Chapter 9 #3
Skye and Aiden gaped at both of us.
“Josefa showed me that my father and the Crusader visited the dungeons often, which means my father knew what was going on down there. They’d been imprisoned by my grandfather’s father, because…he wasn’t the Key to his Chain?”
“Who cares,” Aiden muttered. “Neither are you.”
“Apparently it was a big enough deal back in the day that it was worth imprisoning some of society’s most powerful affinates to keep it a secret,” Rafe went on, sounding irritated.
“How the hell did Shafer escape that fate?” Skye asked. “And you said the woman knew of Marion?”
“Yes,” Rafe murmured. “It seems we’ll need to speak with her soon, as well.”
“How did you find where we were?” I asked Skye. She’d used her affinity to freakishly turn my head so she could see my surroundings, but there’s no way she could’ve known what the dungeon labyrinth looked like.
Skye cleared her throat. “So…I ran into someone in the hallway. A student from the academy.”
I raised my eyebrows. It made sense for some of the cult children to have been at the gala, but–
“Anton?!” Aiden said, his voice a little shrill. “Oh, God. Carla?!”
Skye snorted while Zephyr groaned.
“No, it was…River, actually. River Mac. He showed me a map of the Palace,” Skye explained.
“Fuck,” Rafe growled. “Why hadn’t I thought of that? Don’t look at me, darling, I’m a disgrace of a Link.”
I rolled my eyes while Skye giggled.
“So River Mac is involved in the cult,” I said, ignoring Rafe’s simpering. “I suspected that from his sessions, but I wasn’t sure how deep it went.”
“His father is a Telepath,” Skye said quietly. “And…River thought telepathy was supposed to hurt.”
Rafe immediately glanced at me to gage my reaction, and I breathed out slowly.
Maybe River and I had something in common.
“But it didn’t hurt?” I clarified. “When you looked at the map.”
“I hope not,” Skye replied. “He didn’t realize I’d looked before I left. I didn’t exactly have time to chat.”
I pondered that while Aiden rubbed Skye’s shoulder.
“What else?” Zephyr asked. We all glanced at him, seeing how his gaze was trained on his sister. “You’re leaving something out.”
“There’s…ugh,” Skye rubbed her eyes. “The Crusader said he’d only been at the massacre site for his Ward, and then Lana mentioned that same title to me.”
“So? Baby…it’s Lana.” Aiden shrugged.
“What does that mean?” Zephyr almost snapped. “Why do you all keep talking about her like that?”
“She’s nuts,” I explained.
Zephyr shot me a downright venomous glare, only stopping when Skye sent a burst of air into his face.
“What’d she say?” Aiden asked, ignoring Zephyr.
“She told us the Ward took away her telepathy. Something about how she was strong enough to resist the Crusader, so they had to remove the telepathy.”
“She could resist telekinesis? She’s only an elemental Paralyzer,” I sputtered.
“You’re the one who had access to her file before her mental breakdown, she wasn’t listed as a Telepath?” Rafe asked.
I shook my head. “She was never listed as such, but now I guess it makes sense.”
“I don’t know what any of it meant, but…yeah.” Skye shrugged.
“Or if it means anything,” Rafe muttered. Zephyr and Skye sent him another glare. “But I suppose…I don’t know. Maybe there’s a new affinity out there we don’t know about.”
“An affinity for what? Absorbing affinities?” Aiden scoffed, but we all went quiet.
Our budding Chain knew better than to assume a strange affinity wasn’t real. We were an exceptional group of affinates, at the end of the day. A telekinetic who could teleport. A shadow wielder. A fire affinate who could harness electricity. An earth affinate who could shake the ground.
I actually seemed to be the odd one out, here. I had three affinities and couldn’t control any of them. Aiden would always rank above me for that reason. He had control over his fire, and even more control over the zappies, as he called them.
Meanwhile, my healing wasn’t as strong. My memory manipulation was shaky at best, putting people into a sort of coma for hours or days after I’d used it on them.
I rubbed my eyes.
Are you okay? Skye asked quickly.
Shocked, I realized she’d only been speaking to me.
Yeah, I replied, my voice small.
Skye’s lips turned up for a millisecond, but I caught the small smile before she grimaced.
“River also told me to stay away from the Crusader,” Skye said quietly. “He told me that the Crusader would take my affinity, and it would kill me.”
“That must be what he wants with you,” Rafe said, shaking his head. “This Crusader has an affinity for stealing affinities, and his plan is to take yours. Most likely to strengthen his own.”
“So what am I supposed to do?” Skye asked, her voice still quiet.
“We don’t know how he does it, so stay away from anyone we don’t trust. We don’t know who it is that might try to steal something from you, so no one touches you. Do you understand me?” Rafe said sternly.
Skye rolled her eyes, but a shadow pulled at a tendril of her hair, making her straighten up.
Rafe strode over to Skye, bending over so he was eye level with her. “No one touches you. Promise me. This man is dangerous. Your affinity in the wrong hands is dangerous.”
Skye pursed her lips, but Rafe went on.
“What if he takes your affinity? Kills you? Kills one of us? No good can come from this. Tell me you won’t let anyone except us or your friends touch you.”
Skye’s eyelashes fluttered, but she nodded. “Okay.”
Aiden and I made eye contact. We had our differences, but somehow, I knew we were having the same thought about our Key.
Skye had absolutely no intention of doing as she was told.