Chapter 22
twenty-two
. . .
Ever
The full moon was a time for celebration in Kirrasia.
A time for all of us to be at our strongest and enjoy what it afforded.
Being so new to this world Lyle threw me into, it didn’t mean much to me before.
But for all the faults, for all the pain of being kept in the dark, there were parts of being Kirrian I was looking forward to.
The full moon, the new moon, especially. Feeling connected to something. Enjoying something bigger than me alone. Learning more histories, learning about the Orders.
But the Nehandun camp wasn’t the same as living in the training residence, The Court, or within the Orders.
In fact, these few days had given me the impression that this camp was just a resting point, perhaps with the main rallying point or settlement somewhere else. Or, perhaps I’d spent too much time alone strategising over something I have no real knowledge of.
This morning, there were no cheers or bubbles of conversation. It was like the camp had emptied. That made me as anxious as when I first woke up on the floor back home after having another series of visions.
“Where is everyone?” I ask the Usher as he unlocks the gate to my tented prison.
“Most of the people here are Kirrian. It’s a full moon.” As if that’s enough of an answer.
The rations are waiting in the small area by the fire, and I help myself. “How long will we be here?” I ask between bites. Information is the only valuable resource I can work at achieving here, and I’ve not gathered enough.
“That depends on a few things. One, being your brother.”
“Is he anywhere close?”
The Usher doesn’t answer.
After eating, he leads me towards the training area.
Crimson is already out in the centre of the training ring with Ten watching like a hawk.
We save our energy and do little more than send a general feeling or pulse of energy along our connection, reminding each other that we’re safe—the reassurance we both need in this place.
Fenix doesn’t show himself, and the Usher doesn’t try to train me or insist on pushing my magic harder.
He puts Crimson in charge, and she starts a warm-up involving my favourite activity—running—before placing a sword in my path.
She swings, raises it, runs through a series of moves, then stands back for me to copy.
I do. And we fall into a routine. I can’t help but draw comparisons to her and Calix—his training regime with me—and for the first time, I see her as a potential friend.
We move through the strokes and combinations I’m competent with from practising with a wooden sword in Kirrasia, building my confidence, before she gets me to copy another set of commands.
“That’s enough for today,” the Usher pipes up.
“Seriously?” Crimson throws down her sword at his feet.
“Ever needs her rest.”
“Rest, use your power, train, be fit like a Warrior. You know, you’re giving mixed messages, and I’m really fucking tired,” I spout off at him, siding with Crimson.
“That will change after tonight. Now, we are done.”
He leads me back, but my gaze drifts back to Ten.
“It will be better after tonight,” I say to him. “It’s just a matter of time.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Little Siren.”
I’m locked back in my tent, and I slump down and stare at the weave of the material draped overhead.
It feels like a lifetime ago since I was in Kirrasia, but I close my eyes and think of Kyra and all her guidance and wisdom that saw me through. I breathe deeply, remembering our short time together, and focus on the centre of my energy.
When I picture it, I slip into that same dark place, as if holding it in my mind transports me there. It’s cold. Unfamiliar, and as I open my eyes to look up, I’m at the bottom of the well, looking up to a starry sky.
The hum of energy begins at my feet, and it grows, warming through my soles, up my legs, and through my body until the tips of my fingers feel imbued with power.
“My gift is for you to use, Ever. You are as the Maker described. You are space and time and everything in between.”
The voice bounces off the cold, damp bricks that surround me until it rings in my ears, inside my head, and even vibrates my bones. It’s all around me. Deafening, and I can’t escape.
I can’t escape.
There’s no light in my tent as I come around. I’m still lying on the cot bed, my face open to the material above. But I’m missing time. It’s dusk, and it was barely midday only a few minutes ago, wasn’t it?
My fingers reach for the necklace at my neck, and as I lift it, it hums, burning hot and alive with power.
A flash of remembrance strikes, hitting like lightning.
She came to me. She did this.
I jump off the bed and reach the confines of the tent to listen.
I focus my thoughts and push my power out, and, unlike the last few days, it obeys. It happily travels, like a spring stream, eager to reach its destination.
I think back to all the tests and combinations we worked through in training, and I focus and remember what they felt like, recalling the energy signatures each person left for me: making the ground shake with Micah, bringing rain with Ravi, and the experience with Azur as he trapped me in the maze of his mind.
It was an automatic response, a defence that I created my own labyrinth for him to be lost in.
I didn’t know I could control that, but now, here, I want to be in control.
I push one particular thought out, inspired by Azur and the maze he trapped me in and let it dissolve in my stream of energy, and let it reach anyone it touches.
A few minutes later, there are voices. Noises coming from the camp. I can’t make it out, but there is panic in the pitch, enough to tell me my test to reach someone’s mind is complete, and the havoc will ensue. I reward myself with a smile.
With my confidence up, I tug on the line of connection to Ten and our bond. It’s not quiet or muffled anymore. It’s loud and clear, at least from my side.
“Ten!”
“Ever? Thank you, Aslendrix. It’s worked. Do you feel more like you?”
“I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about. How’s your wound?” I relax and let the tension drain away.
“We’re fine. Frustrated. Anxious. In need of a bath.”
A spark of humour warms me.
“How can I be so grateful that you came, yet wish you didn’t at the same time?”
“Hey, being here with you was my choice, and I’d make it again. It’s just about timing. Your brother has a weakness. I tried—”
“What? What is it?” I grab hold of those words as if I can clench them in my fist.
“His power is limited to the day. I guess it’s a consequence of having magic from Novandia. I don’t know the details, but Kalan shared it. And it’s the first real—”
“Kalan? He’s still here?” I haven’t seen him since his confession to me.
“Yes. Or he was a couple of days ago.”
All the secrets, all the information that’s still between Kalan and I are stacking on top of a crumbling lie at the bottom, threatening to bring all the others down around it.
“Ten. My parents are dead.” The thought invades, the moment I see the wall in my mind, and I take a hammer to the first block, setting the rest of the wall to rubble.
“Fenix isn’t just my brother, but my twin, and my parents were both Fifths.
I can’t remember what you do and don’t know, it’s all a blur, and I promised myself that I’d tell you this when we were together again, but, but…
I don’t know when we’ll have the chance, and I have to tell you.
You came all this way for me, and I’ve not even told you how much I love you.
I do. I do love you. And you’re in a cell, injured because of me.
And Micah is dead, and Crimson had to watch—”
“Ever, shhh, shhh. Slow down. Deep breath. I’m holding your hand.”
I don’t know how he does it, but there’s a slight feeling of pressure on my hands, as if he’s here, doing exactly what he’s saying. “I’ve got you. Wherever you are. I’m there, too. Okay. We don’t need to worry about anything from the past. Remember what I said to you?”
His voice is soft, deep, and soothes a part of my soul that’s overcome by the task in front of us.
“Which time? You’ve said quite a bit.” I snigger to myself, knowing he’ll pick up on it.
“I said I’d endure every possible future as long as you’re still there with me. I meant that. As long as you’re there, Ever, I will endure this. We will endure this. And we’ll go home.”
My heart thuds in my chest, as if the words Ten’s spoken have reawakened the sleepy muscle.
“I can’t tell you how much I needed to hear that.”
“We might not be next to each other, we might have a few challenges, but I am in this with you, Ever. And if I can’t help you fight, I’ll help you in whichever way you need for us to win this thing.”
His words are what I now hold onto, like the scribbled names of my parents that I repeated over and over again. I wish I could write them into my heart and let the scar shield me like armour.
Now free to communicate and to push our magic thanks to the full moon, we continue talking late into the night. My panic subsides, and I let the energy of my replenished power fill my confidence until I’m asleep.
When I wake in the morning, the first thing I do is reach for my necklace, and I sigh to myself when it’s still warm to touch. It wasn’t a dream. Everything I remember did happen.
But my relief is burst when I hear footsteps.
“Rise and shine, Sister.” Fenix. He’s back. And the tone of his voice doesn’t suggest he’s happy. There’s an edge to it, a menacing shadow, that draws me straight back to the cell and when he killed Micah.
The drapes are pulled back, and Fenix stands waiting. “Come on. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”
“Where have you been?” I ask. “It’s been a little boring around here without you.”
“Really? Boring? Interesting you’d classify it as that.”