In Stone

24: "Um, what is this?"

24: “Um, what is this?”

“Caspian!”

The pounding on the door seemed to be continuing unabated forever. Caia couldn't help but wonder how long it would take the friction of the constant knocking to break through. It might have been an odd thought, but after days of banging, it was the only one she had anymore.

“Please, Caspian! Your mind has been stolen!”

She curled tighter around herself, pulling her knees tighter into her chest. She wished that the corner she had chosen to hide in was soundproof. She couldn't see the people knocking with all the windows covered and the door securely locked, but she could still hear. The sounds of it were threatening to drown out her sanity. Not that she ever really had that, she thought mournfully.

“Caspian, open the door!”

She flinched at hearing Garrik's voice. It had been awhile since he had been the one knocking. She wondered if he had gone off to sleep and energize himself for another round of knocking and calling. It was almost a funny mental image. Almost.

No one called for her. They all called for Caspian to open the door, to come out, to hand her over to them. She had heard that she was controlling him, that she was blackmailing him, one person even suggested that she might be Rowan in disguise.

“Caia...”

The soft whisper was nearly lost in the commotion. She lifted her head off of her knees and looked up at Caspian standing on the stairs looking down at her.

She knew she must be a pathetic sight with her eyes damp in despair and her entire body trying to cave in on itself. She hadn't even eaten these last few days just because she couldn't stomach anything. So she looked sickly on top of that.

“I'm sorry...” she said so softly she almost just mouthed the words.

Caspian finished descending the stairs and kneeled down in front of her. He reached out and stroked her cheek gently. “They just don't know that you're good.”

“Am I?”

“Of course you are. You've never hurt anyone. Isn't that the definition of a good person?”

“Who knows what I'll do tomorrow...” she curled impossibly tighter around herself.

Each call for her to be purged in the temple hurt. Not because they were calling for her death, but because these were people that had cared for her yesterday calling for her death. She would rather they had all hated her from the beginning, that would have been easier to handle.

“Well, until you do do something, you're innocent of any crime,” he took her shoulders. “Don't sit down here listening to them. Go upstairs.”

“I can hear them upstairs too. I can't escape it.”

He sighed because that was true. There was no where that she could go to get a break from this, and she desperately needed one.

“Elanil still hasn't come back.” Caia whispered. At least Garrik was knocking. She hadn't heard Elanil's loud voice once in the mob.

“I locked the doors, so she can't get in anyway,” he leaned forward and kissed her forehead gently. If she was carrying his child, then letting them destroy her would be equal to letting them destroy everything that he had left in this world. “Let me handle this, Caia. I'll talk to them.”

“And tell them what? You used to hide Rowan from them, why am I any different?”

“Because you're not Rowan, you're Caia. And because I'm not a child that's never left Galmora before. I've seen more of both worlds than anyone in your world or mine. Trust me?”