by Emma Hamm
She swallowed hard. Not because there was a lingering taste in her mouth but because she could feel the heat of his body through the thin blanket wrapped around her. He leaned closer than he had ever been. She could feel his breath brushing against the delicate skin of her lips.
“This is the last time I can ask, Wren. Do you want the job?”
“No, Burke.” She was staring down at the thin slash of his lips rather than meeting his gaze. “I don’t want the job.”
He sighed and tugged on one of her curls. The cool night air danced through the open window as he stared down at her. She could only imagine that they made quite the picture. Long limbs, odd colored hair, all surrounded by gauzy fabric and vines. If this had been a romance novel, he would have leaned down to kiss her.
Was he leaning? He seemed to sway towards her as though he knew exactly what she was thinking. At the very last moment, he stepped away from her. The curl floated from his hand to bounce against her chest.
“My time is up. I don’t know who they’ll send next.”
She shrugged. “I’ll handle them the same way I did you.”
“I don’t know if you’ll have that choice,” he murmured.
He walked towards her open window. Every male in her life seemed to choose the rickety and dangerous fire escape rather than the safety of leaving out her door. Wren wondered why that was. However, just as he was leaving, he paused when her soft voice drifted to his ears.
“It was nice to meet you, Burke.” He turned just in time to catch the smile on her lips. “As weird as it was, it was nice to meet you.”
“Jiminy.”
“What?”
“My full name.” He doffed an imaginary hat towards her. “Jiminy Burke, ma’am. At your service.”
Her laughter was music to his ears, and Jiminy Burke found that he quite liked the sound of it.
He walked down the hall towards the conference room and mentally prepared himself for the torrent of anger that was awaiting him. Burke had failed. This was a word that had never been attached to his name before.
His boots struck against the marble floor and echoed in his ears. The sound was a countdown until the moment when he learned his punishment. The Five weren’t particularly judgemental creatures, but they did not abide by failure. He had not followed their rules, and Burke knew this wasn’t going to end well for him.
Glass globes floated down the hallway and illuminated the long walk. A door at the end of the hall was the only decoration. Every now and then, the prickle of magic would dance down his spine, which had always made Burke suspicious that there were other doors in this hallway. He simply could not see them.
The oak creaked as he opened the sturdy door and entered the simple room with minimal decorations. The Five did not seat themselves on thrones but instead preferred to find comfort in a simple living room. They were seated on two couches and two chairs with wine glasses in their hands.
“Ah. Burke,” a honeyed voice said though none of them had turned to look at him.
Burke knew who had spoken. She was one of three females on the council. She was known to others only as “Aether”. Each of the Five represented some part of the elements that made up the world. Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Time. Gaia was the mother and represented earth. Her consort, Nurin, represented fire. Aether was the daughter of air. Mesi the water child. And finally Kairos, the lord of time.
Aether was capable of reading minds and projecting thoughts into those around her. She had picked up on his psychic scent long before he had reached the room and had likely told the others. It was sometimes difficult speaking to her as she was constantly managing multiple conversations with people in the room and thousands of miles away.
“Come in.”
He gulped once and walked across the oriental carpet towards the stone fireplace. Once there, he turned on his heel to look at the Five who lounged upon the ivory furniture. The red wine in their glasses darkened their lips and had hopefully warmed their minds towards him.
“Not likely,” Aether said, though her ruby red lips were twisted into a smile.
Gaia shifted on the couch next to Nurin. They were, as far as Burke knew, a couple and always had been. She represented the Earth and he Fire. Gaia was an unusually beautiful and blonde with long limbs, and Nurin was an older gentleman with grey hair streaking his temples. Together, they were beautiful.
“I would prefer to hear the report from your own lips, Burke,” Gaia said. She was considered to be the unofficial leader of the Five. They all made decisions with each other but deferred to her.
He clasped his hands behind his back. “I was unable to complete the mission.”
“Why?”
“She did not wish to come.”
“She?” Gaia raised her glass to peer at Jiminy through the warped goblet.
“Wren Rowan. She is a Juice producer in the Ruby Province.”
“Ah,” Gaia nodded for a moment before sipping out of the glass. “What was it that we instructed you to do, Burke?”
“Ma’am?”
“I’m asking you if you remember what exactly your mission was.”
His feet shifted on the carpet. “To find the referenced people in the prophecy and to return them to you.”
“Mm.” The sound vibrated in her throat. Her voice was too deep for a woman of her size and too intimidating for Burke to meet her scathing gaze. “Indeed.”
The Five remained silent as Burke stared at his feet. The tension in the room built as they attempted to stare him down. However, this was not the first time Burke had kept silent under interrogation. He remembered all too well his training with M.O.M.
Because of that training, he remained silent and refused to break under the hard stares that were burning holes into him.
A soft clink of glass finally made him look up. Gaia had set down her wine goblet and shifted forward until she was perched at the edge of the couch. Her husband, Nurin, remained stonelike as he watched the conversation with interest.
“Burke,” she began, “how is it that you interpreted this prophecy?”
“The first line and then the second, ma’am.”
Aether burst into laughter. She was the smallest of all the Five with hair that nearly tangled at her feet. Burke had always thought she would have made an impressive pixie if she hadn’t already been a powerful creature.
“Oh, Burke,” Aether said through giggles, “I have always enjoyed your mind. That’s not what she meant.”
“My apologies.” He frowned and tried not to give away any other information. He was well aware she was digging around in his head.
“A prophecy is a very delicate process,” Gaia explained. Her husband leaned forward to place a hand against her back. “When we returned from our sleep with this prophecy, we had certain expectations. This woman may not have been interested but that means little. Now where are the other candidates?”
Therein was the problem. The deep furrows between Burke’s eyes grew deeper as he attempted to understand what she was saying. Others? There had been no others. There was no need for others.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I already found the one who you spoke of in the prophecy.”
“How can you be sure of that?”
“She fits the lines exactly.”
“Has she done anything to make you believe that she is capable of saving us?”
Burke paused for a moment to think. Grudgingly, he shook his head.
“Has she said anything to make you believe she is the only candidate?”
Once more, Burke shook his head.
“Then what, exactly, is it about this woman that has you so certain that she is the one we are looking for?”
There was a pause which was quickly filled by the laughter of Aether. “He likes her!”
“Excuse me?” Burke turned towards her with a thunderous expression. “Stay out of my head, Aether.”
She was giggling too much to hear him. Her fingers were pressed agains
t her ribs, and her body rocked as she attempted to contain her glee. Tiny bare feet slapped the ground three times before she peered through the long strands of her hair at him.
“You like her more than you want to admit.”
This time it was Gaia who frowned. “Burke, your personal feelings for any of the candidates means nothing. I had not expected this to cloud your decisions.”
“It hasn’t.” He attempted to assure her.
“How do we have proof of that? Some creature you found on the street caught your attention, and now you think she’s capable of saving the entire world? Really. I had thought better of you.”
“There is insanity in her that rivals any other creature I have ever met,” Burke explained. “Whatever is inside of her has power. She’s a Curiosity and exists in a city. She has to be the one.”
Gaia leaned back into the couch. “Ah. So she is insane and lives in a city. This is not enough reasoning for me to bring her here. And certainly not enough reason to stop your search.”
“I know it is her.” Burke couldn’t explain it. His hand raised to point at his chest which he struck hard with the tips of his fingers. “I know it here.”
“You expect me to put all my trust in a gut feeling?” Gaia looked as though she wasn’t certain whether she wanted to laugh or strangle him.
Another voice interrupted them, that of Aether. “He believes in her.”
“What?” Both Gaia and Burke asked in unison.
“He believes that she is the one spoken of. I must say, the insanity within her is quite impressive, sister. Even I am inclined to at least wish to meet her. It has a certain flavor that I have not felt before in any creature since our awakening.”
Burke growled. “What did I just tell you, Aether?”
“Absolutely not.” Aether laughed. “It’s like cracking open a melon and finding grapes inside. Your mind is thrilling, Dream Walker.”
Gaia waved her hand and silence fell once more. “Aether. A taste please.”
Burke watched in fascination as Aether exhaled. She blew white smoke out of her mouth that danced towards Gaia. It hovered in front of the blonde’s face until she inhaled. Burke knew that the white was a memory that had recently been watched from his own mind and transported to another person.
“Ah.” Gaia nodded after a few moments. “That is curious indeed. Perhaps we should meet this creature.”
“She will not come. I have asked. I have told her about you. She is not interested.”
“My question for you, Burke, is why you asked?”
The silence in the room was broken only by the sound of Burke swallowing.
Gaia continued. “This is more important than her life. This is more important than all of our lives. I cannot stress this enough. Whether she wishes to come here or not is irrelevant. It is not her choice. She will come here. And she will help us.”
“You don’t know her, Gaia. She will not help us if it isn’t her decision. The creature inside her will not help you.”
Gaia waved a hand as though she was dismissing his words. Burke didn’t know what the Five thought they were doing, but they were going to mess this up entirely. They had to be careful with Wren. She was headstrong and far too confident for her own good.
Not to mention that E wouldn’t want anything to do with this council. It had already expressed how much it distrusted the Five. They were going to blow this opportunity for the only person that could fill this part of the prophecy.
And there was nothing he could do.
Burke opened his mouth to argue once more but paused when a light tone spoke inside his head.
“Don’t talk, Burke. Just listen. You must put your trust in us at some point.”
He glanced over to Aether, who was picking at the skin around her fingernails. Her rapt attention was unusual. Her gaze always cut into him even when the others weren’t looking. He wondered if she thought she was being sneaky.
“I’m always sneaky. Look, Burke. She’ll come in, and we’ll talk with her creature. I have a feeling I know who this one is from a very long time ago. I’ll do what I can and so will the others. It wouldn’t be a prophecy if it wasn’t going to come true.”
Burke snorted. Prophecies didn’t come true all the time. People were foolish and made the wrong decisions or a butterfly flapped its wings in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Send Lyra and Jasper to find her. They will return her here without complaint.”
“Please don’t.” It was his last chance, but Burke had to attempt to step in. No matter what the warning had been. “Please, let me try once more before you scare her off.”
Gaia leveled a stern gaze upon him. “Lyra and Jasper are just as capable at their jobs as you are. Perhaps even more so than you, now that you have made your flaws so painfully obvious. You will provide them with all the necessary information to find this Wren.”
His jaw tightened, and his teeth ground together.
“Don’t think to argue with me on this, or I will have Aether pull the information out herself. You will return underground to find the rest of the candidates. At least three of them, Burke. No less than that.”
He bowed and stepped away to leave. It wasn’t the worst sort of punishment that Gaia could have come up with. Though he hated being in that stone room in the bowels of the earth, it was better than what would have happened during his time with M.O.M.
“And Burke?”
Silence was her response as he crushed the doorknob within his hand.
“Do not come back up until you have found them. A few days without food or water should remind you why you work for us.”
There was the punishment he was expecting. He sighed and turned the knob. If he moved out of the room a little too fast, it wasn’t because he was frightened. No, it was because he wanted to turn around and rage at them once more.
Wren wasn’t his. She wasn’t anyone’s, but he couldn’t help feeling responsible for this.
CHAPTER 5
He didn’t come back the next day. Or the next few days after that. Wren lost count of how many times she opened her door and expected him to be there waiting for her.
This was an odd feeling. As a rule, Wren liked to be alone. She spent most of her time avoiding other people actively unless they were going to put coins in her hand. But she had grown used to the surly man who had darkened the doorway of her shop every evening.
She hadn’t thought Burke had been serious. He had disappeared from her life just as he said he would. But no one had come to replace him.
The night following the party at Pitch’s warehouse, her thoughts remained scattered. E had the capability to hide her memories from her. It had never used that power before, and she did not remember what happened in the alleyway. She tried to justify E’s actions by telling herself that the memories were too dark for her to see or that she wouldn’t want to see them.
Eventually, it wore upon her that she didn’t know. Wren disliked that there was a blank space in her mind where a memory should be. She didn’t like that she didn’t know what had happened with her body.
One night later, she had asked E to reveal to her what had happened.
In vivid colors, she saw the face of Malachi once more. She saw the distorted eyes and the intense stare that had burned straight through her soul. She saw herself and Burke running from the three people chasing them. And in the end, she saw herself appear to be drunk in the alleyway before she shuddered. Her eyes had flipped backwards and then she hadn’t been herself at all.
Ripples of knowledge had rushed through her body. The blade in her hand was something she recognized. Wren was confident in her ability to use the weapon. Her body moved in fluid strikes that had been impossible for the others to dodge. Her wrist twisted, blood splattered, and she pivoted towards the next target. Battle became a deadly dance.
She didn’t have strength like that. E wasn’t strong, which meant she wasn’t strong. E hadn’t ever shown any inclination tow
ards violence.
Yet now Wren knew she was wrong. E did have a dark side to it. It was capable of protecting her but never had attempted to do so in this way. When she questioned how E had learned these things, the creature refused to provide answers for her. That was “personal information” and not privy to her knowledge.
E had then receded into her mind. Wren had not heard from the creature for days now. She wasn’t certain if the use of that power had caused it to go into hibernation or if it had perhaps hurt itself.
The days were dreary with neither the creature in her head nor Burke.
Jiminy.
The name danced on her tongue and across her thoughts far too frequently for her liking. She remembered the green halo in his hazel eyes as though the sight had been etched into her head. She remembered how gently he had protected her and how his blue blood had dripped into the water when she tried to drown him.
But mostly she realized how much of a sense of security he had given her. The man was powerful and threatening, and he had made certain that her shop ran smoothly.
She sighed and wiped down the counter once more. There wasn’t any reason for her to be cleaning, but busy hands kept a busy mind occupied. Except when she was thinking about Burke, because then she wasn’t doing anything other than gathering wool.
“Wren?”
She glanced up from the rag in her hand to look into dark black eyes that were staring down at her.
“Really?” She couldn’t help but ask.
Pitch didn’t take a step back; she gave him credit for that. He had never been one to back down from a fight.
She smacked the rag onto the table and raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re coming in here after attempting to get me killed?”
“I didn’t know what they were going to do.”
“Really.” The word wasn’t a question as she walked around the back of the counter. Wren placed her hands firmly on her hips and tossed her soft lavender over her shoulder.