Chapter 11
River
Little brook. You must wake up. I must speak with you.
I groaned, rolling over. I needed more sleep. I was exhausted.
Wake up. I must speak with you before they return.
My eyes squinted open, and I rolled to the edge of the bed, checking the time on my phone. What the hell? It was four in the morning.
I rolled back over, ready to go back to sleep. Why had I even woken up?
River. WAKE UP.
I practically jumped out of my skin.
Was that…
Come to me. Now!
I shook my head, pulling a hoodie over my t-shirt and stuffing my bare feet into some boots as my heart pounded. At the last minute, I looked outside, seeing no one near the small temple.
I teleported to some trees behind the building, then made my way around the front. I was a wanderer, so no one would react to seeing me out in the snow in the dead of night.
I didn’t knock on the door, I simply pushed my way inside.
“Ah, there you are. You sleep like the dead. Do you ever dream?”
The Seer was in a different corner than last time. She sat on her knees with several candles of varying sizes laid out in front of her in a strange pattern.
“I have nightmares sometimes,” I replied, my tone more irritated than I’d intended.
“Figures,” the old woman muttered, leaning forward and squinting at a larger candle. “Why didn’t you just teleport inside?”
I suddenly felt as if the floor fell out from under me. I gaped at her, my jaw working as I tried and failed to come up with something to say.
“It doesn’t like you, does it?” The Seer waved her hand as the teleportation affinity needled at my fingertips.
“No matter. Your secrets are safe with me. I knew you’d find your way to each other eventually.
” I blinked at her. She blinked at me, then pointed into the ceiling.
“The stars,” she said. “Remember, beck?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I whispered, trying to remain calm. “Why did you wake me?”
“Ah, right. The Crusader will return with bad news.” The Seer shook her head, making her stringy hair sway. “He’s going to hurt someone.”
“Okay,” I dragged out the word. “You say that like he doesn’t do that on the daily.”
The Seer rolled her eyes, then froze, staring down at a larger candle. “Change is in the wind. In the trees. In the earth.” She blinked at the floorboards. “Yes, change is coming. Good or bad? Probably both.”
“You woke me up for this,” I said in disbelief, then spun in a circle while scrubbing my hands down my face. “I’ve barely been sleeping!”
“Yes, I know. Loss plagues you. Grief and sorrow. The affinity, too. Don’t use it up, though, you’ll need it one day.
One day soon, when danger surrounds you.
You’re in for some pain, I’m afraid.” She flicked her fingers, putting out several candles, then frowning.
“Oh…yes, much sooner than I thought. Don’t use it up. ”
“What do you want from me?” I almost snapped. “I’m going to have a mental episode if I can’t sleep soon.”
“I don’t sleep and I’m fine,” the Seer tapped her chin as she looked into the ceiling. “No, there will be no mental breakdowns for you, sweet boy. The Crusader will ask you to take more affinities soon, but it will not work. Do you understand?”
“How am I supposed to transfer the telekinesis again, then?” I was chewing so hard at my thumb it began to bleed. I healed it quickly, then stuffed my hands into my hoodie pocket. “If I can’t figure that out, he’s going to kill me.”
“I see why that’s a concern for you,” she said gravely. “But you will figure it out. You will figure it out, and he will not kill you. I know this to be true.” She pointed up.
“Right, right. The stars.” I turned toward the door.
“Do not react when summoned,” she called after me. “He is onto you, River. The time is coming soon to stop running.”
I almost slammed the door behind me, but instead I only shook my head as I trudged back to the lodge.
Stupid.
This was why I’d stopped visiting the Seer. She was irritating and confusing for adults, but she’d been wildly unsettling when I was a child, and I’d already been traumatized enough before having to deal with her.
I climbed back into bed, pissed I’d let her unsettle me again.
We need to talk.
I woke up to a searing pain behind my eyes, so intense that I grunted. I thought I’d imagined Avery’s voice in my sleep, but then it came again.
River, come to my office. It’s urgent.
I sat up, swaying like a zombie before I got off the bed. I stumbled around the room, pulling on whatever clothes I could find before stalking out into the hall, thankful I’d worn thick socks to bed. My visit to the Seer almost felt like a dream.
The lodge was eerily dark and quiet. Outside, a natural storm had just passed, leaving a pleasant drizzle. It would’ve been a peaceful late morning if not for my second rude awakening.
Avery’s office was the only room with a light on, the glow coming from the crack beneath the door.
I didn’t bother knocking, pushing inside and pausing when I realized there were a lot of people here. Avery sat at his desk with Gina beside him. All three of Lena Iykos’ Links were here, looking…
Oh.
Gina jumped up from where she sat perched on the edge of the desk. “River,” she breathed. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I replied, then decided I had to give her something otherwise she’d never stop asking. “Tired. What’s going on?”
“My Key is…dead,” Landon’s dad, the fire affinate, ground out.
“Okay…” I trailed off, looking to Avery, who actually seemed like he wanted to laugh at my reaction.
“Our daughter let the Phantom into our home. She and the fucking Prince snatched Lena yesterday morning, and then her body was put back in our bed. Her mutilated–” He cut off abruptly, stifling a sob.
“How do you know it was the Phantom?” I asked.
Avery’s gaze darted to me.
“I saw her with my own eyes,” the fire affinate snapped. “Lana let her right into our fucking bedroom!”
Thunder rolled outside as Gina rounded on him. “Do not. Raise. Your voice. At him.”
The fire affinate buried his face in his hands while the Paralyzer bowed his head slightly. “Please. Our Key is gone. We’re all fighting our grief.”
Hmm. I wasn’t so sure about that, actually. Only the Telepath seemed to be struggling as he should. He appeared catatonic, staring into space. He hadn’t even reacted to his Link-mate’s raised voice.
Then again…what did I know?
The rain outside increased in intensity, but no more thunder followed. Avery looked relieved.
“So who killed Lena?” I asked.
“The Phantom,” the Paralyzer whispered.
“But how do you know?” I pushed. Avery only watched.
The Paralyzer began to weep. “She…she squeezed her.”
I sat, slumped in my chair, staring into the ceiling. Avery and Gina had spent the last two hours arguing over the fate of the Iykos Chain, and Gina had won.
Which meant they would live.
Avery paced behind his desk, because as much as he pretended to be the Big Bad Wolf, he was always nervous for confrontations. It’d never made sense to me, since he was the one constantly starting said confrontations. It was like he had a split personality.
I sat up a little straighter at that thought, but then there was a knock at the door. Avery’s silver eyes met mine, and he straightened his suit coat before moving behind me.
What remained of the Iykos Chain filed into the office, standing at attention while Gina leaned against the window, watching the clouds go by. Avery unbuttoned his suit coat before taking a seat in his fancy leather chair, then clasped his hands.
“Now that we’re all calmed down, tell me everything,” he said.
“We woke to the Phantom in our room,” Landon’s dad explained. “My daughter was with her, as was the Prince. We were…knocked out somehow before we could react.”
“She’s a Telepath?” Avery asked, almost excitedly.
The Paralyzer shook his head. “I’m…I can’t be sure.”
Avery frowned. “So why didn’t you use your fire affinity? The Prince is notoriously terrified of fire, or so I’ve heard.”
My blood ran cold. I slowly turned to look at Avery, who was carefully ignoring my stare.
The Prince was afraid of fire. That’s why Avery had wanted me to set that fire at the Palace. I stared at my hands while Landon’s dad continued.
“Lana disabled me,” he whispered. “The Prince…” he swallowed thickly, “The shadows are…unsettling.”
Avery hummed to himself. “I’ve yet to see them in action. That would be quite the affinity for our collection.”
Sure, except Avery had fumbled his attempt to collect the Prince when Lucille went rogue and decided to try killing her son before the academy attack. I still wasn’t sure why she’d done that.
“You Iykos have been so disappointing,” Avery sighed. “First, Lana can barely handle a transfer. Then, Landon fails at seducing the Phantom. Now this...” Avery rubbed his eyes. “I think I’ve had enough.”
“Holy Crusader,” Landon’s dad nearly jumped. “Please. Give us one more chance. We can be of use. Lana has one more affinity.”
My heart pounded.
No fucking way.
“She thinks I don’t know, but there was one time–”
“Give me a break,” I said, cutting him off. “I knew Lana pretty well when we were younger. If this other affinity existed, I’d have known.”
“You don’t know everything, boy,” Landon’s dad snapped.
Gina scoffed, reminding us she was here. “Lena was a sorry excuse for an affinate. If this hadn’t happened, we’d have lost the lot of you to her insanity in a few years anyway.”
“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” The Paralyzer snarled. “What happened to your Links again? Their father was a drunk, right?”
The room flashed, and a crack of thunder rang out so loud, it shook the walls. Outside, a tree lit up and then toppled to the ground, burned from a lightning strike.
The room went dead silent.
And then Avery chuckled.
“Wow. And here I was, ready to give you all another chance.”
I let out a shaky breath, glancing at Gina. She hadn’t even moved from her place against the window. She stared through the foggy glass, inspecting the downed tree she’d struck.
It was a little too close to the lodge for my comfort, but Avery hadn’t reacted, so she was in the clear.
“As I said, I’ve had enough of this,” Avery went on. “Take what you can from them, Maelstrom. They’ll be dead by morning.”
I winced.
“No,” the fire affinate said quickly. “No, we’re sorry. We can fix this. We’ll…we’ll…”
“Suicide, I suspect,” Avery said, nodding. “There’s a lot of trees around here. They’d probably be found hanging tomorrow morning.”
I winced again as the Iykos men all stood rigidly, quivering with both fear and anger. I placed my hand on each of their arms, one at a time, just long enough to absorb what I could.
The new affinities settled into me, vibrating with confusion. Fire I didn’t need. A weak Paralyzer. A weak Sensor, but…but there was something else there. The faintest bit of Truth. That one would probably be useful.
The remainder of the Iykos Chain staggered out the door without another word, the three men barely able to stand after I’d taken most of their affinities.
I watched Jones go into the woods the next morning, a huge hunting knife on his hip.
I refused to burn them, but Harper Brandt agreed. There wasn’t even an official service. Avery had Jones toss the ashes down a ravine, like trash.
The rest of the compound continued on as if nothing had happened.
It was just another day.