An hour passed and Sophie had barely got through ten pages. She checked her watch. Her mind kept wandering to the Board Room. She wondered who from the Small Council was there now, checking the signals that would be starting to come in right about now. It was nine o’clock in the morning on Saluverus, which would mean – Sophie closed her eyes and calculated – that it would be ten o’clock in the evening in Hawaii right now.
There were three families in Hawaii that Sophie knew of. None of them were much in contact with the Small Council. The head of the Kahale family would send word to Nicholas every now and again, though their training programme was nothing compared to Reth Okath’s Academy in Kenya. The Hawaiian families basically just trained their own children, and there were group sessions every now and again where the children of one family would learn new skills from other parents.
Not all Affinites were soldiers. It depended on their affinity where they would be stationed during a war, but all Affinites were trained to a standard minimum, and were more than capable of training their children to know, and be capable of, the same.
Sophie breathed slowly as she kept looking at her watch. It would be in the ten minutes after each hour that the Asters could be called in. Axel had sent out the new protocols for all Affinite families on the Surface that morning, and Hawaii was the first country with Affinites to hit the next hour mark.
Ten past, and no call; Sophie loosed a breath of relief.
“Waiting to be summoned?” a voice asked behind her.
Sophie turned her head to find Nathan standing in the doorway of his bedroom, which was on the same floor as the common room. She sighed and stared at the ceiling.
“I don’t want to be,” she admitted.
“Don’t want to be waiting or don’t want to be summoned?” Nathan asked, moving around to the front of the sofa. Sophie pulled in her legs so Nathan could sit down next to her. Instinctively she placed her legs on his lap. He looked down at them for a second.
“Both. It’s stupid.”
Nathan placed a hand on Sophie’s knee. His wavy brown hair was still wet from his shower. He wasn’t looking at her; his eyes were on the hand that was on her knee. “It’s not stupid.”
“It’s just… what they did to Eidi…”
“You saved her life, Sophie.” The kindness in his voice made her heart contract. Nathan was always kind. Whether he meant to be or not. Sophie remembered the coldness in his voice when he spoke about Reth and Yaro not being killed yet, in the Board Room the night before. He had seemed so detached then. He was always like that; as if there was this separating line between being an Aster and just being a person; being cold and clinical and being kind and quiet.
“I still shouldn’t get emotional,” Sophie said. Nathan finally looked up at her, and pulled a face as if she was being ridiculous.
“I am a warrior,” Sophie said with an exaggerated voice, which made Nathan chuckle. “I am not supposed to have feelings.”
“You weren’t emotional when you were holding her intestines in your hands while she was still alive and un-sedated. You were a warrior then. You’re allowed to have feelings now.” He didn’t speak loudly. When he was off duty, Nathan never spoke loudly. He didn’t have Sky’s outward swagger, Matu’s radiating strength or Lian’s relaxed, cheerful nature. He had that quiet calm and thoughtful silence that had the ability to ground you.
Sophie smiled gratefully and reached over to hold Nathan’s hand in hers. Nathan’s eyes flickered to her hand for a second before looking up at her again. “Thanks… But we’re not really off duty now, are we?”
Nathan used the hand he was holding to pull Sophie’s arm closer towards him. Sophie opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, but she realised soon enough. He was looking at the watch on her wrist. “We’re off duty for the next fifty minutes,” he said thoughtfully. “We should do something other than dread what could happen in fifty minutes.”
“Or thirty,” Sophie pointed out. “Some countries are another half an hour ahead of others. Some only fifteen minutes.”
Nathan gave her a look. “Only you would know that. Just try not to think about it too much, okay? We’ll be summoned when we’re summoned.”
Sophie bit her lip. “Sorry.”
Nathan chuckled slightly. “However, until then...”
Before Sophie could say anything, Nathan pushed her legs off his lap and stood up. He extended a hand to Sophie and pulled her off the sofa as well.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You’re not allowed to know yet,” Nathan said. The right-hand corner of his lips twitched up momentarily. Nathan shrugged on his jacket and was about to lead them out of the common room when he seemed to remember something. He walked over to the small fridge near his bedroom door and pulled it open. For people who didn’t know much about the Asters, they would’ve been shocked to find that the fridge was not filled with food, but with vials of blood.
Each vial had a sticker on the side that depicted one of the Asters’ symbols, indicating whose blood it contained.
Nathan grabbed one of the vials with Sky’s wing on the sticker and put it safely in an inside pocket of his jacket. He looked over to Sophie who was quietly watching what he was doing. Nathan shrugged his shoulders. “For when they summon us at short notice.”
Sophie wondered where he would be taking her. Apparently far enough that they wouldn’t be able to get to the Board Room within a few minutes. Asters could harness each other’s magic for a single moment through each other’s blood. By drinking only a drop of Sky’s blood, a Band just like Sky’s would appear on the other Aster’s wrist, right beside their own, and that Aster would be able to harness Sky’s magic of either speed, flight or shimmering that single time. By taking some of Sky’s blood with them, Sophie and Nathan could go wherever they wanted on the island, and be in the Board Room within seconds of being summoned.
When the Asters had just started training together, years ago, learning how to harness Sophie’s magic had been one of the first things the boys had been taught. Since her magic allowed Sophie to heal only others but not herself, this was a perfect failsafe to still get healed if she herself sustained a life-threatening injury.
Sophie smiled at Nathan’s thinking of bringing some of Sky’s blood, and followed him out of the common room, excited to discover whatever Nathan had thought of to keep their minds off the possible mission that they could be summoned for at any time.
Much to Sky’s surprise Lian was having breakfast in the dining hall when he walked in. He would have expected all his brothers to still be sleeping at eight o’clock in the morning.
Sky nodded to his brother and then made his way to stand in line at the buffet. It was a little busier than usual for this time of day. Affinite orphans were all having breakfast before going off to school in the town. Any Affinite who had lost their parents before they reached the age of eighteen was brought to live in the castle’s orphan-wing, and were looked after by care-givers, who also lived in the castle.
Sky had got used to the number of orphans that lived in the castle. In the war fought by his mother and the other Asters of the previous generation – called Ceders – many children had lost their parents. When Sky was very young, there had been more orphans living in the castle than there had ever been before or since. Though those war-orphans were over eighteen now and had moved out, others had come in their places. They ranged from all ages, though the majority of them were between twelve and seventeen years old.
Once an orphan turned eighteen, they were allowed to go back and live in their parents’ home if they wanted to, and if such a home still existed. Otherwise they were allowed to remain in the castle for as long as it took them to get a job and get a place for themselves.
Sky walked over to one of the four long tables with his breakfast and sat down across from his brother. Lian was deep in conversation with Anna, who was sitting next to him. Anna was a seventeen-year-old English Affinite with an aff
inity for health. From one of his conversations with her, Sky remembered she was going to study to become a doctor at the Medical Bay of Saluverus. Lian and Anna had become close friends this past year.
The Asters were always allowed to go home and visit their parents on weekends and holidays if they weren’t on active duty, or actively waiting for a mission to happen. A year earlier Lian had lost his parents in a house fire and suddenly had no family to go home to when weekends and holidays came around. So he remained on Saluverus when the other Asters went to their respective families. It was during one of those times that Lian had met Anna.
“So where will you go when you turn eighteen?” Lian was asking her.
“I’ll probably stay here for a while longer. I have to start my nurse training before even thinking about becoming a doctor, and that won’t leave much space for me to earn money and have my own place just yet,” Anna answered.
“That sounds all right. You know you can stay here for as long as you need,” Lian said.
Sky barely looked up from his breakfast as the two of them talked.
“Yes, I know. And even though most of my friends live in the town, there are just about enough nice people around here to keep me company.” She winked at Lian.
Lian grinned at her. “Well, I’m glad you think so.”
Date her already, Sky thought as he rolled his eyes to his cereal. Though he knew not to talk about that particular subject with Lian anymore. Even though his parents had died, Lian still loyally clung on to their plans to marry him off to some Affinite he had never met before. All down the Fai bloodline the tradition of arranged marriage had been followed, where their bride or groom had been chosen for them. Lian knew his parents had already chosen a bride for him, and he wasn’t about to spoil their memory by breaking with his family’s tradition.
Anna knew this and had stayed his friend for the past twelve months, even though Sky could see from the way that she looked at his brother that she wouldn’t mind having more. Yet she had never pushed it, and Sky, despite, or perhaps because of, his own shenanigans, respected her very much for it.
The two friends across from him continued to talk and laugh their way all through Sky’s breakfast. He was glad to be finished so that he didn’t have to listen any more. He knew that if he just got up and left Lian wouldn’t even have noticed, so to make sure that Lian knew where Sky was in case they needed to get to the Board Room quickly he said, “I’ll be in the library if you need to find me.”
Lian looked up at that, surprised. “What the hell are you going to be doing in a library?”
His surprise was justified. Sky hadn’t set foot in the library for months. He felt that his energy was better spent in the arena, since Sophie knew everything they ever needed to know, anyway. It always made more sense to him to prepare for battle, not for a quiz show.
“Don’t,” Sky warned.
“Are you sure you still know where it is?” Lian joked. Beside him, Anna chuckled.
“Shut up,” Sky snapped. He couldn’t stop grinning however, as he turned around and walked away.
“You sure I don’t need to draw you a map?” Lian called after him.
“I can’t hear you!” Sky called over his shoulder, though of course he could hear the two of them laughing as he left the dining hall and headed up the west-wing stairs to the library.
Hours passed and still no summoning. That morning, before heading for the stables in the town, Nathan and Sophie had grabbed a few sandwiches from the dining hall breakfast buffet. They had run into Lian there, and their brother had promised to join them a while later after Anna had gone to her classes.
Nathan had taken Sophie down to the stables where they borrowed two horses. They had ridden them all the way up to the pine forest at the north end of the island. For hours the two of them rode through the woods, rarely having to double back on themselves because of its size. They paused every time it was ten o’clock somewhere else in the world to see whether an Affinite family didn’t send their signal in on time.
No summoning ever came, which meant that until now every Affinite family in the world was accounted for.
Sophie did most of the talking as they rode, and Nathan spent the time listening to her going on and on about some myth or legend she had read about. Sophie loved old stories of long lost worlds and ancient peoples. It didn’t interest Nathan much, but he loved watching Sophie’s eyes light up as she talked about it. How she could find practically everything interesting Nathan would never understand. He wondered if it was part of her magic of Knowledge, or if it was just something personal to Sophie.
At the end of the day Nathan would probably have forgotten most of what Sophie had been talking about. The death rituals of the ancient Egyptians were something Nathan didn’t particularly want to remember. His ears, however, pricked up when she started talking about myths that involved Queen Aiyana. It was interesting hearing stories about their first ever Queen; how it was said she had a sword that could cut through anything, and a shield that protected her against everything, including the magic of Lightning, a magic that the Dark King, Astaroth, always sent with the wave of his signature double-bladed axe. Legend said those two weapons possessed the same magic Aiyana did, but there was no evidence to suggest this was true. To both Sophie and Nathan’s knowledge, those two weapons had never existed. If they did, they would surely know about it.
Lian and Matu had joined them around three in the afternoon. The two of them had practised their archery that morning. The two boys had also arrived on horseback. That and cycling were the most common ways to move around on the island.
The four of them had ridden to the edge of the forest and onto a small clearing at the northern-most tip of the island. They had tied their horses to nearby trees and sat down on the edge, their feet dangling off the cliff face as they stared out onto the darkening Norwegian Sea.
Sophie had asked why Sky hadn’t joined them, only to hear the most surprising news of all: Sky had been in the library all day and hadn’t wanted to leave. It had left her struggling for air as the four of them imagined Sky behind a pile of books, researching God knows what.
When the sun set at around five o’clock the four Asters built a fire and ate their simple packed snacks in silence. They used to come here all the time when they were children. Nathan knew Sophie needed a day like today. When they were on duty and out in the world on missions Sophie was fierce and brutal, while somehow able to be witty and sharp whenever any of the boys stepped out of line. Sky was usually the recipient of this, just like he had been when he had mistakenly pronounced Eidi as dead. When they weren’t on duty Sophie was still witty and sharp, but also softer, kinder.
“Eleven past five,” Sophie said, looking at her watch. “All Affinites in parts of Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Russia accounted for.”
“Good,” Lian breathed.
“That’s nearly half the world down,” Matu said.
“For now,” Sophie whispered.
Nathan offered her a smile. “Small victories,” he told her.
Sophie looked at him and covered her hand with his. Nathan’s eyes flickered to her hand for a moment before turning back to look out onto the sea, his smile lingering on his face.
When the fire burned down the four Asters finally packed up their things, got back on their horses, and headed back to the stables. They made the descent down through the forest in almost complete darkness. They had come here so often that none of them were afraid they’d get lost in the forest. And the horses probably knew the way back from memory, as well.
After they cleaned, fed and locked the horses in their stables for the night the four of them headed back to the castle for a late dinner before heading for bed. Nathan hoped he would fall asleep quickly. He, as they all did, knew that they needed to get as much sleep as they could, since their night could be cut short, just like it had been the evening before.
Nathan prayed that the rest of the world would be left alone. An
d he also prayed that Gayle Mendosa, wherever she was, was all right, too. He hoped for her sake that she enjoyed these last few blissful weeks. Because little did she know that her world would be thrown upside down in less than a month. And there would be no going back.
Chapter 7
Sky hadn’t expected to still be in the damn library the afternoon of the following day. For a few minutes every hour he would stop what he was doing and stare at his watch. His heart would race every time the clock struck the hour, and he would stay still, staring at the moving hand for every one of the next ten minutes that went by.
It was five past two. Signals would be coming in in floods right about now. Sky didn’t exactly know where from. From the geography book he had laid open during his research he assumed they had made it to eastern Australia. But he could be wrong. He never looked at a map any longer than he needed to; only to know where to shimmer to. So how would he possibly know which time zones were where? He still didn’t understand why England was one hour behind them while on the map it looked like it was right above France and Spain, but those two countries had the same time as Saluverus and the rest of Europe.
The minute hand on his watch moved to eleven past two and Sky sighed in relief. He leaned back against one of the hundreds of bookshelves of the library and closed his eyes. The library was an immense space. It covered three stories, and every single wall was covered in bookshelves; the higher ones could be reached by spiral staircases and narrow balconies. On the bottom floor tables and chairs were scattered in between the many extra bookcases that had been set up over the years. There were small lamps on each of the tables. They were necessary, as the dark wood of the bookcases and the millions of books caused the library to have a dark, gloomy feel. Light came in through the windows high above the top bookcases on the third level, but the weather was horrible today; rain was lashing against the windows and the cloudy sky made the library even darker.
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