28. Chapter 28
On their way back to the inn, they stopped at Mr. Manie’s shop. Yareli waited outside the door, deciding she had had enough of meeting strangers for that day.
The wooden sign swung back and forth despite there being no wind.
Its faded blue letters read Laura’s Baubles, and she wondered who Laura was.
Wife? Daughter? Ex-lover? As evening approached and people scurried to dinner, she was reminded of the countless lives that surrounded her.
None of them knew her, knew that she didn’t belong.
The self-consciousness that she kept bundled around her loosened, flitting away with every passing stranger who paid her no heed.
For the first time in Izmari, she breathed easier.
If the circumstances were different, if she had come to Izmari out of her own volition, then the thrumming magic in the air, ground, and her veins would be exhilarating.
An image of her sitting on the beach, feeling the cool ocean’s spray on her face as she meditated, drawing magic to her, flashed across her mind.
To master wielding magic as a human… She suddenly understood Augrys’s love for learning.
The small bell on the door jingled, signaling Augrys’s return. She pushed herself off the building. Peace would come later. He slipped something into his robe’s pocket.
“Hungry?”
“Starving, actually,” she answered.
“I know of a place. Do you mind if we do takeout? I’d like to get started on the scroll as soon as possible.”
“Sure.” Fewer people to meet, fewer stares to avoid. She’d had enough of being outside; the safety of her room’s walls beckoned.
“Great.”
She followed him down the street, walking past multiple shops. He turned right and came to a stop in front of a teal-colored building, the bright yellow lettering spelling Cozy Canary. She raised an eyebrow.
“Wait here,” he said, a spark in his eyes, and headed inside.
She peeked inside, but all she made out was a typical restaurant entrance with a front desk.
Augrys placed an order, and she pursed her lips.
He was being secretive on purpose. What was so special about this place?
A short time later, he walked out with two takeout containers.
When she asked about their contents, all he said was that she would see soon enough back at the inn.
“Take a seat,” he said, pointing at the coffee table.
“I hate surprises, you know.”
“I hope you’ll allow me this exception.”
Rolling her eyes, Yareli sat on the floor cross-legged. They had returned to her bedroom to eat dinner together before she attempted to break her magic core. Erick was out for the evening, having headed out mumbling about needing time off.
He presented the container to her, placing it on the table in one smooth motion. “Buen provecho.”
Her heartbeat slowed. Spanish. That’s right—her mom had used Spanish with her; she could speak it.
She had forgotten, and that twisted something in her chest more than finding out who August really was.
She blinked furiously and opened the container instead.
She couldn’t afford to cry now. The sweet, earthy smell of mole filled her nose, and she looked at Augrys in disbelief. A Mexican dish in Izmari.
“How… ?”
“That’s not all.” He pulled out a package of tortillas.
Her throat tightened. She hadn’t expected a taste from home here. She knew mole was one of her favorites from the way her mouth watered and her stomach grumbled.
“I thought a familiar dish would be comforting,” Augrys explained. “Although I’m not sure what you do or don’t remember.”
“I remember this. Thank you,” she said quietly, picking up a tortilla.
Her heart was full, swollen with bittersweet nostalgia and gratitude.
Lost in her own contemplation, she ate in silence.
She’d been—was still—unwilling to touch the memories of her family.
She’d get to it soon, she promised. Indulging in a small comfort couldn’t hurt.
Yareli swallowed her guilt, burying it under the mole’s earthy taste and enjoying the spice on her tongue.
With their stomachs full, Augrys prepared a space for Yareli to break her core. A part of her was suspicious of his friendliness.
It must have shown on her face, because he asked, “Is something wrong?”
She cleared her throat. “I, uh…” Then, thinking better of poking the bear, she gave him a strained smile. “It’s nothing.”
His slow blink told her he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t push it. Yareli let the topic drop between them in the ever-widening abyss that had severed their previous friendship. She wanted answers about his past and why Tuom had targeted her, but the answers could wait. Acquiring power could not.
The task at hand beckoned, and she settled into position without a word.
A few minutes later, Yareli’s incorporeal form stood in front of the steel wall.
Her neck cracked as she tipped her head back to look at the top.
With how smooth it was, scaling it was impossible.
She imagined her hands in front of her, and they sprang into being, awe filling her.
Emboldened, she decided to give her flamethrower idea a whirl.
Two burning minutes later, the flamethrower fell from her hands, disappearing into nothingness once more.
The smooth steel stood without any signs of damage.
Augrys’s voice came through to her, echoing in the vast darkness illuminated by the sun that was her life force.
“Remember, you need to feel strongly.”
It was easier said than done. The wall was cold to her touch, and she grunted through its sting, focusing on her desire to break it. As nothing occurred, frost accumulated on her hands, covering her forearms in an unforgiving blanket.
Come on, open. She gritted her teeth and pushed. Her skin burned as frostbite quickly set in, but she dug her feet in and kept pushing.
“I have to pull you out,” Augrys said, urgency lacing his words.
The wall gave a little. “No, give me a little longer.”
“You have to come out now.”
His warmth rushed through her, melting the frost from her body, and she lost sight of her core, her control slipping.
She glared at him. “I had it.”
He took her hands into his palms. “Then, you’ll get it next time, but we’re done for tonight.
Your body can’t take any more.” He gestured at her hands, pale with purple bruising on her fingertips.
They stung. Despite the truth, she wanted to argue, but she bit her tongue when she noticed the bruising extended far past her fingers and onto her forearms.
“Fine.” She accepted his warming spell. Then, after her stubbornness thawed, she asked, “Was it this hard for you, too?”
“Yes. It’s not an easy feat. It took me a couple of months to do it.”
Months. Yareli didn’t have months; she needed it sooner. The council loomed over her, promising an unknown fate that flipped her stomach.
As if he felt her impatience, Augrys said, “Don’t attempt it alone. You need someone to pull you out.”
She slumped over. “I know, I know. I just…”
She couldn’t finish saying what ate at her, how the constant thrum of danger kept her awake some nights. There were too many unknowns, and she was definitely not in control. It was terrifying.
Augrys hesitated before he said, “There are cases of Fae unlocking their core within a few weeks. The same could happen for you.”
“You think so?”
He let go of her hands; her body had already returned to its normal temperature. “You are one of the most stubborn women I have ever met. I believe you’ll do it out of sheer tenacity.”
At his words, any lingering rebellion in her died out; it was the first time he had mentioned what he knew of her before all of this. Fine, she would wait to try again. He stood, helped her rearrange her furniture back in place, and took out the scroll he had picked up from Mr. Manie.
“Do you mind if I work here?”
She should kick him out, but curiosity beat reason. “Not if you promise to share its contents with me.”
“I plan to.”
She smiled, appreciating her inclusion in the matter.
Remaining in the dark had already proven dangerous once.
She sat in an armchair, pulling out a short novel that Bri had gifted her, but every time she attempted to read, her eyes glazed over.
Her thoughts kept returning to her mom; small words in Spanish continued to pop into her mind, and she took hold of them, clutching them close to her chest. Later, she promised herself.
After the council, she would brave the black tar that polluted her lake of memories and remember who she truly was. And her family.
Written in ancient Izmarian, the scroll took Augrys an hour to translate.
Once he was done, he called Yareli over.
She took a good look at it, noting the swirls of their writing system; Leo had attempted to teach her their alphabet, but she had admittedly forgotten some already.
At the bottom, there was a painting of a dark cloud descending on a village.
“What does it say?” she asked.
Augrys leaned back on his chair, tilting his neck back to stare at the ceiling.
“Unfortunately, not enough. It does confirm that nox creatures are not born from the human world, as conservatives have been spouting for years. This phenomenon happened thousands of years ago. In the first known attack, a village was razed to the ground by an unknown dark cloud filled with monsters that match the descriptions of nox creatures.”
“Any mention of their origin?”
“None. I suspect there were more scrolls. See right here.” He pointed at a scorch mark on the bottom right of the scroll. “That’s fire damage. Someone was determined to destroy the historical accounts.”
Yareli frowned. “Do you think it was the Watchers?”
“I think,” he said, rubbing his chin, “there is a sect within the Watchers who may be involved.”
“But we don’t know who is part of the Watchers.”
“Only suspicions.”
She met his stare, certain the same thought was crossing his mind—they were pulling at straws while their enemy pressed on. She squared her shoulders; when the time came, she would force the answers from Tuom. To keep others from the same fate, she would become a monster.