ELEMENT

Chapter Thirty-Two: A Confession

The palace courtyard hadn't changed. The stage was still up, even though everyone had seemed to forget about the solar eclipse. Except Meadow, of course.

She didn't like being out here anymore. As peaceful as it once was, now it was simply a source of too many bad memories and nightmares turned reality.

But regardless, the sunset was calming. A view from the highest point in the kingdom. Nothing could beat it. Just a sunset in a boring town.

She pulled her jacket a little closer to her, her flat expression a telltale sign of a lively mind.

And Meadow heard footsteps behind her, but didn't turn around. Something in her hoped it was Cole.

"So, you've been pretty quiet." It was Ethan, in his short-sleeved T-shirt.

"I have?" Meadow turned to him as he sat next to her.

"Enjoying the jacket?"

"Yeah." Meadow smiled. "It's nice. Thank you."

"No need."

Really, it hadn't been often that Ethan just got the chance to talk with Meadow, one-on-one, since they started to travel back so frequently.

That jacket was his. It had been a little over seven months since he'd given it to her. Even though she changed so much, it still looked to Ethan like she was still frozen in time, the purple jacket still being just as big on her as the day he gave it away.

Ethan knew more about her than she did. Sometimes, he looked at her and saw what Peter left behind.

Sometimes the experiment was still there.

"I know there's something going on." Ethan sighed, leaning closer to her.

"Like?"

"Your eyes, the frequent naps, you keep having nightmares—"

"Nightmares?"

"Right. You probably don't remember them." He shrugged, putting his knees to his chest. "Sage usually has to wake you up. They get bad, apparently."

"...Well, I don't think it's related to anything."

Ethan scratched the back of his head awkwardly, trying to gently put the sentence down. "Meadow, you're a really bad liar."

Do you have any idea what I do to liars?

Meadow flinched, her head tinging. "Yeah. Uhm. You'd think I'm insane."

"That'd make two of us."

"Fair," she laughed. "Okay." Meadow huffed, finding no way around the confession. "I've been hearing voices, and getting visions."

Ethan's head tilted. "That can't be good."

"It's not." She fidgeted a bit. "I hear screaming. Angry words being spat back and forth. Crying and fighting. And I see... bodies. Blood. Turmoil and death everywhere. Buildings crumbling, the world being laid to waste, people running. And for some reason, I'm there."

Ethan moved closer to her. "Could it have anything to do with all the time travel we're doing?"

"It definitely does." Meadow's eyebrows furled. "Do you remember when... uh... last year? When me and Cole—yeah."

"Yeah." It wasn't an easy conversation for her, so Ethan let her imply what she meant.

"I met her. I met the Mage. As a ghost."

"Woah." Ethan's eyes lit up. "Was she cool?!"

"She was pretty cool, yeah." Meadow nodded, laughing to herself. "I can still hear her. I mean, you couldn't see her face, but you could hear her, and ever since I came back, she's been in my head.

"Like, telling you things?"

"She's been giving me these visions. I'm sure of it. I'm seeing the prophecy. And there's someone else, too. He never talked, but he came with her. And he died with her."

"Like a paladin!"

"Exactly!"

"I mean, mages and paladins are normally a class duo."

"You're such a nerd." Meadow giggled.

"Something's gotta fit somewhere." Ethan shrugged. "If only we knew who the Mage was."

"Yeah. If only." Meadow huffed through her teeth, feeling off about the statement.

Ethan pressed his lips together, putting a hand on Meadow's shoulder. "Meadow, whatever it is, we'll get through it together. You're obviously seeing, you know, the Dark Exile."

"I know that." Meadow looked right into his eyes now. "But I'm not prepared for what comes after."

"After we go home for real?" Ethan continued. "What do you think happens after we never time travel again?"

Meadow's voice broke. "I don't know. I want to see past everything, but I can't."

"You can't?"

"No!" Meadow sighed, her voice growing in desperation. "After the Exile, I can't hear or see anything. Everything goes quiet, and I can't handle not knowing!"

"Eesh." Ethan sighed. "This mage better lay off of you."

Meadow rolled her eyes, laughing bittersweetly. "Pssh, you're ridiculous."

Ethan looked behind him, back to the palace. "You know there's this weird legend that everyone who dies stays in the place they died as a ghost?"

"It's true." Meadow nodded. "But also unsettling. You know how many people we know have died here?"

"Ugh, don't remind me." Ethan turned, looking into her eyes again. They were just as shining as last time, laced with trilling celestial color.

Meadow sighed. "Is it bad?"

"No. It's actually kinda pretty. Just a little brighter."

"Hm. I didn't even notice it changed."

Ethan smiled, holding his hand out and standing up. "Come on, let's go back inside. It's freezing out here."

She took his hand, walking back into the palace with him. "Imagine feeling temperatures."

"Dude you can still be physically affected by freezing temperatures calm down—"

To be Continued in Chapter 33