Page 28

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Liv

Was I ever afraid of the dark? No, the horrors of my past always happened in the light.

I sat on the edge of a bed, running a stone along the sharp edge of my blade, just as Bastane showed me on our travels to the Guardian city. I promised myself to practice through the movements every morning to calm my mind.

The stone scraped along metal, a grating sound that sent shivers down my spine.

The sound transformed into a steady beating, echoing down the hallways of the empty airship.

The halls didn’t absorb any of the sound, heightening my sense of loneliness.

It wasn’t until sometime later that I heard a similar pounding coming from another room.

I returned my swords to their purple-dyed casings, and I left the room, heading through the halls in search of the sound, wondering what the twins were working on. The lights had dimmed, no longer golden. I had never noticed before how eerie the ship became at night.

The carpet muffled my steps as the banging intensified, and I followed the sound up the stairs leading to the top deck. I vividly remembered following Nuo up these steps one night to drink together while the others dined with the Captain.

I pushed open the heavy door, letting in a blast of frigid air, and my hair whipped back as I stepped into a large open room filled with candles and the smell of stale air.

“What the …” Where was the deck?

The black walls were so smooth that they reflected the room back at me. Candles lining the walls and resting on a long wooden table flickered and mirrored on the stone.

I turned in a circle.

Gone was the door I had just come through. Gone was the Airship.

My breath came out in puffs of steam against the cold air, and I wiggled my toes. My shoes were gone.

High above, past the black walls, was a darkness that shone like a million black crystals.

I sucked in a breath. There was no ceiling.

The banging that led me here thrummed across the massive room. Five figures sat at a long table, fighting among themselves. One of them pounded a fist against the tabletop while he argued with the others.

This place made no sense. It felt real, but most certainly was not. If this was a dream like before, if the unending sound was luring me, it must mean he was here. I didn’t care if my mind was fabricating this place or if he was half monster. A photo of him wasn’t enough.

The air grew colder, and I was pulled to the group of people sitting at the far end of the room. “Please be here.”

I passed grey and tattered banners on the wall. Some had fallen, lying in heaps on the floor. The table stretched endlessly in front of me, as if it were growing the farther I walked.

“I know this place …” my voice echoed, matching the beat of the pounding fist.

The table, the room, I was in the Guardian Palace, just like in the last dream. Only now, I stood in the dining room where I had met the god Rem. It had been lavishly decorated, warm, inviting and full of Guardians. It had been alive.

Now, it was haunted, cold and dark.

I slowed, piecing together what I was seeing. Without a doubt this place wasn’t real. This was a dream. A nightmare.

Over the high backs of the chairs, I could make out the curling horns of the half-beast at the far end of the table. As I neared, its citrine stare came into focus, its clawed hands splayed out on the table. It wasn’t moving, as if in a trance while the other people spoke around it.

It was the same half-beast from the dream before. Dark, matted hair fell in its face. Slits for a nose and swirling dark shadows ran over its pale skin. It wore a black ripped cloak, and it didn’t move an inch. Candlelight didn’t light its face—it absorbed it.

No one paid me any attention as I approached, it wasn’t until I was a few feet away that I understood who was speaking.

“I’ve searched every library in Veydes. I’m telling you, there is no answer.”

Nuo sat to the left of the beast, dressed in Guardian black, his brown hair swept back from his face.

He wore glasses and his vest with many pockets, and had a large piece of paper in his hand.

On the other side of him sat a young boy with matching coloured hair, who had to be close to ten.

The boy slumped in his seat, grinning at the others like he was scheming against them.

“No …” I whispered.

The boy had honey-brown eyes that shone with mischief. The same as they had when I met him as an adult.

The boy spun toward the beast, his grin faltering. “I bet if he told us sooner, I would have figured out how to save him. But he kept it hidden from me until I was a teenager! He was just a bully, I guess, and never changed. I don’t understand how we became best friends.”

Another person spoke, and I ran around the end of the table, past the beast. A teenage boy sat to the beast’s right.

His brown eyes were jaded and rebellious as he reprimanded the young boy.

“There’s no way we failed him. No way! I’m the smartest Guardian there is.

If there isn’t an answer in these stupid books, I will find the gods and make them change his fate myself. ”

A pile of books appeared on the table between the arguing boys.

“He said he’s old when he turns into the Aspis,” the young Nuo said. Then he pointed to the eldest, the one in the vest. “It’s your fault he doesn’t survive. I’m just a kid. If my mom and dad were here, they would know how to save him.”

“Your mom and dad are gone,” the teenage Nuo said. “You need to grow up and get over it. The instructors will have you beaten if you keep crying about it. You don’t need them or anyone.”

They paid me no attention as they fought, and the beast never spoke. Instead, he lifted a clawed hand, growling and grabbing his head as if it hurt.

The Nuos all looked at him, some making faces, some laughing. All but one.

This Nuo didn’t move at all, and I stepped closer, grabbing the back of a chair, my breaths coming faster as I stared at the final Nuo.

He was still, eyes facing forward, vacant and empty. His skin was a shade of blue, pale and … this Nuo was dead.

“From the dream,” I whispered. “ He saw you die.”

Each version of Nuo represented a time when he had known him—from when they had met as boys until the vision from his dream. He had always known what was going to happen in the end. He had seen Nuo die.

I squeezed the chair, holding back a sob. The dead Nuo looked not much older than he did now. His hair long, his beard shaven?—

“Best not to look at him, BB,” the teenage Nuo said. “It will haunt you as it did Brekt.”

I pulled away, and two sets of honey-brown eyes and one set of empty, faded brown ones looked at me.

“You’ll be next, Ikhor.” The oldest Nuo turned in his seat. “I will find you, and I will kill you.”

Warm breath hit my neck. The smell of leather and pine surrounded me, and a hum vibrated in my ears. At the head of the table … the chair was empty.

I turned, catching a flash of yellow in my peripheral. The dark outline of curling horns and matted black hair blocked the room beyond. Pupils turned to slits as he whispered, “They are wrong. It’ll be me that finds you first.”

The massive doors blew open, and a roar tore down a long hall, shaking the room.

The Nuos scrambled from their chairs—even the cold, blue Nuo rose—disappearing like fading dreams.

“Time for you to go, Ikhor.” The beast grabbed me with its massive claws and threw me across the room.

Before I was about to collide with the wall, I woke, screaming in the airship halls sitting with my back pressed against a metal door near one of the glowing lights. Drenched in sweat, I clutched the photo of the Guards to my chest. I didn’t know what hall I was in.

My belt held my swords. Had I even sharpened them?

I checked the photo in my hand, checked down the hall—nothing was amiss. I wiped up my tears, pocketed the photo, and got up.

Perhaps carrying the photo with me wasn’t doing me any favours.

I needed to walk, needed to keep myself awake. I was not falling asleep again because seeing any version of him ripped me apart.