Kane fiddles with the pages of century-old books he found in a dusty part of the library shelves. He doesn’t even need to read through them. Just running a finger along the spine happens to jog his memory.
“Both. But mostly a place. A living, breathing entity.”
“Hmm.”
I’m surprised Demechnef officials are allowing us to lounge in here. How could this be part of an experiment? I pictured torture devices and chains. We are sitting in a library, next to a warm fire,talking.
“Do you feel connected to it at all? Or are there no feelings attached?” he asks.
I sort through each memory. From the first time I was sucked into the Nightlung, it felt like a hook pierced my core and was reeling me out to an open sea.
“Yes. Sometimes it feels like the Nightlung is in sync with my heartbeat. Other times it feels like a person who has just always been there, eavesdropping on my conversations.”
Kane mumbles to himself, talking to another alter about a specific chapter in the book at the bottom of the stack. “And you said it always happens when your emotions are high?”
I nod. “I can never tell which emotions trigger it though. Sometimes it feels like fear. Other times it’s anger.”
“No, I don’t think it’s adrenaline,” he mutters to himself. “Oh, yes. Could be. I’ll ask.”
I wait for his question, smoothing out the ridiculous dress that they put on me.
“That first time you traveled, you were attacked?”
“Yes.”
“But it wasn’t just you. Your sweetheart and uncle were also there.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Your uncle used his hands to protect you from being slashed by the swords.”
Even someone else saying it out loud, analytically, strikes me straight to the bone. I lower my eyes to answer that.
“And the second time, you were attacked again but an animal that can also travel, Dellilian, protected you.”
“Right.” It sounds crazy. I’m surprised he’s still going along with this.
“The third time, it was another attack—but another animal, that you know from the future, protected you and your sweetheart.”
DaiSzek. I wish I could tell my father how brave he was.
“The fourth time, you were about to be—assaulted.” The muscle in Kane’s jaw tics. “But your sweetheart saved you.”
“Yes.”
“The fifth, what was it?”
I drop my face into my hands, rubbing my eyes. “I don’t know, I have a hard time remembering things now since the electroconvulsive therapy. I think it was—”
“It was probably when she met me.”
I jump at that voice. The one that sounds like a mangled nursery rhyme, strangely quiet, like he’s trying to slip between cracks of time and into nightmares.
But Kane doesn’t even flinch. He continues flipping through pages of a book, unfazed by the intrusion.
“It’s about time you decided to stop being a peeping tom and join us, Vrath,” my father says casually. “Waiting behind the back shelves for that long? I was beginning to wonder if you’re afraid of me.”
I told him every detail about my interaction with Vrath. From that information given, I suspect my father knew this strange man would be joining us soon.
