Machine of Fire and Blood

SIXTEEN

The next few days passed quickly once they got into the routine. In the morning, they trained their minds, slowly moving from controlling their faces to controlling their thoughts. Adithreel taught them to picture their minds as stone too, as vaults that could keep their thoughts in and unwanted visitors out. Calaithe was skeptical that the act of simply willing Maia to stay out would actually work, but it seemed to have for both Adithreel and Carrow, so she decided to trust it. In the afternoons, they sparred. Calaithe was slow and clumsy, but she was getting better. She'd even gotten a hit in on Elden during one practice. And every night, Adithreel read her to sleep. Part of her felt guilty for making Adithreel stay up and read, but she hadn't had a nightmare since the first night he'd come into her room, and she selfishly wanted to keep it that way. Plus, there was something about Adithreel's presence beside her that felt calming. She thought she should have felt nervous, having a strange man in her bed, but it was comfortable falling asleep beside him each night. She would study his face while he read, tracing the lines of it with her eyes, as she began to drift off each night. She figured she probably knew his face better than her own at this point.

Three days in, one of Adithreel's informants had come and told them that he had sent out several bounty hunters and they were stationed perfectly so that they covered all routes to the Lankan Mountains. With that information, they continued on with their routine, hoping that they had bought time. They had now been at Kit and Carrow's house for almost two weeks, but they were all starting to get antsy. They all knew they would need to leave soon, that staying any longer would be risky. They also hadn't heard any further news about Chaon Danson one way or another. No one had spotted him or heard anything about him. It was too quiet.

Calaithe glanced over at Adithreel, who sat in the bed next to her, as per usual. He was leafing through the pages of the book, looking for a story they hadn't read yet.

"We may have read everything in here already. I might have to find us a new book," Adithreel sighed, closing the book.

He went to stand, but Calaithe placed a hand over the book, stopping him.

"Why don't we just talk tonight?" she questioned.

Adithreel raised his eyebrows but sat back. He didn't look at her as he set the book aside and folded his hands over his stomach. Calaithe wondered with slight amusement if he was nervous.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Will you tell me? About the day your family died? About what Maia wanted from you? I want to understand. I want to know why she came to me in my dreams. I want to know what happened. And, from what she said, I feel like I am somehow part of it now. I think I deserve to understand what decision she is asking you to make and what the stakes are."

Adithreel sighed and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "You are right, I suppose. I wish Maia had never involved you. She did it to try to get under my skin. She wants me to say yes this time. The thing you must first realize in order to understand what Maia wants from me, is that Maia and those like her are not from this world. As I have mentioned, they need a host body to inhabit in order to anchor them here. These bodies are not a permanent solution, however. Although with the help of the inhabitant, the normal aging process slows, it does not stop completely. Maia used to inhabit a different body. Her old body was growing frail and old, and she was in need of a new one. She also has many friends that are still trapped in the realm she came from, who wish to come to this world. So, Maia came to me in a dream, just as she did you. She asked me to offer myself and my sister as vessels for her and a friend that she wanted to bring into this world. She even offered that she would only use our bodies for a short time so that we could live out our adulthood in freedom. I still refused, though. My sister was so young, and my parents needed me to help take care of them. I did not want to abandon them or ruin her childhood. My parents, however, disagreed with me. They thought it would be a great honour to serve Maia and they encouraged me to say yes. They even said that they would be happy to give up my sister. So, I decided to lie to them. I told them that Maia had already chosen new capsules for her and her companion. I told Maia that my family refused to help her. Maia was disappointed, but she said that she understood and would find a new body. She warned me, though, that there was another woman, a being like her, that would be very upset with my decision. Apparently the being that was to take over my body was a friend of Maia, but a lover to this other woman. I ignored the warning, though. I did not think it was serious. I went out one night and stayed out late, even though I had promised my sister that I would come home early. I walked in at the end of the night to find the woman standing in the center of our house, covered in my family's blood."