Gates of Thread and Stone(27)

I grew tense, only for a moment, but the way his thumb swept soothingly against my cheek meant he’d felt it. With my stomach fluttering, I waited for him to go on.

“About six years ago, you came into the shop to buy lunch for Reev. I recognized you from school, but we didn’t really talk then. Anyway, you were going around a corner, and your elbow knocked something over. I can’t remember what it was. But you did it then—the thing with time.”

I guess this explained why he hadn’t been shocked by what he’d seen lately.

“I thought I was going crazy,” Avan said. “I tried to move, to ask you what was happening, but I couldn’t open my mouth. I didn’t even know it was you doing it until I saw your face. You were completely focused on reaching for whatever you’d knocked over. And then everything sort of rushed forward, and you caught the thing before it hit the floor. You looked so relieved.”


All this time I had assumed, because no one besides Reev ever reacted to my manipulations, that people couldn’t sense them. They carried on as if nothing had happened. Of course, I didn’t make a habit of doing it in crowded areas, but who else might have been aware? Who else hadn’t I noticed noticing me?

He seemed to be waiting for me to say something, so I licked my lips and said, “Then you already knew.”

I didn’t know how some people could sense it, but I realized it didn’t bother me that Avan was one of them. It made me feel less crazy. Less alone.

And I couldn’t deny that I liked the idea that Avan had noticed me long before he ever gave me those apples.

“I should have mentioned it sooner,” he said.

I tried to shrug, but it was difficult in our current positions. “Doesn’t matter now. But it would have been good to know a few years ago.”

“I waited for you to tell me.”

He would’ve had to wait a long time. He probably knew that, though.

“Is it magic?” He sounded awed by the possibility.

“I don’t know.”

“Before Rebirth, there were plenty of mahjo. What if the Kahl isn’t the last one?”

“I don’t know,” I repeated, quieter. I doubted there was anything he could ask that I hadn’t already wondered myself. “I can’t exactly send the Kahl a note saying, ‘Hi, I think I have magic, too, and I’m dying to talk to someone about it. Let’s have lunch.’”

He laughed, the slight motions pressing his body more firmly into mine. “So what do we do when we find the Black Rider?”

I appreciated that he said “when.” “We save my brother.”

“Good intentions aren’t going to get us very far. We need a plan.”

The problem was that we didn’t know anything about the Black Rider: who he was, what he might do, how he might attack us. I couldn’t risk Avan getting hurt or killed trying to protect me.

I slid my fingers into my bag and felt the handle of the knife that the prostitute had given me. I wished I’d gotten her name, but I hadn’t thought to ask. I’d been so worried about what might have happened to Reev.

“The knife,” I said. “There’s something about it. It scared off those gargoyles.”

“You can’t fight the Rider’s army with one knife,” Avan said, his usual wry undertone entering his voice again.

I traced my fingers down Avan’s forearm and wrist until I found the bumps of his knuckles. I could tell he was holding his breath. I pretended not to notice when I felt the light pressure of his lips against my hair. I imagined turning in his arms and meeting his mouth with mine.

I tried to will away the sensations spreading through me, the warmth and the ache that made it hard to think clearly.

“I’ll figure something out,” I whispered. Actually, I did have a plan, but I didn’t want to tell him yet. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t like it.

I had a gift. I had no idea why or how, but my abilities could be useful to the Rider. Hopefully, the Rider would be open to a trade.





CHAPTER 14




“KAI.”

Avan’s voice cut through my drowsiness. Fingers skimmed my cheekbone. I leaned into his touch.

“Kai, wake up.”

Something in the way he said my name made my eyes open. Light streamed in through the cracks of our small shelter, muted like twilight or early dawn.

“You need to see this,” Avan said, before maneuvering his way out into the open.

I rolled onto my back and immediately wished I hadn’t. Every muscle in my body screamed.

“Drek.” I pushed myself up. Once outside, I could see why it was so hazy. Fog had rolled in overnight, making the Void appear even more ominous and surreal. I couldn’t see ten feet in front of me.

Goosebumps spread down my arms. Fog, especially this dense, required moisture. The Void was nothing but dry earth.

“Look,” Avan said.

I followed his line of sight. Then I blinked a few times to make sure I was seeing this.

A bridge loomed ahead, a stone arch that rose out of the scorched earth and disappeared into the fog. The bridge spanned at least thirty feet in width, aged to the point of decay.

“Was that there last night?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

“I don’t think so,” he said grimly. I wished he’d pretend it was no big deal, like everything else we’d run into since leaving Ninurta.