Evocation

Chapter 11- Potato Soup

Lorcan:

I stick my finger in a pot of something warm and pop it into my mouth. It tastes like potato chowder. I'm sure Hadrien's going to add in Echo's fish before serving. If she could catch any. Hadrien's been cooking for us since Calico died. He's a good cook, but I miss Calico's cooking badly.

I hear some loud clomping from outside the kitchen and roll my eyes. That's Echo stomping around, always happening to be right where I am, rubbing her presence in my face.

Part of me feels bad about having so much hatred for Echo. Perhaps it's not hatred, but maybe annoyance is a better word. Irritation? Aversion? Distaste? I was mad enough at how she's chosen to be captain all these years, but I sucked it up and did what was expected of me because she saved my life. I needed to run or I'd be killed, and I walked into that tavern all those years ago expecting to hit a dead end and be nothing but a bloody pile of bones by morning. But Echo looked at me with an expression nobody has before. I can't quite place it, but I felt seen. My strife, my struggles, the darkness inside of me I keep locked away, my heart... she saw all of me within the first glance in my eyes and she protected me. That's who Echo is.

Or, was. That side of her, the one that sees and connects to people's souls so effortlessly, is buried deep down in her Captain persona. Whatever is left, is a shell of a desperately ruthless bitch. Now she's gone to the extremes of beating her crew, making us do it for her, and then taking them back to her quarters and fucking them? That's more than being cold. It's heartless.

"Where is it?" Echo slams open the kitchen door, nearly shouting.

I turn towards her, eyeing her face. She has a heart shaped face and beautiful freckled cheeks that puff up only when she's genuinely happy, not when she's giving patronizing smiles to appease people. Her brown waves fall onto her shoulders as she limps towards me.

"Where is the Skull Gem?" She asks, teeth gritted.

"Don't tell me you lost it," I reply, bored.

"Fuck you, Lorcan. You were sleeping in my quarters while I was gone. I know you took it." She points a finger at me and her angry face is almost comical. She's never been a tiny girl, but she's gotten smaller since being kidnapped and I feel as though I could break her easily. I swallow at the thought. It's not like me to feel so angry and violent, especially towards a woman, but Echo is different since she got back and I can't stand her anymore.

"We're on our way to Parmenia, aren't we?" Echo says, voice low, like it's a secret. I nod, looking down at my nails like I'm more interested in them than I am her. "So what's the plan? Claim the reward for yourself? You can't really be that selfish."

I laugh at that. "Me? Selfish? Look who is talking, darling."

"So you did take it," she says with a scowl. I walk past her then, ready to leave the room and the conversation, when Echo speaks up again. "I know you think it's a useless stone, but something is wrong with it. I don't know if it's cursed or enchanted or just worth a fuck ton of money, but it's dangerous."

I turn towards her, watching her face for any tells of a lie. "The people who took me," she continues, "the people who did this to me-" she lifts up her shirt and I see large bruises and carvings tracing her stomach and hips, "they tried to do everything in their power to get that stupid Skull Gem. They threatened to disembody me. This isn't something you can just smirk and walk away from."

Her words actually give me pause. She's right, I do have the gem, and there is something special about that rock. I wanted to stay in her room when she was first taken. Partly because her room is the closest to the main deck, which let me sleep while being on high alert. The beds beneath the deck are quiet and isolated, so while they're not hard to get to, you don't hear what is happening above unless someone is deliberately stomping around. The other reason I wanted to stay in her room is because I couldn't fathom what had happened.