Page 89 of Unbound

I pull water and fire at the same time as he instructed, try to sort of "twist" them together, and then I watch with satisfaction as steam hisses up from my fingertip. The power swirls within me, hot and cold battling for dominance until I force them to coexist like sworn enemies forced into a lover’s dance.

Voss smiles in a way instructors here rarely do. It's open approval.

The feeling is addictive, especially when I spent the last three years before coming to Confluence learning that absolutely nothing I ever did could win back the approval of my mother and sister.

The thought brings a fresh torrent of sadness to my mind I know could drown me if I let it. I hesitate a moment, then lift my eyes to Voss in a break between exercises. "Three years ago, I think I called a storm." I'm not sure why I'm admitting it, except that he might be one of the few people who could help me better understand what happened.

He pauses his pacing, then turns to face me, nodding. "Ah, yes. The four affinities often experience signs before they’re marked. Stories say unbound experienced far stronger events. Was this storm the first trace of power you felt before coming to Confluence?”

"No," I admit. I think back on a childhood full of unexplainable, odd moments that I tried my best to keep hidden.

Fires flaring. Sudden gusts of wind. Rumblings beneath the earth. And, of course, the storms…

When I could, I explained it all away, even to myself. Outside Confluence Academy, power and hints of magic were dangerous. Even a whisper of someone with power could mean masked Empire soldiers arriving at your door after dark. People with powers went missing, just like the offerings taken every year.

As far as any of us knew, they were all being taken for execution.

Now I know they were probably just brought here. And I suppose the truth wasn't so different from what we believed. How many of those taken would have actually survived? Nearly two thousand students between offerings, aspirants, and legacies arrived on the first day. By the time students reach fifth year, the class size apparently has shrunk to less than a hundred. The losses are mind-numbing.

"I imagine this storm came with a great deal of emotion. Yes?" Voss's eyes hold mine, keen with interest.

I nod my head. "We were all arguing. There was a festival that day. A stupid, silly thing, but it was a chance to dress up, dance, and just be normal for a change. To forget for a moment that I was going to grow old on fishing boats pulling nets. That morning, my father said we would be back in time for me to go. But the fishing was too good that day to pass up. He said we needed to stay as long as the nets were coming up full. And… I got mad."

Voss presses his lips together in sympathy. "And then the storm came?"

"And then it came… I was the only one who lived. It's why I volunteered to come here. My sister and mother apparently suspected I had powers all along. They blamed me for keeping it a secret. Called me selfish. Said if I just admitted I was a freak, Empire would've taken me away before I could've got them killed. Nothing I ever did fixed it, either. So that third year, I volunteered." My words catch in my throat.

"Brave,” Voss says softly.

"No… I did it because I was a coward. I couldn't bear the idea of facing them one more day. I always saw the same thing in their faces. They thought I was a monster. Then I came here and found out I really am. Unbound. If people knew, they'd look at me just like my mother and sister did. Like a monster." The words pour out of me. They’ve been building ever since I finished the unbound book for the first time.

"Only because they don't grasp what you can become."

"Isn't that the problem? Unbound can do so much harm. It's too much power for any one person. So they're right to see me as a monster."

"No, Nessa. This world of ours is… flawed." Voss's voice softens, taking on a quality I've never heard in it before. "Great individuals with the power to make change are exactly what we need. People like you. Unbound."

All I can do is shake my head. "I just want to survive this school. I want to help my friends survive. And maybe if I do that, I want to go back to Saltcrest and see if there's a way to use my influence and position to help my mother and sister. Maybe it won't mean earning their forgiveness, but I can at least try to ease their burdens.”

"I understand, Nessa. You still don't grasp what you are. What you will become. So you're still thinking small. But that's fine. There will be time, yet." His lips curve into a smile I can't quite read.

"Rector Voss?" I ask, fingertip idly running across the smooth surface of the clear sphere filled with swirling air. "Could you do anything to make sure more of us survive? Tighten the restrictions? Add Empire guards to patrol the halls? Remind students we're not supposed to kill one another anymore? Anything?" I add, hating how small my voice sounds. “It’s just that I sense something building here. Another storm.”

His smile is sad. "Whether you realize it or not, Empire guards are already not powerful enough to stop even you first-years. It would take ten or more ordinary men to bring one of you down. And primals capable of controlling you are too busy being deployed in the war effort. No, Nessa, I'm afraid you're all quite dangerous. Too dangerous to truly control. And even if I could, these methods have been proven over many many centuries. The primals who graduate after their fifth year are sharpened blades. Absolutely deadly and nearly perfect weapons. Empire knows this, and they won't change the way we run things for fear of weakening their strongest tools."

Weapons. Tools. Deadly. None of those words are things I want to become, but what choice do I have?

"There's really nothing you can do?"

"I'm doing what I can. Right here," he says, gesturing to the vessels and then to me. "With the proper training, you'll be more than capable of protecting yourself and the ones you care about, Nessa. And whether you see it yet or not, you'll eventually be powerful enough to change things, if you wish. All things."

I frown at the odd tone in his words, but his quick smile convinces me I'm just being paranoid. And protecting the people I care about… That's at least something I actually want. Something that matters.

"Oh, Nessa, there's something I wanted to tell you…" Rector Voss says, moving to sit and lean on his desk as he watches me continue to practice pulling multiple elements at once. "You’ve perhaps heard mention of the Crucible—your final test for the first year, if you will. But you won’t have heard any details about what this test entails. That will change in a few days when your instructors will be told to share.”

I swallow hard.Another fucking test.

Voss offers a sympathetic pursing of his lips. “I can give you a bit of forward warning, Nessa. It’s not much, but it might help. This year, you’ll be sent outside the castle walls with groups no larger than five per team. I can’t share the details until the moment before the Crucible begins, but I can tell you that the winning team will all earn promotion to legacy status. I don’t think I need to tell you a prize like that will likely create fierce, bloody competition.”

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