The Morningstar Brigade

Chapter 24

XXIV

URIEL

After Lady Vigilant's "Test"

Shepherd Cafeteria, Morningstar Keep

Uriel glanced around the lunchroom. Every remaining member of the skeleton crew running Morningstar Keep seemed to be carefully watching his table out of the corner of their eye. They glanced at Isaac, Uriel and Kat for a few moments and then quickly returned their gazes to their food. He nudged Isaac, who was happily admiring his new watch inbetween bites of food. "Don't you feel a little weird that everyone is watching you?" Uriel asked.

Isaac tugged at the headband covering his wound for a moment and then looked up, surprised. He scanned the room and then chuckled. "No."

"Why not?" Uriel pressed, rubbing his arm in discomfort.

"Because they aren't looking at me," Isaac said as he held the gold watch up to the light in an attempt to blind nearby tables with the refracted beams. "They're looking at you."

Kat gave Uriel a half-hearted look of encouragement. "He's right. You're the one they're watching."

Eyes wide, Uriel looked around the room again and realized that all those glares were trained on him. "Why?" Uriel whispered, ducking his head self-consciously. "Why are they watching me?"

"Listen, I may have split my head open, but that just means I'm nuts," Isaac said, pointing a banana at Uriel. "From what you told me, you made a sword out of fire and swung it around like you were born to do it. That's not crazy. That's a miracle." He jabbed Uriel with the banana. "And there's nothing scarier than a miracle."

Uriel sighed and went back to nibbling at his food. "I wish everyone would just forget about it. I know I wish I could for a few minutes."

"Oh, shut up," Kat said, rolling her eyes. "I'd kill to be able to do something like that. You know what I got to do today? Walk into a circle and embarrass myself." She crossed her arms. "Meanwhile, you discovered you're a human blowtorch and our resident genius over here got a shiny new watch."

"It is shiny, isn't it?" Isaac mused, playing with the knobs happily.

"And how exactly did you manage to fight like that?" Kat asked, turning to face Isaac. "I've never seen anyone move that way before. Where did you learn to do that?"

Isaac shrugged. "Weren't you listening? I told you; it's not about thinking or knowing or planning. That stuff only gets in the way. You just do," he said, licking his lips.

"But what about the dagger on your foot? You definitely had a plan," Uriel pointed out.

Isaac threw up his arms. "You're missing the point. Chaos doesn't exist without order. If it was always chaotic, then that's just another kind of order."

Kat rubbed her temples. "So, you're telling me that you've got to stop thinking, except for sometimes when you need to be thinking because otherwise you're just thinking about not thinking?"

A satisfied grin spread over Isaac's face as he began to nod. "See, now you're getting it!" Isaac turned to Uriel, excitement flashing in his eyes. "So, you've gotta tell me: What did the power feel like?"

"It was hot," Uriel said in a low voice, looking down at his palm.

"'It was 'hot'? Wow, thanks for really letting me into your world, pal," Isaac replied dryly.