H went on, twisting the end of his short beard between his fingers as he spoke. “There were twelve of us. We led normal lives, to all appearances. None of us lived in loops—that was a rule. A few of us had families, regular jobs. We met in secret and communicated in code. At first we just went after hollows, but when the ymbrynes had to go underground because the wights were picking off so many of them, we started doing the jobs they couldn’t do anymore.”
