Page 115 of Firebird

Chapter 44 - Breath

Metheus

When I woke up the next day, I knew that it would always be like this – that it would be hard to stay angry with Luella. I gazed at her face as she slumbered, realizing that through it all, I still had not told her I loved her.

I caressed her hair, marveling in the silky but wild strands - a contradiction, just like her. She was passionate and innocent at the same time, not quite what I had expected when I first heard of her.

Though we had been attacked just the night before, there was no time to lose. The attacks were getting closer and closer. They were no longer afraid to strike home.

We needed to find out more about our enemy. We needed to prepare more. We were fortunate the last time, although the massacre of the Seers could not be called fortunate. They had been sacrificed in this war far too early.

I tried to rise without her noticing, but she gripped my hand before I could lift it off the bed.

“Don’t go yet,” she pleaded.

“We have work to do.”

That prompted her to bounce off the bed. Yes, bounce. I could only exhale as she ran to go through her morning rituals. She was up and ready, and I thought I could give her more time to rest.

Lucia and the Seers met me at my study. Luella wanted to be part of the meeting. If she had her choice, she would have Rowali there, too, but I told her I needed to see a few things on my own first – know if it was safe for my younger sister to be aware. I wanted to know more about my mother and her relationship with The Touch.

“You want to know if you are a medium,” declared Luella. It was not a question. I was sure.

“Yes,” I said.

“How will Metheus being a medium benefit our cause? Is he one or training to be one? I am sorry, but since someone sent me away, I am a little late in the plan.”

I snorted. She forgot that I had to forget how she brought herself and my sister back to be exposed to dangers I was trying to get them away from.

“If he is a medium, he can take on the powers of anyone he calls out, but they have Rowan who not only can take the Ninurta’s powers but also course it through the Touch. She is like an amplifier,” Aruna explained. “Right now, Metheus is still as we know him before – a fire stealer, who can also take powers from someone from the Touch, someone like Rowan. We need to find her.”

“What can I do to help?” asked Luella. While the rest were seated, my wife could not be bothered. She was a bundle of nervous energy, ready to work her magic.

“Let us find out what Metheus wants to do first,” Aruna advised.

I expected a retort from Luella – or even a pout. I did not get either. She seemed so much more in control of her feelings. Or was she feeling guilty about something? Maybe she battled with herself to get herself here because something seemed to be bothering her. Something in her eyes told me that there was something she had not told me yet.

“I want to contact my mother,” I said.

“For her power or the information you can gather from her?”

“Her power?” Aruna asked, but I suspected she knew the answer, anyway.

“The power of the Touch. We may need all the weapons that we can get.”

“While that may be true, you need someone you can share the power with.”

“Do I need another one from the Touch?”

“Not necessarily,” Aruna said, thoughtfully. “It may just be another person you can share your energy with.”

She was looking at Luella now. I had always known that it would come to this. Rowali was a medium like our mother, while Luella was a remnant of Erishkigal. I was a fire stealer. It seemed like the ingredients to a weapon, one that I refused to wield.

“No. I do not like where this is going.”

“What is it?” inquired my restless wife, who suddenly found it the right time to sit on the chair right next to Aruna.

Aruna felt my hesitance, knew my fear. However, she was a Seer, too. If there were no blockages like Rowan, she was the best there was. Her visions, however, are based on what they could see in the person right in front of her. It was slightly different with a telepath or a psychic. A Seer’s reliability and consistency could be found somewhere in between.

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