Page 64 of Fractured Souls
Lorcan
No matterhow hard I tried, sleep evaded me. No one else seemed to suffer from the same problem, everyone having knocked out after such a long day, leaving me to lay in bed between Adriel and Desmond for nearly an hour before going for a swim. Now as I stared up at the ceiling of our room, floating on my back in the large pool, I couldn’t calm my mind, which was absolutely reeling from everything I had learned…and not learned.
I couldn’t even decide if this trip had been worth it. I mean, it had in the sense that Bayton had given us a very clear direction on what I needed to figure out: the composition. And of course knowing that Nova was my counterpart in all of this was huge. Hell, I had even found some resources for putting our composition together as well as Desmond’s idea to track down surviving members of the Darklace family for more information on acing this entire composition shit.
Nearly groaning, I dipped under the water completely, submerging myself. Why did it not feel like enough? Why did I feel more confused than ever? Maybe it was the task that was making me feel so overwhelmed. Maybe I needed to simplify it.
Breaking the surface of the water, my gaze moving to the dark ocean outside our suite, I allowed a slow exhale to leave my lips.
My goal, outside of everything else, was to put together a composition that held enough power to defeat the dark ones. It wouldn’t be my first time creating music, but I needed Cormac, and of course Zander, and I needed to know how much power the piece would need. I knew the scope of the danger, but just how much magic could I put into a piece of music I didn’t know.
What I did know was that we had resources, and this entire process was probably something my brother needed to be a part of, so…we needed to go back to Earth realm. Back home. We could look for Beryl Darklace from there.
Stepping out of the pool and feeling resolved in the direction we needed to take, I slipped on a robe and walked into the large bathroom suite. I braided my hair back and changed into a linen dress that fell to my ankles, then returned to the main room where my men were spread across the large, sunken beds. I felt better now that I had a plan, but I was still much too awake to sleep, so I decided to go for a walk.
Going towards the closest bed, I slipped down and gently woke up Dean, not wanting them to worry. His eyes shot open and he fixed me with a confused look, his throat producing a soft rumble.
“I’m going on a walk,” I whispered.
Dean’s gaze moved over my face. “I’m way too worried to let you go by yourself, but I’ll follow at a distance until you want me to join you.”
A small smile pulled at my lips, so damn glad he understood what I needed. I leaned forward and kissed him lightly before moving from the bed. With a small yawn, I made my way out of the room, knowing that he was probably giving the others a heads up and allowing me a bit of a head start. As I walked down the long hallway, I could already feel the pressure releasing from my head, and I knew this was the right choice. Laying there and overthinking would have just driven me crazy.
I wasn’t positive how long I wandered throughout the different hallways and floors, just keeping my mind blank and examining the way that moonlight filtered through the surface of the sea and into the institute. I studied the oceanic life that swam past, and I even found myself humming under my breath, loving how much more relaxed I was feeling. So much so that I wasn’t even positive how far Dean was behind me, but I could feel his energy reaching out to me, so it was close enough that I still felt safe and comfortable.
When I went down a hall I hadn’t traveled yet, I was somewhat unsurprised to find Nova standing in the hallway herself, looking out the window and into a courtyard below. I had a feeling my friend was as trapped in thought as myself, neither of us able to sleep with the mounting pressure.
“Couldn’t sleep?” I asked out loud. She nodded, her normal lighthearted attitude absent as I came to stand next to her.
“I’m just caught up on all of this,” Nova sighed. “It’s hard to believe that this is where we are… Only months ago everything was so different, and now we’re on the brink of a war that puts the fate of the literal universe in our hands.”
She wasn’t wrong…and it was a lot. It was a fuck ton.
“No pressure,” I quipped, causing her to laugh. It was becoming our new motto.
My thoughts darkened as I considered her words, though, and I remembered what I told her before, how I couldn’t really ‘unsee’ our future considering the dark ones and the painful imagery painted in my head.
My voice was a bit more serious as I repeated the sentiment. “If you could see them, it wouldn’t be as hard. Even here, under all this water where it’s far better, I can hear them calling to me, screaming in my ears.”
Mind you, it was distant, but it was always there in the back of my head, just waiting for me to tune in. I was really glad that Zander had taught me to accept them because there was something to that. While it didn’t work in extreme cases, it made the day-to-day far easier. Just not times like in the jet.
“That’s horrible.” Nova shook her head, studying my expression. “I wish I could see them. It would make this more real.”
And I wanted to show her because we were in this together. Maybe I could.
I tilted my head in thought. “I…I could try to show you. I’ve only done it once, and we wouldn’t actually star travel, but I could try to at least give you an idea of what we’re dealing with.”
Nova’s entire expression morphed. “How would we do that?”
That was a good question, especially since the two of us didn’t have a bond of any kind…but if our magics recognized the importance of this, maybe they would behave enough to help out.
Motioning for her to join me, I sat down on the floor cross-legged and tried to sort through how to explain all of this, let alone what I was about to do. “It won’t require anything on your end, at least not much. But I have to warn you, this can cause me to get dizzy, and sometimes my nose will bleed, so it’s better for me to sit down. Just don’t freak out if it happens; it’s a daily thing.”
Nova’s gaze darkened in concern but she just nodded sharply and said, “Alright, let’s do this shit.”
Something about her attitude emboldened me to just go for it. To just show her. “Grab my hands.”
Nova placed her hands in mine, and I closed my eyes and let my siren take center stage. Considering her magic was standing there looking sort of pissed off and only half interested, I was worried how this would go…until my siren did the oddest thing. She legitimately offered out a hand to Nova’s magic, which she met after a cautious second in a sign of trust.
