Chapter 32
Chapter
Thirty-Two
“Have you heard anything?” I asked the same question I'd been asking every day for the past month.
Sawyer shook his head, as usual, and I scowled at his lack of knowledge, as usual.
I groaned, grabbing my rucksack from my bed before storming out of my room. I hadn't heard anything from Sebastian since he left. Not even a letter. Pia assured me that writing a letter was not the number one priority when stationed at an outpost fighting a battle, but whatever.
King Hawthorne had postponed our meetings until further notice. He had been too preoccupied dealing with the Draemor and Craterra issue to have time to bicker with me. I was not complaining. The less I had to see that man, the better.
A week after Sebastian left, King Hawthorne announced to the kingdom that Draemornian troops were seen moving in on Craterra, which confirmed his rejection of Beaumont’s final offer.
It had been a month, and no official declaration of war had been made yet.
I could only assume that meant good news out of Craterra, and that maybe our army was able to keep the Draemornian soldiers at bay.
The hope was to stop Craterra from becoming a pile of ruins, and destroy enough of the Draemornian troops in the process that King Beaumont rescinded his threats against Caelestis.
Thanks to King Hawthorne’s orders placed on anyone gifted, Caelestis’ army was much stronger and larger than it was two decades ago, so we had a good chance at being successful.
I walked alongside Sawyer while he escorted me to the academy for my classes.
He’d been keeping incredibly close tabs on me due to Sebastian’s orders.
I didn’t mind, though. What I heard in the archives that night frightened me, and for the first time, I felt that the extra protection was truly needed.
The air had warmed with spring, making a cloak unnecessary on most days. The sun shone with the promise of the ocean being ready to divulge in soon. Although I had trouble being excited with everything that's been going on.
“Not to be dramatic,” I started.
Sawyer huffed a laugh. “Oh right, because Maevey Baby is never dramatic.”
I punched him in the arm. Hard.
“I think I’m going through the stages of grief.”
“By the way you just hit Sawyer, I'm going to guess you're in the anger stage right now?” Pia caught up with us, hugging me from behind as we walked.
Sawyer rubbed his arm. “You don't have to guess about that,” he mumbled.
Pia moved to my side, taking my hand in hers and swinging our arms as we trailed through the freshly grown grass. She beamed from ear to ear as she pointed her face towards the sun.
“What are you so happy about?” I raised an eyebrow of suspicion.
“Oh nothing,” she hummed, her smile widening even more.
“Tell me. I need some happy news so I can move onto the bargaining stage.”
She gave in too easily. “Okay fine. Since you asked, Kohen and I just had the absolute most mind blowing—”
Sawyer flashed an expression of disgust and cut her off, “I don't want to hear this.” He quickened his pace, his leather pants reflecting the sun as he moved to walk in front of us.
I chuckled. Sometimes I forgot that Sawyer had known Pia almost as long as he'd known Sebastian. She was like a sister to him.
Pia rolled her eyes. “Anyways, best sex ever.”
“I should have known that's what you would say. You tell me this every day, I swear.”
When I had told her about Sebastian and I finally getting together, she was ecstatic, to say the least. I could only imagine what she would have said if I told her the details of what we did in the archives.
I bit my lip to suppress my smile as I remembered that night. The way he kissed me. The spontaneity. The feel of his mouth and tongue as it licked all over my body.
Pia noticed the color of my cheeks change. “You have a secret.”
I slowed my walk a little to make sure Sawyer couldn't hear us. I started to tell her about the archives, but my nostalgia was soon replaced by the reminder that he was not here, and I stopped myself.
A few days.
We only had a few days of truly being together before he was whisked away from me.
Pia noticed my sudden change of mood and squeezed my hand in hers. “He’s going to be okay. He's a strong fighter,” she assured me.
“Yeah, I'm sure he's fine,” I said. But I was not.
I’d been here before.
I glanced around at the familiar sight of human carcasses, completely bled out and shattered into bits of bones, lying in their final resting place on the cobblestone patio of the courtyard.
The hairs on my arms stood up as the temperature dropped in response to the heavy fog rolling in, covering the cadavers just as it had before. I reeled in a deep breath, steadying myself to continue my journey to nowhere.
The air was plastered with the stench of mortal rot. It bit at my nose, a constant reminder that I was not truly alone.
Wind lashed around me, tangling my hair into knots. Some of it stuck to my forehead, caked with the blood of myself and others. I walked around the edge of the patio, familiarizing myself with the eight figures of stone that surrounded me. They had me cornered, and I saw no exit through the haze.
Flames burned through the mist covering my feet, responsible for turning some poor soul to ashes. I stood centered in the wreckage of death, waiting for a voice to call to me, just as she had before.
“Come to me,” the euphonious voice sang, as if she knew I was expecting her—perhaps maybe she did.
The hum drew me in, and I halted in front of Blythe, wiping my face as my own blood dripped into my eye. “I’m here,” I announced to the goddess made of stone.
Her hand broke out of the mist, the same as before. This time, however, the stone severed from her fingers, crackling off in chunks as she reached out for me. I accepted her outstretched hand, my gemstones sparking when our skin collided.
“Why am I back here?”
Her voice was hushed as she spoke to me. “I have a message for you.” She tightened her grip, pulling me closer. I couldn't see anything but her hand and a silver-blue eye watching me through the mist.
“What is it?”
“The prophecy will soon become a reality, and you must be prepared for when it does.”
I gulped. She meant that I should be preparing for my death.
“That is not what I'm referring to.”
Did she just read my mind?
“I am the Goddess of the Mind and Stars,” she stated. “Are you so surprised that I know your thoughts?”
A shuddered, “Woah,” escaped my chest.
Wait. Did she say mind and stars?
“There is no time to explain that now, but listen to me closely, Maeve.” The eyeball twisted and churned through the mist, watching me while its owner spoke.
“There's a book—you've seen it before, in a classroom, from what I can see.”
I racked my brain, trying to decipher what she referred to. “Yes. Professor Stoll showed me a manuscript when I first discovered my powers.” I recalled the large textbook he had shown me back in the fall. “The Gods and Goddesses of Life,” I said the title back to her.
“He did not show you enough of it.”
Before I could ask what she meant by that, I was transported out of my dream state and sitting straight up in my bed, screaming.
I patted the sheets by my sides, trying to familiarize myself with my surroundings. I drew in a few shaky breaths, blowing them out even more shuddered.
My door burst open, startling me even further.
Sawyer ran in, his eyes bulging. “What's wrong?” he panted.
I clutched my blanket, holding it against my stomach. “Nothing. I—”
“I heard you screaming when I left Kohen's room. Is someone in here?” Sawyer drew his dagger and started parading around my room, checking behind my curtains and in my washroom.
“What? No. I just had a bad dream.”
“Oh.” He dropped his blade, sheathing it against his thigh.
“Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.”
“You probably scared the whole floor. You got some strong vocal cords.” Sawyer moved towards my bed, slumping to the bottom of my mattress. “What was your dream about?”
“I don’t remember.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You're dripping sweat and still breathing heavily. You remember.”
I pulled my blanket up higher to hide my chest. “It was just a dream.”
“Uh huh,” Sawyer mumbled in a tone that said he didn't believe me. He laid the back of his hand against my forehead. “You're burning up,” he said when he pulled it away, placing it instead around my wrist.
I gulped and forced a small grin. “Just a bit under the weather, I guess.”
His fingers unfurled as Sawyer rose to crack my window open, allowing some fresh air into the room. “Alright, well if you need me, you know where to find me.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
He was halfway out the door when I stopped him. “Actually, would you mind just staying until I fall asleep?” To be completely blunt, the revisitation of my nightmare had my anxiety at one level below panic.
“Of course.” Sawyer settled himself into my armchair, and when I woke up in the morning, he was gone.
After my wielding session that evening, I stopped by Professor Stoll’s office, planning to break in. Unfortunately, I had to take Sawyer with me as he refused to let me walk back to my room by myself.
Stoll usually left the door to his classroom open, but tonight, of all nights, it was closed and locked.
“What are we doing here?” Sawyer asked as I fidgeted with the lock.
I held a finger up to my mouth, shushing him as I twisted and turned the knob. A heavy groan escaped my lips when I realized it was not going to work.
“Move over.” Sawyer waved me away.
He used his magic to create a powerful stream of water from his fingers. The liquid leaked into the knob, and the pressure of it cracked the lock. Sawyer turned the handle and pulled the door open.
I guess having him here turned out to be pretty useful.
I made straight for Stoll’s bookcase, rummaging through it. Sawyer walked up behind me, observing as I scanned my eyes over the bindings, in search of the familiar text.