“Ever needs her rest.”
“Rest, use your power, train, be fit like a Warrior. You know, you’re giving mixed messages, and I’m really fucking tired,” I spout off at him, siding with Crimson.
“That will change after tonight. Now, we are done.”
He leads me back, but my gaze drifts back to Ten.
“It will be better after tonight,”I say to him.“It’s just a matter of time.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Little Siren.”
I’m locked back in my tent, and I slump down and stare at the weave of the material draped overhead.
It feels like a lifetime ago since I was in Kirrasia, but I close my eyes and think of Kyra and all her guidance and wisdom that saw me through. I breathe deeply, remembering our short time together, and focus on the centre of my energy.
When I picture it, I slip into that same dark place, as if holding it in my mind transports me there. It’s cold. Unfamiliar, and as I open my eyes to look up, I’m at the bottom of the well, looking up to a starry sky.
The hum of energy begins at my feet, and it grows, warming through my soles, up my legs, and through my body until the tips of my fingers feel imbued with power.
“My gift is for you to use, Ever. You are as the Maker described. You are space and time and everything in between.”
The voice bounces off the cold, damp bricks that surround me until it rings in my ears, inside my head, and even vibrates my bones. It’s all around me. Deafening, and I can’t escape.
I can’t escape.
There’s no light in my tent as I come around. I’m still lying on the cot bed, my face open to the material above. But I’m missing time. It’s dusk, and it was barely midday only a few minutes ago, wasn’t it?
My fingers reach for the necklace at my neck, and as I lift it, it hums, burning hot and alive with power.
A flash of remembrance strikes, hitting like lightning.
She came to me.Shedid this.
I jump off the bed and reach the confines of the tent to listen.
I focus my thoughts and push my power out, and, unlike the last few days, it obeys. It happily travels, like a spring stream, eager to reach its destination.
I think back to all the tests and combinations we worked through in training, and I focus and remember what they felt like, recalling the energy signatures each person left for me: making the ground shake with Micah, bringing rain with Ravi, and the experience with Azur as he trapped me in the maze of his mind. It was an automatic response, a defence that I created my own labyrinth for him to be lost in. I didn’t know I could control that, but now, here, I want to be in control.
I push one particular thought out, inspired by Azur and the maze he trapped me in and let it dissolve in my stream of energy, and let it reach anyone it touches.
A few minutes later, there are voices. Noises coming from the camp. I can’t make it out, but there is panic in the pitch, enough to tell me my test to reach someone’s mind is complete, and the havoc will ensue. I reward myself with a smile.
With my confidence up, I tug on the line of connection to Ten and our bond. It’s not quiet or muffled anymore. It’s loud and clear, at least from my side.
“Ten!”
“Ever? Thank you, Aslendrix. It’s worked. Do you feel more like you?”
“I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about. How’s your wound?”I relax and let the tension drain away.
“We’re fine. Frustrated. Anxious. In need of a bath.”
A spark of humour warms me.
“How can I be so grateful that you came, yet wish you didn’t at the same time?”
“Hey, being here with you was my choice, and I’d make it again. It’s just about timing. Your brother has a weakness. I tried?—”
