Page 38 of Gift from the Stone

Grabbing it, I’m expecting the bright flash of light, followed by my younger self and the stranger having a conversation. Instead, it’s like an information upload. A single image shows me, sitting under my willow tree, journals and books surrounding me on the ground. My stranger’s sitting against the trunk of the tree behind me, neither of us speaking, both with our noses in the words.

I feel the information and instructions from those pages imprinting on my brain, or maybe unlocking. I don’t know which it is, but the knowledge of what I’ve read is there and I sit in silence for a moment, letting the information settle into the compartments of my mind.

Turning my head around to look at Tillman, the answer I need comes to me easily.

“I need you to replay what happened and broadcast it to the guys.”

“I’ve never done that before. I usually just watch the replay then tell them what I saw.” His face is a dark cloud of self-doubt, eyebrows drawn down and a frown causing wrinkles in his perfectly smooth skin.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen any doubt from Tillman when it comes to his abilities. He’s always steadfast and confident in everything he does.

“You can do this. Everyone will need to lay a hand on us at the same time, calling their magic forward to form the connection. Before you start watching, open your mind to them, allow their magic to skim the surface of your mind. Once the replay starts, they’ll see what you see.” I smile at him and cup his cheek.

“Your stone just happened to show you that?” he questions.

“Something like that. Once everyone sees where I was, it’ll become clearer. I promise, you can watch what I saw as well if you’d like. Trust me.”

“Okay, little warrior.” He nods.

Determination fills his eyes, erasing the previous concerns completely, trusting my words fully. As one, the guys move closer to us, laying one hand on me, the other on Tillman.

“Are you ready?” he asks.

“I’m ready.”

The sensation of his magic flooding my mind isn’t invasive or forceful, there’s no pain. Instead, it’s as gentle as his fingertips lightly brushing my skin. Remembering Claven’s screams as Tillman pulled the altercation out of his head from my first day of classes, I have no doubt this could be painful if he wanted it to be, but he’s making it as comfortable as he can for me.

The scene starts as a canvas of blackness, no light, no sound, nothing. Then the beautiful blue sky appears as I open my eyes. For them, I can imagine this would be like watching a movie, although there are no TVs here in Elementra, so they may not understand what I’d mean with that reference. For me, though, it’s strange. I’m watching myself through Tillman’s mind, through my eyes.

Even if I wasn’t watching with them, I’d be able to tell the moment they found out who pulled me into my mind. As soon as Elementra announces herself, the grips they have on me tighten to punishing pressures. I really want to tell them to loosen up, but that’ll break the connection.

An ambush of emotions sears my chest, causing me to grunt as they take in the message Elementra gave me. The initial reaction that washes over me is shock. It’s so stark in all of them, it has me freezing in my place. Slowly, the shock gives way to a profound sense of disbelief, as if they can reject the idea enough that it’ll just go away. Then they each fall into a different path about how this makes them feel.

Corentin’s a mixture of frustration and helplessness. I physically feel questions swirling in his mind, and the more he seeks answers that seem elusive, the more frustrated he grows.

Caspian’s anger flares, directed at the unfairness of the situation, the circumstances we’ve both lived through already, and now this. He’s the embodiment of fury.

A wave of sadness sweeps through Draken and into me, bringing with it a heaviness that settles in my chest. He doesn’t want this for me. He wants me to relax and enjoy every day.

Tillman’s an emotional roller coaster, feeling everything all at once until acceptance starts to emerge, bringing with it a bittersweet calm. His quick recovery from the multitude of emotions helps my nerves.

I take deep breaths through the continuing onslaught. It’s nearly impossible for me to block any of them out while they have their hands on me and magic flowing together, but as they begin to recede, so do the wild rapids of their feelings.

Corentin’s the first to react, gripping my chin. “Willow, I’m so sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I should apologize. Obviously, this has been predestined for me my whole life. You lot got stuck with a Primary who’s supposedly going to help save a realm she knows the bare minimum about.”

A deep sense of vulnerability spreads throughout my body and tears well up in my eyes. Why do I have to help save the realm? How can I drag them into this?

“You weren’t the only one predestined for this. We all were.” Caspian’s icy tone sends shivers down my body. His words may not be directed at me. It’s the whole situation, but they’re cold, menacing.

“What does that mean?” I ask, but no one answers me right away.

“We’ll talk about that next. Will you tell us about your lullaby?” Corentin asks instead of answering.

Fuck, that doesn’t sound good.

“It’s something my stranger taught me when I was a child, and we sang it every day. It’s practically burned into my brain. That and my tree were the only things they didn’t block from me. Me singing it is how I can unlock the Memoria stone when it wants to show me something. It’s not really a lullaby, it’s an enchantment. But to me, I sang it to myself every night until I came here, so it’s always been my lullaby.”

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