“What?”Koa’s voice cracked. He stumbled back a step, eyes widening in a way that looked like raw fear. “No. No,no, no, that’s not—” His expression crumpled, panic replacing confusion. “I’m being…framed?”
I stepped forward until his gaze swung to mine. “No way. There’s no way you did this.”
Dimitri nodded immediately. “We know it wasn’t you.”
“Obviously,” Lorian agreed. “This is a simulation. You wouldn’t have had time.”
Aura folded her arms, frowning. “Tech doesn’t lie. If it’s his signature…”
“It’snot,” Eleanor emphasized.
“It’s fucked with,” Zuko growled, studying how freaked out Koa seemed to be. “Koa’s been with us.”
“Obviously,” Slater agreed, cheerfully. “Tech can be easily tampered with.”
“Perhaps,” Aura murmured, her eyes sliding over the devastation. “But maybe it was a phoenix, and that’s why it’s confusing magical signatures.”
“Or a firedrake,” Hawk muttered. “That would make sense, too.”
“Magical signatures aren’t easily mistaken,” I muttered. “This was intentional, and Koa isn’t involved in this.”
The child’s sobbing turned from silent to loud.
Eleanor moved before anyone else, crouching next to him. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.”
“We’re here to help.” Lorian joined her, his hand softly pressing against the kid’s shoulder.
A wave of calm overtook the child.
“How did you do that?” the boy asked, his voice raspy from all the smoke inhalation. “I can think straight again…I don’t feel sad or even hurt anymore. How?”
“My touch,” Lorian explained kindly. “I have a power that calms even the strongest emotions if I make physical contact with someone. As long as their soul is intact.”
“That’s incredible,” Eleanor murmured.
“Thanks.” A blush crept onto Lorian’s cheeks. “Can you settle the matter of who did this?”
“It wasn’tanysupernatural,” the kid said before his eyes fluttered shut and fell asleep.
“It’s my ability,” Lorian explained. “Once I touch someone long enough, the calmness eventually makes them fall asleep. If only I could use it on myself…”
Zuko crouched beside the feather, tracing its glow with narrowed eyes. “If it wasn’t a supernatural, then why is this here?”
“Or this?” I kicked at the talon marks etched into the ground.
Slater grinned faintly and let his chaos magic seep out of him. Snakey formed and slithered through the ruins, sliding into cracks.
“Is the child a reliable witness?” Aura asked, worry creasing the lines on her forehead. “He’s been through a traumatic event. Surely, he may be confused.”
“My power helps calm the trauma. He should’ve remembered correctly,” Lorian told her as Eleanor put the boy’s head in her lap and stroked his hair.
“Even if he did misremember, we need to figure out what happened,” she said.
“It wasn’t me,” Koa muttered, rubbing his face with both hands.
I reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder. “We know.”
His hand came up and covered mine, squeezing. “Thank you, Rune.”
