Ember (35 page)

A throat cleared behind me. Jaden’s hand
pulled the door open further. I released it, looking over.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t,” he said with as
wicked a grin as I’d seen from him yet.

I turned back to Cornelius, a bit
worried.

He rolled his head dramatically. “Oh, great,
Thoran is going to kill me.
Just
. . . just don’t tell him I
said that . . .
please
.”

Jaden raised his hands. “Hey, I already got
my punishment, no point in dragging you down with me.”

His attitude was still quite lighthearted. He
was standing in the doorway right beside me now, form and posture
far past picturesque. He looked down again at
exactly
the
wrong moment. For absolutely no reason at all it was enough to make
my head spin, my throat dry, and my heart start beating
double-time.

I looked away as quickly as possible,
catching at Cornelius instead. The robed man was eyeing both of
us.

“Speaking of punishment, this hardly seems
fitting.”

Jaden shrugged, as I tried to contain my
sudden internal daze. “I’m still in the lodge.”

Cornelius scowled at him. “Yes, well . . . I
think Evelyn has had quite a long day, so why don’t we both head
out so she can get some sleep.”

I didn’t look over. Cornelius tossed his head
back and Jaden moved forward.

“Night, Eve,” he hummed. It made my head all
dizzy.

“Ah, ni . . . night.”

Cornelius gave a reassuring grin. “Goodnight,
my dear.”

I smiled and nodded, attempting to keep my
eyes off the boy walking past behind him. When he turned, my forced
expression dropped.

My eyes were wide. I turned around and closed
the door behind me. Then I walked over weakly and plopped backwards
onto the couch, letting out a giant breath.

Without announcement Tanis crawled into view
on the couch ledge.

I stiffened, immediately self-conscious.

He squeaked. His big, round, eyes were
piercing.

I straightened up nonchalantly. “I’m just
tired.”

He leapt onto my shoulder and squeaked
again.

I looked over with a darkened brow. “Don’t
look at me like that. I’d have to be crazy to —” his eyes seemed to
shrink in one me. “Oh! Now I’m arguing with a . . . a . . .
whatever you are. I
am
crazy.”

I set him down softly onto the table, then
dropped my head sideways onto my pillow.

After a couple of seconds staring at the fire
I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to sleep right now. I
grabbed viscously for one of the books Jaden had left sitting in
his seat and started reading.

I didn’t fall asleep till at least three
hours later. It should have been because my mind was buzzing from
all that I’d heard at the meeting. Or because I’d just witnessed a
fistfight firsthand. But neither of those were the culprits.

The real reason was much more
disconcerting.

~ ~ ~

WHEN I woke up, the sky showing through the
bathroom window was a pale blue, not too early and not too late. I
had slept wonderfully. With a yawn and a stretch, I smiled at Tanis
on the pillow beside me and began stroking his back with my finger.
He yawned too, then got up and swirled around in circles, as if to
find a more comfortable position, before plopping back down and
throwing his tail over his tail over his face.

I scoffed. “You can't go back to bed,
sleepy-head.” I nudged him with my finger, but he looked dead
asleep. Sometimes it seemed he might be nocturnal. . . .

With another stretch I got up off the couch
and shuffled to the bathroom. After rinsing my face and wiping it
off with a towel, I looked up into the mirror.

It was now, for absolutely no reason at all,
that I remembered the cause of my late night last night. I almost
yelped at the reflection, jumping back a good foot.

Seconds passed. I put a hand to my chest and
took a deep breath.
You were just a little flustered by all that
happened yesterday, Evelyn . . . there's nothing to it all.

Feeling somewhat more in control, I turned on
the shower and hopped in. By the time I was out, all silly thoughts
were gone and I was determinedly ready to
sensibly
face the
day. I changed into a loose white shirt and tanned-brown, leather
pants.

I was so excited to start the day that on the
way out I almost missed a note setting on the center table. The
writing was messy:

*

Evelyn, could you please go to the shop in
the woods again for me this afternoon?

I need some things picked up. He'll be
expecting you.

Thanks in advance! -Sophie

*

I folded the note up carefully, recalling in
my mind my last trip to the shop. It seemed like such a long time
ago . . .

That man, Adzama . . . ruha, was it? I smiled
shortly, he was so odd.

I put the paper in my pocket and left the
room. The prospect of going back to see Adzamaruha didn't bother me
at all. In fact I almost looked forward to it, especially now that
I was more open-minded to the whole magic thing . . . weren’t there
purple sheep?

On my way to breakfast, I ran into Trevor. He
was quite excited about getting a high score on an exam he had
taken for his etymology class. Supposedly, now, he’d be able to
move on to the next level of studies which would involve much more
“exploitable definitions” as he put it. We discussed this till
reaching our table, then started to eat as the rest of the usual
breakfast group joined us one by one.

Trevor, Jacob, Vincent, Nathan, and Derrith
were all discussing their favorite class subjects when a coffee cup
was set in front of me. I looked up to see that it was Ikovos, he
sat down across from me. His face was bright, but unless I was
mistaken there was a look of questioning there.

He joined in with the table’s conversation
about hand-knives versus axes quite casually, until Nathan started
to tell a story about his encounter with a rat the other day. Then
he looked over at me intently.

“I heard you had quite the day yesterday.”
His voice was quiet. I guess I wasn't mistaken about the inquiring
look. His smile belied concern.

I didn't have a response. Thankfully, he
spoke again before I could anyways.

“You okay?”

My mouth tilted. “Everyone keeps asking me
that.”

“It's because we know you won't tell us if
you aren't unless we do.” He smiled. I could hear some of the other
boys responding to Nathan's story. “Now that I think about it, you
probably wouldn't tell us after we ask either.”

The corners of my mouth lifted and I looked
down. He was right as usual. After a few bites of food I grinned
back up at him.

“See what happens when you leave me for a
day?”

He smirked, eyes grazing over Nathan who was
continuing his story. “I think Jaden did enough for the both of
us.”

I had to push down a sudden rushing feeling
in my stomach, forcing an unaffected look. “Did you talk to him
about it?”

“Yeah. I had to fix up the, ah . . .
wound.”

. . . The scratch from Sylvanus. It was
pretty bad yesterday.

I leaned up eagerly. “So, he's okay
then?”

Ikovos gave me a sideways look, like he was
appraising me. It was unusual for him. I think I shrunk a little.
Suddenly a grin replaced it. “Perfect bill of health, and I'm a bit
of an expert on the subject.”

I smiled, glad to see I was just imagining
things with Ikovos. The grin grew even wider as I remembered
something. “We started training last night,” I stated happily.
“Well, we were going to at least, Cornelius came.” Ikovos looked
like he was happy for me. “I wonder if he'll want to train today at
all. . . .”

Ikovos tossed his head. “We could go ask him.
Considering he can't really go anywhere, he's probably in his
room.”

I thought about the prospect with
indeterminable apprehension. Then a thought came to mind.

“Actually, I have to go somewhere after
breakfast.” I couldn't tell if I was glad for the excuse, or deeply
bothered by it.

Ikovos looked curious. “Oh?”

I nodded, clearing my head. “Yeah, the shop
out in the woods, Adzamaruha's . . . ?”

His eyes widened instantly. “Oh, God. Not
that guy.”

I cocked. “Yeah . . . Sophie asked me to. She
needs some things picked up.”

“He is . . . just absolutely insane.” Ikovos
ran his hands through his hair as he said it. He seemed unnaturally
annoyed at the thought of the old man.

“I really don't mind. He seemed nice
enough.”

Ikovos looked surprised. “Wait, you've met
him?”

“Ah . . . yeah. I went for Sophie like . . .
the first day I was here. That's where I found Tanis.”

“By yourself?” he questioned.

I nodded, smiling slightly.”Uh-huh, why
not?”

He cocked his head skeptically.”Well, it
hardly seems safe.”

I laughed. “You think everything is too
dangerous for me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “The guy's a
loony.”

I stacked my plate and cup in front of me.
“Well, I have to go today, Sophie said he'll be expecting me . . .”
I looked up at him, feeling braver than usual “. . . You could come
with me?”

He took his last gulp of coffee and set it
down on top of my stack.”Wouldn't have let you go any other
way.”

I grinned.

*

After saying goodbye to the others at the
table, we made our way outside. As we were leaving the cafeteria, I
glanced around somewhat subconsciously to see if
‘someone’
had shown up for breakfast.

He hadn't. I think I was relieved.

“Ikovos, did you do exams and training like
Trevor and the other boys do?” I asked just as we got outside.

We took a few steps before he replied. “Well,
I—” He stopped when a twig hit the side of his head.

“Ow,” he complained curtly, rubbing it.

We both looked up in the direction it had
come from. There was someone on the roof: dark and thin . . . the
sun was too bright for me to make out who it was.

“What are you doing up there?” shouted
Ikovos.

Apparently he could tell.

“Just a minute,” the voice shouted back.

I looked at Ikovos who was shaking his head,
then back up.

Just as I did the figure jumped out past the
roof. I didn't even have chance to gasp, I was too bewildered. The
building was four stories.

He landed softly beside us, crouching on his
hands and feet. I knew right away that it was Jaden. The hair was
all perfecty.

“Now what did you say?” he asked Ikovos,
standing up coolly.

His appearance was somewhat surprising, I
guess because the last time I'd seen him he was all dressed in
black with dirt smudges on his skin in a rather dark room. Now we
were outside, his hair was still wet from a shower, freshly
changed, clean shaven . . . that is if he did shave. I didn't
really have a clue as to what age it was that boys had to start
dealing with that, or how often they did shave once they had to . .
.

I shook my befuddled head as Ikovos ignored
his question.

“You could have warned me you were gonna do
that.”

Jaden shrugged. “I knew you wouldn't let me
die.”

Ikovos tossed his head up. “Already getting
cabin fever?”

Jaden shook his in response. “Just needed
some fresh air. What about you two?” He looked at me then, and
though it had seemed to take forever, I was completely unprepared.
I dropped my eyes.

“We're going to pick up supplies from
Adzamaruha’s shop.”

“Oh. . . . I hate that guy,” stated Jaden
flatly. I risked a glance up again. He was looking at Ikovos. “How
did you get stuck with that job?”

The light-haired boy nodded to me. “Actually,
Sophie asked Evelyn to go. I'm just a tag-along.”

He considered it. “Hmm . . . that's a little
cruel.” He looked at me again. This time I didn't freak out as
quickly.

Ikovos shrugged. “She doesn't really mind
him.”

Jaden raised his eyebrows, displaying the
familiar “she's-crazy” face, then walked out towards the woods.
“Well, best to get it over with.”

Ikovos eyed him. “You're coming with?”

Oh, great . . . ,
I groaned
internally.

“Might as well, it's better than being stuck
here,” he looked back flatly, “what's your excuse?” Without waiting
for the answer he turned ahead and continued walking.

I looked back a little surprised. Ikovos’s
brow was furrowed.

Whatever that was, I’d missed it . . . as
usual.

Okay, Evelyn, just concentrate on your quest.
Get to Adzamaruha's shop. Get the supplies.

Ikovos walked past me, following Jaden. I
gulped at the two boys ahead.

They made it more than a little difficult to
concentrate
on anything.

*

“So you
really
think that we should
break the treaty and retake the southern gate by force?” asked
Ikovos incredulously.

“I'm not talking about breaking the treaty, I
just think we need to clear through the deeper parts of the
forest.” That was Jaden. He was talking about Sharadeen, I
think.

Since we left the lodge they hadn't stopped .
. .
discussing
different issues involving the order, mostly
political. I followed along quietly, slightly behind and between
them.

Ikovos shook his head not-understanding.
“We've known for years that Meoden have camps there.”

“Yeah, and we should have done something
about it then,” said Jaden.

They both sounded so intense.

I guess I hadn't been around them long enough
to really grasp their whole relationship, but there seemed to be
something up with them today.

“Why?” started Ikovos. “What’s the point?
We've already given them the portal, there's no reason to waste men
driving them out of the forest.”