A Rogue's Restraints

Chapter Thirteen: The Trinity of Destruction

Things not meant for a slave's eyes. But people underestimate the intelligence and perception of another mouthless item. However, at times I wish I weren't so keen. I've been blessed, or more likely, cursed with thief's eyes.

Three Months Later.

While months had passed, I wasn't breathing any easier. I was still as wary as ever, though Adette seemed to be becoming more and more comfortable with our circumstance.

My arm and head had healed up nicely by then, my knee was still giving me a hard time. Though I did have days when I didn't feel confined to a crutch. Spending my days studying was giving me time to heal, which I could not have been more grateful for.

I won't bore you with telling you all about my riveting conversations with Adette and Thatcher. But I will tell you that time had just cemented my first impression of Thatcher and confused me even more with Adette. I was becoming increasingly convinced that Thatcher was tutoring us in the hopes of being able to use our powers for himself. He kept offering us things, but Adette and I stuck to our plan. All we did was research. Adette seemed relieved to have stability, even if it was only temporary. At least, I hoped it would be temporary. I was used to always being on the run, sleeping in different locations every night. And I didn't mind it. That felt safe to me. But Adette had always strived for stability. She had wanted an honest career, in which she could provide and take care of herself.

What I knew, and I doubted she had thought through, was that Thatcher wasn't letting us stay with him out of the kindness of his black heart. He was waiting until he found something we couldn't refuse, or until he had a job for us to do. It was all about what benefitted him. I made sure that I stayed out of his way, only talking with him when he came to "tutor" us in the library. Which meant he answered questions we had and recommended books for us to read. There wasn't any actual teaching involved.

Adette however, seemed intrigued by the work Thatcher was doing. She asked him subtle questions about it, and he would tell her minute details. I didn't like that fascination. That was what was going to ruin everything, at least that was what I thought at the time. I talked to her about it several times, but every time she brushed me off. "I don't understand why you're so worried." She'd said. "I just found it interesting."

"Anything we say to him could be to our detriment." I explained. "We need to be careful."

"It'll be fine, Seb. Trust me." She'd smiled like everything was okay.

I worried all the same. Not just for me, as I was so used to doing. I worried about her. Adette was very capable but seemed so innocent at times. I felt the need to protect her from not just her brother, but herself.

As to what we were learning, those were vital months. I learned more about Sciakinesis, and it complexities. It was all mental. There's a part of your brain that feels the Lifefire. You learn to fully control that part of your mind and you can touch and control the Lifefire within.

Sciakinesis seemed limitless when I first started studying it, but it's more limited than you'd think. All you're doing is taking advantage of the absence of light. You don't create more shadow, you just move the darkness. Back in Bellamy I'd felt like the room had become blinding, that was because the Blackheart had moved all the darkness to the floor, leaving excess in the top of the room. When I'd slipped into the crowd when escaping my execution, I'd unconsciously taken the shadows from all the people around me, and used it to shroud myself, making myself less noticeable. Theoretically, a very skilled Blackheart would be able to transport from one shadow to another by making it into a sort of portal, but that sounded absurd to me.