Page 75 of A Simple Truth (the Freckled Fate #2)

74

FINNLEAH

“ H ere, have a bit of water. You must drink enough water and bouillon,” Fatima sweetly pestered, adjusting my pillow. I sat up, attempting to drink a few sips, my pounding headache keeping me groggy even as the sun shone brightly outside.

Fatima was an older, lower tier Creator, with olive skin and brown eyes, her black hair long and her body perfect. She was gorgeous, breathtaking, loving, and so kind. Xentar had assigned her to be my scribe, to write down every single detail of my dreams, but now she stayed over longer, taking care of me as I was slowly drained of my blood.

I winced as she pulled the thick needle out of my arm, her hands moved fast, pinching the leathery bands of the small sack filled with my blood. I tried to stand up, but my eyes darkened, forcing me to sit back down. I was so incredibly weak, my body exhausted as I spent a good part of the last two days here in bed filling up those small sacks. My eyes lowered to my hands; my skin was looking paler than ever before, and even my freckles were not as dark as they had been before.

“You have some visitors today if you are up for it,” Fatima chirped, folding a few blankets on my bed.

“Who is coming?” I asked, attempting to sound casual, indifferent, though secretly hoping it would be a certain Destroyer I had not seen or heard from in days now. I took another sip of my sweet tea. I knew it was an unreasonable hope, and yet, it was the one my heart desperately held on to.

“The Ten are here,” Fatima’s perfect lips stretched wide.

“Wait, the Ten? Like the Ten are here?” I asked, surprised, hurriedly rolling down my sleeves, hiding the large bruises covering my arms from my ruptured veins.

But before Fatima could let them in, all of the Ten busted inside the house, filling the air with excitement and thrilling energy. Their loud commotion and sudden noise felt like shattering glass against my sensitive ears, but my eyes lit up with pure enjoyment at the sight of them all, dressed in their official armored leathers, with their swords and weapons all still strapped in.

All Ten, alive and well.

“Finn!”

“Finn! Finn! Finn!” They piled up, immediately taking over the tiny loft that served as my bedroom.

“Are you sick?” Gia wondered; her face flashed with worry.

“Just a headache.” I dismissed, rubbing my eyes for a moment.

“She spends a couple of weeks with the mages and look at her sickly face.” Motra laughed as she pulled out a chair from the small desk and took a seat.

“So, a great Seer , any cool prophecies to tell?” Yanush grinned.

“Nah, prophecies are boring. I want to know, can you do curses yet? Because I have made a list of people you could practice on,” Ioanna offered, and at first, I thought she was joking, but she pulled out a lengthy piece of paper with names on it. Ashe just shook her head, chuckling.

“I’ve missed you guys,” I replied, my cheeks already aching from non-stop smiling since they’d arrived.

“We’ve missed you too!” Tori plummeted on the bed right next to me, giving me a good side squeeze. Her sister joined me on the other side.

“Seer or not, you are a Justice Wielder first, and you belong with us. So, I, personally, think it’s bullshit to shove you here when all the fun is happening there,” Cori added.

“How has it been for you? What’s war like?” I asked, looking around the room.

“A lot more political right now, not much action yet. Quite frankly, the few human armies that dare to fight get completely slaughtered by us. Kind of boring, not going to lie,” Ashe said as she twisted the few figurines on Xentar’s wooden desk. “Though soon, politics and treaties won’t be enough, and then the real stuff will begin.”

“No casualties on our side so far,” Gia added. “A few wounded, but just miniscule scrapes. They’ll soon be as good as new. But that’s not the only good news.” Gia beamed, her eyes exhilarated with excitement as she pulled down her sleeve, exposing a leathery strap wrapped around her wrist with a beautiful, simple ring on it.

“YOU GOT MARRIED?!” I squealed.

“Engaged, silly. I am getting married in a week!” She laughed; her face was shining brighter than the mid-day sun.

“GIA! That is incredible! Congratulations!” I cried happily, using all my strength to almost tackle her large figure with a tight hug.

“Thanks!” She blushed a bit. “I am very excited, myself. My parents wanted a big wedding, but they are in Svitar, and Broderick’s parents are all the way by the South Keep right now. And with the war…anyway, I just can’t live another day knowing our souls are not bonded, you know?” She looked at me, her eyes full of compassion, that unconditional empathy reaching the darkest corners of my heart. “I am the only daughter, so my parents will probably disown me for doing the ceremony without them, but sometimes life is too short to wait around, so we are getting married here. Now, Finn, I was hoping that you’d accept my request to be one of my witnesses?”

My eyes instinctively dashed to Zora. She gave me a welcoming nod as she explained, “It’s like a human bridesmaid, but a Destroyer version of it, not much different.”

“Seer or not, it doesn’t matter,” Cori assured.

“It would mean a lot to me if you—”

“Of course, Gia! Of course! It would be my biggest honor! Though I must warn you, I’ve never been a bridesmaid, nor a witness, so take me at your own risk.” Gia and I exchanged a girly chuckle. “But I would love to!”

“Great!” Gia exclaimed, her happy voice warming up the room. “I am engaged to the love of my life, to be with him for eternity, I have all my best friends here with me,” she patted Lulu on the shoulder“and we are all living to experience the world changing for the better. Isn’t it marvelous how amazing life can be!” And though I nodded, a part of me ached, wishing I could feel the same.

We spent the rest of the day strolling through the village as we made arrangements for the wedding; hair, make-up, flowers, dress alterations and, as Gia pointed out, most importantly, food. Now, exhausted from the full day of preparations, we rested on the beach watching the sky turn all colors of purple and pink as the sun dawdled on the horizon.

It felt oddly normal, like this was always my life, like there was no war, no wounded hearts or drowning sorrows. Just us. All different and yet, all the same. Eleven women carelessly hanging out, eating our weight in fresh cherries and biscuits, discussing all that we had missed in the short couple of weeks that we were apart.

I told them of all the cool things I learned about the mages, about my gifts, and then showed them my one and only trick I had managed to acquire as a Creator; Lulu now stacking the rocks I turned gray in a wobbly tower.

We obnoxiously laughed and we gossiped, and we dreamed. It felt as if Lady Fate herself was here, walking amongst us, intertwining our threads together. And for once, I was grateful to her, that in her twisted way of doing things, she had gifted me this sisterhood where I felt safe, and I felt at home.

The hot afternoon lazily turned into a shimmering night. The Ten one by one gave me a tight squeeze saying their farewells, reluctantly leaving from the cozy village back to harsh reality of war without me. I stood on the porch, waving them goodbye, watching their warrior figures disappear down the path.

“How is he?” I finally dared to ask Zora when it was just the two of us.

“He is a little vexed, but he will manage.” Zora itched her cheek, her face tattoo looking even more menacing in the shadows of the night. “Though, he won’t be happy about this.” Her eyes pointed to my arms, as if aware of the bruises and the small needle pricks hiding underneath the shirt.

“How did you know?” I asked, unable to deny the truth under her piercing gaze.

“I’ve drained enough people of their blood to recognize the pale shade of gray their skin turns,” she answered. “You are pushing it too far.”

I smacked the little mosquito landing on my shin as the stars twinkled high above us, while the crickets chirped their evening song.

“I’ve passed out enough as a Destroyer, it’s only fair I keep up the tradition as a Creator too. Plus, I have gotten exceptionally good at losing consciousness. After all, it would be a shame to waste such a talent,” I attempted to make a joke, but Zora saw right through me, so I blurted out a bit of truth, “And it’s the only rest I get nowadays, thanks to my needy visions.”

“What are you seeing in them?”

“The better question is, what am I not seeing?” I moved my braid over my shoulder, rubbing my neck. “Ever since Xentar pushed for visions ‘on-demand’ I’d had a vision each night, some nights multiple. And we have yet to figure out how to control or even stop them. A part of me is glad it is only during sleep though; I can’t imagine dealing with it while I am awake.”

“Are you seeing anything of value?”

“Short answer? No. But I have a scribe writing them all down. There is like, a whole book now. She is very scrupulous. Fatima will spare no details, interrogating me sometimes for hours at a time. But so far, no pattern we can figure out. Just glimpses here and there. I have no clue what triggers them either or what any of them mean. It’s like trying to piece together a book, only to realize it’s not in a language you speak, and the pages are all scattered and then, who knows, maybe the pages are not even from the same book.” I ran my hand across my face, rubbing my forehead, as exhaustion reached my bones. “Most of the time, I barely remember to mark the vision to make sure it’s not an actual dream, because I can still have those too, especially since most of my visions happen during sleep.” I let out a large yawn. “I know Fatima and I like to jest about the absurdity of our situation, but truth be told…It’s a fucking mess, Zora. All of it.”

“How do you even know if it's a real vision or a dream?” Zora questioned, killing a mosquito straight in the air before it could land on her.

“Well, regular Seers place an anchor. A link between visions and reality. I have yet to

master that, though I am getting better. But I am a Destroyer, so I hijack that process and pretty much, my solution is placing a burn mark on my hand in my visions if I wake up and my hand is burning, a vision; if not, just a dream.

“You burn yourself each time you have a vision?” Zora’s narrow eyes widened.

“Kind of? It’s a small burn mark but it disappears within the hour after a vision. Which also complicates things. Imagine never being able to sleep in, always waking up and your scribe already there, asking you questions.” I waved in greeting to a couple of passing Creators before adding, “I miss the days when I was just a Destroyer.”

“Don’t you worry, that was a shitshow too in the beginning.” Zora jabbed and I rolled my eyes at her smiling. “If you ask me, this whole mage thing is a phase, and as your Commander, I expect you to be in the ranks once we are over this teenage boy drama,” she scoffed.

“I’ll think about it.” I poked Zora with my elbow, my mouth turning up with a grin, “I am quite the celebrity here you know; sparks are very high in demand in this corner of the world.”

“I bet.” Zora clicked her tongue, but I made her smile, and it made me glad. “Have you healed anyone?”

“Nope, can’t heal a thing; not an animal, not a mage, not a human, nothing,” I replied, not hiding the relief in my voice. Relief, because I wasn’t sure I could handle the pressure of healing people, deciding who to save without draining myself of life first. As it turned out, Healers’ magic was tied directly to their lifespan, and the more they used it, the less they lived.

“Well, let’s hope you figure it out before Insanaria decides to kill us all.”

“Have we figured out what to do about her?” I probed, blatantly aware of the worry laced in Zora’s voice.

“No. Gideon says he is working on it. He can pretend, but that stone was the closest we’d ever gotten to figuring it out and now, we are back at the start.”

“Honestly, dying from a quick magic force explosion doesn’t sound too bad in some ways. One blink and we are all in the Afterlife. It’d be a party.” I winked at her.

“There is the death-loving Finn that I remember. Glad to see you are in good spirits about it.” Zora rolled her eyes, letting out a sigh. “Remind me to not let you near our explosives.”

I made a loud whoosh sound, imitating explosions everywhere.

“Gods, I’ll see you around, Finn.” Zora shook her head, but the corner of her thin lips stretched up.

“Good luck, Commander,” I whispered, watching the tiny, fierce woman disappear into the night.