Memento Mori: The Cursed Bloodline

Part Nineteen

The weather is so cold that the air is crystallizing. It's such a relief from yesterday's heat. Sol has on four jackets and he looks like a marshmallow—such as the ones he showed me at the school.

I glance back at him and he's shuddering through his jackets. "I h-hate Frost-t-tveil this t-time of y-year," he chatters.

Abyss and Ebony have made what looks like a fire bubble. It's almost see through but I can see the rolls of heat on the skin of it. The bubble is protecting them from the cold and keeping them warm inside.

If only Sol could do that, he wouldn't be a literal penguin right now.

We've been walking for two days. The land we need to get to is an abandoned place of Frostveil where most don't go.

The entire dark magic concept has me theorizing my own ideas. I've come to some conclusions; one, both Raven and I will have to perform the magic. Two, which doesn't really have anything to do with the magic...I'm not going to let Sol come inside the labyrinth with us.

He probably won't like it, but you don't exactly like the things that are best for you.

"It's dark, we should stop," Raven announces.

"Alright."

Sol passes out almost instantly, not even bothering to put down his sleeping bag as he does religiously every night.

I sit down and take out my notebook, using a flashlight to read over everything. I try to brainstorm for more ideas, going through hypothetical scenarios. "Find anything?" Raven's voice snags me out of my reverie.

"Nothing new," I respond. He sits a few feet away from me, just watching.

The silence is comfortable enough for me to continue thinking. As I am, my mind wanders to powers. With that thought in mind, I remember Raven's powers of conjuring up skeletons.

"You summon skeletons," I announce in the silence.

He blinks. "Yes."

"Explain it," I say, my way of opening conversation.

He clears his throat. "Well, it's my other power. I can summon skeletons and talk to the dead."

I narrow my gaze. "Why didn't you use it when we were fighting Cleo? Wouldn't that have been quicker?" I pause. "Or while fighting the wolves? We could've dealt with them much faster."

"It's not that simple. Every time I use them, it takes a lot of effort. Using them to fight takes even more. It's very draining." He takes a breath. "They're using my energy to fight, so it's like fighting the battle myself but distributed to each skeleton I use."

Interesting. "And talking to the dead?"

"Well, it's like your ability to speak to your bird. I can see the spirits roaming, and sometimes I have to reach out to them." Raven explains.

Closing my notebook, I turn my full attention to him. "So, you see them as solid figures? Like you'd be seeing me?"

"They're slightly see through. So, like seeing the tree behind you."

"Must be entertaining."

He shrugs. "What about you? Other than talking to animals?"

I haven't thought of my blood manipulating powers since the Fireball Game. "I can orchestrate blood," I disclose.

"How so?" he asks with more of an expression than I've ever seen him have.

Even I can't answer that. "It's mainly a subconscious map, but if I think about it, I can feel everyone's circulation system." As soon I acknowledge the existence of the blood, I sense it all pulsing and rushing around me.