Infernos (ManxMan)

Chapter VIII

Blaine

I woke up long before the sun began to rise and spent the quiet hours of dawn staring at the ceiling listening to Nioky snore loudly beside me.

Sometime during the night he had sleepwalked himself into my bed, and was currently curled into my ribs. I was going to wake him up and tell him to return to his own bed, but I noticed the beads of sweat on his forehead and his eyes darting back and forth frantically behind his eyelids, so I let him rest in peace next to me.

I was not exactly sure what had pulled me from my slumber, but I was awake and it was obvious now that I could not return to sleep. I gently pried Nioky's limbs off of my body and rolled over, tensing as the cold marble floor met my bare feet. I rubbed my arms with a shiver and made my way out the door.

Exploring was probably a terrible idea when you were in a strange place, but I had nothing else to do that could occupy my time. I wandered, squinting futilely in the darkness, and I found myself back in the dining hall. I was turning around to exit, but I noticed a figure sitting at the table, with a plate in front of them. Their soft crunches seemed to echo in my ears, and a chill ran up my spine.

Something compelled me forward, and I sat beside them, folding my hands in my lap.

"You're Blaine, right?" Their voice was like song in the spring, but the underlying tone in their words was cold.

"I am." I risked a glance up, and paused on their - her - face.

Her skin was the same color as the salted caramels the King himself was rumored to eat, and her pouty lips were tilted downwards, with obvious distrust. She was the spitting image of the woman from earlier, the Seer, and it was apparent that she shared the same powers by looking at her eyes. The entirety of her eyes were clouded, and if someone said they were made of pale jade I would have believed them off the spot. The only resemblance she had to Nioky was her hair; curly white locks framed a narrow face, which made her sharp jawline stand out even more. She wasn't as magically beautiful as Nioky, but she could definitely hold the attention in a room.

"You're traveling with my brother." It wasn't a question, but a statement. I didn't find the need to reply, because she obviously knew the answer. She tapped her fingers on the surface of the table, clicking her tongue. "You have my sympathies."

"You're a Seer too, right?" I asked, and she glanced at me once again, with more interest this time. "What are you doing in here?"

Her eyes were blank, almost dead, which made reading her expressions that much harder. "I'm practicing. Would you like to watch?"

I was startled, surprised that she would even offer. "I'd love to, yes."

I noticed then that she also had a small bowl in front of her, into which she poured water from a pitcher. The plate was covered in bread chips, and she munched on a couple as she pulled a wickedly crooked black knife from her bosom. I couldn't help but wonder where that had been kept; all she wore was a simple shift that certainly would not have been able to hold a knife that dangerous.

Without a bat of her eye, she dragged the knife across her palm, letting the blood drip into the bowl. As she twirled the water lazily with her finger, she began walking me through the process of whatever she was doing.

"For this, you can use any body of water, but the purer it is, the better it works. Then, you mix in the blood of one touched by Death himself." The water continued churning even after she removed her finger, and it started to resemble the currents of a mini whirlpool. "You must not be afraid of anything," she whispered, and leaned forward, eyes closed.