And as my grasp of the language steadily improves, so do my friendships. I run the lake with Conor, or play the Foundation-like Fidchell against Miach, who curses and storms off every time I manage to beat him. Of the older group, only Tara remains terse and disinterested when I am around. Otherwise, all seems to be going well.
And then after three weeks, the strange pulse returns.
XXXIX
A DEEP, JAGGED PAIN BEHIND MY EYES AS I BLINK AWAKE.Throat dry. Muscles aching as if finally released from hours-long cramps. My eyes search the room.
STRONGER TOGETHER.
The gold-etched proclamation on the wall, and the three-pronged symbol above it, are as familiar to me now as the too-clean smell and echoing silence in here. Some proud Catenan’s idea of encouragement for those in pain, no doubt. I wonder if they could even conceive of how profoundly opposite an effect it can have.
The last time I was in this room, I spoke with my father’s ghost. Some part of me strains to listen to the darkness, and aches for him to be here once again.
“Vis?” Aequa’s voice from somewhere near my head, startling me. I summon the energy to twist. She and Eidhin are both stirring from where they’ve evidently been drowsing in chairs next to my bed.
“Hail,” I croak. Eidhin offers me a cup. I sip messily. “So, that could have gone better.”
Aequa flashes a relieved smile, while Eidhin snorts. “See? He is fine,” he mutters, giving me a look that clearly blames me for the worry I’ve caused.
I ignore him, groaning as I prop myself up farther. “How long?”
“A bit more than a day.” Aequa takes the cup from my shaking hand.
“Veridius? Livia?”
“Veridius headed for the ruins as soon as he decided he couldn’t do anything more for you here. Livia …” She looks at Eidhin.
“Around.”
“Helpful,” I growl at him. “Does sheknow?”
“That you crept off the Academy grounds with Aequa, then returned unconscious while being hauled by a tame alupi? Yes, my friend. Word may have gotten around.”
“There was no way to get you back over the wall,” adds Aequa, vaguely apologetic. “And Diago … made an impression on the guards at the gate.”
It takes a moment for my mind to catch up, the name a shiver of pure panic before I remember. “You usedDiagoto carry me back?” The awkwardness of saying it aloud to them covered by my confusion.
“‘Used’? Not really. More ‘allowed, so that he didn’t eat me.’” She gestures irritably at my questioning look. “You were spasming, even after I got you out of that device. I couldn’t make you stop. So I carried you back—I figured the sooner I fetched Veridius, the better. But Diago wouldn’t let me out of the gods-damned building with you until I stopped self-imbuing.” She takes a breath. The tiniest catch to it. For the first time, hinting at how shaken she was. “The way you talked to him, I figured you might be a little upset with me if I took a … less friendly approach. And I thought I could probably carry you anyway, but then Diago … he just kind ofinsertedhimself under you. Helped me take you back. I think we’re friends, now,” she adds brightly.
She grins at me, but I can hear the stress beneath the words, can see the tautness behind her eyes. “I owe you.”
“Gods-damned right.”
I lean over and take the cup from where Aequa deposited it on the table, drinking deeply this time. My head’s clearing. “Diago’s not on the grounds?” It’s rhetorical. I can still sense him. Faint, but enough for an approximate direction and distance. He’s not far beyond the Academy’s front gate.
I’m still not sure what to make of that.
Eidhin stirs. “No. Your pet alupi did not seem interested in entering the Will cage. He wandered back into the woods after leaving you for medical attention.” His look assures me he’s going to demand more of that story later.
“He’s a good boy,” I respond cheerfully. Eidhin scowls at me.
Aequa smiles at the exchange, though it quickly dies away again as she leans forward. “Do you remember what you said in there?”
I nod slowly. The words may not have been mine, but they’re engraved on my mind. I couldn’t forget them if I tried.
“Good. I told the Principalis what I could recall, before he left, but I was a bit … distracted, to be honest.”
I nod again, my grimace both at the motion and the information. Veridius is going to have a lot of questions. “How angry was he?”
