“It was cold in there. It was dark and empty.”
Quyloc frowned, not sure what she was referring to, but Treylen understood. “You mean inside the shadow. When Lowellin took you.”
Aislin nodded and bit her lip. “He killed the two soldiers who were guarding it. Then he told me to get the key for him.” Her face darkened. “I told him no. The Devourers can’t have it. They can’t.” Her tiny hands formed into fists.
Treylen could feel the emotions surging inside her, emotions she was fighting to keep hidden. The water in the mugs on the table began to churn, some slopping over the edge.
In a brittle voice she said, “He told me he would kill…people if I didn’t get it for him.”
All at once Treylen understood. He understood why Aislin had withdrawn into herself, why she wouldn’t let anyone get close to her.
“But I called Gaz. She smashed her way into the room and took care of him.” A dark smile spread across Aislin’s face, and the water in the mugs foamed harder.
“You said he told you he would rule the world once he got the key for the Devourers?” Quyloc pressed.
“Something like that. I don’t want to talk about him anymore.”
Netra leaned close and squeezed Aislin’s shoulder. “Honey, we need to know as much as we can if we’re going to stop Lowellin.”
Aislin pulled away without looking at her. A look of hurt crossed Netra’s face, quickly covered up. “There’s nothing else to tell. He threatened me, and Gaz bit his face. Then he left.”
“Did he say why the Devourers want the key?” Quyloc asked. “What’s it the key to?”
“I don’t know,” Aislin said sullenly. “But it’s not the whole key. It’s only a part.”
“You’re sure of that?”
Aislin nodded.
“Did he say anything else that you can remember?” Rome asked her gently. “Anything at all?”
Aislin thought about it. “He has something living inside him, black things with teeth. He said Netra and Shorn put them in him.”
“She’s talking about the ingerlings,” Netra said. “He was going to use them on Melekath, but Shorn turned them on him instead.”
“He said you made a mistake,” Aislin said, looking at her mother for the first time. It was a dark look. She was almost throwing the words at her mother like stones. “He said they made him stronger instead of killing him.”
Netra put her hand over her mouth and paled. The room was silent for a moment.
“Is it possible?” Cara asked. “Could he really have found some way to survive those things?”
“Obviously he did,” Rome said. “He’s still alive.”
“There’s another possibility,” Quyloc said slowly. He was drumming his fingers on the table, thinking. He looked up, and his gaze traveled around the table. “Maybe the Devourers let him live.”
“Why would they do that?” Rome asked.
“So they could use him. Think about it. They tried to break through into our world through the Pente Akka. When that failed they looked for another way. Who better to have as an ally than one of the Shapers?”
“They’re using him,” Rome said. “When they have what they want, they’ll destroy him.”
“Probably,” Quyloc conceded, “but it will be too late for us by then.”
“We have to make sure he doesn’t get that key, or piece of key, whatever it is,” Rome said. “We need to go get it out and bring it up here where we can protect it better.”
“No!” Aislin said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her. “I put it back, and he can’t get it. He said the masters made it so anyone with chaos power can’t get into the vault.”
“That’s good to know,” Quyloc said. “We couldn’t properly protect it anyway, not so long as Lowellin can travel through shadows.”
“I should have taken him down with the black axe when I had the chance,” Rome said. “I knew he was going to be trouble. I should have listened to my gut.”
“That’s why he kidnapped Aislin,” Quyloc said, oblivious to Netra’s wince when he said it. “She’s the only one who can go into the vault. None of us have even been able to get close to it.” He went back to scowling at the table and drumming his fingers. “The problem we have is how to stop him from returning and kidnapping her again.” This time Netra glared at him, but he ignored her.
Treylen realized it was time for him to speak up. “We can’t protect Aislin. She has to protect herself.” Netra started to protest, but he raised his hand and stopped her. “She needs to learn to master Seaforce.” He was staring at Aislin as he spoke, wanting to see her reaction to his words, but she seemed not to have heard him.
“Will that be enough?” Quyloc asked.
“If it isn’t, then nothing is.”
“What’s Seaforce?” Rome asked.
“It’s the power inherent in all water, similar in a way to LifeSong, which is the power that runs through all living things. Seaforce was combined with Stone power and Sky power to create Life in the beginning.”
“Is that as powerful as it sounds?” Rome asked.
“It is. It’s a nearly limitless source of power.”
“Impossible,” Quyloc said, his expression skeptical. “The power of the Spheres is too much for humans to use. It’s far too powerful. Our bodies can’t hold up to it.”
“Can you use it?” Rome asked Treylen.
“In tiny amounts. But the essence of Golgath lives within Aislin, and Golgath was the most powerful of the Sea Shapers. I imagine she can control large amounts of Seaforce. Once she’s learned how and had time to practice.”
“Why haven’t you taught her this before?” Rome asked.
“She didn’t want to learn,” Treylen replied. “Perhaps that will be different now.” He was still watching Aislin, but she didn’t react at all.
“What about it, Aislin?” Rome said to the girl. “Are you ready to learn now?”
Aislin shrugged, still staring at her feet.
“She’s been through a great deal,” Treylen said.
“Does it mean I get to go back to the sea?” Aislin asked then.
“Where else would one learn of Seaforce?” Treylen said gently, not missing the worried look Netra got on her face.
“Is that wise?” Cara asked. “What about the Cron River?”
“I want to go back to the sea,” Aislin said firmly.
“I think it would be best,” Treylen said.
“It’s decided then,” Rome said.
The door burst open, and Liv came running into the room. She ran over to Aislin. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay! I was so worried!” She flung her arms around her friend.
Treylen saw the way Aislin stiffened, and he wasn’t surprised when she peeled her friend’s arms off and pushed her away. Liv gave her a confused look.
“Aislin, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Liv moved into Aislin’s line of sight, but Aislin turned her face away.
Liv’s forehead crinkled. “It doesn’t seem like nothing. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m very busy now. I have to learn Seaforce. I won’t have time for playing,” Aislin said, still not looking at her friend. She sounded distant and completely emotionless, but Treylen noticed that the water in his mug was seething again.
“Seaforce?” Liv asked, puzzled. “Then you’ll be down at the sea? Can I come too?” She looked to her father, appealing to him.
“No,” Aislin said firmly. “You’ll distract me.”
When she said this Treylen heard a faint cracking sound and saw a fine crack running down the side of his mug. Water began to seep out.
“Not right now,” Rome said. “You could get hurt.”
Liv stood there, biting her lip, blinking against the tears in her eyes. “But you’ll still come to my twelfth birthday party, right?”
“Of course she—” Netra began, but Aislin cut her off.
“Probably not. I’ll b
e very busy. I won’t have time for silly things.”
Liv stifled a sob. “I don’t understand. Aren’t we friends anymore?” Another mug cracked. The pitcher was starting to rattle and slide across the table. Neither Aislin nor Liv seemed to notice.
Aislin stood up, still not looking at her friend. “I want to go to the sea now.” She walked to the open door and left. Liv stared after her, tears running steadily down her face.
Netra jumped up and hurried after her daughter, and Treylen followed as fast as he could. In the hallway, he saw Netra grab Aislin’s shoulder and turn her around.
“That was a very cruel thing you did,” she snapped. “Why did you do that? Can’t you see how you hurt her?”
“I don’t care,” Aislin said, and jerked away. She stalked down the hall, her hands balled into fists at her side. A maid was walking toward Aislin, carrying a bucket of wash water. As she got near Aislin the water in the bucket began tossing wildly, startling the maid so that she dropped it. Aislin never even glanced at her.
╬ ╬ ╬
When the three of them reached the front doors of the palace, Opus was waiting there, the Chief Steward once again demonstrating his eerie knowledge of all that went on in the palace. He bowed to Netra and opened the door. “I’ve had a carriage brought around for you,” he said.
Aislin stalked toward the carriage. The horses hitched to the carriage shifted uneasily in their traces as she drew near, eyes rolling in their heads. The driver had to work to keep them calm. Aislin was oblivious to this, throwing herself into the carriage and pressing against the far side.
The whole ride Aislin said not a word. She stared out the window of the carriage, lost in her own world, a stormy look on her face. Treylen and Netra exchanged looks but didn’t speak either.
When they got to the sea, Aislin jumped out of the carriage and ran into the water without a backward look. In seconds she was gone from sight. Netra stood there at the edge of the waves, staring out at the spot where she’d disappeared, one hand on her heart. She turned to Treylen.
“What’s wrong?” she asked him, her voice tremulous. “What did he do to her?”
“I don’t think it’s what he did to her that’s upsetting her,” he replied.
“I don’t understand.”
“Do you remember when she said that Lowellin threatened to kill people?” Netra nodded. “He didn’t threaten to kill just anyone. I don’t think that would have worked on Aislin. I think he threatened to kill you. Probably Liv as well.”
Netra’s eyes widened. “That’s horrible. It must have been awful for her. But why is she so distant now? She won’t let me touch her. She won’t talk to me. It’s like how she used to be, only worse.”
He put his hand on her arm. “She’s protecting herself, Netra. She’s frightened.”
What he was saying dawned on Netra then. “She isn’t afraid of what he might do to her. She’s afraid of what he might do to us.”
“She’s only recently learned to love and now, for the first time, she got a glimpse of how much it would hurt to lose you.”
Netra’s eyes grew moist. “That’s why she’s calling me Netra instead of Mama,” she said in a hoarse voice.
“And it’s why she was cold to Liv. She’s trying to push you away, to convince herself that she doesn’t love you, so that she can’t be hurt.”
Netra looked back out to sea. There was no sign of Aislin. “My poor baby. She’s retreated back into her own world,” she said quietly. “If only I could…” She left the rest unsaid. There was really nothing she could say.
Netra turned to Treylen, something desperate in her eyes. “What are you going to do?”
“Nothing.”
“What? How can you say that?”
“Because it’s the only thing I can do. You know your daughter. You know there’s nothing I, or anyone, can do.”
“We can’t just abandon her,” Netra said fiercely.
“No one’s abandoning her,” he replied. “I’ll do what I did before. I’ll stay close. I’ll wait, and I’ll watch. Anything might happen.”
Netra wrapped her arms around herself and looked back out to sea. There was a disturbance in the water, far out beyond the waves, but it was impossible to tell if it was Aislin or not. “I don’t like her being out there by herself. What if Lowellin kidnaps her again?”
“She’s in the sea, Netra. The safest place she could possibly be. If Lowellin tries to come after her there, well, I suspect he’s in for a nasty surprise.”
“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?”
“You love her. It clouds your thinking.”
Netra gave him an angry look. “Don’t you care about anyone?”
“I do. I would give my life to save Aislin. You should know that. But it’s not the same for me. The Sea is in my veins. It changes how I see things. It’s not something I can explain.”
Netra turned away from him. She looked so vulnerable right then, so lost. He wished he could help her, but he knew he couldn’t, so he didn’t waste time trying. Like Aislin, she would come around when she was ready to. Or she wouldn’t. Nothing he, or anyone, did could change that. So he did as he always did. He simply set it aside and waited. He’d had a lot of practice at waiting.
The sun was getting hot, so he went and sat in the shade of his favorite tree and closed his eyes. Sometime later Netra walked over. He could tell she was standing over him, looking down, but he didn’t open his eyes.
“I don’t know how you can do that,” she said. “Just lie there.”
“It gets easier as you get older.”
“I can’t do this. I can’t just stand around here and do nothing.”
He opened his eyes. “Then don’t.”
“What?”
“Leave. You’re not helping. There’s nothing you can do.”
“That’s a pretty harsh thing to say.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“It’s true though.”
“Still…”
“You think you have to be here to protect your daughter,” he said. “In case Lowellin shows up. I know how strong you are, but I assure you there is nothing at all you can do against him. Not a thing. He is Stone. You have no power over Stone.”
As if her strings had been cut, Netra collapsed onto the sand and put her head in her hands. Her shoulders shook with suppressed sobs. “I hate you sometimes.”
“That’s okay.” He meant it too. “It would be best if you left. I don’t have time to help you too right now. I need to focus on Aislin.”
She looked over at him, angrily wiping her eyes. “I don’t need your help.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “You want me to teach her to use Seaforce, right?”
“Of course. I want her to be able to protect herself from that monster.”
“She’s staying away from you right now. She won’t come back to shore until you’re gone.”
“You have no idea how much it hurts to hear you say that.”
“I don’t care,” he said mildly. “Teaching Aislin to protect herself is more important than your feelings right now. Wouldn’t you say?”
She looked away. “It is.” Her words were bitter.
“Then go.”
She drew a long, shuddering breath. “I can’t just leave her alone.”
“You’re not. I’m here. I promise you I will wait as long as it takes. I will not leave Aislin alone.”
She slumped. “I don’t think I was cut out to be a mother.”
“You’re doing better than you think. No one else could help Aislin more. You…forget sometimes who she is. You want her to be something else, and then it upsets you when she isn’t.”
“I know that,” she said in a small voice. “Why is it so hard to remember?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because we all want the world to be something other than what it is most of the time.”
She peeked at him. “We?”
“In a ma
nner of speaking. I’m fine with letting the world be what it is. There’s not really anything I want from it.”
“Leaving her here won’t make me a terrible mother?”
“Some might think so. But what do they know?”
Netra stood up. “I’ll be back at the end of the day.”
“I’ll be here, waiting for you.”
╬ ╬ ╬
After Netra left, Treylen closed his eyes again. He let his mind drift out onto the sea, moving lazily with the currents. He could sense Aislin out there. It was impossible not to. Her presence was always powerful, like a huge bonfire on the horizon, but today it was even more so. Her emotions roiled the water, radiating outwards for vast distances. She was her own storm.
Which was how he knew when she turned and started to make her way back towards shore. He opened his eyes. The waves along this section of beach were much higher than they were anywhere else, crashing on the beach in rapid succession like a wild animal devouring its prey. The water was a different color too, the placid blues and greens replaced by the sullen gray of a storm.
When she arrived, she didn’t come all the way in to the beach. She waited out there, a dozen paces or so from shore, only her head sticking out of the water, watching him. After a bit he got up and walked down to the water’s edge.
“You’re upsetting the sea.”
She didn’t answer, only stared at him. She looked so tiny. It was hard to remember sometimes how powerful she was.
“You’re upsetting them too, the sea creatures.” It was true. The water was thick with fish and sea creatures of all kinds, swimming back and forth frantically. “You should let them get back to their lives.”
“I don’t care,” she said. “I don’t care about anything.”
He changed tack. “Are you ready to learn more about Seaforce?” No reply. “What will you do next time Lowellin shows up?”
“I want to hurt him. Bad. I want him dead.”
“It’s up to you.” She swam away. He turned and went back to his spot under the tree.
Time passed. In the afternoon she emerged from the water and walked over to him, stood looking down at him. “Where’s Netra?”
He opened his eyes. “She went back to the city.”
“I don’t need a mother anymore, you know.”
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