Page 46 of Runes To Rain
“Watching you, or watching the band?”
“Watching me.”
Malam opens his mouth to say something, but then pinches the bridge of his nose again. “Actually, never mind.”
There’s a long, quiet pause, and the energy in the room feels tense.
“Glad to see you’re feeling better,” Malam finally says. He moves to stand, but I interrupt him, asking my questions with a slightly shaking voice.
“Can I have a sword?”
“You don’t have one?” he asks, sounding horrified.
I shake my head.
“I’ll see to it,” he says firmly. Then he ruins the scary persona slightly by reaching out and patting my knee comfortingly.
Suddenly realizing I have one more question, I blurt out, “Can you tell me what an addict is?”
Malam’s expression turns to stone, and he glares at Fembehind me as he says, “An addict is someone who doesn’t have any control over taking drugs or drinking alcohol.”
“I’ve never taken drugs or drunk any alcohol.”
“I know,” he says, his gaze not moving from Fem.
I have many unanswered questions, but before I can ask them, Fem jumps in.
“Wait,” he says. “Why would you trust her with a sword, and who’s Bonum? Also, what do you mean she hasn’t ever had drugs or alcohol? The way we found her in the street?—”
I’m again worried for Fem’s safety as Malam stands suddenly and strides over to stand inches in front of him, shoulders tense. “Make note, Fem, the only reason you’re here is because I told you about her injury so you could help keep an eye on things. You don’t need the answers to these questions. I expect you to keep all of this knowledge to yourself.”
There is a pause, tense silence swirling between them, and Malam’s anger perfusing the room. Then he turns and leaves. As he walks through the door, he calls back, “Come along, Fem, we have work to do.”
I hear Fem turn and leave the room, and I’m left sitting in the office by myself. All I can think of is my new sword and when I might next see Malam so that I can have it.
With those hopeful thoughts, I leave the room and escape again to sword practice.
DIO’S JOURNAL - ENTRY 196
Annum:5614
Entry 196 - turbatio
Apparently, it’s been a while since I wrote. This written account is greatly important as is our work toward the cause, and I’ve been distracted from both, clearly. I realized a couple of days ago that we hadn’t made any progress on our REAL work in a while. I told the others that we needed to make time to summon the demon again. As much as I’d like to avoid him, for now, his help is necessary. Perhaps once this concert is over, I can talk to the guys about finding a different demon to summon. For now, the most important thing is making some progress toward the cause again.
I think it’s easy for all of us to want to delay that work for so many reasons, and yet the rationale behind taking on this distasteful and monumental task is sound. This morning, I saw in the newspaper that food shortagesare affecting even bread now. Yet, when I brought it up, the guys were reluctant to summon the demon again. I know they didn’t want to take time away from rehearsing. I know how important this concert is to them, and we are playing a lot of new material. I know we all still feel unprepared, but if we aren’t able to figure out the weather magic we need for the cause soon, all of this might cease to exist. Our work on magic needs to come first. They did finally see reason, and the day was determined, which was today.
It might be the lack of sleep from all the hours spent rehearsing, but the energy felt weird leading up to Malam’s arrival.
We successfully completed the ritual the night before, early in the morning, actually, since we were up late rehearsing. When Malam showed up around midday, he asked to see Chaosta first. I thought he’d just want to check on her in passing and then move on, but instead, he cloistered himself in the office with her. He included Fem for some reason. They weren’t in there for long, but it still took more time than I expected. While they were otherwise occupied, Lent, Reem, and I set up our space in the basement ballroom. When they joined us (without Chaosta, of course), Fem had a weird expression on his face. I think frustration, but maybe also confusion? I need to remember to ask him what happened.
At the time, that’s not what I was focused on. We were just about to begin our magic work whenLent grabbed a book out of somewhere and brought it over to Malam. When Lent asked him if it might help, the demon paused and read through a passage. Malam looked surprised, which is not an expression I’ve ever seen on his smug face. He said it would help and asked where Lent had found the book. I was surprised when Lent said Chaosta had found it AND pointed out the passage to him. Either he was lying and trying to win her favor (likely) or I’ve underestimated the girl again (unlikely). If she did find it, I’m confident it was just luck.
We spent the rest of our time working through that passage, and it actually helped. We produced real, soaking rain for the first time. I was elated. There is no fucking way it was Chaosta who found that passage. At this point, I doubt it was Lent. While I initially thought he was a decent researcher, now that I know more, I’m not so sure. He acts like such a moron, especially when he’s around her.
As we wrapped up our practice and began to pack up, things took another turn. I was focused on cleaning the runes off the floor with Reem while Lent and Fem packed up the items we used. Malam was just leaving when Fem asked him about something Chaosta said. Last night, when she said she’d seen trees, I thought it was a drug-induced hallucination and had immediately dismissed it. At the time she said it, I was more focused on the fact that she was beginning to say something else and then changed it. I tried to get her to admit to what she was starting to say. However, Reeminterrupted me, and she, of course, responded to him. I didn’t want to make a scene, but it’s things like this that the guys should pay more attention to.
I’m fairly certain that before she caught herself, she was going to say she kissed someone in the crowd at that concert before she got hurt. Maybe, while the guys have been feeling like it’s their fault, it’s actually been her fault all along for toying with someone’s emotions. She’s not unattractive, and with her ability to manipulate people, I could see that happening.
