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COLLEGE

C as was tired, but he’d been on high alert for as long as Emryn had been unconscious, and she was awake now, so maybe he could rest. He laid down and closed his eyes, immediately falling into the dark.

But there was a light, and Cas needed to know what it was.

So he picked up his feet and went in the direction of the leaking light. Finding himself in a meadow, or at least it looked like one, with a bright being wearing an exact duplicate of what Cas was wearing.

In fact, the being facing him was an exact duplicate of Cas. Right down to the forelock of hair that his man despaired of ever getting to stay in the right place.

“What?”

“Hello Cas,” the voice was musical, reminding him of that song that Emryn’s wings had sung with the oracle. “You finally found me.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m you,” the being said. “The you within you, and it is time you became.”

“Became what?”

“Yourself,” the being said with a smile. “When you wake, speak to Emryn. She will know what to do.”

The light faded out before Cas could get his feet under him to ask what the being meant. And the dark was crushing, sending him down until there was no way up and no way out.

And then it let him go, He felt marginally better and when he looked over, Emryn was sitting at the side of the bed with a tray in her lap.

“How long?” He tried to sit up and failed.

“Two days,” Emryn said. “You had a mild fever, some sort of illness. I healed you, but could do nothing for the exhaustion, so I just let you rest.”

“Thank you,” He tried to sit up again and managed it this time. “Is that for me?”

She nodded, rising and placing the tray on his lap. “I had cook make her special soup for you.”

“Where’s yours?” He took the cover off the bowl and breathed in the fragrant steam.

“In my belly,” Emryn smiled, but there was an edge of worry in it. “Are you feeling better, Cas?”

He nodded. “I had a strange experience, Emryn, and I need to talk to you about it.”

“Alright?”

Cas told her about his dream, about the meadow and the being and what he’d said. “And I don’t know what it means that you might know what he meant.”

Emryn looked at him for a moment and then looked down at her lap. “I think I know, but you-” she looked up at him again. “The Mother visited me again, Cas. Her time is running out and I have to find my Three.”

“What does that have to do with me?” He asked

“You’re one of them,” she said. “I just don’t know for certain which one you are.”

“How do you know?”

“When you anchored me,” she nodded, but still wasn’t looking at him. “I could feel something there, something reaching back. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do, and if you’d rather leave it alone for now, I understand.”

Cas moved the tray to the side and reached for Emryn. Who shied back, not letting him touch her. “I’m a danger, Cas. To you, to everyone here, and all of you might be better off if I left.”

“Where would you go, love?”

She shrugged, letting out a broken sigh. “It’s not about me right now, you need to rest and when you’re well again we can discuss it.”

Cas was able to get out of bed two days later, and he went straight for Asan, who was up at the college working with the other magi on the mystery of who kept coming after Emryn.

The last man who’d come for her had died to Brutus before he could be questioned, so there was no thread to lead them to the culprit.

“What can I do for you, Cas?” Asan asked, not looking up from his maps.

“I need your perspective, Asan.” Cas leaned against the door frame and watched his teacher. “Emryn thinks I’m one of her Three and I need to know if she’s right.”

Asan dropped his pen. It clattered to the floor and Cas winced. That would have bent the nib.

“What?” Asan looked puzzled. “Alright, let’s look at this academically.”

Cas nodded. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“Emryn’s Three are the Phoenix, the Seeker, and the Flame.” Asan said. “Which does she think you are?”

“She isn’t certain but thinks I might be the Phoenix,” Cas nodded to the map on the table. “They’re myth, but so are the Moon Mother’s birds. So perhaps not as mythological as we thought.”

“Hmm, true,” Asan tapped his chin with one finger. “Alright, so for the sake of argument, let us assume she is correct. What indicators would have to be present to definitely say that she is correct?”

“Well, the hallmark of the Phoenix of legend was the flaming wings,” Cas said carefully.

“And you certainly are not in possession of those,” Asan replied, peering around Cas’s back. “What else?”

“Hyper-intelligence,” Cas thought for a moment. “An extreme protective instinct, and the ability to understand and interpret all human languages.”

Asan nodded. “So which of those are you in possession of?”

“I certainly seem to have developed a protective instinct,” Cas said. “Where Emryn is concerned, at least.”

“Which could very well point to you being one of her Three,” Asan mused. “Come, we will go and speak to Emryn about this, and perhaps she will be able to shed some extra light.”