Blood at the Root

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, cursing, child death, death, and graphic violence.

The next morning, Alexis is gone. Malik checks his phone and sees a text from her, as well as a new video posted of the Bokor attacking civilians. Malik goes to Taron’s office and demands that he do something about the attacks. Taron dismisses him, insisting that he has it under control.

When Taron moves, something falls from his desk. Both Malik and Taron reach for it. When their hands touch, Malik has flashes of memory. He sees Taron with his mother. They start as friends, with Lorraine giving Taron the golden ring he wears. Taron gives her the golden necklace. In another memory, they kiss. In a third, Taron is kissing another woman—his future wife—and Lorraine interrupts them, angrily yelling. Taron tells her that she caused him to leave her by dealing in dark magic. The room shifts again, and Malik finds himself in Lorraine’s bedroom the night she disappeared. He realizes that he is seeing it from Taron’s perspective.

Back in the present, Malik angrily accuses Taron of being a Bokor. Malik leaves his office and goes back to his dorm.