“If you want to help, Ten, then she’s in, too. She’s my friend, and I won’t have more people dictate and tell me what to do.”
Ten looks at Micah and then Kyra, and to her credit, she stares him down just as hard and doesn’t flinch under the weight of it. She’s shorter than I am, so he towers over her, not to mention that he’s about twice her size.
“Fine. We need Raiden, too.”
“Not likely. She and Ascella are really close. And we all know how she feels about Ever.” Micah chuckles.
“Capella, then?” Ten answers.
“Maybe. She’s one of you anyway,” Micah says.
“One of us?” Calix asks, frowning.
“Chamber members.”
“Zuns, no. None of that bullshit, if this is going to work, Star,” Ten states.
“Wait… hold up. What are we talking about?” I seem to have lost a step.
“We’re all here because you have unique abilities. You need proper training because the Custodians are doing a shit job of helping you, so we will. All of us. This isn’t about Chamber members or not.”
“And what exactly happened to spur this change of heart, Ciro? Care to share?” Kyra levels her glare back at Ten.
“I was the one who had to go into Azur’s mind to help him back. I was the one who saw Ever…” He looks at me for a beat. “It doesn’t matter. But this isn’t a fucking change of heart.”
He said he’d always help me. And he has kept to his word, but his action here, fighting for me, makes my heart skip.
“So, what’s the plan?” I ask.
It’s late enough that we’re all starving, especially Calix, when we file out of my room and head towards the food hall. We say goodbye to Kyra, and she promises to see us tomorrow. As she isn’t a trainee, she’ll have to be careful about her movements, but there aren’t any rules that say she can’t be in my room, and neither Ten nor Calix thought it was a good idea to use their old apartment residences to meet.
Seeing where Ten grew up does pique my interest, but I try and keep that from showing in my eyes when they inevitably fall to his.
The other trainees are still in the hall, finishing up dinner, and we draw their attention as we all walk in together. Calix being with Ten isn’t strange, but add me and Micah to the group, and it’s enough for everyone to stop eating.
I watch the table where Capella, Raiden, and Ascella sit together and wonder what Capella will say. For me to practice and train to the fullest, I need to work with someone from each Order to utilise different combinations. That’s what Ten declared was the purpose of all of this. On the surface, there isn’t a lot of difference from what we’d been doing so far in class. But knowing what’s coming, discussing our tactics, no physicalcombat or aggression, and doing it with people I can trust, all add up to a difference I feel eager about.
What we’ve done in class hasn’t worked out. It’s been unpredictable, and I felt woefully underprepared.
Calix will be training me, building my strength and endurance, because although it’s improved since I arrived, I’ve been getting by on luck until now.
Kyra will continue to help me focus and build my control, and Micah will work with me on pushing my power when I combine with another. Ten will be focusing on my mental capacity, as Aurelia suggested, and we’ll both be visiting Kamari.
Ten’s put all of this into motion. Whatever happened in the classroom has pushed him to act, and that he has, solidifies something in my chest and gives me the confidence that maybe I’m not as alone in all of this as I first thought. That it won’t just be me and the Maker.
Her words still rang in my ears. And I have to decide how much to let my friends in on her warnings. They are helping me, so maybe they deserve to know.Earth and space and time and everything in between. Possibilities… Nurture or destroy. It all felt daunting to try to find reason and sense in it.
Crimson draws my attention back to this room. Calix hadn’t mentioned her earlier, and neither had Ten. But the three of them, according to Micah, had been best friends forever. Her past reactions gave no evidence that she’d be all smiles at me walking in here with her brother and friend, and I was still to discover just what she and Ten were to each other—more than friends? For her part, I assumed yes.
Micah peels away from us and heads for Capella. Despite what he said earlier, he has a better relationship with her than either Ten or Calix.
We all grab our food from the servery area: chicken, vegetables and those delicious bread rolls.
“No. More. Like at breakfast. Especially now,” Calix gives me a sharp command, and it’s there, on the tip of my tongue, to argue.
“Don’t. He’ll win. Trust me.” Ten quicks a smile in my direction.
I add another roll and another slice of chicken to my plate before we go and take the only unoccupied table.
