Chapter 7
Serafina
I lick my lips. They taste salty, and the ground beneath me moves as I move, cradling me, molding to me. Birds caw in the not so far off distance, and a noise I’ve never heard before sounds in a uniform rhythm, similar to thunder but different.
Where am I? What happened? I was sitting under the bridge waiting for Char…and then nothing.
Why can’t I remember?
I open my eyes, but I have to squint. I try to sit up, but my head throbs. The more I move, the more it hurts, so I stop moving and close my eyes again, welcoming the dark.
“Serafina,” an unknown voice calls. A voice that’s warm and deep, and I find myself humming at the sound, needing to hear it again. “Serafina.”
I open my eyes once more, only this time, something blocks the blinding sun, so I don’t have to squint.
It’s a man who’s standing in the way of the far too bright morning light. A man with dark brown eyes that have flecks of gold scattered throughout, making it look like sunlight itself is trapped inside.
The golden flakes seem to swirl, and I find myself tracking their movements, trying to predict where they’ll go next. It’s mesmerizing. Hypnotic, even, and I’m fairly certain he’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.
His sharp features frame a face that seems impossibly crafted. All hard lines, with a slightly stubbled jaw. His unruly black hair brushes against his forehead and curls slightly at the nape of his neck where a faint scar snakes along his skin.
My heart pounds in my chest.
He’s the one who saved me.
Saved me.
Suddenly, my memories come flooding back.
Norin and the others.
They were going to kill me. They almost did kill me.
That’s why my head aches. Are they still nearby?
My eyes dart in every direction, searching the area for signs of danger. But all I see are mounds of endless sand and an infinite pool of water.
Water!
My mouth instantly salivates, and I lunge for it. My hands and feet scramble beneath me, dragging my body to the closest source. My head screams at me with each movement.
“I wouldn’t drink that,” the stranger warns, his tone steady.
“Why? Want it all for yourself?” I snarl, glaring at him over my shoulder, and I’m not sure why I’m being so hostile. He just saved me, didn’t he?
But then, he smirks. Like I’ve said the funniest thing in the world, and his eyes slowly explore my face, stopping on each of my features. Almost like he’s looking for something, searching for something, but I couldn’t possibly guess what it is.
“I’m just trying to help.” He tilts his head, the movement sending strands of thick hair tumbling over his brows.
“By keeping me from water?”
“By keeping you from that water,” he says pointedly, and I turn my gaze away from him and back to the lake that seems to go on for miles.
“Why? What’s wrong with it?” I ask, and now my throat feels even drier because I want the water so, so badly.
“It’s ocean water.” The way he says it makes me feel stupid. Like I’m supposed to know what that means and why I can’t drink it.
Then, suddenly, I do.
I’ve read about ocean water. We studied it when preparing for the second trial.
Drinking it would lead to dehydration. It’s dangerous because you won’t realize it until it’s too late.
I’ve never actually seen an ocean before.
I’ve never seen anything outside of Village 28.
And the closest ocean is far from Village 28.
Where has he taken me, and how did we get here?
My pulse quickens, a rapid intensity I couldn’t possibly stop, but then he reaches out, trying to hand me a tin canteen. I eye him warily because I don’t know who this man is, and I have no idea what he wants from me.
“Here, drink this instead.”
I hesitate, but then my need for water feels all consuming. I take the canteen, and the moment the cool liquid hits my lips, I’m gulping. It’s gone in seconds.
I look up at him, and he’s watching me closely.
He isn’t as bulky as Char, but his shoulders are still broad, and his forearms are corded with muscle, his warm bronze skin—the same shade as the sun-kissed sand—stretches taut with every movement.
I hand him back his canteen.
“How’s your head?” he asks, crouching lower so we’re almost eye level. He sounds concerned. Like he actually cares, but that doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t know me, so why would he care?
But wait.
He called me Serafina when I was first awakening.
“How do you know my name?”
The muscle in his jaw tightens. He glances at his feet.
“That group of…animals…the ones who attacked you,” he says, the words strained, like they’re painful to say.
“They were all too eager to tell me who you are, Serafina Belva Octonova.” His eyes flicker up, meeting mine again, and they look angry.
So angry my breath catches in my throat, but then his expression softens.
“They said you were an evader. That you were fleeing your village to escape having to attend the third trial.”
My face feels hot because this is a very serious accusation. I mean, it’s completely true, but what will he do with this information? Will he turn me into the Enforcers? Drag me back to Village 28?
“But I know you weren’t evading,” he says slowly, the low rumble of his voice drawing my focus.
“Because evading comes with a death sentence. You were at the bridge because you were meeting me. That’s the only reason you were there.
And that’s what I told those men who were trying to kill you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
My mouth falls open because I do not understand. “But…why?” I finally manage to say. “Why did you save me?”
He blinks at me. Once. Twice. A third time. There’s so much curiosity rooted deep within those golden-brown eyes of his.
“Why wouldn’t I save you?”
“Because you don’t know me.”
“I may not know you. But I know you’re like me.”
Like me. Like me. How am I like him? And then I remember.
“The white light,” I say softly. “That was you?” He nods his head. “You’re an Essentari.” He nods again. An Essentari with the ability to control light, which makes him a Luminarie.
But still, that doesn’t explain why Norin and the others would actually listen to him, why they would actually care about what he had to say.
Why would the fact that I was meeting him, a stranger, someone not from Village 28, change anything?
But then, I allow myself to take in the attire of my rescuer.
He’s dressed in fine clothes. The finest clothes I’ve ever seen. A dark gray tunic tucked into smooth leather pants and sewn into the material right over his heart is a red crest. Three crossed torches to symbolize the trials.
I know that crest. Another thing we’re forced to memorize for the second trial. It’s the royal crest, and only those who live in the Imperial City are allowed to wear it.
“You’re an Elite,” I say, the disgust thick in my voice because it doesn’t matter that he saved me. It doesn’t matter that he’s an Essentari.
The Elite live lavishly while the rest of us struggle to survive. The Elite don’t have to worry about their children dying in the trials. It doesn’t matter that our planet is on the brink of extinction. With the blessing of the crown, they do as they please.
We suffer while they thrive.
I push myself off the ground, my head pounding as I do. Now on my feet, I stomp in the opposite direction.
“Where are you going?” he calls after me.
“Away from you!” I yell back, putting more and more space between us.
But then he’s in front of me, and I nearly collide into him.
I blink.
I turn my head.
He was just behind me.
I look up at him. He’s much taller than me, at least a foot. Something I didn’t realize until this very moment. But most men are taller than me. Most people are taller than me. When you’re only sixty inches and some change, it’s something you get used to.
“As fast as light moves, I move,” he explains. “It’s how I got us here to the edge of Velegoria.”
He studies me, eyes scanning my face before taking a step back.
I didn’t know Luminaries could do that. Move at the speed of light. But I suppose there’s a lot about the element wielders I don’t know. Which means there’s a lot about myself I don’t know.
The test we take during the second trial doesn’t include in-depth content related to the Essentari, so I never spent too much time learning about them.
“I can help you. Make sure you stay safe until your final trial.”
I stare at him for a long time.
“Why? Why would you do that?”
He sets his gaze on the horizon, on the emptiness that lies beyond the raging ocean.
“They were going to kill you, Serafina.” His voice is gravelly, his broad shoulders tense. “And they looked so…happy about it.” His hands flex then tighten into fists. “It just…it didn’t seem right.”
Because it’s not right. Not that he can possibly understand. I bet everyone in the Imperial City knows he’s a Luminarie. I bet they’ve known for as long as he has. But it never mattered. It never put him in any type of danger because those in the Imperial City don’t have to compete to survive.
They all get to survive.
“You deserve a chance,” he says when I don’t respond.
“A chance to compete in the final trial.” He turns.
“Come with me to the Imperial City. I’ll send word to the mayor of Village 28 that the royal family is insisting you stay there until trial day.
For your own safety. I’ll make sure you aren’t marked as an evader. ”
“Who are you?” I ask because people don’t just go out of their way to help others. At least not where I’m from. It’s how it’s always been, how it will always be.
“Does it really matter?” He crosses his arms, his tone nonchalant and beyond aggravating.
“Of course, it matters,” I fire back, and I swear I can feel my temple pulse.
A smile twitches his lips, but it doesn’t fully form. “My name is Jax.”
“All right, Jax, why would the royal family have any interest in helping me?”