Hours later the sun was directly over the palace, shining in through the stained glass of the roof’s window and lighting up the whole library in color.

  Johan had never officially moved into his palace unlike Note and Signe who had both moved into their own, instead Johan had stayed in his childhood home where he had grown up with his dad, a small and plain wooden house on the outskirts of the city.

  Because of this Johan had spent very little time in the palace and hadn’t really grown any kind of attachment to it.

  BANG!

  So watching Frey wreck the library really didn’t bother him.

  Lust had left a while ago, presumably to do something more important than sitting there in silence and getting rejected every time he tried to start a conversation.

  Either way, Frey had been on a destruction spree ever since he stopped crying. Something Johan appreciated in Frey, at least in small doses, was that he never ran out of energy. When one emotion ended another immediately started. Currently it was anger.

  A book flew across the room, landed on the table and skidded to a stop in front of Johan.

  He rolled his eyes and looked over to where Frey was seemingly trying to make his way through a wall of bookshelves.

  Time was ticking by slowly and Johan’s foot was moving subconsciously up and down, faster and faster as he became more impatient.

  Then the doors opened.

  Johan got to his feet as Envy and Lust stalked inside. On the other side of the room Frey froze mid-throw.

  Lust looked at Frey. “Don’t you have manners? We have a guest.”

  Frey put down the book with a frown and muttered. “Guest? It’s his place…”

  “It’s time.” Envy said, blue eyes settling on Johan.

  Finally.

  “Let’s go then.” He said, eager to get everything going.

  Envy gave him a confirming smile and turned to walk back out the door. Johan was quick to follow.

  “Wait.”

  Lust stopped him and blocked the doorway, his voice low as he turned intense eyes down on Johan. “A word of advice. Don’t fight Storm, especially not alone. He has become very powerful and he has no loyalty to you nor Greed.”

  Johan glanced uncertainty back at Frey who was still making his way across the room, then looked back at Lust. The memory of a child flashed across his mind.

  “The dandelion kid?” He asked hesitantly.

  “Yes.” Lust looked amused at the title. “I know that the last time you saw him he was a little brat, but remember, it’s been years. He’s not a child anymore and he has had a lot more practice with his powers than you have. Do not face him alone.”

  Johan eyed him for a moment, then slowly nodded. If Lust felt the need to warn him about Storm then Johan had no interest in a reunion with him. Not that it took much to have practiced more than Johan, considering it was about three days since he had first gotten his powers…

  “Ok, I won’t.” He said simply, easily agreeing, and quickly shoved past him to follow Envy, Frey now falling into step next to him.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Good luck!” Lust called after them.

  “You should listen to him.” Envy said and sent a knowing look back at Johan, her heels clacking against the hallway floor. “Storm is an elemental, afterall. And I assume you have dealt with enough of those.”

  Johan shuddered at that, remembering the way Signe had disappeared inside Carlotta’s fire back when they got the journal.

  It didn’t take long before they got to the vestibule and Envy started gingerly pushing away the thorn-covered vines in the doorway, making a small opening for them to get out. She easily avoided the thorns, as did Frey when he followed after her. Johan went through last, not bothering to avoid them as he bent down to get under the first vine.

  Then halfway out, something caught his eyes.

  He paused as he eyed the patch of vibrant, colorful flowers growing straight out of the stone path. That didn’t seem like a place they would be able to grow.

  He carefully stepped around the flowers, making sure they didn’t get stomped down as he made his way outside and pulled his cloak free from the thorns. When he straightened up he saw even more flowers. Clusters of them had pushed their way through the stone path outside the palace in random patches here and there and even continued partly down the stairs leading down to the big tree.

  Johan tok a second to stare at them before moving on.

  The next thing he noticed was the bodies.

  “Don’t look at them.” Frey warned as Johan’s eyes widened.

  Almost completely covered in flowers and roots, Johan wouldn’t even have realized what he was looking at if it wasn’t for the familiar black uniforms.

  “You just…left them here?” Johan asked Envy in horror. They had to be the soldiers that had tried to follow him and Sloth into the palace almost a year ago, back when Johan was saving Note and Signe.

  They were all laying in the exact same spots they had fallen in, surrounded by large patches of flowers growing out of the stone around them, and, Johan noted in mute horror, more flowers were sprouting directly from the bodies.

  His stomach churned and he stared at Envy. Didn’t she at least want to bury them after sending them to their deaths?

  “It was the easiest way to keep Thomas away from the palace.” Envy said lightly, starting down the steps without a second look back. “It let him think that we couldn’t get close enough to retrieve them.”

  “Oh.” Johan said. He didn’t know how to feel about that.

  He followed her down and set his eyes on the tree.

  Despite the cold season, the huge weeping tree was in full bloom. And much to Johan’s surprise, it looked just fine despite all the roots he had damaged while digging.

  Bright pink petals floated lightly in the air around them as they walked beneath it and Johan caught one in his hand, turning it over curiously. Last time they had been a very light pink but now they were all in vibrant shades of pink, purple and even blue.

  Considering Envy’s rotting, dead soldiers were still laying behind them, Johan was surprised to see the holes he had dug Note and Signe out of were now filled.

  The walk was uneventful. Envy expertly led them right past the mementos and into a narrow alleyway that Johan didn’t know existed. While they were walking, he was preparing himself to be stealthy. It was well past noon after all, the streets should be full of people. Key word being ‘should’. Yet when they got out of the alley, there wasn’t a soul to see, everything was completely quiet.

  And dirty.

  Johan couldn’t believe his eyes. This couldn’t be the same street he had walked in just a few months ago. It had been quiet then too, yes, but it was nothing like this. Every window close to the ground was smashed, the glass littering the pavement beneath it, and the windows higher up looked like they were boarded shut, no light escaping any of them. And that wasn’t just one building, it was every single one up and down the whole street.

  Not to mention the trash, rubble, broken planks- and even more stuff littering the streets.

  “What happened?” Johan breathed out in shock.

  “Thomas happened.” Envy answered and Frey clenched his hands into fists, radiating anger. She looked back at Johan with a raised eyebrow. “One might call this an overreaction.”

  Johan stared at her. An…overreaction?

  “Thomas found out you three were alive and didn’t take it very well.” She continued drily, clearly not impressed.

  “And he did…this?” Johan asked, horrified, gesturing around him. The city looked like it had been abandoned for years!

  “I’ll let Greed explain the rest.” Envy said secretly and led them into a different street, equally as trashed as the first. Johan couldn’t believe his eyes. If Thomas wanted the city so bad he should, at the very least, take care of it. “Do I need to remind you of the plan?”

  ”No, I got it.” Frey said seriously, surprisingly still not arguing at all that he had to wait outside while Johan got Greed.

  Weird. Frey should have been angry that he didn’t get to save his hero.

  “Johan?” Envy asked.

  “Yeah, got it.” Johan said.

  “Good. Then get ready because the plan starts now.” Envy turned. “That’s the building.”