Greylith, page 9
“Oh, I’m not here with anyone,” Wren looks at me.
“Why didn’t you ask Lyric?” I turn to look at her.
“I’m working security,” she says seriously. “Why? Did she say something?”
“I’m not getting involved, all I can say is talk to her,” I tell her. It takes me a minute to register what she said first. “Wait, you’re working security? At a dance?”
“You never know,” she says seriously. “Besides, it was Ironleaf’s idea, so who knows what that man is thinking?”
Wren starts walking across the bridge. “You coming?” she asks over her shoulder.
“Yeah, I’ll be in shortly, just waiting for Xander,” I shout back. “Go in!”
“Where are you?” I call Xander telepathically.
“Turn around,” Xander calls, his voice real and present.
I turn around and see the man of my dreams. Xander looks amazing. He’s wearing an all-black suit, with a gold vest and bowtie. I’m not used to seeing him in an actual shirt. He smiles at me and squeezes my hands. Air escapes me and the world around me fades away as I look into his eyes.
“You look great,” Xander smiles at me.
“So do you,” I grin from ear to ear.
“Shall we?” he asks, holding his arm out, waiting for me to interlock mine.
“Let’s do this.” I slip my arm in the opening between his arm and his ribs.
We make our way down the bridge and walk into the small castle.
The entire castle is filled with a low layer of fog hanging on the ground. Stone tables have been erected from the castle itself. The slight breeze wisps in through the small windows. We make our way to the top floor and stand against a table.
“I’ll go get us some drinks.” Xander steps away and heads to the small bar across the roof.
“Where’s Xander?” Lyric asks, walking over, already out of breath from dancing with Thorne.
“He went to get us drinks, do you want one?” I ask her.
“Sure, let’s g-” she starts.
“Don’t worry, I’ll have him grab one,” I laugh.
“Lyric is here, grab her something too please?” I look over at Xander.
He turns over his shoulder and sees us and nods.
“Okay, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” Lyric shakes her head.
“So, ‘Oh Powerful One’,” I hear Thorne say from behind me. “When do we get to see your Weave in action?”
“Keep it up and you’ll get to see it firsthand,” I say, keeping my eyes ahead of me.
“Thorne,” Lyric looks at him.
“What?” Thorne asks pompously. “I’m only kidding, Greylith knows that!”
“What does Greylith know?” Xander's voice sends a shiver down my spine.
“Oh look, Greylith’s security guard,” Thorne laughs. “Right on time.”
“What the hell did you just say?” I turn around.
“Phoenix, don’t,” Lyric tries to interrupt. “He’s just kidding.”
“Quiet,” Thorne looks at her. “The men are talking, okay?”
“Oh, shit.” Xander says smoothly.
I look at Xander confused, but he’s not looking at me. I turn my head toward Lyric and see her face is red and she’s fuming.
“Did you really just fucking say that?” she yells. “Did you really only ask me to the dance so you could pull some shit with Phoenix? I should’ve fucking known!”
Thorne laughs.
Before I can even turn back to Thorne to get a read on him, I feel a giant gust of wind fly through me. I turn and see Niko standing right next to Lyric, baring her teeth, a low growl coming from her throat.
“I’d walk away if I were you, Ironwood,” Xander says with a smile.
“You think I’m scared of some dog?” Thorne says, forming a ball of fire in his hand.
Niko lets out an even more aggressive snarl.
“Go,” Lyric’s anger is taking over. “Because I won’t warn you again.”
Thorne lets out a long breath, lower’s his fireball, and turns his back.
“Ugh!” Lyric lets out a burst of frustration. “What a dick!”
“I tried to warn you,” I say, not thinking about my tone.
“Yeah, Phoenix, I get it,” Lyric shouts, before storming off.
I start to go after her and then Xander puts his arm out to stop me. “She just needs a minute,” he smiles. “She’ll calm down.”
“I shouldn’t have said that,” I respond.
“No, but she also shouldn’t have brought that guy,” Xander shrugs.
I try to shake off the feeling of guilt. “Do you wanna dance?” I ask.
Xander doesn’t answer so I turn around and look at him to see that he’s looking around with a worried look on his face.
“I was actually thinking we could get out of here?” Xander looks at me, reaching for my hand.
“What about the dance?” I ask, as we’ve only been here for all of ten minutes.
“I just thought we could do other things,” Xander says, winking at me.
“Do you know something?” my voice lowers to a whisper.
“No, I just don’t want to be here right now, I just want to be with you,” Xander says sharply.
I think about questioning him, but I don’t want it to sound like I don’t believe him. “Let’s go then,” I say with a smile.
Xander locks his hand with mine and we make our way to the exit before Wren steps in front of us.
“Hi guys,” she says, trying to catch her breath. “I’ve been looking for you. Are you leaving?”
“Yeah, Xander just doesn’t feel good right now,” I lie.
“Oh, good,” she replies.
I give her an odd look. “And why is that good?”
“I mean, it’s not good that he doesn’t feel good, but, good that you’re taking him back to his room since he doesn’t feel good,” Wren says, looking around.
“Wren,” I say sharply. “I’ve known you for all twenty years of my life, and I know when you’re lying. So why don’t you tell me what the he-”
“It’s a Shadow Walker!” I hear someone yell in the distance.
“We need to go,” Xander says, grabbing my arm trying to usher me out of the castle.
“You knew?” I ask.
Xander stares at me.
“Get the hell out of my way,” I throw his hand off my shoulder and walk back into the castle.
I push past the crowd of people and make my way up to the front. I see a dark, humanoid figure. It looks like it’s made out of black smoke, but that smoke takes the shape of a person, of someone I feel looks vaguely familiar, I just can’t put my finger on who it looks like.
“How did it get in?” a Senior Recruit asks.
“Get the General!” I hear Caspian shout from the back.
“Bring them to me!” the figure says with a hiss.
“What is that?” I turn to Xander.
“It’s a Shadow Puppet, they’re summoned by Shadow Walkers,” he replies.
“Bring you who?” Xander says, stepping in front of me.
The Puppet turns to Xander. “Bring me,” it pauses, “The Reality Weaver.”
Did he just say what I think he said? He’s looking for me? How on Aetheria does the Shadow Army know that Fort Weave has a Reality Weaver?
“There hasn’t been one of those in over five centuries,” I hear a man call from the top of the castle. I contort my neck around to see that it’s Commander Darkflame. “Go back to your master, vermin.”
“Don’t lie!” the Shadow Puppet hisses. “We know they’re here.”
Just as I begin to think about stepping forward, Xander puts an arm out to block me. “Don’t.”
“Why?” I whisper, lowering my head. “I can take him.”
“Because we don’t need to give them confirmation that you’re here,” he starts. “What we need to do is get you out of here, unnoticed.”
“And how exactly do you think we should do that?” I ask in a snarky tone.
“You wanna test out a theory of mine?” Xander side-eyes me.
“What do you have in mind?” I stare ahead at the floating Shadow Puppet talking with Darkflame.
“Do you think you can form a mental bridge between your sister and I?” he whispers, and by the look on his face, he’s not kidding.
“I, I don’t-” I stutter.
“You need to believe that you can do it if you’re actually going to do it,” Xander’s eyes are watching the smoky figure intently.
I take a deep breath in and give Xander a slight nod. I look at Xander and imagine his mind glowing gold. I then look at my sister and imagine her head glowing purple. I look intently between the two of them and picture a small line shoot out from each of their temples and connect, forming a platinum bridge to each other. I nudge Xander’s arm slightly, letting him know that it’s ready.
“Testing, testing,” I hear Xander’s thoughts.
I look to Wren who’s giving us a terrified look from above. I nod to her slightly.
“What the hell is this?” She’s freaked out.
“Act normal. Don’t look at us, keep looking ahead,” Xander commands, eyes forward.
“Oh yeah, my brother’s boyfriend is in my head right now. This is fun,” Wren says, still with panic in her voice, but does what he says.
“I’m not his boy-” I stop myself. “Just listen to him.”
“Oh, you’re here too,” Wren starts.
“Focus!” Xander shouts at her. “We need to get your brother out of here.”
“Obviously,” Wren says. “But how are we supposed to do that?”
“Is Cleo around?” Xander smiles.
“Always is,” Wren says, and I can feel the slight smile in her voice.
“Think he wants to take this Shadow fucker for a ride,” Xander chuckles, which causes the Shadow Puppet to glare over at us, but Darkflame gets his attention again.
“He’s ready,” Wren tells us.
“On my count,” Xander begins. “1… 2… 3!”
“Now Cleo!” Wren yells out loud.
Everything happens so quickly, Cleo dives from right above the cloud line, looking ten times larger than when I saw him before. He picks up the Shadow Puppet in his talons, flies higher and higher and back into the clouds.
The Shadow Puppet lets out horrendous screams, ones that I can only imagine mean he’s being torn apart.
“Recruits, back to your rooms, immediately!” General Darkflame orders. “Officers and Commanders, with me!”
Xander takes me by the arm and is almost dragging me out of the castle and onto the bridge. We’re sprinting as fast as Xander can, followed by Wren along with everyone else at Fort Weave.
“Where are you guys going?” I hear Lyric yell as we run through the courtyard.
“Keep up!” I shout turning the corner onto the staircase that leads up to my room.
“What’s she doing here?” Lyric shouts, looking toward Wren.
“Lyric! I’m sorry,” Wren says. “If I had known you wanted to go to the dance, I would’ve asked someone else to cover for me as security at the dance!”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Lyric’s words are muffled by the wind in my ears. “I shouldn’t have to tell you that I wanted to go, I would’ve hoped that you just asked me.”
I turn to look out one of the windows in the hallway and see Cleo flying by, giving me a better look at his size. He could easily fit two to three people on his back and fly them with ease. I look at Xander and see he’s focused on the route ahead and remember my anger toward him and how he knew something was going to happen.
We stop right outside of my room and Xander gestures to me to open the wall.
“You care to explain yourself?” I ask him assertively.
“Not here,” he says through his teeth.
“Not so fast, Greylith!” I hear Darkflame shout from down the hall.
The four of us stop right outside of my room as the wall takes form again, leaving us in the hall with Darkflame and a few other members of the High Council.
“Bridge! Now!” I hear Xander shout in my mind.
In an instant, I picture the glow from Wren and Xander’s heads, bring the faint line from each and merge them together and the platinum bridge is created again.
“You lost control over Cleo, you don’t know why he did that,” Xander tells Wren.
She gives a slight nod.
“Care to explain yourself, Greylith,” Darkflame shouts at us.
“I don’t kn-” Wren begins, before Darkflame cuts her off.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Senior Recruit,” Darkflame barks.
“Me?” I ask, in a loud sarcastic tone. “What do I have to explain?”
“How the hell does the Shadow Army know you’re here and that you’re a Reality Weaver?” Darkflame asks.
“I could ask you the same thing?” I ask back. “Obviously someone at Fort Weave is communicating with the Shadow Army. I’d assume you’re going to do everything you can to find them.”
“You’re in no position to ask questions, Recruit,” Darkflame glares at me. “If I find out you’re also a traitor to the Aetherian Army, it’ll be more than just you that pays the consequences.”
“Also?” I ask. “Who else is a traitor?”
“Just stay out of trouble!” Darkflame shouts, turning his back.
“I’ll make sure he does,” Xander says to his back.
When Darkflame and the other High Council members are out ear shot, I snap. “What the hell was that?” I turn to Xander. “You’ll make sure of it? I don’t need you to watch over me. I don’t need you to watch my back or try to protect me. I can do that myself.”
“I know I just-” Xander tries to speak but I don’t let him.
“I don’t want to hear it! You’ve lied to me and now you want to… what? Keep up your good looks with General Darkflame and watch out for me? No! Fuck that!”
“Phoenix!” Wren yells through her teeth. “Inside, now!”
I turn to her, startled. She’s never yelled at me like that. I slowly put my hand back on the wall and it dissolves away.
Wren grabs my collar and shoves me into my room, followed by Lyric and Xander.
“What the hell was that, Wren?” I shout at her.
“You need to calm the hell down, Phoenix,” Wren yells. “You can’t lose your cool like that.”
“Or what? They’re gonna kick me out of here?” I say, only seeing red. “News flash, Wren, I don’t give a damn.”
“Phoenix,” Xander starts.
“And I really don’t want to hear from you right now either,” I point at Xander without taking my eyes off of Wren, whose gaze has shifted upward. “I’m so pissed that I’m being coddled right now like a fucking child by all of you!”
“Phoenix!” Wren shouts.
“I’m not done, I-”
“PHOENIX!” Lyric screams.
I look at her because I would’ve never expected her to yell at me like that. When my eyes meet hers, she lifts a finger up point at my ceiling. Large chunks of stone are burning away. Burning.
“What the-?” I begin, but lose the words before they come.
“That. That’s why you need to calm down and keep a level head,” Wren grabs my attention. “You aren’t like anyone else Phoenix. If you get angry enough, you could level Fort Weave, and probably with ease.”
“But-” I'm at a loss for words, again.
“Phoenix, you need to be careful of how much power you use,” Lyric looks at me. “Have you ever heard of Consumption?”
I shake my head. “What’s that?”
“Consumption is when you draw too much energy from the Arcane Weave. It can be detrimental. It can cause you to sleep for days, go mad, lose your ability to Weave, and in extreme cases, it could kill you,” Lyric says.
“That’s why you need to stay calm,” Wren says. “Remember what I said before we got on the Ship? There are people here that don’t like us Greylith’s, and these people will do anything to see us fail, including getting you angry enough to push you to the point of Consumption.”
“Thorne?” I look at Lyric.
Lyric walks over to the window. As I approach her from behind, I notic a subtle quiver in her shoulders, a barely perceptible tremor that betrays the silent storm within. Her head is bowed, a curtain of hair cascading over her down-turned face, shielding her from prying eyes.
“Lyric?” I ask, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“I swear, I didn’t know,” she says, tears streaming from her eyes.
“His father was in the same squad as Dad when he went on his last mission in Expiratum,” Wren says from behind, choking up. “No one really knows what happened, only that Dad was the sole survivor on that mission.”
“So, Thorne blames me?” I ask. “I’m confused how it would be our dad’s fault that everyone else died.”
“It’s just suspicious, I mean, why didn’t the Shadow Army kill Dad? Why did they leave him alive?” Wren pauses. “A lot of people blame us for Dad not dying on that mission.”
“Maybe the Shadow Army sent Dad with a message?” I look at everyone. Xander isn’t looking at me and Lyric is too upset to think about anything right now.
“Well, if they did, he didn’t tell anyone,” Wren says flatly. “Phoenix, this is why the four of us need to stick together. You need us. We can protect you.”
“I’m a Reality Weaver,” I say coldly. “I don’t need protection.”
“Until you get so mad at Xander that you drop your own ceiling on yourself,” Lyric looks at me, with a smile, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Stop being such a stubborn ass and just face it, you need us.”
“Fine,” I state. “But starting tomorrow I want to start honing in on my Weave and to learn to take control.”
Wren and Lyric nod, Xander still won’t look at me.
“Why didn’t you ask Lyric?” I turn to look at her.
“I’m working security,” she says seriously. “Why? Did she say something?”
“I’m not getting involved, all I can say is talk to her,” I tell her. It takes me a minute to register what she said first. “Wait, you’re working security? At a dance?”
“You never know,” she says seriously. “Besides, it was Ironleaf’s idea, so who knows what that man is thinking?”
Wren starts walking across the bridge. “You coming?” she asks over her shoulder.
“Yeah, I’ll be in shortly, just waiting for Xander,” I shout back. “Go in!”
“Where are you?” I call Xander telepathically.
“Turn around,” Xander calls, his voice real and present.
I turn around and see the man of my dreams. Xander looks amazing. He’s wearing an all-black suit, with a gold vest and bowtie. I’m not used to seeing him in an actual shirt. He smiles at me and squeezes my hands. Air escapes me and the world around me fades away as I look into his eyes.
“You look great,” Xander smiles at me.
“So do you,” I grin from ear to ear.
“Shall we?” he asks, holding his arm out, waiting for me to interlock mine.
“Let’s do this.” I slip my arm in the opening between his arm and his ribs.
We make our way down the bridge and walk into the small castle.
The entire castle is filled with a low layer of fog hanging on the ground. Stone tables have been erected from the castle itself. The slight breeze wisps in through the small windows. We make our way to the top floor and stand against a table.
“I’ll go get us some drinks.” Xander steps away and heads to the small bar across the roof.
“Where’s Xander?” Lyric asks, walking over, already out of breath from dancing with Thorne.
“He went to get us drinks, do you want one?” I ask her.
“Sure, let’s g-” she starts.
“Don’t worry, I’ll have him grab one,” I laugh.
“Lyric is here, grab her something too please?” I look over at Xander.
He turns over his shoulder and sees us and nods.
“Okay, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” Lyric shakes her head.
“So, ‘Oh Powerful One’,” I hear Thorne say from behind me. “When do we get to see your Weave in action?”
“Keep it up and you’ll get to see it firsthand,” I say, keeping my eyes ahead of me.
“Thorne,” Lyric looks at him.
“What?” Thorne asks pompously. “I’m only kidding, Greylith knows that!”
“What does Greylith know?” Xander's voice sends a shiver down my spine.
“Oh look, Greylith’s security guard,” Thorne laughs. “Right on time.”
“What the hell did you just say?” I turn around.
“Phoenix, don’t,” Lyric tries to interrupt. “He’s just kidding.”
“Quiet,” Thorne looks at her. “The men are talking, okay?”
“Oh, shit.” Xander says smoothly.
I look at Xander confused, but he’s not looking at me. I turn my head toward Lyric and see her face is red and she’s fuming.
“Did you really just fucking say that?” she yells. “Did you really only ask me to the dance so you could pull some shit with Phoenix? I should’ve fucking known!”
Thorne laughs.
Before I can even turn back to Thorne to get a read on him, I feel a giant gust of wind fly through me. I turn and see Niko standing right next to Lyric, baring her teeth, a low growl coming from her throat.
“I’d walk away if I were you, Ironwood,” Xander says with a smile.
“You think I’m scared of some dog?” Thorne says, forming a ball of fire in his hand.
Niko lets out an even more aggressive snarl.
“Go,” Lyric’s anger is taking over. “Because I won’t warn you again.”
Thorne lets out a long breath, lower’s his fireball, and turns his back.
“Ugh!” Lyric lets out a burst of frustration. “What a dick!”
“I tried to warn you,” I say, not thinking about my tone.
“Yeah, Phoenix, I get it,” Lyric shouts, before storming off.
I start to go after her and then Xander puts his arm out to stop me. “She just needs a minute,” he smiles. “She’ll calm down.”
“I shouldn’t have said that,” I respond.
“No, but she also shouldn’t have brought that guy,” Xander shrugs.
I try to shake off the feeling of guilt. “Do you wanna dance?” I ask.
Xander doesn’t answer so I turn around and look at him to see that he’s looking around with a worried look on his face.
“I was actually thinking we could get out of here?” Xander looks at me, reaching for my hand.
“What about the dance?” I ask, as we’ve only been here for all of ten minutes.
“I just thought we could do other things,” Xander says, winking at me.
“Do you know something?” my voice lowers to a whisper.
“No, I just don’t want to be here right now, I just want to be with you,” Xander says sharply.
I think about questioning him, but I don’t want it to sound like I don’t believe him. “Let’s go then,” I say with a smile.
Xander locks his hand with mine and we make our way to the exit before Wren steps in front of us.
“Hi guys,” she says, trying to catch her breath. “I’ve been looking for you. Are you leaving?”
“Yeah, Xander just doesn’t feel good right now,” I lie.
“Oh, good,” she replies.
I give her an odd look. “And why is that good?”
“I mean, it’s not good that he doesn’t feel good, but, good that you’re taking him back to his room since he doesn’t feel good,” Wren says, looking around.
“Wren,” I say sharply. “I’ve known you for all twenty years of my life, and I know when you’re lying. So why don’t you tell me what the he-”
“It’s a Shadow Walker!” I hear someone yell in the distance.
“We need to go,” Xander says, grabbing my arm trying to usher me out of the castle.
“You knew?” I ask.
Xander stares at me.
“Get the hell out of my way,” I throw his hand off my shoulder and walk back into the castle.
I push past the crowd of people and make my way up to the front. I see a dark, humanoid figure. It looks like it’s made out of black smoke, but that smoke takes the shape of a person, of someone I feel looks vaguely familiar, I just can’t put my finger on who it looks like.
“How did it get in?” a Senior Recruit asks.
“Get the General!” I hear Caspian shout from the back.
“Bring them to me!” the figure says with a hiss.
“What is that?” I turn to Xander.
“It’s a Shadow Puppet, they’re summoned by Shadow Walkers,” he replies.
“Bring you who?” Xander says, stepping in front of me.
The Puppet turns to Xander. “Bring me,” it pauses, “The Reality Weaver.”
Did he just say what I think he said? He’s looking for me? How on Aetheria does the Shadow Army know that Fort Weave has a Reality Weaver?
“There hasn’t been one of those in over five centuries,” I hear a man call from the top of the castle. I contort my neck around to see that it’s Commander Darkflame. “Go back to your master, vermin.”
“Don’t lie!” the Shadow Puppet hisses. “We know they’re here.”
Just as I begin to think about stepping forward, Xander puts an arm out to block me. “Don’t.”
“Why?” I whisper, lowering my head. “I can take him.”
“Because we don’t need to give them confirmation that you’re here,” he starts. “What we need to do is get you out of here, unnoticed.”
“And how exactly do you think we should do that?” I ask in a snarky tone.
“You wanna test out a theory of mine?” Xander side-eyes me.
“What do you have in mind?” I stare ahead at the floating Shadow Puppet talking with Darkflame.
“Do you think you can form a mental bridge between your sister and I?” he whispers, and by the look on his face, he’s not kidding.
“I, I don’t-” I stutter.
“You need to believe that you can do it if you’re actually going to do it,” Xander’s eyes are watching the smoky figure intently.
I take a deep breath in and give Xander a slight nod. I look at Xander and imagine his mind glowing gold. I then look at my sister and imagine her head glowing purple. I look intently between the two of them and picture a small line shoot out from each of their temples and connect, forming a platinum bridge to each other. I nudge Xander’s arm slightly, letting him know that it’s ready.
“Testing, testing,” I hear Xander’s thoughts.
I look to Wren who’s giving us a terrified look from above. I nod to her slightly.
“What the hell is this?” She’s freaked out.
“Act normal. Don’t look at us, keep looking ahead,” Xander commands, eyes forward.
“Oh yeah, my brother’s boyfriend is in my head right now. This is fun,” Wren says, still with panic in her voice, but does what he says.
“I’m not his boy-” I stop myself. “Just listen to him.”
“Oh, you’re here too,” Wren starts.
“Focus!” Xander shouts at her. “We need to get your brother out of here.”
“Obviously,” Wren says. “But how are we supposed to do that?”
“Is Cleo around?” Xander smiles.
“Always is,” Wren says, and I can feel the slight smile in her voice.
“Think he wants to take this Shadow fucker for a ride,” Xander chuckles, which causes the Shadow Puppet to glare over at us, but Darkflame gets his attention again.
“He’s ready,” Wren tells us.
“On my count,” Xander begins. “1… 2… 3!”
“Now Cleo!” Wren yells out loud.
Everything happens so quickly, Cleo dives from right above the cloud line, looking ten times larger than when I saw him before. He picks up the Shadow Puppet in his talons, flies higher and higher and back into the clouds.
The Shadow Puppet lets out horrendous screams, ones that I can only imagine mean he’s being torn apart.
“Recruits, back to your rooms, immediately!” General Darkflame orders. “Officers and Commanders, with me!”
Xander takes me by the arm and is almost dragging me out of the castle and onto the bridge. We’re sprinting as fast as Xander can, followed by Wren along with everyone else at Fort Weave.
“Where are you guys going?” I hear Lyric yell as we run through the courtyard.
“Keep up!” I shout turning the corner onto the staircase that leads up to my room.
“What’s she doing here?” Lyric shouts, looking toward Wren.
“Lyric! I’m sorry,” Wren says. “If I had known you wanted to go to the dance, I would’ve asked someone else to cover for me as security at the dance!”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Lyric’s words are muffled by the wind in my ears. “I shouldn’t have to tell you that I wanted to go, I would’ve hoped that you just asked me.”
I turn to look out one of the windows in the hallway and see Cleo flying by, giving me a better look at his size. He could easily fit two to three people on his back and fly them with ease. I look at Xander and see he’s focused on the route ahead and remember my anger toward him and how he knew something was going to happen.
We stop right outside of my room and Xander gestures to me to open the wall.
“You care to explain yourself?” I ask him assertively.
“Not here,” he says through his teeth.
“Not so fast, Greylith!” I hear Darkflame shout from down the hall.
The four of us stop right outside of my room as the wall takes form again, leaving us in the hall with Darkflame and a few other members of the High Council.
“Bridge! Now!” I hear Xander shout in my mind.
In an instant, I picture the glow from Wren and Xander’s heads, bring the faint line from each and merge them together and the platinum bridge is created again.
“You lost control over Cleo, you don’t know why he did that,” Xander tells Wren.
She gives a slight nod.
“Care to explain yourself, Greylith,” Darkflame shouts at us.
“I don’t kn-” Wren begins, before Darkflame cuts her off.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Senior Recruit,” Darkflame barks.
“Me?” I ask, in a loud sarcastic tone. “What do I have to explain?”
“How the hell does the Shadow Army know you’re here and that you’re a Reality Weaver?” Darkflame asks.
“I could ask you the same thing?” I ask back. “Obviously someone at Fort Weave is communicating with the Shadow Army. I’d assume you’re going to do everything you can to find them.”
“You’re in no position to ask questions, Recruit,” Darkflame glares at me. “If I find out you’re also a traitor to the Aetherian Army, it’ll be more than just you that pays the consequences.”
“Also?” I ask. “Who else is a traitor?”
“Just stay out of trouble!” Darkflame shouts, turning his back.
“I’ll make sure he does,” Xander says to his back.
When Darkflame and the other High Council members are out ear shot, I snap. “What the hell was that?” I turn to Xander. “You’ll make sure of it? I don’t need you to watch over me. I don’t need you to watch my back or try to protect me. I can do that myself.”
“I know I just-” Xander tries to speak but I don’t let him.
“I don’t want to hear it! You’ve lied to me and now you want to… what? Keep up your good looks with General Darkflame and watch out for me? No! Fuck that!”
“Phoenix!” Wren yells through her teeth. “Inside, now!”
I turn to her, startled. She’s never yelled at me like that. I slowly put my hand back on the wall and it dissolves away.
Wren grabs my collar and shoves me into my room, followed by Lyric and Xander.
“What the hell was that, Wren?” I shout at her.
“You need to calm the hell down, Phoenix,” Wren yells. “You can’t lose your cool like that.”
“Or what? They’re gonna kick me out of here?” I say, only seeing red. “News flash, Wren, I don’t give a damn.”
“Phoenix,” Xander starts.
“And I really don’t want to hear from you right now either,” I point at Xander without taking my eyes off of Wren, whose gaze has shifted upward. “I’m so pissed that I’m being coddled right now like a fucking child by all of you!”
“Phoenix!” Wren shouts.
“I’m not done, I-”
“PHOENIX!” Lyric screams.
I look at her because I would’ve never expected her to yell at me like that. When my eyes meet hers, she lifts a finger up point at my ceiling. Large chunks of stone are burning away. Burning.
“What the-?” I begin, but lose the words before they come.
“That. That’s why you need to calm down and keep a level head,” Wren grabs my attention. “You aren’t like anyone else Phoenix. If you get angry enough, you could level Fort Weave, and probably with ease.”
“But-” I'm at a loss for words, again.
“Phoenix, you need to be careful of how much power you use,” Lyric looks at me. “Have you ever heard of Consumption?”
I shake my head. “What’s that?”
“Consumption is when you draw too much energy from the Arcane Weave. It can be detrimental. It can cause you to sleep for days, go mad, lose your ability to Weave, and in extreme cases, it could kill you,” Lyric says.
“That’s why you need to stay calm,” Wren says. “Remember what I said before we got on the Ship? There are people here that don’t like us Greylith’s, and these people will do anything to see us fail, including getting you angry enough to push you to the point of Consumption.”
“Thorne?” I look at Lyric.
Lyric walks over to the window. As I approach her from behind, I notic a subtle quiver in her shoulders, a barely perceptible tremor that betrays the silent storm within. Her head is bowed, a curtain of hair cascading over her down-turned face, shielding her from prying eyes.
“Lyric?” I ask, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“I swear, I didn’t know,” she says, tears streaming from her eyes.
“His father was in the same squad as Dad when he went on his last mission in Expiratum,” Wren says from behind, choking up. “No one really knows what happened, only that Dad was the sole survivor on that mission.”
“So, Thorne blames me?” I ask. “I’m confused how it would be our dad’s fault that everyone else died.”
“It’s just suspicious, I mean, why didn’t the Shadow Army kill Dad? Why did they leave him alive?” Wren pauses. “A lot of people blame us for Dad not dying on that mission.”
“Maybe the Shadow Army sent Dad with a message?” I look at everyone. Xander isn’t looking at me and Lyric is too upset to think about anything right now.
“Well, if they did, he didn’t tell anyone,” Wren says flatly. “Phoenix, this is why the four of us need to stick together. You need us. We can protect you.”
“I’m a Reality Weaver,” I say coldly. “I don’t need protection.”
“Until you get so mad at Xander that you drop your own ceiling on yourself,” Lyric looks at me, with a smile, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Stop being such a stubborn ass and just face it, you need us.”
“Fine,” I state. “But starting tomorrow I want to start honing in on my Weave and to learn to take control.”
Wren and Lyric nod, Xander still won’t look at me.
