Dead Lines

22: What Was Her Name? pt. 1

“She’s grieving. You shouldn’t let her get under your skin.”

God. Where were they coming from? I stopped, hid my surprise, and turned in his direction. “I’ve heard that before.”

Kye jumped down from the caravan and headed over, an easy grace about him that was almost identical to Andrzej. “Can I walk with you?”

“Are you going to make me feel stupid and like I don’t know anything?”

“No.”

“Then, sure, why not?”

We walked maybe a handful of steps when he said, “You’re good for him.”

I frowned. “What?”

“He’s different.”

That had me stopping and staring deadpan at him. He couldn’t be serious. Why did I feel like I’ve had this conversation before? “What do you mean?”

“He’s calm.”

Were we talking about the same person? I was starting to miss my drama with the Gods. “Define calm.”

“When we were kids, he used to be this boisterous, competitive…”

“He’s still that way.”

“But it’s not the same. He would’ve torn into Dives yesterday if it wasn’t for you.”

“I wanted to tear into Dives yesterday and I’m generally a pacifist.”

“Really? Because you tore into those chimera last night like you knew what you were doing. Not many people can kill one on their first go”

“Chimera? You mean the—”

He nodded. “Yeah. Mythological beast with three heads. It’s supposed to breathe fire too but they were on that plane. Its abilities were reduced.”

Well then. “I did not know that.”

“They’re pretty brutal, even at minimal capability. When we’re top side, your side if you will, their true form is forced into a condensed version so it looks something akin to a real animal. That’s why they kinda looked like bears with really thick, hairless skin.”

I was staring at him with rapt fascination. I’d thought they’d looked like cats but whatever. No one I knew really talked to me about monsters. Cecil had when we were discussing werewolves but since then, it was reading and studying. Not really talking. Everyone was busy preparing me to fight them to have a discussion with me about them.

“Why does it happen? The condensing thing?”

He knew he had my attention and an easy smile graced his face. “Because there’s a natural veil. It’s also how the Elite are able to hide so easily. Their abilities are affected by it too. That’s why they have the Agora and the Schola. It gives them somewhere to practice where they’re safe and aren’t constrained. But, like I said, the veil is also why you don’t see monsters running around. It camouflages them, and trust me, they’re everywhere.”

“That’s actually…really interesting. I didn’t know that.”

His eyebrows went up. “How could you not? Don’t they teach everyone this when they first turn Elite?”

“I was late to the party, didn’t you know? It’s only been a month or so since I became Elite.”

“I know but it doesn’t explain why you don’t know certain things.” His eyes got all wide. “But it explains something else.”