26. Chapter Twenty-six
Though she had narrowly escaped Queen Mortier’s trap, Linorra knew that she was not yet safe for she had lost the key. Nevertheless, her bond with Syndeth remained true and brought her great comfort. This connection would be their strength in the coming days. With Syndeth’s help, Linorra vowed to find the key and her lost love, then they would fly out to meet their destiny.
Fitch and Falondeitric dragged Markinius back into the house, pulling him up beside me. Seleca had dug her thumb right through his forehead. Blood spurted from the wound disturbingly fast. He looked like someone had dumped a bucket of blood on his head. His face and chest were completely covered.
“Avelina, please, can you help him?” Falondeitric cried desperately. He was hysterical, sputtering and hyperventilating, but I couldn’t remember what to do about it. My head hurt, and my mind was full of helium.
Fitch reached for Falondeitric and held him like a weeping child. It was distracting, and I winced at the sound of it, but at least he didn’t throw himself on top of his brother.
It’s not over, Lina,Spirit thought. You’re still a warrior. You said it yourself, remember?
Spirit was always right, wasn’t she? No. This time she must be wrong. I wasn’t a warrior. I was just a self-deluded idealist. I doubted I would ever beat Seleca, but my own grief was no excuse for letting Markinius die. If I did that, then it needed to be a conscious, well-considered choice, not a result of numb indecision.
I shook myself, then reached over and grasped his hand, easily pushing into a Connectionlink. He was alive, but not for long. He had no thoughts at all. His forehead and upper skull had been crushed. The base of his brain was okay and kept his body alive for now, but blood gushed into cavities in the skull where it should not be. It would be mere moments before his soul drifted out of his body.
Holy shit. How strong do you have to be to crush someone’s skull with your bare hands?What the hell am I even doing here?
“Focus, Lina,” Spirit said.
Right, sorry.I sent Protection into Markinius at a steady rate, trying to regulate the flow so that it was constant but not overwhelmingly strong. I focused on his head injury, spreading my awareness into his brain but also reaching out for his mind.
He didn’t respond at first, but then I felt an abrupt halting of the hemorrhaging that was killing him. The artery in the front of his head that had burst steadily repaired itself, and the blood was reabsorbed. The immense swelling that had impaired his consciousness subsided, and his mind reemerged.
Wake up, Markinius, I thought to him gently. You’re going to be okay. Wake up. His eyes fluttered but didn’t open. Then he released a pornographic moan.
Falondeitric stared at his brother, eyes wide, then wiped the tears from his face. Fitch raised one eyebrow, glanced at me, then released the stunned Falondeitric and stood to get some distance from the embarrassing noise. Aaron knelt next to me, ready to pounce.
Markinius grasped my hand tightly and pulled it down toward his groin, at which point Aaron promptly intervened, ripping our hands apart. I hadn’t expected that response from Markinius since I had been fairly certain about my hypothesis on Protection. Healing was highly pleasurable but not necessarily sexual, and Markinius hadn’t done that the first time I’d healed him.
I sighed, giving up my effort to understand for now. There was still so much to learn. Every time I thought I had a handle on my reservoirs, I was promptly shown otherwise.
I let Aaron pull me into his arms. “We’ll get him back,” he whispered, holding me tight. I felt so defeated that I didn’t even respond. I just sniffed and wiped my eyes with my sleeve, drained of both energy and willpower.
Markinius mumbled something, but I couldn’t understand him.
“What, Markus?” Falondeitric asked, leaning over his brother. “What’d you say?”
Markinius opened his eyes, wiped his bloody face with his hand, then examined his red fingers and palm. “I’m in too,” he croaked. He sat up, but he didn’t look at me. He took a deep breath and let it out again as if bracing himself. “You’ve saved me twice now, Avelina Silva. I’m sorry I didn’t say it before. Thank you.”
I smiled. Well, that’s one way to gain an ally. I glanced at Falondeitric. He breathed easier, but his face was tense, like he still couldn’t believe his brother would be all right. His gaze shifted to mine, but his expression of awe made me uncomfortable, so I avoided it by focusing on Markus.
“We’re all friends here, Markus,” I said with a nervous laugh. “Call me Lina.” I hoped that meant I could call the Eboros brothers by their nicknames since their full names sounded needlessly pretentious. I wondered if that had anything to do with their social status in Neesee.
“Friends,” Markus repeated, glancing up at Aaron warily. “I’ve never been friends with a girl before.”
“Well, you can’t say that anymore, can you?” I observed. His comment struck me as strange. He must have gone to SONA like the rest of them. Hadn’t he made a single female friend the entire time? So odd. “A lot of things will change around here if we have our way. That’s the least of them.”
“What do you mean?” he asked doubtfully.
Aaron nodded at me. Go ahead.
Not that I needed his permission to speak, but I valued his judgment to guide me through the social sand traps of this strange world.
“No more burning down people’s houses, for one,” I said. “No more enslaving people with Projection. No more begging for a permit to fall in love, bond, and have children. No more illegal reservoirs or hiding who you are. And most of all, no more worshipping of murderers and thieves. I’m sure there will be more, but that’s a good start.”
“That all sounds great,” Markus said, “but so far Seleca’s beaten you pretty easily.”
“She’s had an advantage, it’s true,” Aaron said. “We need to find my mother. I think she’s the only one who would know how to counteract that advantage. To do that, Lina needs to learn how to use the Teleportation fragment. There are two books in the library that I know of that discuss it. In the meantime, we’ll take Jorin’s skiff up to the commercial docks and borrow a larger boat to sail up the coast to Neesee.”
“To save my brother,” Ellis said.
“Ours too,” said Shane.
“And the girl,” I added. “Seleca will know we’re coming.”
Aaron nodded. “Yes. We’ll figure it out. We need to save them.”
We probably didn’t need to save Ward from Aaron’s perspective, but he knew what it meant to me. I hugged him tightly.
“She took Axel’s body,” Ellis said. “Why would she do that?”
I looked up into Aaron’s face. Can we trust them?
I think it’s all or nothing, Aaron thought. We can’t do this alone.Trust may be the most dangerous thing we can do, but without it, we risk losing everything.
I gave him a small smile. “That does make sense. You are very wise.”
Aaron reflected my expression back at me, a heat growing in his eyes. That’s what I had said to him just before we slept together for the first time. I knew he remembered. Aaron never forgot anything. He lifted one hand to rub his thumb over my one dimple, a gesture I had learned signaled his desire for me. I wasn’t sure we’d be able to scratch that itch under the circumstances.
Suppressing a groan, I got to my feet and faced “the crew,” as I’d begun to think of them. “You all know that I have multiple greater reservoirs, but I haven’t told you what they are. Two are Noble and three are Unspeakable. Among those, the rarest is Conjuration.” I searched the crew’s expressions for signs of recognition. I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. Falon and Markus looked at each other meaningfully.
“Are you saying you talk to ghosts?” Falon asked doubtfully.
“You don’t believe me? Come here,” I demanded, exasperated. I held out my hand. Falon hesitated to meet my request, instead helping his brother up from the floor. His eyes flicked up to Aaron for an instant, then back down to me. I sighed, then stepped close to them both and grasped Falon’s forearm, connecting to him brusquely. He jumped at the sudden sensation and then stilled, gazing down at me intently. His boyish face relaxed to a bland expression, but through our link I could feel his keen interest. This was not a man accustomed to being grabbed by girls, and he liked it. What’s more, he knew I could feel how much he liked it, and he made no attempt to hide it. He inhaled slowly through his nose, taking in my scent.
Startled, I took a half step back but didn’t let go. I hadn’t meant to attract that kind of interest, I just wanted to prove a point, though I’d forgotten what that point was for the moment. I was surprised not only by Falon’s obvious attraction to me, but also by the boldness with which he conveyed this through my own Connection.
In a flash of insight, I realized I had misjudged his age. He was older than he looked, and as he was also more than two feet taller than me, I now felt like a silly child trying to get a grown-up’s attention by pulling on his sleeve. I averted my gaze, but I could feel my face flush. I swallowed, then I grabbed Markus’s forearm and said, “The rest, too, if you would. I want to show you all.”
Ellis, Fitch, and Shane shot nervous looks over my shoulder at Aaron, who must have nodded because they gathered in reluctantly to lay a finger on the top of my hand or wrist. I pushed Connection into the group with some effort. I hadn’t attempted such a wide link before. It was a bit like trying to blow out candles on opposite sides of a birthday cake without turning your head. It was harder than I thought, but I did it.
Aaron sighed heavily, then positioned himself closer behind me as if he might need to quickly pull me away again. I wasn’t sure if he noticed Falon’s reaction to my touch, but it was clear that he considered something like that a possibility from at least one of these men.
“Spirit,” I said, trying to shake off my anxiety. “Say hello to the crew.”
“Hello, crew!” Spirit yelled needlessly loud. Everyone jerked, tugging their hands away from me like they’d been burned. Aaron laughed, and Spirit joined him, giggling in her girly way.
“Jarring, isn’t it?” Aaron commented.
“Who the Rhoya was that?” Shane asked.
“That was my friend, Spirit. Seleca murdered her. Now she’s helping me. Us, I should say.”
Us, I repeated to myself. There’s an us now.
“You have a ghost following you around?” Markus asked, his face pinched.
“Yes,” I said, “but that’s not all you can do with Conjuration. If you have someone’s body, there’s a way to bring them back. I’m not sure how long the body is good for, if there’s a sort of expiration date, so to speak. God, I hope so.”
“The term über-zombie just took on new meaning,” Spirit commented, still giggling.
“Anyway,” I continued. “Seleca has Conjuration, too, so she can probably bring Axel back. You need Protection for that, which Seleca doesn’t have, but she can probably use someone else’s.” Ellis stilled, staring at me hard. The rest of the crew fell silent, their eyes wide.
“And,” Aaron added, “there’s someone else she might be able to bring back as well.”
“Anick,” Fitch guessed. His gravelly voice somehow mirrored the roughness I think we all felt. I nodded, surprised a little. Fitch didn’t say much, but what he did say was spot on.
“That’s why she took my brother?” Ellis asked. “To use his body?”
I nodded again. “So, you see now why we must fight them. If Anick comes back using Ward’s body, there will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.” I turned to Aaron. “Even Earth isn’t safe. We have no choice. We have to stop Seleca before it’s too late.”
Aaron and I stared at each other for a long moment. We took a breath together, and I turned around, keeping one of his arms around my shoulders. Let Falon take that as a clear message.
“You’ve all said you’re in,” Aaron said. “Can we count on you?” He looked at each of the men in turn, making eye contact with every face.
The Smite brothers nodded right away, as did Ellis. They all had family to rescue. The Eboros brothers glanced at each other first, took a breath, then nodded more reluctantly. They had less to gain and more to lose. Falon’s eyes met my own, then he looked at Aaron, then back at me, his eyes searching. One corner of his mouth twitched, and Spirit started laughing again.
“I think someone likes a challenge,” she commented aloud.
Seriously, Spirit. If you must comment, could you keep it between us? I stole a peek at Aaron, knowing he’d heard what Spirit had said. He returned the look, his brow furrowed. I rolled my eyes and shook my head in the universal gesture that meant never mind, then resolved not to meet Falon’s gaze again.
“Okay,” Aaron said. “We’ll leave in the morning, after we’ve gotten a few hours of sleep.”
“Why not now?” Ellis asked. “Ward can’t wait for us to take a nap.”
“Neither can Cobb,” added Shane.
Oh, interesting, Spirit thought to me. Here’s something we should keep between us.
What?
Cobb’s a woman who’s been disguised as a boy her whole life.
“Skiffing isn’t safe in this weather,” Aaron said, oblivious to my conversation with Spirit, “at least not in the dark. Besides, you’re all dead on your feet, especially Lina. You won’t be any good to anyone if you’re too exhausted to hold an oar.”
Why is she disguised?I asked Spirit.
I’m not sure. The Smite brothers aren’t thinking about why, they’re only worried that someone will find out while Cobb’s enthralled. That would significantly worsen her current situation. It’s a miracle that it hasn’t happened yet.
“And we need to make a basic plan, at the very least,” Fitch said sensibly. “I don’t want to botch the rescue.”
Aaron nodded. I could tell those two would get along nicely. “And if your brother took Ward back to Axel’s home,” Aaron added, “which is not definite, then we don’t know who could be there. We’ll most likely only get one chance to rescue them.”
Ellis and Shane both frowned but yielded to the logic of Aaron’s argument.
I’m guessing this is related to why there are so few girls around, Spirit thought.
Yeah, I agreed, I haven’t met one since I’ve been here.
Aaron turned to me. “Let’s show them the library,” he said, and thought to me, and go to bed.
Our bed, I thought back, yawning. “That sounds great.”
He smiled, taking my hand. Our bed, yes. But this? He squeezed my hand a little to indicate that he meant me. This is mine.
With that, he pulled me past the crew toward the stairs. I didn’t know if the timing of his declaration was significant, but I very carefully avoided Falon’s eyes as we passed him.
We told our new crew everything that night. Spirit volunteered to patrol the grounds while we educated them on the reality of what the Ministry actually was and what they wanted. Namely, power. That was always the motivation behind the Ministry”s plan to resurrect Anick, the so-called Holy Father. If they knew him like I do now, they would have run away screaming. He was not who they believed him to be. Violet Atticus knew, though. She knew everything.
Fitch, Shane, and Ellis looked through the forbidden books with reverence as if they were finally discovering the answers to a great mystery. Falon and Markus already had many of the same books in their own private library at the Eboros estate in Neesee.
We learned a great deal as well. Shane and Fitch were lesser transformers but had no greater reservoirs. The Eboros brothers were both greater transmuters, a family secret that Markus was loath to reveal. Transmutation ran in their family much like Evocation ran in Aaron’s family. Their father owned all the most important durran and fortite mines on Monash, but those mines didn’t produce nearly as much as they claimed. Instead, the family secretly specialized in transmuting stone into the two substances and then selling those products to the Metalworkers Guild and the Caravan Traders.
No wonder Markus and Falon acted like spoiled rich kids. That’s exactly what they were. Falon slightly less so, thanks to his mother’s influence. Spirit was right about that guy, though. He did love a challenge.
Ellis had been trapped in Projection the entire time Aaron was in hiding. He was lucky to be alive, let alone sane. If it hadn’t been for my method of healing using a blended Connection link with Conjuration and Protection, he probably wouldn’t have been. Even so, the Ellis who emerged from long-term captivity was not the same one Aaron knew. Aaron later told me this new version was more like a reflection of his friend and former roommate, one who looked the same but was empty behind that facade.
I think Ellis was trapped in a well of darkness. He was free of his Projection trance but not of the memories he made there. Not only had Ellis been made to hold girls down for Axel, he’d also been forced to attempt the impregnation himself on more than one occasion. Entranced, he’d had no ability to prevent those encounters, but he carried the guilt all the same.
He thought he might have a daughter, Willette. The girl was four years old and had auburn hair just like his. She lived with her mother in the Rhoyal Healers Guild. That revelation gave me a new perspective on his conflicted reaction to me force-healing him. I wonder sometimes if Ellis was hoping Axel would be resurrected just so he could kill him a second time.
Our plan was to pack up in the morning and pile into the skiff at first light. Hopefully, no one would be at Jorin’s commercial docks because those docks were there for the trading vessels that transported Jorin’s harvest up to the Neesee Harvest Festival. There, most of those goods would be sold or traded, minus the tithe to the Ministry. Shockingly, Jorin hadn’t planted this year, so there was no reason for those ships to come in, but Jorin kept his own sailboat there to transport the most valuable of his goods, the oardoo feathers.
Once we obtained the sailboat, it was on to Neesee, where we would split into two groups to search for Ward and Cobb, one group to Axel’s estate, and one to Seleca’s palace. It was ungodly late by the time we all lay down to sleep. Ellis crashed in Ward’s reading chair, looking so much like his brother that I could almost pretend Ward was there, safe and reading in his spot as always.
Falon and Markus fell asleep on the braided rug next to Ellis. Shane and Fitch migrated over to the secret room across the secret hallway and fell asleep in the secret bed. We didn’t tell them that it was Terik and Farrah’s secret sex bed.
Aaron was going to stay up to keep watch, but Spirit convinced him that she would be enough, and he and I fell asleep in our own secret sex bed. Nobody said a word about it.