Marica's face grew increasingly grim as she followed the story in the messages, lightening only with the more mundane accounts. But by the end of it, there was an unmistakable line etched into her brow and her sandwich lay forgotten -- never mind Asad's. "This is terrible," she muttered, flipping back to the parts she wanted to read again. "Sending people who can't even fight out to war... They're hardly any better than the enemy. And what's this all about?"

She pointed to the part about Marks malfunctioning against Shifters. "They can mess with our Marks?" She looked up from the journal. "Did you end up having to use a sword or something, then?"