Smoke Rising: Book III

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

They serve pork and potatoes for dinner. I try to act as normal as possible as we eat, Ana and Ella laughing at some story Ana's friend from the infirmary, Karra, tells them. A boy about Ella's age, Bash, short for Sebastian, sits with us too, and the way they look at each other every few minutes makes me nervous. But I force myself not to say anything. Ella's going to be sixteen soon. If she wants a boyfriend, I'm not going to stop her. Not that I'd be here to do it anyways.

When we finish eating, Karra asks a group of her friends to play some music. They don't have much; a guitar, a violin, a flute, and some homemade drums. But they do wonders with it. Karra asks Ana to dance and she takes her hand, careful not to touch the bandages on her arms as she whisks her in between the opening in the tables. Bash convinces Ella to dance too, and as he twists her around, he goes into Shadow form and catches her on the other side of himself. It's a strange sight to see, my sister enjoying dancing with a Caster openly using magic, but there's something satisfying about knowing she's surrounded with possibilities. They don't have any rules about Shadow Casters and humans being together, and everyone treats humans as equals here.

I stand against one of the posts with a statue crypt built in above my head, leaning just below the feet when I see Eli across the temple walking with a group of Shadow Caster boys. A few of them I've met, though I don't remember any of their names except Huxley. He has chestnut brown hair and wide brown eyes that hard to forget because they always light up when lever he makes someone smile or laugh.

Some of the other Casters they're with I've only seen around. All of them around Eli's age. Across the room, our eyes lock, and I smile sadly at him. If he knew the truth, he'd be following me around, never letting me out of his sight, knowing it might be the last if he does.

I turn around and slip to the other side of the crypt, trying to remember how to breathe, and I'm suddenly struck with an emotion I haven't felt since before I found out Eli was still alive.

Out of control.

The emotions flood through me as I remember his heart stopping underneath my hands.

That won't ever happen again. I won't let it.

I push off the post and start for the exit. I wait on the steps outside for Ana and Ella, even though it's nearly time for me to be at the meeting spot.

When I can no longer sit still, I go to the bottom of the stairs and find the hall underneath the temple. One way leads towards the infirmary, another towards the room where the Shadow Caster train and practice. But further down the hall is a dark room that people rarely visit this time of night. The library.

I go there to find pen and paper, surrounded by long rows of dusty old books. I sit on the small bench made of stone roses painted red with wavy golden
lines around the edges, and I write them each a letter. Ana, Ella, and Eli. I fold them, write their names on each, and I go to find Evelyn.

She's in the temple dining hall with everyone else, clapping to a tune that I wish I could enjoy. I go up to her from behind and tap her shoulder. She turns around, looking over her shoulder, and I pull her into a hug, shoving the letters into her hand as I do. "For when they realize I've left," I say, nodding. "Thank you for everything."

She smiles sadly at me, and we break apart. I look for Ella, who has stopped to take a break from dancing. She's talking to Bash near a post, and when I walk up to them, she looks like she wants to punch me.

"Can I..." I look between her and Bash, then I pull her in for a hug. "I'm going to stay at Eli's tonight," I lie. And I hope she doesn't figure it out before the morning even comes. "I just wanted to say goodnight."

"Yeah, okay, Em," she looks at me suspiciously.

When I give her my best attempt at a smile, she begins to turn away from Bash and follow me as I back away.

"Emery, is everything okay?"

I have to do a better job at this. I force myself to look and feel casual, rolling my eyes as I wave her off. "Go have fun. Love you, El."

"Love you too, Em," she buys my act enough to turn away and take Bash's hand, following him back to where others are dancing.

I give Ana a look as her eyes find mine through a small gathering of people. She smiles and I smile back, giving her a short wave goodbye. She turns and lands in Karra's arms, the two of them falling in love before my very eyes. Karra took care of Ana in the infirmary, but I don't think either of them expected to fall for the other.

My heart aches for Mateo. If Ana can be with a Shadow Caster girl, she should be allowed to be with him. But their relationship was too complicated and too difficult. That's why they broke up weeks ago, and I'm glad at least one of them is moving on. I just hope Mateo can find someone to make him happy, too.

As I slip out of the temple and across the bridge, I let my fingertips graze at the bottom of the rocks. I never got into the whole stone representing a lost loved one thing, but maybe I should have tried to let it comfort me the way it comforted Ella. I stop at mom's stones and I wonder if one day I'll have a stone up there next to her.

****

It takes me too long to swim down the river. But the stream is faster than usual, picking up pace as a storm brews outside. When I finally reach the rocks, my arms are sore from staying afloat. As I climb the rocks, my legs begin to shake from worn muscles. But when the flat stone I stand on begins to move, I know he is here.

I rise thirty feet in the air, leveling with the cliffs on either side of the river. Theo is smiling at me, wearing a long, beige robe with black and golden thread along the arms, chest, and feet. He stands next to an Earth Caster, one I recognize. She used to shift the training platform back and forth over the moat. But I never learned her name.

"It's good to see you again Emery," he smiles, holding his hands in front of himself.

I laugh nervously, kneeling on the boulder. "It would be nice to see you on ground that isn't floating..." I look at the earth bender, and she twists her body, grips at the air and pulls the stone towards them like it's lassoed by an invisible rope.

"You're late," he scolds.

"Aren't I always?" The boulder reaches the ground and I jump off, throwing my arms around the old man.

His chuckle is low and deep as he hugs me back. "Come on, we need to get back before the King realizes we're gone."

We start for the trees. "He doesn't know?"

Theo hesitates as I reach down towards the rock that hides the calling stone, take another sharp rock near by, and scratch an X across the surface.

"No. What are you doing?"

I shake my head. "It's just a precaution... If Ella or anyone needs me, I want them to be able to contact me."

"I see... The King has been... not himself since you left."

Oh no. "Who has he been then?"

Theo looks out through the trees and leads the way down the mountain. "He has been distracted... Looking for a way to read minds, like we talked about before. He can communicate with people telepathically, but he's been searching for a way to read people's thoughts, too. But the search has made him... a bit obsessed. I think he believed if he had your power, he'd be able to do it, but it appears it's a bit more complicated than that."

I had forgotten all about that conversation with Theo. But now it makes sense. He thought that if he could read thoughts and he could connect with the first Caster, he'd be able to find the spell to make more Casters, and then nothing would stand in the way of his idea of a perfect world.