Chapter 13 #2
“And now I don’t even know what happened to him.” Another round of fat tears fell, but this time, I brushed them away. “And on some level, I’m scared to know. What if his life was better without me? Or worse, what if it wasn’t?”
Cayden rested his chin on my shoulder and held me tight. “His life wasn’t better without you. No one’s life is better without you in it.”
My heart beat a little faster.
“My life in this castle is nothing like it was.” Cayden squeezed me.
“When I was little, I played with my brothers… and sister.” He almost whispered the last two words.
“But once I was chosen, I was much like you. I no longer played. I learned. No one tried to fix me, but everyone expected me to walk flawlessly in the Prophet’s light.
I expected myself to function with that same perfection.
And I did, for a long time.” Cayden let go of me. “Until I couldn’t anymore.”
His daughter. He still wouldn’t talk about her.
“So, you’re saying you also need a lobotomy?” I asked, pulling us out from the weight of our emotions.
Cayden stood, set me on my feet, and scowled. “No, old lady.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Original.”
“I’m saying I get it, Q. I expected perfection, and you expected failure, but both of us were trapped by a collective will dictating who we should be.” His scowl morphed into a hopeful smile. “Now we’re not. It doesn’t matter what we’ve escaped, only that we’re here now.”
My heart raced at his words and his simple acceptance.
He held out his hand. “Put your perfect little hand in mine so we can get your magic working. No one will trap either of us again. Especially not the Architect.”
I took a deep breath in and out before lifting my leg and pointing my foot as if that’s what he’d asked for.
Cayden rolled his eyes before slipping his arm around my waist and guiding me back to the jewelry box. We opened it together—a collection of small but exceptionally clear diamonds set in a necklace, earrings, and ring.
“I think those, combined with the metals we sorted, should be enough.” Cayden declared.
I raised an eyebrow. “Enough for what?”
A mischievous smile filled his face. “You need to be in constant contact with precious metals and gems. We both know someone who’s already an expert at that.
” Cayden sighed. “I was not pleased to find a Grierson so useful. Everly also has a way for you to dump the crazy amount of power that’s built up in your tiny body. ”
A massive smile split my face. “Cayden and Everly, sitting in a tree. K. I. S. S. I. N. G.”
A wad of what used to be a stuffed bunny nailed me in the forehead, and we both laughed.
“For the one drawn to me. — PH”
After reading the scrawl out loud, Everly handed it back to me and held out her hand.
I pulled the ancient teddy bear from my pocket-void, threading it through my many layers of clothing to hand it to her.
Everyone warned me winter would be cold, dark, wet, and miserable.
Today, I felt their warnings in my bones.
The pouring rain hammered the teddy bear’s black fake fur as it moved out of my cloak and under Everly’s lovely, curved umbrella. We didn’t stop walking.
“That’s weird, Quinn.” Everly handed the bear to Brit, who gave it to Hero to examine. Hero’s magic sank into the stuffed animal. The entire bear glowed a sinister blood red before returning to normal.
Hero handed the bear to Cayden. “It’s just an old toy.”
Cayden squished the thing like he was feeling it for weapons before returning it to me. “Who’s PH?”
“I think it’s Professor Holiday.” I swallowed. Somehow, he knew. And instead of confronting me, he sent a gift.
Everly stopped in her tracks, forcing all of us to come to a halt. “Yeah, that’s going to need a lot more explaining. But later.” Everly bounced and picked up her pace. “I can see my jeweler.”
The rain didn’t stop hammering down on us until we slid under a large, open canvas tent.
Even the side of Grady Hall and the steep, shrubby hill of the Western Defenses were blurry in the downpour.
A few people loitered. Brody was among them, but surrounded by my friends, I didn’t care.
I shoved thoughts of both him and PH aside and ran my fingers through my sparkling locks.
They drew a lot of attention, which I didn’t like so much, but I also loved my new hair. My new rainbowy-translucent ribbons glowed against my dark red curls. I looked like Rogue from X-Men, except the white was prismatic, and all of it curled in unruly directions.
And as long as I kept my skin in contact with the metals from my time, the hair stayed. I’d never realized how much I used my hands until I trapped one in my pocket.
Both of the enforcers guarding the tent waved at us.
It took me a moment to realize Rowan was waving to me and Joe to Brit.
I flushed and wiggled my fingers back at Rowan, who looked way too happy at the attention and wiggled his fingers just like I had mine.
So, I changed to keeping my fingers together and moving my wrist back and forth.
Rowan copied me, which made me giggle. His face lit up at my laughter.
I changed it again to make the Spock hand sign from Star Trek and mumbled, “Live long and prosper” under my breath because you can’t make that gesture without saying the sacred words.
Rowan tried to copy me, but his ring finger and pinky wouldn’t stick together.
“Omg, both of you stop,” Everly said exasperatedly. She grabbed my fingers and Brit’s wrist. “We’re getting your magic back. Stop, well, I want to say flirting, but I don’t even know what that was.”
My cheeks burned. I hadn’t had any training with Rowan since I figured out my magic, and I missed the guy more than I wanted to admit.
Cayden put an arm around my waist and pulled me close before kissing the side of my head and glaring at Rowan.
I sighed, feeling thoroughly peed on by my best friend, who’d become almost fanatically possessive since I figured out my magic.
Oh, but still wouldn’t kiss me. Not that I was bitter or anything.
“Uncle Berilo!” Everly hugged him. “I can’t believe you pulled this off, and so fast!
”Uncle Berilo was unmistakably related to the twins.
He had the same lean, well-proportioned build and darker, almost black, but still blood-red tinted hair buzzed close to his scalp.
Deep, weathered lines cut into his face and hands, some from age, but most I associated with hard work.
A young man no one acknowledged stood just to the side of the forge in a brown turtleneck shirt, which could have come out of a catalog from my time.
He rubbed the base of his neck and quickly looked away when he noticed my gaze.
“For you, niece,” Uncle Berilo said in a booming voice. “But only for you. I doubt I will get the power out of her I need even to make the piece.”
Brit crossed her arms, girl power mode activating, but Everly put a hand on her forearm. “Just see what happens.”
“Your materials are minimal but of good quality.” Uncle Berilo turned to me.
“We’ve agreed on the belly button tear, which will drop off your navel to stay in close contact with your skin.
Everly insists you pay in magic, and I would do anything for my niece.
” He gestured to his pop-up forge. “If you are ready.”
He directed me past his extended, low workspace to something that looked like a smoker from my time.
Instead of wood, a set of crystals sat at the bottom of the egg shape.
The technology was similar to that of the train.
It created an array of continuously moving magic through which massive amounts of heat were pumped into the forge so he could melt and manipulate whatever he needed.
“I thought magic could just: poof, tada, and jewelry.” I made a bursting motion with my free hand.
Everly giggled while Uncle Berilo took a deep breath. “Even those gifted with metals can’t manipulate everything at once. Making jewelry is an art, a true craft. Anyone can ‘poof’ whatever they want.”
Everly mouthed along with his next words without missing a single one.
“Quality takes skill, time, and a forge,” he said pointedly.
“I understand,” I said, desperately trying not to laugh at Everly. “Please, show me what to do.”
I’d gotten pretty good at making scrawls for my TB and was now an expert light and heat turner-on-er. Cayden said I was learning. Which wasn’t a compliment, but it wasn’t an insult either, so I assumed I was doing okay.
Uncle Berilo directed me to put my hand over a knob and focus my magic into it. On my first try, a scrawl appeared with the directions he’d just given me drawn on it. I sighed and flicked the translucent paper filled with prismatic rainbows, which made my magic disperse.
Uncle Berilo’s skepticism doubled. I tried again, this time really focusing on the smooth, warm metal knob under my fingers. The moment my will connected with my magic, it hurtled out of me.
There was no warning. Sudden energy ripped through me like projectile vomit, except it didn’t keep me from breathing; it just kept going.
The array of gems swirled with my rainbows.
It wasn’t my favorite sensation ever, but without the gut pain and shakes from food poisoning, it was just a sensation.
The array brightened.
I’d done that.
“You can stop now. That will cover you,” Uncle Berilo said.
I nodded and willed my magic to stop, but nothing happened.
“I said you can stop,” Uncle Berilo said again. “I can’t return magic to you.”
“I know.” I gritted my teeth.
My heart thumped hard in my chest. I imagined a stopper for my magic and visualized it going back on a wine bottle. The crystals turned brighter still, and my rainbows sparked between them. A crack split the air.
Uncle Berilo jumped up and down. “Cut it off! Stop, you’re going to blow up my forge!!”
A large, warm hand landed on my waist, and a slightly smaller one on my arm.