When the Raven Calls

Chapter 8

THE NEXT FEW WEEKS PASSED in a blur. It seemed like we had fallen into a routine--plot or carry out thefts, both political and economical, then return. Get a few hour's rest, then raid the dungeons, looking for Tainted people and freeing them, helping them escape to boats harboring fugitives on the river. From there, they'd be taken to Caerin, the mountain capital of Naenoting (the only country besides Evaren we share borders with). From there, they'd be able to go anywhere as long as they could get themselves transportation.

I had fallen into a routine of my own, too--every day, hiding the way I felt everything around me, and at night, closing my eyes and sinking into the bliss of knowing that all around me were millions of precious lives, big and small, interconnecting. I fought back against the relapses of those memories that haunted my dreams--the burning fire and black eyes, the unbearable noise followed by terrifying silence.

I got better.

And then, one night, everything changed.

"Come on!" I hissed into the cell. "We're here to save you!"

"You... you're... what?" the man asked, blinking in confusion.

"We're here to get you out of here. I assume you don't want to die?"

"N-no," he said, trembling.

"Good. Then stand up and get moving."

He stood, and a few moments later, we were running. My family beside me, the freed captives behind us, all bolting for the relative safety of the boats.

The Wrinkled Monkey bobbed in the water, floating towards and away from the docks with the tide and its rope. Ever so faintly, all around us, the sound of wood creaking and sails resulting filled the air, like a man-made chorus of the wind and water.

"Okay, come on, everyone on board!" Thomas called, his brown curls glinting an unnatural shade between bronze and silver in the moonlight. I watched him, waiting for a moment.

That was another thing that had changed over the past few weeks. Thomas had admitted that he liked me, and I'd realized (fluttering heart and all) that I really liked him, too. The moment had been perfect--sitting on the roof, our favorite escape, watching the sunset turn our city shades of orange and pink. I'd looked in his eyes, and felt myself plummet straight off that pit they called love, and the world spun around us but everything stayed perfectly still.

Then I said no.

It was painful and horrible and broke my heart into a million pieces, but I knew that everything was against this. It'd cause divisions in the group, make it harder to keep my powers a secret, and be wildly painful at the end. Whether that was a break-up or me being discovered and then kicked out of the group, it wouldn't end well. It was better that I save us both a lot of heartbreak in the long run.

I was dragged out of my melancholy thoughts by the sounds being made by the man standing near me, looking at me with a mixture of fear and awe.

"I'm sorry?" I said, tuning back into the world and blinking.

"I... I wanted to know what your gift is."

My heart skipped a beat and I forgot to breathe for a moment.

"Your gift?" he hesitated, but pushed on a moment later. "See, I can kind of... sense the people, the ones like us."

"You mean you can feel the Tainted?" I breathed. He flinched at the word, but nodded a minute later.

"It's like... like a buzzing. Like crickets at night. But you... you drown them all out. You're like a bird's call, like a gunshot in the night."

I could hardly think, hardly feel, and definitely couldn't process his words fast enough for them to sink in.

"Why are you so loud?"

I can sense the people.

Holy shit, I thought, my mind spinning. Is that even possible? I mean, Ju'mat said every gift is unique... but then again, mine wasn't what they were expecting...

"I... I don't know. I don't know, I'm sorry," I said, still reeling. Was it possible that he and I were the same?

Was there someone else out there with my same Gift?

***

BEFORE I could interrogate him further, he had to board the boat. I stood there for at least fifteen minutes after they left, dumbfounded by the combination of luck and unfortunate coincidence that I had met someone just like me, then let him slip through my fingers. He might have been the key to figuring out what, exactly, I needed to do.

Hours later, I was still just sitting here, listening and looking around my room, experimenting with how to block out and then let in the senses.

I was distracted by a weird sort of rushing sensation as I opened them back up, followed by an inexplicable rush of anger. How dare they back me into this corner, make me keep secrets from them? Real friends wouldn't do this too to me, wouldn't make me afraid to open up around them.

A moment later, the anger ebbed away, leaving me much quieter and shaking with terror.

Where the hell did that come from?

***

THE next morning, when Syrena came downstairs, she seemed much calmer, somehow. She was even smiling and laughing, and offered to do the dishes after dinner. Offered to do her least favorite chore.

"Um, are you feeling alright?" Thomas asked, voicing what we had all been thinking.

"Yeah, actually, " she said, still smiling quietly. "I don't what it was, but last night, it just kinda felt like... I don't know. Like all my frustration just melted away, and I could finally think straight. Weird, huh?"

"Yes and no," Macey said thoughtfully. "I mean, yeah, it's weird, but it's also happened to me a couple times these past few weeks. I'll feel really angry or sad, and it'll just kinda drain away and I can remember the good times. Does that make any sense?"

They all started talking, discussing weird occurrences over the past few weeks, but all I could do was sit there, trying to look inconspicuous as I stood to put my dishes in the sink. I'd been experiencing weird mood swings over the past few weeks, but I had thought it was normal. I mean, wouldn't it be, after everything I'd been through lately?

And yet, the longer I listened, the more convinced I became that I had been absorbing their emotions.

It sounded crazy, I know, but it made sense. I could tell when something was off with them--we'd lived under one house for years--and the mood swings came at night, when I was using the Sense and often thinking about them and their feelings, wishing I could do something to make it better. So no, it wasn't that that scared me.

What really terrified me, was make me feel like I was going to throw up as I washed my hands in the sink, was one question: If I could already sense living things and absorb emotions, what if something worse was coming?