Kat Evernight's Arc

Chapter 6 of 10

The informant never showed. Kat waited in the alley behind the factory district for two hours, watching shadows and listening for footsteps that never came. The contact was supposed to have direct information about Vex's current location—something solid, not rumors or old connections. But the meeting time passed, then doubled, and the alley stayed empty. She checked the note again, confirmed the address. Everything matched. Either the informant got cold feet, or someone warned them off. Kat crumpled the paper and shoved it in her pocket. Five years of hunting, and she was back to chasing leads that went nowhere. She followed the street north, checking two more addresses the bartender had mentioned days ago. The first building was locked and empty. The second led to a dead end—literally. A barrier of black metal posts and rusted chains blocked the alley entrance. Warning tape hung in strips from the framework, faded and torn. Someone had woven thick chains through the posts, making it clear no one was getting through. Kat grabbed the metal and shook it. The barrier didn't move. She stepped back and looked at the buildings on either side. Both windows were boarded over with rusted metal sheets. This whole section was sealed off. The informant was a dead end. The addresses were dead ends. Every lead she'd chased this week circled back to nothing. Kat turned and walked away from the barrier. Five years of hunting Vex, and she was still standing outside locked doors and blocked alleys, no closer to finding him than when she started. She walked until she reached a small courtyard where someone had tried to make the decay look intentional. Stone planters lined the edges, black rock wrapped with iron bands. Metal spikes jutted from the rims. Dark purple flowers grew inside them, the only living color in blocks of gray and rust. Kat stopped beside one and stared at the flowers. Someone had planted them, watered them, kept them alive in this dead place. She thought about the black board in the warehouse, all those connected faces showing progress against the gangs. She thought about the pillar with its dates, marking streets reclaimed from criminals. The resistance was winning. The city was fighting back. But none of it brought her closer to Vex. Five years, and she was still wandering through empty courtyards, staring at flowers while he stayed hidden. The trail wasn't getting warmer. It was going cold, one failed lead at a time. A monument stood at the courtyard's center. Kat hadn't noticed it before. Children carved in stone, their faces turned upward. A metal frame rose behind them, but the glass that once filled it was shattered. Jagged pieces still clung to the edges, catching light and throwing broken reflections across the dark-stained base. She moved closer. This was a memorial. For victims. For children killed before the resistance started winning. Before the dates on the pillar. Before the black board tracked down gang members one by one. Kat reached out and touched the cold stone. The city remembered its dead with monuments and flowers. But Vex was still free. She'd chased every lead this week and found nothing but locked doors and empty alleys. The resistance was winning their war. She was losing hers. Kat pulled her hand back and walked away from the monument. Five years of hunting, and she was no closer to justice than the day the orphanage burned.