Page 89
In the middle of the room, Castor’s very shirtless body is rising and falling with each push up.
“Seventy-five, seventy-six, seventy-seven,” he counts, voice gruff.
“Oh! I can leave if this isn’t a good time.”
“No, it’s alright—seventy-eight, seventy-nine—I’m almost finished. Eighty.”
Wow.
“It’s less than what I had planned.”
“I said that out loud, didn’t I?”
Castor presses back onto his haunches, grinning up at me.
“You know what, don’t answer that.”
I avert my eyes as Castor stands and heads to the wardrobe in the corner to shrug on a tunic. It has to be against a policy of sorts to have a professor this… hot.
I’m so glad he agreed to be just friends. While I don’t feel anything romantic for the man, I can appreciate his extremely symmetrical facial features.
“Grab a seat.” Castor gestures to the same worn chair I’ve been sitting in all year so far. We have had a few successful breakthroughs, mainly developing my speed in which I access the web of stars. Now, it’s been all about pulling on the right threads. Finding the memories on purpose, and not just stumbling into them.
I drop my bag next to the chair and slump into the seat. “What memory are we looking for today?”
Books lay strewn across the table, full of Old World history that Castor uses as context for me to find memories with. Sometimes, he’d pick a specific event for me to try to parse out, and sometimes I’d find myself on the floor, fainting from effort and full of memories that aren’t mine.
Red rain.
Sirens and chaos.
And times from before The Breaking full of the most peculiar inventions I had only heard about in the oldest of Tellings.
“We are changing our plan.”
“Oh?”
“I assume you’ve heard of the problem with the moon?”
“You mean how it’s slowly drifting away and will quite possibly be the reason for our demise and collapse of the entire ecosystem?”
Castor looks to the ceiling and rakes a hand through his hair. “What I’m about to say is completely confidential. You have to promise not to tell anyone.”
I lean forward. “Do tell.”
“It’s the Elders. I overheard the council.” He points to a stone wall in his office. The same one that shares the Elder’s council chamber. “They had suspected this was happening for years.”
I furrow my brows. “Why wouldn’t they mention anything about it? They could have had scientists looking into answers!”
Castor shrugs. “In fact, they think this is how the last Starwatcher went missing. The records say that Lark was traveling for official Elder Council business, but I’m starting to think that’s not the whole story.”
My heart skips a beat, like the metaphorical strings of my internal fiddle are finally tuned into place.
“I’m beginning to think—” Castor continues.
“Wait. Did you say Lark?” I cut him off.
“Yeah.”
