Page 20 of Silver
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I’ve always been bad at expressing myself correctly and sometimes I talk without thinking and the words can be misunderstood as something negative.”
“But did you mean for them to be negative?” I asked, knowing there was a very big difference.
“No, never! I just needed to think the words through before speaking, since it’s my fault when I say words that could be hurtful.”
What?
“You had to think over every sentence to make sure it couldn’t be seen as anything but genuine? What about sarcasm? I mean it wouldbe easier to just shut up all the time and never deal with all that,” I said, then I promptly shut my mouth. Omg. That was why he’d been so silent at first. He smiled sadly when he saw my eyes widen with the realization.
“It was just easier to not say anything, than to risk offending people.”
“But did you offend people? Or was that just something your mother said you did?”
He blinked. “Shit.”
I patted him on the back and let him work through his thoughts. I hoped the bitch was still alive. I knew Niam’s parents had been assholes, too, at least Xari had someone we could count on back home. And maybe, hopefully, I did, too.
“I’ve spent my whole life thinking something was wrong with me. Not just the lack of magic, but I’ve been afraid to talk to people. Even here in this new world. All because my mother hated me and took everything I said wrong, because she wanted to hate me. Because she deliberately searched for hidden meanings so she could yell at me.”
The car pulled over even though we hadn’t been on the road for more than an hour. I looked out the side window and found us parked at a big general store. Great, I could use some new clothes.
Xari opened the doors. “Anything wrong? I felt immense sadness coming from back here.”
We shook our heads. I was glad he worried, but it was up to Wilston to tell his story when he was ready for it.
“Shopping?” I asked, hoping we had time for clothes shopping, too.
Xari nodded. “We need to stock up and this could be the last big store we pass by. As soon as we’re done here we’ll drive another hour or so and get a motel room. We’re all tired and I can feel you’re both exhausted from truly using your magic.”
“I’m starving, too,” Wilston added, rubbing his stomach.
“God, me, too,” I whined, feeling just how famished I’d become.
“Then let’s go shopping and then eat,” Niam said, standing beside Xari. “Call your familiars out.”
I was so glad we remembered to order them to be invisible as soon as we called them to us. It was a neat trick and was already coming in handy.
Chapter 19
Wilston
Xarius held the letter like it could explode at any second.
As soon as we’d shopped and eaten, we’d found this motel and remembered the letter. It had Xarius’s name on it, and none of us knew if that was a good or a bad thing.
“I’ll read it aloud,” Xarius said, clearing his voice.
Our dear boy
I had a friend infiltrate the next group of mages being sent in order to place this letter somewhere before fleeing. I do hope you’re all okay. Your mom was just alerted to another two mages who’vecome into their powers on Sutiner, which means the other leaders did, too. They have a magic alert set to that world which means that whenever someone magical shows up, they’ll know. I wrote down this last part a week ago, but knew now was the time to find a way to get this letter to you.
We have some, or rather,Ihave some people who know the truth about why you were shunned, who help me. Your mother cannot know for her own safety, and ours.
The last mage won’t be sent to the same world as you, the leaders are afraid you’ll find one another so the next will be sent to Sutiner, but the last won’t be. He’ll be sent to Weznipar, another world like ours. You need to wait until the next mage arrives on Sutiner and then find him. When you have him with you, you need to make a portal to find the final mage. They will be sent off one week apart. I hope that helps.
The next mage to be shunned to Sutiner, is named Altair Monis, and he’ll be shunned two days from now. Find him and then let the locket guide you to the next. The last mage’s name is Tino Hold.
Protect one another and then come home.
