Chapter 36 Thayla #3
My name tears from four different voices just as the tip of my blade slams into the spine of a book.
My body jolts away from the hand that lands against my shoulder. I spin, dagger ready once again. It takes everything in me to keep my grip on it as my arm trembles uncontrollably.
“It’s us, little goddess, we’re here.”
“What happened, bestie? I want an answer now.”
My attention flicks to where Riven’s staring down at Yemi. It then roams across Amick, Creed, and Kyzen.
They came.
Everything’s okay.
Everything is not okay.
My gaze bounces over all of them as they all shout at once. Whatever Yemi said to them sets them off.
I take a step back as my ears ring.
Power pulses down the row of books and my eyes lock onto Yemi as she steps in front of me with her trembling hands up.
“I’m here. Tell me what you need.”
“Some…somethings about to happen.”
She nods. “I know. You need to let it out.”
“Not here.”
“G-go to the meadows. I’ll let your guys go and tell them to meet you.”
Let them go?
My gaze snaps above her head.
They’re there. Shaking where they stand. She’s shivering in her skin as well. From holding them back.
Shit.
“Tell them to give me a minute, please.”
My power snatches me away without even a clear command from me. My knees slam into the grass right beside the hot spring and the air around me ripples like I jumped into the water.
My power pours out of me in waves, and my fingers dig into the dirt as I rock back and forth on all fours.
As fast as it snapped out of me, it returns, and my back arches as I release a soul-deep scream.
Its echo drifts through the trees and I allow it to continue to fall from the depths of my chest. My fists pound into the earth when my screech doesn’t give me the relief I’m hunting for.
“That motherfucker!”
My cry is colored in outrage I can’t explain or contain.
A snap of a limb has me flicking my head up and my eyes widen as Yemi emerges from the trees.
With Verlet marching beside her.
“I’m pretty special, right?” she asks.
I can’t help my choked chuckle. I untangle my fingers from the ground and lean back on my heels as my head tilts toward the clouds.
My chin drops back forward as she lowers herself down and I curl my nostrils when she gives me a sad smile.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“That was a very impressive barrier.”
My eyebrows scrunch together. She hums and nods.
“I figured you didn’t know it was you doing it and not me. Well, I had one up as well, but the one you put between you and Mellcom overpowered mine.”
Oh shit.
“Do this.”
She holds her hands up, palms facing me, and I shake my head. What feels like a pillow smacks me in the chest, sending me off balance.
“What the hell, Yemi?”
“Come on, put your hands up. I’m about to teach you some shit.”
“That’s probably not a good idea.”
“It is and who better to teach you than the only being seen in centuries under the Domain of Boundaries.”
I chuff, but really, I don’t have an argument other than I don’t want to do this right now. That determined line between her brows tells me she isn’t really asking.
I give in and she smiles in victory.
“You know I can’t teach you this lesson like the guys have been teaching you. I don’t know exactly how Amick planned to approach this because the information we have is limited, but I’m going with the hands-on approach.”
“Good thing I’m not much in the mood now to hear facts.”
“Perfect. So Riven just told me your power sits on your spine. Crazy, by the way. Mine is in my palms.”
“Creation took claim of my hands.”
“Huh. Makes sense.” She chuckles and wiggles herself out. “Okay, focus on that power. However, you normally do it and then call it forward to your palms.”
“Just like that?”
“Yep. You just let out a burst that rippled all the way to the house. You can definitely do this.”
Oops. Didn’t realize it went that far.
I blow a slow and steady breath as I crack my neck and roll my shoulders.
Come on, Boundaries. You wanted to make yourself known today.
Well, make yourself known.
My spine tingles. Not in an uncomfortable feeling, but the same sensation I experience every time I cross a barrier.
With so much more ease and agreement than I expected, the power prowls down my arms and holds steady right at my palms.
I see it.
My eyes widen and I jerk my gaze up to Yemi to see if she sees it as well. She does. She smiles and nods.
“Yep, there it is. I can see mine as well when I build it and hold it like that.”
A surprised laugh belts out of me as she does the same thing with her power. A faint, swirling ball of gold floats against her palms.
“Now tell it to grow bigger. Put up a barrier between us.”
“I don’t—”
“Just try,” she commands.
Okay, Boundaries, a little more. I guess.
Unlike her gold, my faint white spreads out between us and continues to stretch both high and wide.
She giggles as she places her hand against my creation. It stretches and seals around her like she’s pushing against clear rubber. A smile takes over my face as her fingers wiggle through my power and the tension inside of me fades.
“Hell yeah, Thayla. Other’s hands would crash against this. The only reason I don’t is—”
“Because of your own power,” I breathe and my barrier crashes down.
“What? What happened?”
“I…oh my gods.”
My mind whirls and confusion colors my thoughts.
“In the Abandon, well, when Riven first got taken, you know we rushed through and the fight broke out.”
“Right?”
“Well, I charged at the God of Obliteration. A barrier slammed between us. Holy fuck, I forgot all about that.”
I jump to my feet and start pacing back and forth.
“Just now, I was so worked up I didn’t even realize it was my barrier and not yours. This power is…weirder than the other ones. It’s so subtle and comforting, I barely even notice it. It doesn’t cause full-body vibrations.
“It was only when we went after Iric that I realized the warmth spreading through me each time I cross a barrier is this power responding to the already established barrier. Fuck. Yemi, do you think I could’ve created that barrier that separated me and Obliteration?”
“Well…I mean, who else would have? I wasn’t there then.”
“He tilted his head back and said Val. He seemed to have thought, or at least I assume he thought it was the God of Boundaries. He grew madder by the second. I guess because he wasn’t getting a response. For the Valories, I can’t believe I forgot this happened.”
“I mean, it’d make more sense that it was your power lashing out. No offense or anything, but you were charging at the God of Obliteration. Our powers have a pretty strong sense of self-preservation.”
My mouth gapes as I drop back down on my ass.
My lips flap together with my harsh breath, and I stare at Yemi, dumbfounded.
“I didn’t mean to take over your lesson.”
She scoffs teasingly.
“You didn’t. I just wanted you to know what you did and see that you could harness it yourself. The hardest thing to learn about this power, really any of them, is when and, in your case, which one to call up.
“I have no doubt in a controlled situation, you’ll wield all of them with ease soon enough. Your powers are a part of you. They’re here for you. The other reason I wanted to be the one to talk to you is…”
“What? Don’t get shy on me now.”
Her features grow serious and she tightens her lips.
“You put up an emotional boundary in yourself right before you swung your dagger at Mellcom. You need to bring it down, Thayla.”
My forehead wrinkles and I think about that moment. I didn’t do anything like that. Not purposely anyway.
“I don’t know what that is or what I did.”
“Emotional barriers differ greatly from physical ones. They’re inside of us.” She pats her heart, then her temples.
“You can place a barrier in either spot and block your emotions toward someone. Good, bad, indifferent. You put one up and then swung. He starshot out just in time. I know you wouldn’t have done that had you not put it up.
You may hate him, may even want him dead, both of which are understandable.
But you don’t want to be the one to do it.
“It needs to come down, sooner rather than later because if it doesn’t, and you react in a way you normally wouldn’t, once it comes down, so do your true emotions. You then live with the guilt, regret, and whatever else that you may feel about what you did.”
I swallow the lump that clogs my throat.
She’s right. I hate him. I don’t care if he dies.
Honestly, I could be the one to do it.
And I wouldn’t give a single fuck.
“You sound like you’re giving advice from experience, Yem.”
Her eyes immediately start watering, and I feel like an asshole for saying that.
“I am. I’m living through it right now. I’m not ready to talk about it, but if not for Iric helping me through it, I’d be drowning in guilt right now.
I don’t want you to go through that. I’m about to say something really blunt and as your best friend, I ask that you listen without getting mad at me. ”
Heat flushes across my face as nerves race through my body. I don’t know how I feel about that.
“Okay.”
“You’ve been through far more than I have. A lot more and a lot worse. I know this is a big ask, and I’m not asking you to say yes right this very second. I want you to think about it. Iric has the ability to help with emotional trauma. He can help you process it and even take steps to healing.
“I want you to let him help you take that emotional barrier back down and let him help you work through some other things. Especially whatever you just went through. I know it was bad, Thayla. I can see it in your eyes. You shut down in a way I’ve never seen before the moment your eyes landed on Mellcom. ”
My lids immediately fall shut so she can’t observe any more. Before I did that, though, I got a very clear view of how much she’s worried about me and how much she cares.
I didn’t expect that to be a punch straight to my heart.
It both hurts and helps to know how much I really mean to her.
“I’m not agreeing, but I’m not saying no either. That’s all I’ve got for now.”
“I’ll take it.”
Fuck. I don’t think I’m really ready to dig up everything I’ve buried down.