Chapter Twenty One
She was half aware of people talking to her. Half aware that they were moving her. Hands that were neither Aiden’s nor Kai’s were roaming her arms, checking for injuries. She was only half bothered, only half wishing that she was with someone she knew. Eventually the people left, but she gave no sign that she noticed their absence.
There was only one rhythmic sound that reached her ears, the sound of pages turning. Soon, she became aware of another sound that sounded in between each page turn. A voice. Someone –Kai, she guessed dimly- was reading. Words flooded her mind as he said them in a tone that flowed, stopping only when a sentence called for it. Even in her half conscious state, she listened as he told his story. It wasn’t fictional, she didn’t think. If it was, it was meant to be realistic. Still, the idea that his words described his story, something that he had gone through, persisted in Austin’s mind.
“I fought with the humans. That’s what we do here for sport. We fight human battles instead of our own,” he said, reading without pause. She could tell that he had near memorized the words, knowing exactly how to say each sentence for maximum impact. Austin felt a slight pressure on her forehead, “I hated it. I hate war. Death littered our battlefields and dreams. I could barely sleep an hour without hearing screams or sirens. I met men, good men fighting for what they believed. I watched those same men die, day after day. We all fought for Britain. I’ve always fought for that nation.’
“I thought you preferred the States,” Austin mumbled, her throat uncomfortably dry, “Boston.”
She tried opening her eyes and found the room too uncomfortably bright. The curtains to the reading room were drawn open, the room flooded with afternoon light. She shut her eyes again and let her fingers trail along her forehead. She felt gauze. Gauze? She shielded her eyes and opened them once again, just in time to see Kai’s book fall out of his hands. He caught it before he hit the ground.
“My trash goes to Boston,” he said, leaning forwards so that his elbows were at his knees. He was sitting on the couch, almost right beside where she lay. Her head almost brushed up against his leg. He was close, almost too close.
“What’s with you and knocking America?” she asked. She wasn’t irritated like she was with anyone else who disrespected that world. She was just curious. Kai was a storytellers, and shouldn’t storytellers look at all sides to a story?
“What’s with you and defending it?” he countered, tapping her gauzed forehead with the book, “Oh, and would you mind telling me what happened last night?”
“What do you mean?” she asked. She sat up, putting a few inches of distance between herself and her friends, before looking around. Everything was in its place, though she couldn’t tell why she had expected anything different.
“Just tell me everything you remember,” Kai said, his voice low even though there was no one else around to hear him.
Austin made her voice just as soft, albeit a bit mocking, “You mean the part where you went on a date with Mr. Tall Dark and Handsom? Because I remember that.”
Kai shook his head, staring at her in disbelief, “I’m talking about how, when I came back from the café, I found you passed out on the floor here, with the door wide open, blood dripping from a cut on your forehead, and a chaos symbol in your hand.”
“What are you talking about?” Austin asked, her eyes wide. If something like that had happened, she would have remembered it. The chaos, or even just one of them, weren’t just going to pass under her radar.
Kai dug a folded piece of paper out of his shirt pocket and shoved it into her hands. She took the barely creased sheet of paper and started at it. The page had obviously been ripped out of Kai’s books last minute, like the chaos hadn’t meant to leave a message. The words thank you were scribbled almost illegibly across the it, accompanied by a symbol that looked like a cross between a d, g, C, y, and a chair, “That’s a chaos symbol?”
“Yes,” Kai said, taking the paper back. He tossed it behind him, meaning for it to hit the fire. It fell short of its target, “Didn’t you want a tour of the city? Let’s do that today.”
He could no longer look her in the eyes, and Austin noticed, “I should probably head back. Today is a training day, so-“
“No,” his grimace showed that this was a topic Kai had been hoping wouldn’t come up, “Austin, you can’t go back there. Aiden said-“
She didn’t like Kai trying to stop her, “Aiden said that he didn’t want me to spend nights here anymore. That’s what he said. I’ll have to explain.”
She stood up and started walking towards the door. She could remember Aiden saying that. She could remember everything in clear detail, right up until they had caught sight of that unlit fountain. Her mentor had some explaining to do.
“That was before this scandal,” Kai said, grabbing her arm. His grip was too tight for her to break through, “He doesn’t want you there, Austin. He’s already filled out the paperwork to transfer mentorship from him to me. It’s already done. I’m sorry.”
“I never figured you for a liar,” she yanked her arm away once she had loosened his grip. If she had to choose between Aiden or Kai, she would trust Aiden. He had been her best friend for years, and besides, he liked her. Why would he give her up if he liked her?
She stomped out of the house, having slept in both her sneakers and jacket, and ran down the street. She wormed through gaps in the midday crowd, her sneakers making soft thuds as she sprinted. Kai was always two steps behind her, always standing right at the edge of her peripheral vision.
She made her way to the training grounds and weaved through the tents to reach the center, jumping over rope and weapons as she went. She did not pause to watch other Fledglings fight, each more agile and competent than her. She was here to find Aiden, and she did just that.
He was sitting next to Sage in the mess hall, much like he had done that first morning Austin had been in Affelil. He was laughing When he saw her standing in the doorway, he waved. His calm expression was tinted with the faintest hint of enthusiasm, and the pit in her stomach lessened. Surely, if he was really cutting ties with her, he wouldn’t look so serene.
“Austin, has Kai told you everything yet?” he asked, and Austin froze at his words, “You and I just need to sign some forms and we’ll be done.”
“Forms for what?” Sage asked, brushing a speck of dirt off of Aiden’s shirt. He elbowed her.
Austin tried to move her mouth, to form words, but her body was a sculpture of ice. Even if she had been able to move, what would she say? She felt like she had just stepped into a different parallel universe, one where things were spinning out of her control.
“Austin is a heavy concern for many chaos dragons. It isn’t wise for me to mentor such an…unorthodox Fledgling,” Aiden shrugged, his green eyes looking at her apologetically. His next words were directed at her, “A storyteller is just fine as your mentor. But we did have some good times, right?”
“Right,” she said before she made the decision to say anything. She wanted to argue, to beg, but she didn’t have the energy to. If the Oh So Important General of Anathaem was too busy for her, well…that’s how it was, “Right. I have to go. See you later.”
Aiden had seen her give up before. He’d seen it quite a few times, so sshe guessed that it made sense he wouldn’t be surrpised.
“See you later,” Aiden said, an empty promise. A hand hooked around her arms and she stared at her sneakers as the person took her away. The sun felt cold on her face, even after they had made their way outside.
“I’m sorry,” Kai said, giving her arm a squeeze. She didn’t respond.
She took a stack of hardcover books off the table at the front of the store and put them back, each book sliding into place and hitting the back of the bookshelf with a muffled thud. The books were smooth and room temperature in her grasp, utterly unremarkable.
“Austin,” Kai started. She didn’t listen to the rest. She put away more books, running on autopilot. After a few minutes, he walked away.
She saw a pile of books on the ground, left by a careless customer, and put those away, too. She dropped one, the heaviest of them all, and stared at it as hit the ground. The loud crack it made did not make her jump, and the sight of its ripped spine did not bother her in the slightest.
She knelt to the ground and picked it up, staring at the words. This was the book she had started to read to the children a few days ago, one about magic. Aiden had watched the movie adaptations with her.
One day to mope, she promised herself, but no more. When she woke up tomorrow morning, she would readily accept the change. She could do that.
But not today.
She put the book back on the shelf and, in a heavy daze, made her way to the kitchen. She would wipe down the counters and put away the books that she knew had accumulated there overnight. She felt herself being pushed into a wooden chair, and suddenly a hot cup was in her hands. She did not flinch as her hands burned, but obediently drank the liquid inside. Tea.
She downed it and ignored the hands that tried to hand her another cup. She slid the books off the table, leaving one that Kai hadn’t finished reading, and left the kitchen to put them away. She repeated this process for hours, straightening and ordering the books to Kai’s system –one that now came second nature to her- until she found herself sliding into a dreamless sleep. She did not feel.
She lay curled up on the couch, the red blanket thrown over her carefully. The fire beside her glowed only at the bottom, where the last pieces of wood were slowly wasting away. The dying fire did not provide enough warmth in the dark room. The window was open and a breeze hit the curtains. Austin shivered in her uneasy sleep.
“You really should lock the window when you sleep,” Aiden chastised her, cradling her head in his calloused hands. She woke up instantly and froze, “What would happen if a chaos tried to steal you away?”
“Why are you here?” she asked, her voice shrill. His hand moved so that it was covering her mouth. She couldn’t scream.
“I couldn’t stay away,” he answered. When he was sure that she had calmed down, he removed his hand.
“You gave me up,” she pointed out, feeling her heart ache as she said that. This hadn’t been a breakup. It wasn’t as good as that. Aiden had dropped their friendship, just like that, and she wasn’t going to forgive him, “Get out.”
“People were beginning to wonder about you. As the General, I was supposed to train a qualified boy from a nice family. You are the opposite of that.”
“So that gives you an excuse? I thought we were friends, Aiden Fer. Or Inferno. Whatever your name is.”
“I want to be more than friends.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
He was quiet, tossing another log into the fire as he spoke, “I know.”
“So?”
“As long as people know I’m in contact with you, they will wonder. And if they wonder, you’ll be found out.”
“So this is you saying goodbye.”
“This is me saying that I can’t stay away from you,” he smiled, “Do you mind me sneaking into your house at night?”
“Yes, I do mind.”
“You’re being harsh.”
“You could have let me know this before you abandoned me.”
“I could have, but you were asleep,” he said it like she was to blame for that face, “Now, what happened? Kai called me over when he found you last night, but I left before you woke up.”
“Bonfire?” she repeated.
“You don’t remember?”
“I remember going on a walk. I remember seeing a fountain,” the marble fountains were forefront in her mind. She remembered everything in detail, from the unlit candles to the dragons carved into the stone.
“Do you remember what we found?”
“Your dignity?”
“Your necklace,” Aiden chuckled and pulled lightly at something around Austin’s neck. She folded her hand over the thin chain, “I dropped you off at a bonfire to make sure the area was secure. You disappeared and the next thing we know, you’re in Kai’s shop.”
“So, not your dignity,” she said, her shoulders dropping, “You really need to find that.”
“The sun'll be rising soon. I need to be back in my tent before anyone notices,” Aiden said. He wrapped Austin in a warm, brief hug that promised his return before he slipped out the still open window.
Austin waved, but by the time she completed the action, he was gone. She dropped her hand.
Fledgling Page 22
