“Are you going to let me in?” he asked.
“We’re training in here?” I swallowed, trying and failing to hide my shock.
“I don’t think your Token requires a training ground, so yeah. Do you have a problem with that?”
Yes.
“No.” I stepped aside from the door so he could enter. He didn’t say anything, just stayed silent as he took in my room, slowly nodding his head.
I jumped as the window snapped shut. There was only one, but it was large enough that it nearly took up the entire wall, only now the latches were locked. But Cash hadn’t moved. He was still standing in the middle of the room, his back to me.
“I have two Tokens,” he said, turning to face me. “Both gifted from Cupio.”
My jaw dropped and I couldn’t control the expression on my face. He had two Tokens… I knew it was possible, that occasionally the Sun Goddesses would bless someone with two instead of one, but it was rare.
I swallowed, trying to steady my breathing. I couldn’t tell if it was more labored from shock or the altitude. It made him the most powerful Wielder in Viven, besides Elion himself, and now I was alone with him.
“Both of mine are stemmed from desire,” Cash continued, “and yours is transparency, stemmed from necessity.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak yet.
“It would explain why you don’t have control over it,” he said, still eyeing me.
I walked over to the window, unlatching and reopening it, trying to act casual about it, but internally, I was dying. It felt too claustrophobic—reminded me too much of my windowless room in Moriann, and if I only had a couple of weeks to enjoy the warmth and sunsets and light breezes, I wanted it all.
Cash didn’t say anything, but I could feel him watching me, or maybe I was just paranoid. Maybe no one had been staring at me since I got here, but Dahes’ white eyes tracking my every movement was so ingrained in me that it was driving me crazy.
“What sparked your necessity?” he asked.
I whirled on him, my back to the now open window. “I hardly think that’s important.”
He cocked a grin. “Hit a nerve, did I?” He was eyeing me, and I wasn’t crazy—hewasstaring. “It’s extremely important. Necessity Tokens are harder to control than desired ones. For us, the want is already there, but when it comes from need, you have to work harder.” He started moving objects around the room, picking up a pillow, then setting it down, drawing the curtains shut, then reopening them, all while staring directly at me, with his hands in his pockets. “You need to know the why,” he continued. “One of my Tokens is telekinesis. For me, Iwantto move things, so I simply do. So what’s yourwhy,little Wielder? What made you first become transparent?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. I wasn’t doing this. I didn’t even know him. I wasn’t about to open up about one of the worst nights of my life—only second to the reason I became Dahes’ slave in the first place, the reason that had me so desperate I made a deal with the devil.
“That bad, huh?” His brow raised, and I swore there was amusement there. But honestly I could have been wrong. Dahes was emotionless on a good day and acted soulless on a bad day. I was so out of touch with mortal emotions, with feelings, with reading facial expressions, with everything…
I tilted my head up, attempting to hold my ground. Cash didn’t own me. I didn’t have to answer him. I wasn’tliterallybeing forced to obey, and that thought was intoxicating. I could sayno. I hadn’t been able to for the past seven years, and I hadn’t realized how much I missed it—how much I needed my free will.
“If this is your idea of training, you can leave.” I barely recognized myself.
On one hand, I was proud, happy that for once I was standing up for myself and learning to speak up. I knew it’d be short lived, that I probably was only feeling this way because I didn’t have Dahes inside my head. Or maybe it was just that no one was as intimidating as him, that everyone else wasn’t nearly as scary. My life was already chainedto the worst thing that walked Hilithia. It literally couldn’t get any worse.
But on the other hand, I was embarrassed. I was risking losing my only opportunity to train and learn my Token, for what? Pride? Because I couldn’t get myself to open my mouth and tell a stranger what happened that night? It was stupid. I needed to suck it up, but I couldn’t get myself to talk.
“Fine,” he said slowly, rolling his neck. “We’ll do it a different way.”
I realized a second too late what his intentions were. My Token manifested as soon as he tried to grab my arm, his hand falling through me as he grabbed onto nothing but air. One moment, he was across the room, and the next, I barely had time to blink before he was on top of me.
“That’s what I figured.” He cocked a grin.
I stepped out of the way, my transparency still lingering as I half walked through him.
“What—what was that?” I panted breathlessly, my heart pounding against my ribs.
“My second Token is teleportation,” he smirked, an air of cockiness to his grin. “Now, I’ll ask you again.Whydid your Token manifest?”
I didn’t answer, just kept staring at him, as my breathing became increasingly more labored. He was right in front of me now. All he had to do was reach out and he’d be able to touch me. He wouldn’t even need his Token, but my own stopped working the second I backed away. I was tangible again. I tried to focus, tried to keep myself in my transparent state, but I couldn’t.
