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“Yes. You do.”
“What is it?”
“You are the Destroyer.”
A cold hand slowly closes around my chest, chilling me to the bone. I stop stirring, but I’m not going to pretend to eat. Caill continues shoveling the food into her mouth making disgusting slurping and smacking sounds as she barely chews before shoveling the next bite in.
“Excuse me?”
Caill stops eating. She stares at her bowl for four beats of my heart before slowly, so slowly it feels like her head is being dragged up, raising her eyes to mine.
“You. Rude girl. Are the Destroyer.”
“Destroyer of what?”
“Finally, she asks a good question, eh?”
The raven caws.
“It depends, doesn’t it? You will destroy, but what, hmm? See, value in a good question.”
“I don’t want to destroy anything.”
“Sure, sure. They all say that. I don’t want to be what I am. I’ll deny myself but nature is nature. You will do what you will do and, in the end, it will be by your will and you will destroy.”
“That doesn’t make sense. I’ve never destroyed anything in my life.”
“Haven’t you?” She locks her dark eyes onto mine and my heart stops.
Fear is a dark cloud filling my head. I don’t want to hear what she’s going to say next. I know with every fiber of my being that I don’t want to know.
I shake my head.
“Then I’m wrong,” Caill sighs. “You’re not the Destroyer. You’re the Fool. Sooner or later, you’ll fulfill your role, but not yet it seems.”
She resumes consuming her food. I’m left cold with aching muscles that refuse to unclench. I force my jaw to relax then my shoulders and take a deep breath.
“I need to get home,” I say.
“And there it is, eh Riki?” She snorts. “When it’s time.”
“When is that?”
“Want to know a funny thing about time?”
“Uhm, sure.”
“It doesn’t care.” She laughs, a raucous cackle that sounds suspiciously like a raven cawing.
“That’s not funny.”
“Huh, depends on your viewpoint, because it really is. You humans. I want this. I want that. I can’t wait. I need it now. What? Wait a week to receive a package? Too slow? Overnight? Too slow. Instant. I want it now. An entire generation of mewling humans demanding to be satisfied now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You!” she says, exploding to her feet so fast her bowl flies off the table and clangs against the potbelly stove.
I recoil in horror, leaning back and covering myself with my arms.
