Page 116 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

As a breath shudders out of my lungs, footsteps rush over. I cautiously peel myself off the messy floor to find all four of my companions around me.

“Are you all right?” Ivy asks, her face blanched.

Stavros looks grim. “It was the scourge sorcerers again, wasn’t it?”

He has a red blotch on his jaw. I must have hit him hard.

Guilt winds through my gut. “I’m sorry. Instead of trying to call me to them, they were making me lash out. As soon as I realized, I did my best not to hurt any of you.”

The big man rubs his jaw. “I’ve had worse.”

Alek studies me, his expression tense. “They must have realized that dragging you away wasn’t working, so they figured they could use you to do damage in other ways. Do you think?—”

Before he can finish his question, the door at the end of the hall swings open. A woman in a cleric’s robes, flanked by two devouts, bustles inside and stalls in her tracks at the sight of me crouched amid the remains of the door. “What in the realms are you doing to our temple?”

Casimir holds up his hands. “All our apologies, Your Holiness. Our friend was ill and had a fit. He’s come out of it now.”

I don’t like the lie, but I’ve seen how people react to finding out the truth of what I am enough to keep my mouth shut for my companions’ sake.

The cleric steps forward gingerly and peeks into the room. I wince at the thought of the mess I’ve made.

She sucks a breath through her teeth in a hiss. “This is unacceptable behavior for guests. We can’t have anyone so disruptive staying here. You need to leave at once.”

She tenses as if bracing for an uncomfortable argument, but Stavros lowers his head. He’s keeping his prosthetic hand tucked behind him, I notice. “We’ll gather our things and be out before the next bell.”

“Here.” Ivy steps forward with a flash of gold in her hand. She offers the coin to the cleric. “To cover the costs of the repairs.”

The cleric takes the coin, staring at it and then the rest of us. It occurs to me that she must wonder why people carrying gold coins would need to shelter at a temple rather than paying for regular accommodations.

I may have caused even more harm than what I can see.

The compensation appears to mollify the woman at least for the moment, though. She dips her head and hurries away with her devouts in tow.

Stavros waves us toward the ruined room. “Let’s get our things quickly. She may decide to call for help if she gets any indication that we’re hesitant to leave.”

I shove myself to my feet and scramble into the room. My spirits sink lower at the sight of the scorch marks and the shelves I didn’t realize I’d cracked when I smacked into them.

I snatch up my cloak, my new bow and arrows, and the older clothes still damp from this morning’s washing.

It only takes a minute for us all to gather our meager supplies. We hustle out to the temple’s adjoining stable, where Ivy and Stavros retrieve the horses they returned there less than an hour ago.

Ivy’s stallion snorts as we head for the nearest stretch of forest, as if he’s annoyed we interrupted his rest. I’ve even upended the animals’ lives.

We finally had a warm, clean place to stay where Ivy didn’t need to constantly work at hiding us, and I destroyed it all.

A gloom settles over me like nothing I’ve felt before. It feels as if a dark, suffocatingly thick cloud has descended to swallow me whole.

As we tramp between the trees, my head droops. An uncomfortable sense of resolve fills me.

I know what I should do. What maybe I should have done from the first moment I realized how the creators of this body could still affect me.

All this time, and I still can’t fend them off properly. How can I say I deserve this body when I can’t even prevent it from hurting the few people who’ve accepted me?

I’m not sure how much time passes before Stavros lifts his hand to stop us. “I think we’ve gotten enough distance from the temple. We don’t want to stray too far from Iblin when we know the scourge sorcerers are using it for supplies. We can set up a camp and monitor the situation from here.”

We’re standing at the edge of a small glade ringed by leafless trees and a few that bristle with dark green needles. Casimir immediately moves to start arranging our possessions.

I set down my damp clothes and the bow but hold on to my quiver. An arrow tip would do better than a stick.

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