The Iron Butterfly

The closer we got to the stables the more chaotic it became as guards and soldiers, who were moments ago laughing and teasing each other, were now searching the grounds, faces serious and deadly.

The Denai students were mingling about in small groups, whispering nervously. I put Faraway in his stall and gave him fresh water and hay, delaying the inevitable as long as possible. When there was nothing else to do but go inside I stepped outside and almost immediately wanted to hide again, as all five of the Adepts descended on me. All five surrounded me like an armed guard and ushered me inside the Citadel.

I watched as the iron doors shut and were locked. I knew it was to keep anyone from getting in but in this moment if felt more like they were trying to keep me from getting out.

Chapter 23

I was beginning to hate the chair.

I was sitting in the same hard chair in the Adept Council room again. I shouldn’t be surprised. I was almost tempted to ask to stop by my room and get a pillow to sit on, but one glance at their faces and I knew to not even ask.

The meeting was kept short, they wanted me to recap my steps the previous day and what happened when I got to the spare room. I gave them a condensed version of everything, leaving out Kael’s erratic behavior, not really understanding why I chose to.

Since it was almost dawn, I was dismissed to go to my room. Adept Lorna said that I would have a guard assigned and to get some rest. I made a motion to argue and she cut me off with a look that said: don’t you dare. Sighing in defeat, I left the meeting room.

Not really caring one way or the other, I went out the door and came face to face with a worried Joss. His handsome face looked ragged and tired but lit up when he saw me; he pulled me into a bear hug.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he murmured into my hair. When he reluctantly let go of me, he still held onto my hand.

Too tired to pull it out I let him lead me back to my room. I gave him my key; his sure hands inserted it and unlocked the door.

Lighting a lamp, he did a thorough search of my room, under the bed, in the armoire behind the curtains. His actions made me smile as I pulled off my boots, and washed what was left of the grease paint from my face. Most of it had rubbed off in the fight and I was too tired to go to the baths or care.

Crawling into my large bed I collapsed into my pillows and felt Joss pull a blanket over me, stopping mid motion to pull a flyaway piece of straw from my hair. He reached for my injured arm and I started to jerk it away when he caught it and pulled it into his lap. I watched him close his eyes in concentration. Warmth spread through my arm as the cut slowly healed and turned a faint pink. Rejuvenating energy flowed into me followed by a calm and content feeling. My eyes started to droop.

“Thank you, Joss,” I mumbled sleepily.

“I wish I could do more,” he grumbled. Going over to the couch he stretched his large frame out upon it, trying to get comfortable.

Sitting up in alarm, I cried out, “What do you think you are doing?”

“Taking a nap. What does it look like?” he retorted.

“You can’t stay here! It’s not proper.”

Joss just gave me a stubborn look. “I really don’t care about what’s proper or not. You have been attacked twice in the last two weeks. For goodness sakes, this is Citadel! It’s supposed to be the safest place in the city.”

“Obviously not.”

“I don’t care how many rules it breaks, or how many guards you get, or even if I get expelled. I’m not letting you out of my sight. So get some sleep, I’m not going anywhere.”

Giving him an icy stare wasn’t making him change his mind, he just walked over to my sparse bookshelf, picked up a book and went back to the couch and began to read it; completely ignoring me.

I made a noise and gave in, plopping down on my pillows. I made a childish show of trying to get comfortable again, punching my pillows to show my displeasure at him staying. Finally, sleep took over and I dreamed.

This time I dreamed I was back in the prison and it was burning. Fire surrounded me, the beams in the ceiling were burning and behind me the tunnel came crashing down. Flames licked at my feet and I could smell burning flesh. The smell made me gag. The smoke made it difficult to see and breathe. I tried to move down the hallway but a ring of fire was in front and behind me.

Through the flames and smoke I could see Kael standing there watching me. I started to reach out to him for help, when I remembered what he had said earlier about wishing he had let me die. I dropped my hands limply to my side, my eyes burning with tears, refusing to ask for help. The flames burned brighter and the smoke made it impossible to breathe.

Choking on the smoke I fell to my knees, my fingers digging in the dirt as I tried to breathe in the fresh air that was lower to the ground. But every breath burned fire down my lungs, as I felt myself suffocating from smoke inhalation. The flames licked at my skin, making it burn and pucker.

I could see Kael, angry, standing over my prone form, his mouth forming words I couldn’t hear. Kneeling down, he yelled out again but I was deaf to them. Refusing help I closed my mind from him. He wanted to let me die, so I was giving him his wish, I would let myself die in this dream world.

Feeling my world fade away, I felt him grab my shoulders hard and force me to look into his eyes. Barely being able to stay conscious I made eye contact with his angry eyes and I heard him clear as day, shout into my mind. “WAKE UP!”

I awoke gasping for breath, coughing. I felt a hand pound my back and speak my name.

“Thalia, it’s okay, you’re alright. Just breathe.” Joss’ words calmed me.

Looking around my room in confusion, I started to cough and spit up black stuff into a handkerchief. Pushing him away I tried to stumble over to the window as if the room was still filled with smoke.

Throwing open the windows, I leaned out coughing and let in the fresh air. It was now midmorning and the sun was shining. Joss brought me over a glass of water, I drank all of it. After I had settled down, I collapsed on the couch and asked him. “What happened?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Joss explained. “I was asleep, when a loud sound woke me up. I went to check on you and you had stopped breathing. I could feel power in the room and I couldn’t get you to wake up. I tried to look into your mind but it was blocked.”

I told Joss about my dream, not feeling comfortable in revealing that I was dreaming about Kael, I left him conveniently out again. I was doing that a lot lately. Joss looked worried, as I described the burning cell and how I felt I was dying of asphyxiation when I suddenly awoke.

“Thalia, you were attacked by a Denai in your sleep,” he said.

“How can you know for sure?” I asked.

“Because … Thalia, look at your wrists.”

Sure enough, small burn marks appeared along my wrists and arms.

“And,” he paused. “I can still smell smoke.”

Chapter 24

“That’s it! I’m outta here.”

I scrambled from off the couch, ran to my armoire and started throwing clothes into a bag. Joss came over and tried taking the items of clothes out my bag and putting them back into the closet.

“Thalia, what are you doing? You can’t leave.”

Joss tried to grab a shirt out of my hands. We both tugged on it until I surrendered it to him with a glare.