“Her brother broke my wrist. Stars, Aten!”
“Just, hit me over the head if it looks?—”
“Like when you touch her, and she cripples you, yeah, got it.” She stands and collects a rock from deeper within the cave. I wasn’t expecting a literal rock over my head, but I’m not arguing with Crimson.
“Okay, Ever. We’re ready.”
“Ten, I’m?—”
I’m blasted with a sense of dread along the connection as I focus on Ever and hear her fear.“You can do this, Ever. You’re more powerful than you know. This is just the next step, and I’ll be fine. Just concentrate on everything you saw, anything specific you want me to see.”
It’s the truth, but I don’t tell her how terrifying that is to me. It’s only matched by the fear that we won’t get out of here, or we won’t be free of the secrets weighing us down. Right now, she needs me, and I’m sick of her brother holding all the cards.
After a few moments, I feel an instinctual pull towards her, as if our invisible connection is tugging me closer to her. Closing my eyes, I hone all my energy on it, using that stream of connection between us as if it were a physical line to touch her. My power swells and seeks her, as if it knows what we need and is just as anxious to get to her as I am.
“Can you feel it?”The heat that would usually ignite with our touch is there, as if a fire’s sparked and burning through me.“Concentrate on the memory. Just like we did before, show me what you want, Ever. You can do this.”
A ship’s cabin. A table, with papers and books piled on it. And a map. It’s a little fuzzy, but the images emerge, as if I’m watching through a looking glass.
“Stay there, Ever. Keep looking at the map.”
“I didn’t recognise anything.”
“It doesn’t matter.”I look at the hazy image and take in the information and the funny scribbles that annotate it. But it’s asif the map is in code. It doesn’t match any significant landmarks or coasts that I’m familiar with. The flag markings and the different-sized shapes could be troop numbers, or supplies… If they are mounting an attack, we’d need this. There’s no obvious sign of Novandia or Sunatora, no sigil or flag of either kingdom.
As I pore over the image, the heat of our connection intensifies, as if there’s a raging fire now, burning behind the image in my mind.
“Can you show me anything else?”
The image skips and her brother’s form appears in the vision, then changes, skipping again, and they start to jumble up, flashing from one to another, faster and faster.“Ever!”
The images don’t stop, and they hurtle out of control.
It’s too late.
A lightning strike of pain explodes inside my head, and I dig my fingers into my skull in defence, but I can’t even feel them.
“Ten. Fuck! Can you hear me?”
The images invade, more and more, relentless in their force, threatening to split my mind apart with their presence. Fenix, Crimson, Kalan, and others, fighting to be the last image I see before passing out.
And then nothing.
The steady beat of pain throbbing in my head is the first thing I’m aware of, and it doesn’t get any easier as I come around. Everything feels fuzzy and unfocussed.
“Zuns, you’re awake!”
“Crimson?” I check because I can’t remember why she’d be with me as I wake. There’s no reason we’d be together, and I wasn’t drinking last night. In fact…
Stars, as I sit up, it all comes rushing back, tilting the memories back into place. I’d forgotten everything that had happened over the last few months.
“You scared the shit out of me, Ten.”
“What happened?” I groan, rubbing at the bridge of my nose.
“Your little trick went sideways, that’s what. I didn’t even have to knock you unconscious. You did that all on your own. And then you wouldn’t wake up. I’ve been watching over you all fucking night.”
“Sorry.” The headache thumping a beat on the inside of my skull tells me something bad happened. Shielding, blocking, protecting myself from Ever’s power left me feeling weak, but this, this, was something else.
