Find Your Fire - The Angulus Chronicles #1

Chapter eleven

The sun had set a little over an hour ago and my room was enlightened by three scented candles. I laid sprawled on top of my bed, fully clothed and hugging the soft blanket beneath me, and Lorem sat beside me on the edge of the bed, not daring to sit any further in case he ruined my blanket with his muddy shoes. He had so much more self preservation than I had, it was unfair.

He had walked me to my room, ordering me to get some rest while I had to listen to his explanation. I had tried prying the information out of him on my way back, not wanting to wait any longer, but he was like a brick wall and it felt like I was trying to poke it through with a feather. Impossible.

Of course, he had been right about my needs because as soon as I eyed my bed, I had taken a running leap and jumped right on top of the fluffy pillows and blankets, the exhaustion getting the better of me.

I leaned my head in my hand and prodded him in the side with my foot. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get talking."

He let out a mix of a whistled sigh and a snort while he shook his head. "You really have no patience whatsoever, do you?"

I scowled. "Not about this, no. We're talking about the greatest kingdoms in this land. How can we not immediately jump right into the information?"

The light of the candleflames danced around on his complexion and they didn't do him any good, placing more emphasis on his slightly hollowed cheeks and the dark bags under his eyes. He looked exhausted, his lids hanging half way, but somehow he found the strength to sit here and ignore his needs of sleep and food.

His damp hair curled slightly under his chin and he wrapped it in a tiny bun, using a scrap of clothing he had knotted around his wrist. "What do you know about your father's family line? Do you have any cousins?"

I frowned and thought about it. "My father grew up in a family filled with testosterone. He had three older brothers and one younger brother. They all were pretty close growing up, but each is very busy nowadays and they don't talk to each other frequently. Why?"

He ignored my question and nudged me to go on. "And your grandfather? Does he have any brothers or sisters?"

I shook my head, slightly losing my patience. "He also only had brothers." Lorem looked at me like I just proofed him a theory. "What's going on, Lor?"

"Well-..." He stretched his back to squeeze the exhaustion and tightness out of it, and groaned. "I spoke to Miuh the other day."

My mouth fell open in shock. What? Miuh? Was here?

"Look at your right hand." My eyes darted to the smooth skin of my hand. What was there to see?

"Keep looking." Lorem grumbled impatiently. Ha, who is inpatient now?!

Slowly, a blue glow lightened up my hand. The longer I looked at it, the more it merged into a symbol. I squeezed my eyes to slits and focused on the forms now appearing. It was a perfect, blue circle, the lower half adorned with three wobbling lines from left to right, the upper half adorned with lines that curled up against the lower lines, forming a wave of the sea. The Water Kingdom symbol. I lifted my gaze to Lor. What the hell?

"Remember how he told you, you would know when you were ready to go? This was it. When he kissed your hand goodbye that day, he placed a spell on your hand, informing you when to come. It would also inform him of your thoughts about it as soon as you would look at it, so he would know if you were coming or not." He leaned his head against my four poster bed. "When he didn't get any signals of you looking at it, he decided to plan a dreamscape with you. You could either be dead or have lost your hands. Either way, he wanted to check up on you, not knowing you were that injured, your dreams weren't even dreams as you laid in the medical centre in a comatose state, your mind wandering far away. Too far away for him to reach, so he reached mine. He asked me what happened and I told him the story. He didn't seem particularly happy on Earth interfering with you, but he couldn't say anything without starting a politic fight. I forced him to tell me what was going on, and after a while he yielded and told me."