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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
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TARAVEN
I’ve lived on azephtanfor so long that sleep does not come easy on solid ground. The rumblings of my home are absent, along with the scent of blooming flowers and random chatter. I often sleep in the hull rather than my quarters, and I’ve grown used to listening to the goings on of the ship.
Here, though, the silence is deafening.
I try to sleep in a hammock on the deck, listening to the ocean waves. It does not work. I move inside, then spend some time roaming around the halls, leaving my room behind. We are not prisoners here; Jokahn allows us to go where we will, so I head back to the main atrium where we saw the oracle.
That’s where I find Ravik, sitting alone in one of the lounges with a glass ofderize. He sees me a moment after I see him, and beckons me over with his free hand.
My friend pours a glass ofderizefor me as I move closer, and I curl my tail around myself as I join him amongst the cushions. Ravik passes me the glass and I take it, swirling it before taking a sip.
The stuff I distill on Jaya is better.
“You seem to have had an interesting evening,” I say, raising my brow. “Any news?”
He tilts his chin. “She is…frightened.”
“The oracle?”
“Yes,” he says.
“Why?”
“The messages she receives are jarring,” he says. “Visions of strange creatures and destruction. And she believes someone is coming after her.”
I frown. “Dalphox?”
“Someone else,” Ravik says. “Somethingelse.”
My tail twitches. I’m unsettled by his words, my skin crawling at the thought. I take a big sip of my drink, putting my glass down beside me and looking past Ravik. The room is practically empty, some stragglers still chatting or dozing in other lounge pits.
“I don’t know what you could possibly mean,” I say. “We’ve charted much of the known galaxy, and there’s nothing out there—”
“But haven’t you ever wondered?” Ravik says, leaning forward. His narrow face is set in a puzzled grimace, his jaw tight. “The beacon from Azoth changed everything. We thought we were alone, warring over our little corner of the universe…and now, we find humanity, the Lyra. What else is out there? Andwhat built those beacons?”
I chew on my lip, sighing and shaking my head. I want to dispel the fog of fear that’s suddenly shrouded me in doubt. I have other things to focus on—getting to the ancestral temple, uncovering the secrets of the weapon that destroyed Rath.
And Ravik…he’s already lightyears away.
“Did you learn her name?” I ask. “Where she came from and how she came to be on Traika?”
“She was taken from a human transport between Earth and Azoth,” Ravik says. “Her name is Faith.”
“And the Traikans?”
“They have not determined what causes her visions, but they believe it has something to do with her blindness,” Ravik says. “I want to know more about her. She…she said that I was destined for something new.”
I take a deep breath, clicking my claws on my glass. Voices drift across the room—a deep, pleasured laugh. Everyone else here is having fun, while I feel that I’m about to lose something invaluable.
“Ravik,” I say. “You have been dissatisfied on Jaya for a long time, haven’t you?”
He looks away with a scowl. “You know the answer to that question.”
“And would going with the oracle give you purpose again?” I ask.
