Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Malls in America were a dying breed, but the one closest to the Corvine home still pulsed with life, small businesses moving in as chain businesses moved online. Several department stores took over the far ends of the mall, the din of voices echoing through the central atrium.
Lia led Kayce toward Target.
At least, she tried to. She’d much rather go back home and continue last night’s work of going through the feedback her papa had written on this year’s Norenth stories. So far, nothing he wrote seemed to ring true to the Flameheart Order or the Seekers.
Just that one line in her journal.
“You mean to tell me that this one only sells hats?” Kayce was in awe, gravitating toward the window displaying tiers of hats. The rims were flat or curved, each portraying a different sports team.
Lia bit back a groan. “That’s their schtick.”
“‘Schtick’,” he copied, his tongue thick with the pronunciation. “I should like one, I think.”
“Target will have plenty. That’s where my mom expects us to be, anyway.”
Guiding Kayce through the mall was like trying to net a butterfly. He bobbed and weaved through the crowd, thankfully sparse for a sunny morning. His Renaissance Faire-like garb garnered a few side glances, but mainly people paid him little attention.
A joy of the twenty-first century.
However, Lia was going to crack several molars if she had to remind him again that they had to go this way and that they didn’t need helmets or war paint. The beauty shop was decidedly not on their list, once she’d explained the red paint was meant for lips.
“How does it intimidate their enemies in battle if it’s on their mouths?” he asked as they finally approached their destination.
“Because it’s not meant to intimidate!” Lia ground out. “It’s meant to…well…be flirty.”
“Flirty? How is a mouth so reddened it looks bloody appealing?”
She palmed her face. “I guess it depends on what you find attractive.” Her lips tingled, recalling his touch at the ball. What did he find attractive? And why was she suddenly so curious about it?
He shuddered. “Please never wear it.”
“What?” Her voice hit an octave higher. But Kayce was already heading toward the store.
The doors slid open automatically. He tracked the motion with a slow shake of his head.
Lia smirked, pushing him through. When he took a moment to breathe and not ask asinine questions, his wonderment at Earth was endearing.
She wanted to show him more, take him somewhere far grander than a mall, like an amusement park or the aquarium.
On second thought, baby steps. She wasn’t particularly eager to blow his mind even more. He had handled all of this Flameheart business far better than she had. Then again, he was always on to the next adventure. She envied him for that.
Her ribs squeezed tight with the thought.
Why couldn’t she let go like he had, embrace all that this new world was? It was like every time she grasped the Emperium, the wonder of it all, it slipped through her fingers like sand, retreating from her conscious mind as if the rebellious, logical part couldn’t bear to face it.
If only Papa were here.
She worked past the unexpected knot that tightened in her throat, focusing instead on Kayce’s back as he meandered through the store.
“What’s a MemoryBank?” Kayce pointed to a display bearing several tablets, each showcasing different movies. At least she thought so.
“My brother mentioned them the other day,” she recalled, walking to the table with him. “They can record your dreams.” Both Marcus and her mom were over on the other side of the mall, thank the skies and seas. Lia frowned at the Norenthian turn of phrase so readily in her mind.
“Not quite, but we are hopeful. Tech is developing faster than we projected,” said the man behind the table, an ImaginX representative by the look of his name tag. He was young, glasses perched squarely on his nose and an ill-fitting polo draping his thin frame.
Ironically, Lia missed her glasses. Mom had yet to explain why her calluses and scars appeared, why her eyesight improved. Another question, likely home to complicated answers.
“You guys looking for some gift ideas?” the man asked.
Lia smiled politely. “Clothes are on the agenda for today.”
The man looked over at Kayce, tilting his head. “I thought the faire was long gone—”
“Well, we need to accessorize,” she stammered. “For next year.” She would milk this “Renaissance Faire” excuse for all it was worth.
He nodded, but his puzzled frown lingered.
Kayce widened his stance, notching his chin. “Seems meddlesome, prying into one’s head.” He was one to talk. Then again, so was she.
The man shrugged. “Or ingenious. Many people forget their dreams when waking up, and wish they could relive them.”
Lia shifted uncomfortably. If he only knew.
Her gaze snagged on the tablets, watching what seemed like a first-person shooter video game.
One had the screen bounding through clouds of cotton candy.
How original. In another, someone dreamed a dragon ride.
She had to admit the scales on the dragon’s back did look realistic in how they shone and shifted like a lizard’s.
But the one of utter darkness gave her pause.
“That one isn’t turned on.” She pointed.
“Oh, no, it is.” The ImaginX rep smiled. “Watch.”
Kayce and Lia leaned in. Nothing but vaporous darkness shifted like liquid night. Then, in the center, two red eyes blinked open, a set of bone-white teeth grinning to match.
Lia started, jerking back into Kayce’s chest.
He steadied her, frowning. “Some dreams are best not to be lived out a second time.”
Considering her own harrowing experience with a real-life nightmare, Lia was more than inclined to agree.
“It makes for great creative fuel,” the man pitched. “Think of how much more realistic horror films and haunted hayrides or mazes will be with this tech.”
“At least they’ll stay in the screen, or someone’s head,” Lia muttered, pulling Kayce along. She shot the man a weak smile. “Have a good day.”
The man nodded, mouth pursing at the loss of a potential customer. Though his eyes roamed over Kayce’s attire again, brow creasing.
“Kind of odd how that screen did what Flamehearts can,” Kayce mused when they were a far enough distance away.
“Maybe someone at ImaginX is a Flameheart,” she guessed, a fixed look of concentration on her face.
Kayce wandered into the nearby aisles. “All I see are satchels and eye protection!” he exclaimed, glaring at a small pink purse with a bow affixed to the front. “That cannot possibly hold any proper scouting equipment. The tailor erred greatly with this one.”
Lia grabbed his arm. “Men’s clothes are this way.”
In the back of the store, the red walls and illuminated bullseye captured his attention more than the mannequins with jeans and plaid shirts.
“Can I practice my archery here?”
“I might,” she muttered, pulling jeans at random, holding them to his waist with a squint.
She handed him several pairs of dark-wash jeans and shirts before ushering him to the dressing room.
With the door shut between them, it was a relief to lean back and close her eyes, rubbing the creases between her brows.
“When do you think the Order will call this meeting?”
And the premature worry-lines returned.
“I don’t know,” she exhaled, glancing about to ensure there were no other customers eavesdropping. “Mom said she’d hear from Leo tonight.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar. You have that tone.”
She huffed again, crossing her arms tightly. “I just… I hate walking into a room, being the stupidest one there.”
“You aren’t stupid, Aurelia,” he admonished, clothing rustling from within the changing room. He muttered, almost beyond her hearing, “Why do these breeches have teeth?”
A smile wormed its way onto her lips. “It’s a zipper. Pull the tab.”
“The tab—” A quiet zip. “Ah, I see.”
She listened to the shuffling before answering. “I know I’m not, but it’s not a good feeling knowing there are people who know more about you than you know about yourself.”
“Tell me about it,” he said dryly. “Everyone reads about me in a book.”
The door opened. Lia stared at him, her body stilling.
Kayce stood in blue jeans that flared wide enough to accommodate his boots. The shirt he wore was simple cotton, long-sleeved and dark green. The material pulled taut over his chest.
His toned, practically chiseled chest. When did that happen?
She licked her lips before a quick shake of her head. Snap out of it. “I-I think you need a bigger size.”
He frowned, smoothing the shirt over his stomach. “It’s comfortable enough.”
“It looks a bit—” Her throat closed.
He glanced up through the hair that had tumbled into his face, and his infernal smile appeared. “A bit what?”
She glared, heat splotching over her cheeks. “Tight.”
He hummed, glancing in the mirror in a movement that flicked the long hair from his eyes. Eyes that seemed even more amber against the shirt’s pine-green hue.
A clerk entered to get more items to return to the racks. The dark-haired woman did a double take before turning on a smile. “Can I—”
“We’re fine,” Lia said through her teeth. A foreign irritation curled in her stomach while the woman continued to ogle Kayce. Lia pointedly cleared her throat. The woman frowned, but backed off to resume her task. They were not getting out of this store alive.
Ignoring Kayce’s raised brows, Lia ducked out to grab the next size up and kept her gaze trained on the floor when she thrust the garment at him. “Put this on.”
“I think your cat took residence in your mouth,” Kayce said before tugging the shirt over his head.
“You’re disgusting to use such an analogy.”
She thought he smiled wider, but she was too busy staring at his boots while he put on the new shirt. When she raised her gaze, the fluttering in her stomach had eased to a faint wobble. At least it was an improvement.
Kayce was quiet, still distracted by the newness of it all as they made their purchases and stuffed his Norenthian attire in the shopping bag. By then, clanging pots and pans echoed from the food court above. Kayce stopped in the middle of traffic, nose upraised.
“What in the skies and seas is that smell?” he asked, craning his neck to follow the scent.
Lia caught a faint whiff of teriyaki and sauteed vegetables, namely onions, that wafted down the nearby escalator. “Chinese.”
“We must find it,” he demanded.
Kayce led the way, his nose a guide while he almost tripped on the moving steps.
He didn’t seem to gather that they took him up, climbing until they reached the top.
Kayce was so set on finding the source that he missed the way several teenage girls looked him over from head to toe, giggles muffled in their prissy hands.
His ignorance warmed Lia’s chest as she followed close behind, a smile tugging at her lips—stupid!
When did she care how other girls looked at him?
Even in Norenth—no, there was too much going on.
She couldn’t analyze those implications with a ten-foot pole.
Lia had plenty of other problems demanding her focus. Priorities.
With the leftover money, they ended up with two orders of chicken lo mein, pork fried rice, and Lia’s personal favorite, General Tso’s chicken.
The high glass ceiling echoed dozens of conversations and various pans clanging from the food stalls.
And yet over the clamor, Lia could hear Kayce’s groan at the first bite of soy-infused goodness.
“This—” he tried to manage around a mouthful. “This needs to be on the next inaugural ball menu.”
Lia chuckled, picking at a piece with her chopsticks. “I think you would be hard-pressed to find a chef in Norenth who knows how to work a wok.”
“Many of them can walk. It’s the cooking that needs attention!” he said into his food, eyelids fluttering with it. “Aurelia, let it be written, so then it shall be done, and I will not have to go back without the miracle that is this ‘Chinese take-out’.”
She huffed an errant curl from her face, leaning back in her chair. She didn’t want to talk about him going back home. Not when he was here like she always dreamed.
Kayce reached for her hand and placed his on top of her own. “Humor me: what if there is a sphere where the world is entirely underwater? That there is a network of air bubbles with grand castles made of coral, and boats that work with the currents far faster than those of the air?”
“I hate to break it to you, but we call those submarines.”
His mouth dropped open. “It’s real here?”
“Not the coral castles, but the underwater boats are.” He was still holding her hand. Fighting a blush, Lia pulled hers back.
Kayce cracked a grin, seeming ignorant of her blush. “You need to bring that majesty to Norenth. I always wanted to know what the inside of those sea clouds looked like.”
Lia had wondered about doing that once, but she always got tied up in the mechanics of it. Her papa had also pondered the idea of a way to explore those seas in which sailors cast their nets. Perhaps in his various files he had written a way.
“I wonder if he put the proof there,” Lia mused. “The proof that got him killed.”
Kayce paused in his eating. “You mean he put the evidence somewhere in the spheres?”
“Where else would be safe from Seekers? They can’t travel there.
” It made sense, considering anywhere here was fair game.
Not even the roads were safe. “But he must have put it somewhere we could find. Maybe it’s in Norenth somewhere…
but maybe it’s here, especially if he didn’t know if I would Spark. ”
Lia blinked rapidly, moisture gathering in her eyes. That was the thing with grief; it was always there, and sometimes, it could swallow you at the most unexpected times—just when you thought you were out of its grasp, when you have moved beyond it.
Kayce stared at her intently, evidently sensing the shift in her mood. He reached for her again.
A boom rumbled through the food court.
Kayce stood, hand automatically drawn to his bare hip as he assessed the room. “Get under the table.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t argue, just—”
The food court’s windowed ceiling shattered.