“What? What is it?”I grab hold of those words as if I can clench them in my fist.
“His power is limited to the day. I guess it’s a consequence of having magic from Novandia. I don’t know the details, but Kalan shared it. And it’s the first real?—”
“Kalan? He’s still here?”I haven’t seen him since his confession to me.
“Yes. Or he was a couple of days ago.”
All the secrets, all the information that’s still between Kalan and I are stacking on top of a crumbling lie at the bottom, threatening to bring all the others down around it.
“Ten. My parents are dead.”The thought invades, the moment I see the wall in my mind, and I take a hammer to the first block, setting the rest of the wall to rubble.“Fenix isn’t just my brother, but my twin, and my parents were both Fifths. I can’t remember what you do and don’t know, it’s all a blur, and I promised myself that I’d tell you this when we were together again, but, but… I don’t know when we’ll have the chance, and I have to tell you. You came all this way for me, and I’ve not even told you how much I love you. I do. I do love you. And you’re in a cell, injured because of me. And Micah is dead, and Crimson had to watch?—”
“Ever, shhh, shhh. Slow down. Deep breath. I’m holding your hand.”
I don’t know how he does it, but there’s a slight feeling of pressure on my hands, as if he’s here, doing exactly what he’s saying.“I’ve got you. Wherever you are. I’m there, too.Okay. We don’t need to worry about anything from the past. Remember what I said to you?”
His voice is soft, deep, and soothes a part of my soul that’s overcome by the task in front of us.
“Which time? You’ve said quite a bit.”I snigger to myself, knowing he’ll pick up on it.
“I said I’d endure every possible future as long as you’re still there with me. I meant that. As long as you’re there, Ever, I will endure this. We will endure this. And we’ll go home.”
My heart thuds in my chest, as if the words Ten’s spoken have reawakened the sleepy muscle.
“I can’t tell you how much I needed to hear that.”
“We might not be next to each other, we might have a few challenges, but I am in this with you, Ever. And if I can’t help you fight, I’ll help you in whichever way you need for us to win this thing.”
His words are what I now hold onto, like the scribbled names of my parents that I repeated over and over again. I wish I could write them into my heart and let the scar shield me like armour.
Now free to communicate and to push our magic thanks to the full moon, we continue talking late into the night. My panic subsides, and I let the energy of my replenished power fill my confidence until I’m asleep.
When I wake in the morning, the first thing I do is reach for my necklace, and I sigh to myself when it’s still warm to touch. It wasn’t a dream. Everything I remember did happen.
But my relief is burst when I hear footsteps.
“Rise and shine, Sister.” Fenix. He’s back. And the tone of his voice doesn’t suggest he’s happy. There’s an edge to it, a menacing shadow, that draws me straight back to the cell and when he killed Micah.
The drapes are pulled back, and Fenix stands waiting. “Come on. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”
“Where have you been?” I ask. “It’s been a little boring around here without you.”
“Really? Boring? Interesting you’d classify it as that.”
He’s toying with me. He knows something, like always, acting like he holds all the cards. And I’m sick of it. If he doesn’t want to tell me, fine, I’ll take it for myself. I have no issue in doing so with him.
Touch. I need contact with him for this. I hold his gaze as I head towards him to leave the tent. He turns to allow me space, but I grab his wrist as he does, gripping hold with all my might. The rush of energy hits me, and I let it awaken my power. The turbulent thrash of our energies fight for a second, still keeping a separation, refusing to mix. After what the Usher said, I wonder if it’s because our magic has come from different sources—two sides of the same coin—a living symbolism of the warring God and Goddess themselves.
With our connection burning, I concentrate, look for an in, and I latch on to his thoughts with everything I have. I push my power at him, and for a moment, I’m back on the ship. A memory. Something Fenix was thinking about. He’s been travelling. Not far. There are more people. He’s speaking with people. He’s back at the table in his cabin. Looking over maps and schedules. And Kamari is with him.
How?I snatch my hand back and watch as my brother’s eyes narrow and scowl at me. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“Touche, Brother.” I hold my arms out in a mock bow around the confines of my encampment.
“Training. Now. You’ve had your fun. Now it’s time to work. And before you protest, I know what you can do when you want to. That little trick with the people in camp last night. I know it was you. Forcing thoughts and images into someone’s mind isn’t nice.”
“You’re lecturing me on that?” I shake my head at him. “Besides, I don’t know what you mean. I was left in my tent all afternoon.” My voice is level as I lie through my teeth. I even hold his gaze, ignoring the colour of his eyes and how familiar they look.
There is no proof of what I did.
