Raven was a cunning man. He had nothing to hide, and yet, barely anything was truly known about him. His age, name, and skillset were known but - where had he come from? There was almost no-one left alive who knew the truth about him. The young man had simply appeared at Locusta's doorstep one day, asking to join. They had interrogated him at first. How had he found the headquarters? How had he gotten there undetected? Was he some sort of a spy?
Raven had nothing to hide. They learned this very quickly. He had nothing to hide, but it didn't make things any clearer. For one - he was only at the common level. He had virtually no detectable ichor in his blood. No one in his family had ever wielded that power, and neither did he. There was no logical explanation for how he could have gotten there. What he said couldn't be true, but there was no other explanation.
He just found a small rowing boat, and rowed all the way there.
Raven was a strange man. His reactions were never what people expected from him. He was performative, dramatic to a fault. Catriona secretly despised his attempts at humour - it wasted valuable time. But even she had to admire how resourceful he was. Their superiors never had to worry about him panicking, he was rarely anything but amused. He rose among the ranks quickly, and, although he had started out as a prisoner at Locusta he was a powerful figure today. He was a Handler, who took orders from the inner circles and gave the orders to the field agents. He was both revered and despised, as well as feared and loved. He had been there for many years now - in fact, it was hard for Dex and Catriona to imagine a time when he hadn't been there.
Catriona had been the one in Xandon that had been called to the scene when they found August's blood sample. She had been the one to come back and personally inform the emergency committee that had been formed as the information was far too sensitive to be conveyed through a message or a call.
When Raven first was told about the pure blood sample that had been found at a crime scene, he had laughed. He had kept laughing, until the other people at the meeting began to look unnerved and worried. They looked at each other and whispered about how strange Raven was, telling each other that he must be insane. Why did we trust the organisation with this lunatic again?
"Excellent." He had said. "Excellent! Call the twins at once. Hunt this boy down."
And now here he was, the pure-blood, sitting in front of Raven. He had such a big smile on his face that you would think he had just won the lottery. Raven studied August in great detail. August was skinny and not very tall, clearly underfed. His skin was brown from the sun, contrasting the brownish-golden colour of his untidy hair. His eyes were odd, a too-bright blue that didn't fit his neutral expression. The eyes gave him a sad look that reminded one of an injured animal. His features, however, were angular and well-formed, and there was a certain grace about him that made you stop and wonder where he really came from. Raven didn't miss the lines of botched skin which peeked out from the shirt August wore. He had clearly received some grievous injuries at some point in his life.
Raven looked at Catriona and Dex, who were standing to the side of where August sat. "Twins, I hope you don't consider this my birthday gift."
"We're not twins," Catriona protested, which Raven promptly ignored. Dex just sighed.
"I mean, as happy as I am that you found them, you still owe me that much. I'm turning twenty-nine soon you know." Raven continued, and smiled warmly as Dex rolled his eyes.
"Leave us," He told them. "I'd like to have some coffee with this boy here, alone. Kind of like a date, you know?" No-one other than Raven laughed. "I'm only joking of course. That would be very inappropriate. How old are you anyway, boy?"
August said. "Seventeen."
"A man of few words I see." Raven grinned, pouring out coffee from a thermos into a chipped mug. Catriona and Dex exchanged a tired look and started to leave the room. August mentally cursed them for leaving him alone with such a weirdo.
Raven's grin faded instantly once they left the room. "August, this is no laughing matter. Initiation here is no joke. We are all highly trained agents, assassins and researchers here. The position I'm offering you would make you a highly valuable tool, not just to me."
August was unsure of how to react. Instead of replying, he looked around Raven's office. Everything was sleek and modern, down from the marble tiles beneath his feet to the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him. The decorations were oddly morbid - August noticed what looked like an unusually large bird skull on a shelf, along with an eyeball lazily floating in a jar of clear liquid. There were piles and piles of books, on the desk, on the floor and many more haphazardly arranged in the shelves that lined the walls. The room was big, but felt cramped from the sheer amount of clutter in it.
They shared several minutes of tense silence. Whenever August looked up at Raven, he was staring intently back. Raven's eyes were so dark that he could not tell apart his iris and pupil. His hair was dark as well, and reached his shoulders. August thought Raven looked more like a broody professor than someone who commanded assassins. August occasionally glanced at the coffee in front of him, refusing to drink any of it.
"I see you are impressed by my office." Raven said, finally.
"No." August said, not bothering to keep up the pretence of politeness.
"No?" Raven said, clutching his chest as if this hurt his feelings. "Everything here is meticulously arranged."
August raised an eyebrow at the mess - coffee-stained mugs scattered around the room, papers crumpled and scattered along the floor - but he did not comment. August made uncomfortable eye contact with Raven, trying to understand what he was thinking behind the dramatic façade. "Do you want me to kill people for you?"
Raven looked at him quizzically. "Not at all. I want you to understand your own power. I can see that something, or more likely someone, has hurt you. Don't you want revenge?"
August clenched his teeth, but before he could say anything Raven continued talking. "I'm not making fun of you. Don't feel ashamed of it - I see your scars."
"That's none of your business," August snapped. He felt a sudden stinging pain as he thought of the scars along his body. The phantom pain never left, not even after everything had healed both externally and internally. No matter what August did, nothing was enough to forget the days and nights he had spent in agony, wishing that it would just end, wishing that he was strong enough to find a way to end it. He would never forget each precise, purposeful cut of the blade, the salt in the wounds and the sound of his own screams. The screams, echoing in the walls until he no longer recognised the sound of his own voice. The thick, disgusting stench of his own blood dripping a steady rhythm to the stone floor -
August felt sick to his stomach as the memories all came flooding back.
"You have been through something terrible. Here is your chance to fight back. For yourself, and anyone else in the same situation." Raven said, reading August's as if he was made of glass.
August felt a pang of guilt once again, hearing those last words. His sister was still there, stuck with his monster of a father. August felt a deep regret twist in his guts like a dagger. He could only imagine the terrible things she was being forced to go through as August sat by idly - the number of times she must have been whipped, or burned, or - She once told August that she trusted him. She trusted him, to save them both. To find a way out, to get away, maybe find a different life than the one that they were being forced to live. If not for her sake, then for their mother - who had died. Who had been killed -
He could not dwell on it.
Raven looked at August. August simply bowed his head. "I'll do it."
August staggered out of the office, dizzy as he drowned in the pain of his memories. He felt the bitter taste of bile at the back of his throat. Catriona and Dex, who were both waiting outside the office gave him alarmed looks.
"What was in that coffee?" Dex asked.
August felt his vision begin to tunnel and darken once again as he fought to remain in control of the contents of his stomach.
He had no choice. He had to find a way back, no matter what the cost was. August felt that he had nothing to lose.