensual. It appears that Silver Alurian does not know anything about the Zara or magic, and as such is not the beast’s target. At her age, she’s unlikely to become an asset to the agency, or a danger to society. As per my orders, I will offer her a position in the agency, but for her own sake, it’s better that she never learns of the existence of magic.”

~ Bek Trent, M.A.S.O

Bright light and hushed chatter woke Silver. She opened her eyes slowly to the plain blue curtains and white ceiling of the hospital room. Half of her was convinced that this was simply yet another nightmare. The other half, and the more logical half, was quite aware that what she saw now was reality. The last vestiges of her dreams faded as the lonely gnawing in her gut deepened once more, but her eyes felt dry and scratchy; there would be no more tears.

Sighing, she raised one fisted hand to wipe at her itchy eyes because there would be no more sleep, either, and winced at her new aches and pains. She had already been sore. Now she felt like someone had pushed her off a building. Even her lungs burned from the smoke and ash she had choked in. There would have been less damage if...

Images of the stairwell flashed through her mind, wreathed in smoke and flame. It took a great deal of effort for her to escape them again, and Silver was able to only when she forced herself to deal with her present situation. Somehow, that left her more stiff and pale than she had already been.

What happens now? I don’t have anywhere to go. No relatives, no food…she glanced around the small room, glaring bitterly when her view was obscured by the privacy curtain.

But a nurse came in to check on her then, a curly-haired brunette with a gentle smile. The woman introduced herself as Pam, looked Silver over once, and then said, “I think you should eat something.”

Minutes later, Silver had food, or something that was probably food, and she picked at it while Pam asked her some quick questions and checked her heart rate. Finally, at the summons of an electronic beep from somewhere in her blue scrubs, the nurse excused herself and disappeared. Silver was left alone with her thoughts, and at the moment, that was the last thing she wanted.

Never in her life had she known such a complete loneliness. For every second that she convinced herself to look around, breathe deeply, take a gulp of water, there was one where the world seemed to lose all consistency. The room seemed to shrink in around her, a door and a window into the hospital, blinds drawn. She was alone here in a tiny world of her own. Outside of it, she could almost convince herself her family was still alive. After all, she had not seen them…her throat constricted so much that she stopped mid-thought, gulped down some of the water that had come with her meal, and spent several minutes pondering the mysterious pattern of lines and splotches in the ceiling tiles.

It was impossible to imagine them gone. Life went on as usual, her memories untouched. She could still feel them. Smell them. Hear their voices. How could her family be gone when every one of them was so poignantly alive in her mind?

Footsteps sounded on the other side of the privacy curtain, intruding on her thoughts. They paused just beyond it, a shadow hovering at the edges of her small world. Then they tugged the curtain back and entered. There was a second where she thought some other nurse had come to check on her, a moment that ended in her impassive stare.

“Bek,” she stated flatly. That fact was all she could muster, and he regarded her with an equally serene expression before responding, “Yes.”

She had never paid much attention to his clothes in their few meetings, but today she did. Bek wore a uniform she had never seen before, military in design, but pure black. Pure, unsullied black. It struck her as odd that she should think it was military, not some sort of school uniform, some strange personal quirk. It might have been his demeanor that made her so certain she was right.

He could have sat in one of the chairs near her bed, but he stood instead, just out of her reach.

“Silver Rianell Alurian,” he watched her as he spoke, as if gauging her reaction, “I’m here on business.” If he wanted a reaction, he did not get it. She stared at him coldly.

“Alurian, an unusual name. Rianell, more so. Do you know who you inherited it from?” She continued to stare. “Do you have proof, Silver, of your citizenship in the United States of America.”

“I have a social security number, and I’m pretty sure it’s mine since I used it to apply to college this fall,” she quipped, “a passport, probably burned up now. I wouldn’t give either one to you. Who are you?”

“How long have you been in the United States?” She was done talking, and Bek seemed to see it. “Eleven years, Silver. That’s how it seems. Do you know who owned your social security number before you?”

He let the silence hang between them now, as if intent on waiting her out. He would be sorely disappointed. Bek met her gaze.

“The records were tampered with. It’s possible no one will ever know whose identity you stole, but the traces of the forgery remain. It seems like you don’t know anything about it, at least…you can apply for a deferral of legal action against you, since you were a child when you came here, at least if the matter of forgery is kept quiet—”

“I don’t understand.”

“—you’ll have two years to work all of this out—”

“Who are you?”

“—but—”

“Wait!” She screamed. He did. They stared at one another, he calm, she breathing heavily and trembling with the desire to lunge at him from her hospital bed.

“Will you let me finish?” he asked slowly. Truthfully, she did not want to, but there was something in his expression that told her she should. Fuming, she nodded.

“Silver, I was sent by the MASO to investigate your case. I’ve recommended that you come to work for them. It would be a government position, full benefits. Salaried. And you could remain in the US and attend college next year.”

“Those are two very separate issues there,” she observed, “First of all, what is my case? Second of all, I’ve never heard of the MASO.”

“We’re a small agency,” he stated, “and there’s nothing I can say right now that will prove to you that it exists. As for your case, I think that’s obvious. Illegal immigration.”

“I don’t think that usually gets this kind of investigation.”

“We don’t usually find evidence of forgery at the level we did,” he responded. “Someone went through a great deal of trouble to hide you, and they hid you well. That’s unusual.”

“You’re being awfully open about this now,” she observed, narrowing her eyes at him. He remained unflappable.

“I was the one given the chance to tell you about the investigation, and I deemed this the best way. Besides, I’m trying to win you over. If you come to work for the MASO, the details regarding the investigation into your family will remain closed to you, but I’ll remain as your observer for quite a while. I need at least some of your trust.”

“Fat chance of that,” she said with a snort. He looked away.

“There are no threats here, Silver. If you don’t want to take this opportunity, I don’t know if there will be others for you, but the MASO will no longer be involved. That’s also the truth.”

His final words gave her pause. Something about what he had said, or the way he had said it, made her stare harder at him than before. His expression was not quite so impassive as she had thought. The MASO would no longer be involved…he would make sure of that. There was something he was not telling her, or something he would not tell them. It took her a moment to realize that he wanted her to refuse.

“Bek,” she prompted. When she did not say more, he finally returned his gaze to her. She was not sure what she had expected to see in his eyes, but it was not the darkness she found. Betrayal, anger, that curious blankness. “You were behind me that day. You saw the thing that attacked the car, and you were the one who called the police.”

He said nothing.

“I knew they came too fast,” she laughed nervously, trying to release the tension and frustration of moments before. “You know what that thing was, don’t you?” Still silence. She could see every one of her thoughts reflected in his expression. He knew what she was about to say, and she saved him from hearing the words. Those would make him complicit one day, perhaps one day far down the road, when she used the resources he was offering her to hunt down and destroy the demon that had killed her family.

“I accept.”