The Lost Knight (Volume IV) The Lost Prince

Chapter 9: Carfron

"Why are we walking so fast?" Carfron asks when he catches up to me.

I ignore him and walk faster. I wish someone else could see him or at least explain him. I'm glad that everyone thinks he's part of the Orb, but I know he's not. The last time the Orb spoke, the very first thing it did was light up. It took me days to figure out what it was trying to say. Funny, back then, I would've loved for Carfron to appear and talk to me.

I faceplant into the protection of my bed. He flops beside me, and the mattress shakes with his weight. I jump to my feet. "It's not appropriate for you to be in my bed!"

He gets up with an apology. I'm glad I imagined him polite.

Can you read my mind? If you can, sit in the chair. I stare at Carfron, trying to get him to do what I want, but he looks confused. Sit in the chair!

"Are you feeling well?" he asks.

"Yeah. Why do I have to talk to you? Why can't you hear my thoughts? I'd feel a lot less crazy if I didn't have everyone else hearing only my side of our conversations."

"I can't read minds. That would be odd."

"Really Carfron, that would be odd? Let me ask you, before you died, did you understand English?"

"No."

"Then why do you now?"

"I speak Naga-Nuru."

"No, you speak English. How can you know Naga-Nuru when I don't know it?"

He shrugs and goes back to the sofa. Then he yawns.

"Are you tired?" I ask.

"Yes. Tired."

"How can you be tired? You're dead. I'm imagining you! You don't know Naga-Nuru, and you are not tired."

"You are wrong."

"About what?"

"All of it."

Cold runs down my legs and freezes my feet in place. I can't run. He can go everywhere I go. I think I'm wrong, too. Whatever he is, I have to deal with him by myself. Even if everyone else wanted to help, they couldn't. It's like I'm shrinking, like the world is leaving me. I'm alone.

"That scares me," I say softly, hoping he'll say something that will make me feel better.

"I understand."

That makes me feel worse. I'm trapped with this monster. There's nowhere to go. I can't get enough air in my lungs. My heart is pounding so fast it's going to pop. Did he do something to the air? Why can't I breathe?

I throw open the backdoor and run out to Lenox's balcony. I hang my head over the sidewall, take a deep breath, and follow it with a few more. Tiny townspeople are going about their day while guards mill about on the walls. Carfron used to be one of them.

"Are you feeling better?" Albína asks, popping her head out the door.

"No. I almost fainted again. That's my new thing. Hanging out with dead soldiers and passing out."

"Poor girl," she says, leaning on the wall next to me and putting her arm around my waist. I lean my head on top of hers.

"This is the worst. This is crazy," I say.

"You always worry about your sanity. And it always turns out fine in the end."

"This is different. The plaque is nothing. I don't know if it's broken, or if I grabbed the wrong thing, or what, but it's just a tile. The Orb is dark. Neither one is talking. Last time it glowed so bright I could barely look at it. I don't think this is related to the Orb."