Page 35 of A Touch of Stars and Stones
“Ever, please. Stop. Let me?—”
“It’s fine. Go back to your room.” I cut him off.
“Ever!” I feel his hand on my arm. The heat of his touch scorches through the cotton of my shirt. The momentum spins me to face him, but then my vision blurs, lights flash, and images race.
Images I recognise. Scenes I know.
It’s like before. Back home. The flicker book of pictures running in my mind, a sliver of something, a picture, a memory. On to the next. The next. Over and over. But as they get faster, they grow less familiar, running into images I’ve never seen before. Landscapes. Faces. Colours. Trees. The sky. Stars. Until nothing.
“Ever? Ever, please. Can you hear me?”
The voice sounds familiar. But I don’t want to open my eyes. Not yet.
My head starts to clear, the ripples of my mind stilling, and I know where I am. The last time this happened, I was home, and when I opened my eyes, Lyle was looking at me with fear for the first time in my life.
It was starting to become a familiar look on people around me.
“Ever, I swear, you can ask me anything, and I promise to tell you all about it, just open your eyes. Please, show me those eyes.”
Ten.
It was Ten’s voice.
“I’m fine.” But I don’t open my eyes. Not yet.
“What the zuns? Are you?” I can imagine him pacing and pulling at his hair.
“I said I’m fine. I think.” I crack my eyes and see I’m on the floor with Ten leaning over me. He sits back to give me some space, and I right my body, bringing me back to the here and now.
We’re both quiet. The faint noises of life travel across the night from The Court and the closest dwellings, the gentle sound of the river creating a background rhythm.
“What’s zuns? I don’t think I’ve heard that here yet?”
“Ahh. Well, Aslendrix is our blessed Goddess. Novandia is her brother. Zuns is where we were told as children we’d bebanished to, if we didn’t behave. It’s meant to be where even Aslendrix and Novandia are afraid to venture.”
So more things to wrap my head around. Power. Mythical places.
The silence grows between us again.
“Has that happened…” he trails off, but kindness softens the edges of his voice now.
“Yes.” I nod. “It’s what made Lyle bring me here. I’d kept it from her before then.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No need. This is me. This is why I thought I was going mad. It’s why I asked you to help me, because I have no clue as to what’s normal or not. And when people continue to keep things from me, I get fucking mad.” I clench my hands as my voice rises.
“I’d offer to help you up, but…”
I look up at him, half expecting a grin, but there’s no sign of the carefree Ten I met earlier. He’s pulled his brows together in a frown, and he’s not looking at me.
“I know how to get back,” I repeat.
“There’s no way I’m letting you wander around on your own now,” he scoffs.
I give a slight shake of my head and stand up, my legs a little numb, like I’ve been riding Nettle for a day with no rest. The thought makes me wonder what happened to him.
“Can we stop at the stables before going back? I’ll be quick,” I ask.
