“We know,” Alex said as he crossed the room towards me. “We’ve just been waiting for you to accept it.”
“No, you don’t understand,” I said, trying to back away from him but Odem was in the way. “I-I’m….”
A volley of lava bombs against the night sky, that’s what flashed through my mind when I tried to speak. The village around me broken and in flames as I called out the others one by one, all the ones who’d been cruel to me or stood back and watched as others had mocked me and made cutting remarks about my mother. I cursed the ones who’d driven my brother out and rained hellfire down on those who’d planned to use me as a weapon.
Seduce them. Destroy them.
The words accompanied yet another memory, shoved to the back of my mind and buried since the night I’d destroyed my former home and left the bodies of several of my former neighbors in my wake.
Too bad the ones I’d truly wanted to destroy hadn’t been there that night. Their eyes had followed me as I’d driven through the night, lingering in the rearview until I’d reached the edge of Dragon City. Why hadn’t they stopped me?
Let him go.
“I think I need to go lay down,” I said, trying to step around Odem who just closed his arms around me.
“No, we need to go to the kitchen and speak to Ionus,” Odem said. “What I just saw in your head…”
“Wasn’t meant for you to see,” I hissed, keeping my voice low because the little ones were there.
I might not know anything about caring for one, but I knew what it was like to be small and listen to people yelling at one another. It was the scariest thing in the world, and I wouldn’t be part of subjecting them to that.
“Please, mate, trust me,” Odem said, holding me tight, his nose pressed to my hair until my breathing was in tune with his. “This could be a crucial piece of information.”
Slowly, I exhaled, nodded, and let him lead me past Alex and into the kitchen, where Ionus already had a kettle on for tea.
“Raspberry oolong?” Ionus asked, t-bag in hand.
“Y-yes, how did you know?” I sputtered as I collapsed onto the chair.
“That one always seems to calm you down,” Odem replied as he rubbed my shoulders. “I simply asked if he had some.”
“I-I didn’t hear you say anything.”
He tapped the side of his head, a reminder of the way he could communicate with me as well. When he’d asked if I’d ever heard a voice that warned me of danger, I’d stayed silent. Now I recalled the way it had taken over that night, snarling its fury over the screams as people fled the lava bombs.
“Touching base with one another is second nature,” Ionus explained.
“Apparently,” I muttered, though as I said it I was reminded that I’d had that once, with Upalo, before he’d been forced to leave me behind.
But why?
I barely remembered him. His face, like the rest of my memories, was blurred and had been growing more so since I’d settled into Dragon City. Even time was hazy and growing long, until it felt like I’d been here forever, the past a misty dream and occasional nightmare easy to escape the moment I awoke. I sat silently contemplating what to tell them until Ionus slid the mug between my hands.
“I burned most of my village before I came here,” I muttered as I stared down into the steaming liquid. “It wasn’t accidental. It was intentional.”
“Why?” Ionus asked.
“It’s um, kinda funny that you’d ask that,” I said, though I could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t find any of this amusing. “I don’t remember.”
“How is that possible?” Ionus asked.
“I don’t know, I guess my memory just sucks!” I snapped, bristling when it started to feel like he didn’t believe me. “I did it with lava bombs and then I left. I drove away and eyes followed me until I got here. Every time I lingered in another place, they’d be there, peering through my windows, watching me until I moved again. I didn’t remember anything about the village until I walked through your door and saw the kids playing with their blocks. It reminded me of a box I made into a castle as a child.”
“Did you come straight here?” Ionus asked. “How long did you travel?”
I shook my head, because I remembered being behind the wheel for what felt like forever. “I don’t know how long it took to get here. I tried to settle down other places, but I was never able to stay long. I was trying to escape those eyes, but they didn’t stop appearing until I reached Dragon City”
“Do you remember how many places you lingered in?” Ionus asked, beginning to sound impatient with me.
