Chosen

Chapter Four

I stand on a rooftop. It's night, and below me, a city sparkles. None of the buildings look familiar. There's no sound here, and moonlight's turned the world black and white.

There's a person on the other end of the roof. A girl. She stands at the edge, looking out and over. Her back is to me, and her hair shines like molten silver. I'm drawn to her. Everything in me wants to walk over to her. To touch her. A single step is as far as I get before everything gets hazy. The girl darkens and evaporates before my eyes, and the rest of the world follows soon after.

I jerked awake, covered in a thin layer of sweat. The blankets had been pushed off and lay in a heap on the floor. I closed my eyes again to will myself back unconscious, but my body wouldn't obey. So I got up instead, shuffled into the main room, poured a cup of water, and drank the whole thing down in a few gulps. I pulled out the paper where I'd been jotting down remnants of my old life and added "blonde girl" to it with a strong question mark at the end.

Dawn was still a few hours off, but there was no hope of sleep. I'd have to make do. I stoked up the fire and sat in a chair with a book. Through my window, I watched the sun come up. The dream stayed with me. Each time it replayed in my head, I felt unsatisfied. I'd have given nearly anything to have reached her in time to make her turn around.  

~***~

I left the house as soon as I saw villagers emerge from their little wood-plank houses and begin milling about on the streets. I decided not to wait for Alistair to come. I'd have to learn to get by on my own soon anyway.

"Jesse Cohen!"

I turned around at the sound of my name to find Kai running up to me and flinched. Running away was my first instinct, but I couldn't afford to look weak in front of the captain, so I slowed down to let him catch up.

"Morning," I mumbled when he fell in step beside me.

"Where ya headed?"

"The bakery. For breakfast."

His brows rose. "Yer an early riser."

"Could say the same about you."

He smiled. The lines around his mouth suggested it was something he did often, even if I hadn't experienced it much myself. There was no trace of malice on his face, but his presence still made me uncomfortable. Yesterday's eavesdropping was bound to have consequences, and Kai seemed the sort to enforce them. But he only said, "Ya know how to read and write?"

"Yeah."

"Mind writin' down something for me?"

The simple request surprised me so much that I slowed down and nearly stopped right there. "Um sure. Find me in the library later? I'll take care of whatever you need."

"Will do." He jogged off without another word, leaving me to wonder he was up to.

He kept me waiting nearly all day. Late in the afternoon, he finally breezed in, glanced around until he caught my eye, and gave me a lazy, "Cohen."

I waved him over to my table.

He had to pass the others to get to me. Edmund looked up as he was walking by and said, "I'm not busy, Kai."

The invitation was dismissed with a wave. "Nah, I want him."

I set down the stack of books I'd been carrying and joined him at the table, picking up a stack of paper and a pen on my way. His eyes watched my every move as I sat and uncapped the pen.