Page 39 of Riftborne
“It will forever be one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever experienced!” Jacquelina burst into giggles, almost knocking over her glass.
“Well, I’m happy to have provided you all with so much entertainment,” Eron crooned. A crooked smile formed on his lips. “It was only mildly terrifying for me.”
Osta smirked. "Yeah, Eron, none of us expected you to take agame of hide and seek so literally." She grabbed Jacquelina’s elbow as she doubled over.
Jacq returned the sentiment, eyes widening. "How long did we search for him that day? Oh, it must have been hours!"
Eron grinned, shaking his head. "You all like to pretend I did it intentionally. I had no idea you couldn’t see me."
“Eron, do you… erm, see where your invisibility comes from? Like, is there a specific place you access it from when you do it? A spark or–?” I interjected, my words tumbling over themselves.
Everyone cast a puzzled glance in my direction.
“Honestly, I just kind of do it… I mean, I guess I’ve never thought about it like that before,” he mused, rubbing his chin. “Hold on.” And just like that, Eron was gone.
“Fiiaaaaa!” Osta sang, folding her head down on the table. “Must you make all of the men disappear?”
I opened my mouth, but no words came. We all roared with laughter. After a few seconds, Eron returned.
“I think I feel it here first,” he said, clutching the back of his shoulder. “It seems to fan out from there, but I’m not really sure what to look for. It just tingled a bit. Why do you ask?”
I bit my lip.
“No reason, I had just been… erm, talking to Ma about it and I was curious…” I mumbled. I couldn’t imagine Eron and Jacquelina taking it well—the prospect of me joining the Guard. There was no point in telling them anyway. It was over. I wasn’t sure why I even asked.
An awkward silence drifted through the room. I wasn’t sure how much Osta had told the two of them about my focus. My ability to channel had always been a subject we avoided.
“Jacq, didn’t you tell me you shared a similar focus with your mother?” Osta asked, changing the subject.
“Well, from what I can remember, yes. Although I think hers was a bit more advanced. Her voice wasn’t just pretty, it coulddo… other things.” Jacquelina shifted in her seat. Eron looked down.
“We were all so young when everything happened. There are a lot of details that we don’t remember.” Eron sighed. “Unfortunately, some of them will always be a mystery. It’s not like there are any records we can learn from.”
I glanced down the table at Osta. Her head rested on her shoulder and her eyes were glassy. We were bordering on a dangerous subject. Even in the group home, we rarely discussed the details of our previous lives. Not that we would have been allowed to anyway.
“I just wonder about them sometimes. Our parents.” Osta’s voice cracked. Eron and Jacquelina exchanged a quick glance of concern. Leila’s distant cry cut through the tension. Eron stood to go check on her, and I took the opportunity to save us.
“That’s probably our cue to leave. It’s getting late,” I murmured with a soft smile.
We said our goodbyes quickly. I hooked arms with Osta as we clumsily stumbled out onto the street. I could tell her mind was still in the dining room, awaiting a conversation that no one wanted to have.
We walked through the city, keeping each other’s balance. It was eerily quiet. The night air felt cool against my flushed skin; the smell of smoke leaked from rooftops, mixing with the briny scent of the canals.
I felt Osta sigh as her shoulder slumped against mine.
“Fia, do you ever wonder what they were like?” she whispered. My heart took a dip. We were not in the right state of mind to talk about this now.
“Osta… you know how I feel about this,” I said, hoping to shut her down gently. We hadn’t had this conversation in a long time. “We can’t wonder about that. You know it. There’s no point.”
“Yes, but I don’t understand it. We don’t remember ours at all.Eron and Jacquelina remember bits, but they don’t talk about it. We know nothing about them,” Osta whimpered.
I sighed. “That’s the thing. We have no way of knowing anything about them. It’s best not to let your mind even go there. We’ll never have the answers we want.”
“But it’s not fair… I know they were a part of the uprising. I just…” Osta trailed off, choking back the tears I knew were soon to come. “Every kid deserves to know who their parents were, even if those parents made mistakes.”
Osta began to shake, and I wrapped my arm around her. We did deserve to know who we were before all of this. Who we would have been without the war. But anyone who could tell us had been annihilated. Only the children and their foggy memories remained.
“I know… we’ve been dealt a shitty hand.” I tried to think of what Osta might say in a situation like this. Comforting people had never been one of my strong suits but comfortingherin this situation was especially tricky. Osta rarely acknowledged the evil in this world, and even though it was irritating most of the time, her innate optimism was one of the only things that kept me afloat. The idea of ruining that part of her was unfathomable.
