The train’s whistle blew loudly from up the platform.
Caelum’s eyes drifted to the open door directly across from him.
Suddenly, it felt real.
He was going somewhere he father wouldn’t be.
When Greythorne nodded and moved off, Caelum looked up at his father.
“I need to get onboard.”
His father gave him a cold nod, gauging his eyes.
He must have seen something there, because he leaned close again.
“You can’t hide from me, Caelum,” he murmured, his hand back on his neck, but lighter that time. “Don’t forget that. You’re never alone. Never.” His fingers tightened perceptibly. “And no matter how clever you believe yourself to be,” he whispered. “You’ll never find everyone who’s watching. Never.”
Caelum’s throat clenched, but he didn’t answer.
His father used the same hand to push him towards the open train door. He released him at the end, and despite his father’s last words, it felt like a collar coming off his neck.
Caelum made sure not to let the difference show on his face.
He didn’t let himself run.
His father continued to watch as he sauntered over to the open train door, then caught the side handle to pull himself lazily up the stairs.
He didn’t look back.
He felt those hard, silver, lifeless eyes on him, anyway.
He tookhis time finding the three mage boys whose photos his father had given him. He walked the length of the train cars first and glanced into every compartment he passed.
It was strange seeing so many young people.
He’d spent his entire life interacting only with adults. After the thing with the firefoxes, his father didn’t even let him talk to the drakai much, or the Tower goblins.
The thought made his vision waver slightly as a memory of Uric pinned to the board swam behind his eyes. The arrowhead through his eye, the gleaming knife, dark pelts, blood sinking into the grass, things his nightmares still brought back, even when he meditated for hours before bed, fighting to control his mind––
He forced his eyes back to the narrow hallway of the train.
He breathed, forcing his consciousness into his body, his feet on the wooden floor.
If he lost control… his very first day… well, his father had already warned him what would happen. The instructions he’d been given were detailed, meticulous, controlled to the point where just considering all the rules he was expected to follow made him feel claustrophobic. As usual, his father thought of everything.
There were only a few places Caelum would be allowed to deal with any potential “accidents” with his magic. The train to Briarwood definitely wasn’t one of them.
He craved seeing people, though.
He craved seeing young people most of all, even as envy twisted sharply in his gut as he watched them interact.
Most of the kids were older than him, even with him entering school a few years late.
The younger ones, closer to his age, seemed painfully young.
They looked and acted nervous, excited, completely unable to control their emotions or even their bodies. They ran and tripped and squealed up and down the aisles of the train, switching compartments and walking between cars and speculating loudly about the school, rumors they’d heard about classes and teachers and the city of Cambridge and the dragon that supposedly lived on a nearby mountain. They bought handfuls of sweets and spread their booty out greedily on the benches and ate through every piece while they talked and laughed.
Caelum fingered his empty pockets and scowled again.
