Girl of Myth and Legend (22 page)

‘Oh, um, he left earlier. I don’t know where to.’

‘OK. I guess it’s not important. Hey, want to get some air with me for a few minutes?’

‘You’re skipping lunch?’ he asks. ‘They made this really cool meat thing that looks like a beetle.’

‘Yeaaah, I’m not that hungry.’

‘All right.’ He stands up and puts his book down. ‘Let’s go.’

We leave the Breakfast Room and go down a hallway and into an antechamber, sliding open a door. Light spills into the garden that stands in the centre of the temple, and I shield my eyes from the sunlight with my hand. The garden is covered in snow, with a pond in the middle of it. I wish I could have seen it in summer. If I can, I’d like to visit this place again.

Jacob and I sit on the deck, watching Magen pass as they go about their business.

‘Want to grab a coat?’ I ask.

‘I’m fine.’

‘Don’t blame me if you catch a cold, kid.’

‘You’re a kid, too, you know.’

‘I’m seventeen.’

‘That’s still a kid.’

‘Yeah, but I’m older than you, so I get to call you kid, kid.’

‘But your magic hasn’t matured yet, and mine has.’

‘Oh. Damn. Guess you have me there. So, what can you do?’ I ask.

‘What do you mean?’ he replies.

‘Like, what’s your power?’

‘Oh. It’s nothing, really.’

‘Are you being shy?’

‘
No
.’

‘You are
so
being shy.’

He turns away.

‘It can’t be that bad!’ I insist. ‘Can you show me?’

‘Fine.’ He stares at my body.

‘Um, what are you doing?’

‘My power.’

‘What, d’you have X-ray vision or something?’ I laugh.

He continues to stare, his eyes focusing.

My laugh dies and my eyes widen. ‘Hah! Yeah, right. You don’t have X-ray vision. You don’t have… you have X-ray vision? You have X-ray vision!’ I cover myself.

‘That’s not going to do anything.’

‘Ew! Kid, stop it! Stop it!’

He laughs. ‘I’m joking. That’s not what I can do.’

I playfully hit his shoulder. ‘You imp! What’s your
real
power?’

He sighs. ‘All right. If I have to. You
are
the Pulsar.’

‘Yeah, and I’m meant to be obeyed.’ I grin, and he does, too. Then, he holds his hand out and a small orb of light forms over his palm.

‘Wow!’ I exclaim. ‘Look at that.’

‘Yeah.’

‘That’s so handy!’

‘Yeah! I can make it zoom around, too.’

‘Show me.’

He moves his hand and the orb floats higher into the air. He manages to hover it over the lake before it evaporates into tiny sparks.

‘I’m not good at it yet,’ he says. ‘It’s kind of lame.’

‘No it’s not, Jacob. It’s the total opposite.’

He smiles. ‘Thanks.’

‘What are you, anyway?’ I ask.

‘Um, like, what power?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Phobien.’

‘Cool.’ As far as I remember, Phobien is weaker than a Throne, and besides Zeroes, they are the only Chosen not to have kytaen. At least he won’t have the responsibility of a Pulsar or a Throne.

‘So what’s your story, Jacob?’ I ask.

‘My story?’

‘Yeah, I don’t know much about you. Like, how did you get to be here?’

‘I was going to school, playing games with friends. Then, I just, I don’t know, started to glow a little bit, though no one else really noticed it.’

‘A little bit? Try imploding! There’s nothing that can put a crimp in a girl’s day like spontaneous combustion.’

‘What?’

‘Uh, nothing. Continue.’

‘OK? Um, so, about an hour later those things, Replica, came to my house and were speaking to my mum about what I was. My mum thought it was some kind of joke, but I knew it was true, because people don’t just glow. They told me I had to go with them, and my mum phoned the police, but then a guy came over, one of the Thrones that brought me here, and, I don’t know, did something to her. After that, she kind of just, um, I don’t know, accepted it, I guess.’

‘He manipulated her?’ I ask, eyes narrowed.

‘I think so.’

‘Jacob, they shouldn’t have done that.’

He shrugs. ‘They didn’t hurt her or anything.’

I’m still not convinced.

‘There was something else, though…’ he begins.

‘What?’

‘I don’t think I’m supposed to tell anyone. Pandra said…’

‘I know how to keep a secret.’

‘Well, OK. Don’t make me regret trusting you.’

‘
God
, you can be mouthy.’

He continues. ‘Before the Replica came, this person, a lady, she came to see me at my school about half an hour after I started to glow. She said that the Imperium were bad people and I should come with her. I thought she was a weirdo, so I didn’t go, and everyone’s always saying not to go off with strangers that try to pick you up. Then the Replica came and said the same stuff, except that she made the Imperium out to be really cool. So I was thinking maybe that lady was one of the rebels that attacked you; maybe she was trying to recruit me or something.’

‘Maybe,’ I say.

‘Did anyone like that come for you?’

I shake my head. ‘At least, they didn’t come for me peacefully,’ I say. ‘Thanks for telling me, Jacob. I promise I won’t tell anyone.’

He smiles and looks at the pond. ‘You excited about going to the Imperium?’

‘Want to know
my
secret?’

‘Sure.’

‘I’m terrified.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah! Aren’t you?’

‘I was.’

‘What changed your mind?’

‘I won’t be alone; you’ll be there, and you’re not all that bad.’

‘Thanks?’

‘It’ll be fun, having someone else from the human realm with me.’

‘Oh, Jacob, y’know, I would love that, but you and me will probably be going to different—’

The temple door opens and Korren comes into the garden, panting for breath.

‘Korren?’ I say.

‘You have to come with me,’ he says.

‘What? What’s wrong with you? Why are you—?’

‘It’s your father. You have to come with me.
Now
.’

KORREN

MIRAGE

The morning sunlight filters through the window. I remain on my bench, staring up at the ceiling as I recall last night’s events.
I detest you. I detest you. I detest you.
I don’t want to get up, to face reality, to face
her
. Today, though, today is too important to avoid it.

I force myself to stand when a Magen comes into the arux, and we head towards the temple. The mongrel beast called Pegasus jumps up at me as I enter, and I grimace at him. We walk to the Ceremony Room, where a few Thrones sit. I glance at the girl, who is sitting at the table. I see a flicker of uneasiness in her eyes when she notices me, though she schools her expression and returns her attention to her father.

‘And you have everything you need for the soul-binding, O’Sah?’ says a Throne.

‘I do.’

So O’Sah will be preforming the soul-binding. It’s unusual for someone his age to be doing it, or for him to be doing it at all. Although Thrones’ education is more privileged than most, it’s usually Magen who oversee the ritual. I can only assume the Council trust no one but their inner circle.

‘When will it happen?’ the girl mutters.

‘As the sun sets,’ O’Sah replies. ‘Soul-bindings are usually preformed at this time; an old belief that dictates the variety of dark and light colours spreading across the sky provides a link to the stargods.’

‘With so much magic,’ she begins, ‘you would’ve thought there’d be a way to prolong a Chosen’s life or something.’

Everyone at the table gives her a quizzical look.

‘Whatever do you mean, my Lady?’ says a Throne. ‘Isn’t it natural to live and die? The Imperium may be ahead of the human realm, but it doesn’t wish to go against nature.’

‘I meant with the soul-binding,’ she says.

‘What of it?’ says a woman, Sersu, I think her name is.

‘Y’know, about the whole “taking half of your life away” thing.’

My body stiffens.

‘I just thought maybe someone would’ve been able to, I dunno, stop that from happening,’ she says.

‘What are you talking about?’ her father says.

‘Y’know. When you make a soul-binding, you have to forfeit half of your life to the kytaen so he has enough energy to protect you.’

‘Who told you that?’ Sersu asks.

‘A soul-binding isn’t like that,’ says O’Sah. ‘You certainly give your soul energy to your kytaen when making the bond, and it will leave you weak, but your energy replenishes. Just as if you went on a long run and ran out of breath, after some rest you’d eventually catch your breath. I apologise, my Lady; I thought I’d explained that to you.’

She tries not to look in my direction as she acknowledges my untruth. ‘But the other night,’ she says to her father, ‘when I said I didn’t want to die young, you said I had to be brave or whatever about it.’

‘Not about the binding. I thought you meant you were afraid of your duty, your responsibilities,’ he says. ‘I thought you were afraid you’d die young because you’re a Pulsar.’ He shakes his head. ‘We told you everything about the soul-binding. You’ve really got to learn to listen, Leonie.’

She glances at me, gritting her teeth. I stand firm, ready for her to tell Orin of my lie. ‘I-I guess I do,’ she says to him, and my jaw almost drops: why is she trying to protect me, especially after my words last night?

‘Then remember this,’ says Orin, ‘a soul-binding will hurt at first—’

‘Wait! Hold it! It’ll hurt?’

‘Let me finish—’

‘You never, ever,
ever
said it’d hurt!’

‘Let me finish,’ he says firmly. ‘After a soul-binding you and your kytaen will experience some pain when you’re away from each other.’

‘It’s as if you were linked by string,’ says O’Sah, ‘and the more you pull it, the more your body will hurt. It’s temporary, and it won’t be too painful so long as you stay near one another.’

‘How long will this last?’ she asks, glaring at me.

‘Less than a week,’ says Orin.

‘Too long.’

‘A couple of days at most.’

‘Couple of minutes would be better.’

‘Sadly, I can’t change the way a soul-binding works, Leonie. Now eat up.’

‘I’ve lost my appetite.’

‘You’ll need energy for the binding,’ I say, hiding my mocking grin behind a façade of a concerned kytaen. ‘A lot of it.’

She scowls at me, then stands, walking towards the doors.

‘Where are you going?’ Orin asks.

‘For a walk,’ she snaps.

‘
Kytaen
,’ O’Sah says to me, ‘why are you standing there? Go to her.’

‘No,’ she interjects, ‘I want to be alone,’ and she gives me a fleeting glare before walking out of the room.

I wait a few moments before deciding to return to the arux, but then Orin says, ‘Kytaen. I want to talk to you. Come with me.’

He leads me outside to the cold’s domain and stares out at the vast, snow-blanketed fields. As I place my hands in my sweater’s pockets, I see the girl’s figure in the distance pulling away from us. Two Thrones follow her, though obviously going unnoticed by her, just like last night when we went to the forest. I wonder what she’d think if she knew they watched her constantly, even if it is at a distance.

‘I’ll say this plainly,’ Orin says, ‘Leonie is not only precious to me, but to you, too.’

‘Is that so?’ I mutter.

He must not have heard me, because he continues to talk without rebuke.

‘I’m giving her to your care, though trust me when I say I’m more than reluctant.’

A moment passes.

‘We lived in a place like this before we came here,’ he says, ‘but there was a willow tree with a swing attached to it, right there, in front of the cottage. No one ever went on it—well, for a long time no one did—but every time I think back to that swing, it reminds me of how much I wronged Leonie.’

I think about her, how brimming with life she is, and when I compare her to Orin, he is her antonym. Though I don’t know their past together, I can tell that their clashing personalities would have caused disruption.

‘You… you didn’t want the Imperium to know of her. But why? Why go to such extreme lengths to protect her?’ I ask, knowing I won’t receive an answer.

The sunlight breaks through the dark clouds, making the horizon glow in yellow and blue and white.

‘Because she is hope.’

I look at him, surprised that he answered. He wears an unhappy expression.

‘When she was growing up, she was never a
person
, a personality. She had no dreams or aspirations. She was as I raised her to be. Then she changed. Never once since then has she been afraid to show her pain, to acknowledge its existence. Many people are afraid to face their pain. They either let it out or let it take them over. But that girl, she accepts pain, she embraces it, accepts its role in her life, and uses it as a strength. I got so used to it… until that one day.

‘There was only one day when she didn’t cry, the day she needed to cry the most. She was sitting on the willow tree swing. She’d lost something immensely important, irreplacea-ble, and she didn’t shed a tear. It was unnatural, wrong, especially for her. That was also the day that I first held her in my arms, begged her to cry, scream, wail, anything, anything other than this
nothing
, this resignation.’ He hangs his head. ‘It was too late, but that was also the day I realised how much I loved her. Everything changed after that. I made sure of it.