Chapter 5
River
I breathed out heavily, striding through the snow as quickly as possible without drawing attention.
It was a little pointless. Only two people drew more attention in this place than me, and they were, thankfully, back in the lodge. Gina had gone back ahead of me at my own suggestion. She’d given me a wink and a promise she’d ‘talk’ to Avery for me.
My breath fogged in front of me, and my chest tightened from the cold.
I really. Hated. The cold.
I awkwardly knocked on the temple door, shifting back and forth nervously. I knocked a second and third time, then groaned before pushing inside.
My vision took a second to adjust to the near-darkness inside the small room. The silhouette of the Seer turned toward me, then turned back to her small round table.
“There you are, Maelstrom. I was expecting you, though…today is a surprise.”
I furrowed my brow.
The Seer sat cross-legged on the ground, hands clasped in front of her face with both pointer fingers pointing up. She stared at a lone candle on the table as it dripped hot wax onto a very old-looking doily.
I had no idea where this woman got these things from. Avery never gave her anything. Even the table he’d smashed only days before had somehow been repaired.
I bounced from foot to foot, feeling anxious now that I couldn’t see outside.
“He’s going to make me kill my friend,” I said.
“I know.”
I pulled at my hair. “What am I supposed to do?”
“There’s really only two options,” she said, then blew out the candle. “Let her die, or save her.”
I groaned.
“Which path will you follow?” She rubbed at her chin, then snapped, lighting up the candle once more.
I…didn’t know she had a fire affinity.
Did Avery know? He should probably know.
…I wasn’t going to tell him.
“The river splits into two,” she said, waving a hand and lighting another candle I hadn’t seen. “One side leads to destruction. The other to true happiness. Which one is which? Hard to say. Hard to know. The waters are nearly the same, both silver, only one is truly divine.”
I stared at her, a slight throb starting at the back of my skull.
“You know why it hurts, don’t you dear beck?”
“Because this is annoying?” I hissed.
The Seer turned and stared at me. Or…in my direction.
I breathed out heavily. “I haven’t taken my migraine medicine in a while.”
The Seer grinned. “I know, and what perfect timing. You need to be fully awake for what’s to come.”
I gaped at her.
She nodded. “Anyway, it hurts because you’re frustrated, which is good. Focus on your emotions, they will not lead you astray. Any decision you make will be the correct one, for it was already written in the stars.” She looked up into the ceiling. “They already know how you will act.”
I shook myself out of my shock quickly. “Well what are the stars saying? I need to do something soon.” My skin began to crawl. I had no idea when they’d get to Lana. They could be there now while I was here listening to riddles.
“Hmm, wait a minute,” the Seer squinted at a candle by the door. “Ah…yes, someone will die tomorrow.”
My heart leapt. “Lana?”
“Hard to say. Hard to know.” The Seer flicked her hand toward the door. “Best get to it. Lana will not survive if you do not help her soon.”
Then she turned, dismissing me as she muttered to herself, staring into more candles.
I left the temple more confused than when I went in, but my decision was made. I’d already had my spark. I just needed to keep fanning the small flames.
The Iykos Chain had moved out of the compound when Landon died, but unsurprisingly, they’d left Lana. And since she was a lone woman, she was moved into what was essentially a broom closet with an attached bathroom.
The dingy cabin came into view, and I breathed out a sigh of relief when I saw no one standing outside. I pounded up the steps, loud enough to announce my presence, then shoved myself inside…because there were no locks on these doors.
Lana Iykos shriek-gasped, clutching a towel to her body. I held out my hand, stealing her voice before she could scream and melt my brain while I turned to shut and lock the door.
I quickly peered through the blinds, making sure no one had seen me, then pulled the curtain for more privacy. Thankfully, they were blackout, since Lana usually slept through the day like a vampire.
Lana’s tiny fists pounded on my back, and I whirled around to see she’d pulled on a t-shirt and yoga pants. Her damp hair was down, and she’d hastily combed her bangs over her forehead like I didn’t know what it looked like under there.
“If you scream, I’m going to punch you in the tit,” I warned. The last time she’d screamed at me and Landon, we’d been nauseous for nearly two weeks. I didn’t have time for that right now.
Lana took a deep breath, then squeezed her eyes shut, straining like she was screaming as loud as humanly possible, though there was no sound.
Silencing her had been the right call. The woman would’ve killed me out of spite.
“Are you done?” I snapped.
Lana crossed her arms, her glare fiery enough to melt the snow outside. She nodded. I gave her back her voice, and she took a step back.
“What the fuck?” she demanded.
I peeked out through the curtains again, thankful the coast was still clear.
The last thing I needed was a rumor going around that I was fucking Lana. Not only would that be annoying as hell, but Avery wouldn’t approve, and Gina…
We didn’t need a tornado.
“I need to talk to you,” I murmured as I turned back to her.
Lana’s eyes widened, because she was already jumping to assumptions. “River, I…uh…I don’t know if–”
“Ugh, stop,” I almost gagged. “No one’s trying to hookup with you, Lana. Besides, I’m…asexual.”
“I–…you are?” Lana’s face was bright red when I turned from double checking the door lock, and I almost felt bad for sounding so disgusted.
Lana wasn’t ugly, she just…okay, she was ugly to me.
She was cuter before she cut her bangs, but she probably thought I was cuter before I made her forehead split open, so… there was that.
“I don’t know. Maybe,” I answered vaguely, because I wasn’t even sure anymore.
Lana crossed her arms to hide how she was shaking, because she was a little afraid of me. Because of the…forehead splitting. “What do you want?”
I stared at her for a moment.
I had no idea how she was going to react. Lana was barely sane on a good day, and I’d been avoiding her since Landon died. She’d been such a zombie I’d almost wished Avery would send her into another psychosis so she didn’t have to be lucid.
“What?” Her face grew even more red. She fiddled with her bangs like it was a nervous tic, then she almost stomped her foot. “If you’re going to kill me, just fucking do it already. I can’t stand this shit.”
Okay…out of everything I thought she’d say, that was not what I’d expected. I snorted, and then I actually barked a laugh.
Lana and I stared at each other for a moment, stunned, and then she chuckled nervously. I laughed again, covering my face while Lana giggled across from me. It reminded me of how cool she’d been at one point, before me and Landon became teenagers and got sick of her.
“I’m not going to kill you,” I said finally.
Lana blinked at me. “I’m not sure how to feel about that,” she said. “What do you want?”
I cleared my throat to stifle another chuckle. “Don’t freak out, please. But your mom was just chatting with Avery about sacrificing you.”
Lana’s open expression changed to one of horror as the words sank in.
“What?!” she whispered hoarsely.
“Guess you don’t really wanna die then,” I muttered.
“River,” Lana growled. “What happened? Tell me everything.”
“First, she was offering your Shield affinity–”
“I do not have a Shield affinity!” Lana cried.
I continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “And then she was suggesting they just pull the paralyzing affinity.”
I still didn’t understand what I’d witnessed. Avery didn’t need a paralyzing affinity. I’d taken some of Lana’s before, and it really didn’t do much. Blocking elemental affinities really wasn’t necessary unless we were up against a fire affinate strong enough to melt glass.
Dread was growing in my stomach. I knew of one fire affinate capable of such a thing, and unfortunately for all of us, her last name was Brandt.
“They don’t know about the other affinity, right?” I asked. “I haven’t told anyone, ever.”
“No,” Lana said, shaking her head. Her eyes were glassy, though she hadn’t started crying yet. “No one knew except you and Landon. He told me not to tell anyone. Why can’t they just have a Sensor test me?”
“The Palace Sensors are dead,” I said flatly. I looked down at my hands, almost wincing from how the teleportation affinity needled at me again. “Avery had me kill them.”
Lana’s jaw dropped, then she covered her mouth and turned away sharply, tears finally falling.
I wanted to tell Lana what’d happened, how I’d set the fire and hadn’t realized the Prince and his friend –my fucking counselor– were down there.
Avery had never lied to get me to kill someone before, so I was beginning to think he hadn’t even known anyone was down there.
He especially wasn’t aware that the Prince and his friend had probably spoken to at least one of the Sensors before the fire forced them to flee.
The Prince’s friend.
My counselor.
That, and the Seer’s recent comments were making me uneasy.
Why had Avery made me set the fire before he supposedly realized what Alex was up to?
Lana was watching me carefully, and as I opened my mouth to explain, she shook her head. “Don’t tell me,” she said quickly. “I can’t hide it.”
I exhaled harshly, but nodded. Lana’s mind was too broken. I still didn’t understand how her mother had gone from almost dying to keep her alive, to now offering her up on a platter, especially because it hadn’t been an order.
The air around this place was weird. There was no other explanation.
Lana scrubbed a hand down her face, then whispered, “Who can help us?”
My first instinct was to be offended, because what the hell was I doing? But she had a point. We were fucked if we stayed in this place, but there wasn’t really a way out.
“I think you should go home. Hide in the manor for now. I’ll try to figure something out.”
Lana’s eyebrows disappeared behind her stringy bangs. “And what about you? They’ll know you told me.”
I couldn’t tell her Earl had been lying for me for some reason, so I only gave her a pointed look. “They won’t know.”
Lana nodded, still trusting me like we were kids again, then glanced at the tiny chest holding her belongings. “Guess I better pack.”
“I’ll just wait with you,” I said, flopping onto the bed and pulling out my phone. “I’ll take you home when you’re ready.”
Lana gave me another curious glance, but only shrugged, then began to pack a bag.
For the first time, the teleportation affinity seemed to calm, almost relaxing in my arms, like it was happy it was about to be used.