The Songbird

Chapter 14: Come and Find Me

* * * * * * *

Evening saw the four knights nestled away in their corner of the castle, seated at a table with an overwhelming amount of food laid out before them. Despite the knowledge that they had lost a prisoner, the atmosphere was surprisingly light as chatter flowed and hope had regained its place.

"If you see any suspicious activity, I am to be informed at once," Jesmyn mocked Abbott, pitching her voice low in imitation. "And yet he had the nerve to be cross with me for what I told him this morning about the Favor Born. Which turned out to be true! And now all of the sudden we can come to him whenever we want? The nerve of him."

"Just tell him you had a vision of someone switching the black banners in the throne room with pink ones. That'll make him cower," Izan said between bites.

"A lovely color, too. Would certainly liven up the place," she told him.

"Nope, can't have that. Black works too well with my hair," Samuel chirped in, prompting Izan to flick him on the back of his head.

Samuel tried to retaliate by throwing a piece of potato at him, but it smashed into a sudden piece of glass Izan had summoned in front of his face.

"You coward," Sam sneered as it fell off.

"Don't throw food," Dante admonished, though he did smile. "I'll make you civilized one day, I swear it."

"Eleven years you've known me and it hasn't happened yet. I wouldn't hold my breath."

Unable to resist the itch, Dante yanked on Sam's foot with a tendril of shadow under the table. He gave a start at the feeling, but Dante smirked behind a glass of wine. "What happened to the grand ruler's golden rule of not using our powers for stupid things?"

"Have I ever really enforced that rule?" Dante retorted.

"You're all children," Jess said, rolling her eyes. "I, for one, can't wait until we pick up this Favor Born. It'll be nice having another girl around to handle you three."

"What do you mean, handle?" Asked Izan, looking indignant.

"I don't know why she doesn't just turn herself in," said Sam, turning his attention back to the food. "There's a kingdom-wide mandate for all Favor Borns to surrender to Abbott, has been for years. And for someone who was once a Red Alley dweller, this might as well be a fairytale compared to the way I used to live."

"Yes yes, poor little thief who wasn't good enough to keep himself from getting caught," Jess taunted him.

But Samuel gave her a terrifyingly mischievous smile as he leaned back in his chair. "I don't suppose you've been missing your favorite throwing knife, have you?"

Jesmyn's dark eyes grew wide as her jaw dropped. "You did not!"

"He did, and he will be giving it back before the end of the night," Dante answered for Sam, giving him a pointed stare with no real malice behind it.

Nights like tonight were ones he cherished, nights where he knew Abbott was in relatively good spirits no matter which room in the castle he lay tucked away in. Nights where the four of them could bicker and laugh without consequence, feeling like what Dante could only assume real families might feel like.

"What'll happen when the new Favor Born comes?" Izan asked, breaking the silent standoff between Jess and Sam.

"I suppose we'll have to add another chair to the dinner table," said Dante.

"No, I mean what'll happen to us? It'll be strange having a fifth person."

"Well we made room for you, didn't we?" Jesmyn asked, and Izan rolled his eyes.

He'd been the last one brought to their group, but the addition was so long ago that Dante struggled to remember what life felt like without him. Izan had grown up in the Blue Alley, living under the thumb of a father who loved discipline more than his own child. Jesmyn had dreamed of him for months before he stumbled across their path, his magic a strange thing that no one knew how to make sense of. But Izan had leapt at the chance to leave his father, and after training from Dante and Abbott, he learned to hone his gift with glass formation into something of value. More than that, Izan felt belonging with the other three more than he'd known in his life before them. There was a definitive split in his lifespan, marked by a before and after, the middle of two sides characterized as a rescue from a scarred childhood.

"Nothing's going to change, Izan," Dante assured him. "Abbott is always looking to grow our circle, so it'll be good to have her. Think of it as having a new member to a family."

Izan nodded, returning to his dinner as Sam and Jess seemed to give up their stalemate. Satisfied with the newfound peace, Dante sighed and relaxed into his chair.

* * * * * * *

"Come and find me."

A voice was taunting him, laughter trilling like bells as he chased down a figure cloaked in smoke. Her grey cloak twisted with each ripple, and when he reached out to grasp it, his hand was met with nothingness.

"Come and find me," she teased.

"Stop hiding," said Dante.

"I'm not."

He felt her materialize right behind him, misty hands snaking around his neck to cover his eyes. He was blinded by smoke and darkness, the girl's voice coming in disembodied whispers that slid over and under one another like sea foam.

"Tell me how to find you," he begged, knowing without a doubt that it was her, the one they all searched for, the one that was nameless and faceless but could not stay that way forever.

"Listen," was her only answer.

"For what?"

"Just listen."

* * * * * * *

Dante woke to shadows coating every inch of his room, the darkness thick enough to slice matter into pieces of dust. Quick to regain control, he took a deep breath and forced the inky nothingness back to the recesses of his mind. Moonlight was able to filter through a nearby window after that, a tiny blade of light no longer snuffed out.

He pulled the sheets away from his body and moved to stand near that window, looking down on various spires of the castle and out to Enid beyond. The dream still permeated his thoughts, and her voice echoed in his ears.

Listen, she'd told him.

He shivered at the memory of mist over his eyes, feeling trapped and controlled while trying to salvage what clues he could. Jesmyn was better at interpreting dreams than he was, so he'd have to ask her about it tomorrow.

But for now, what could he make of it? Did she want to be found? Was she mocking him? Did she need help?

The few lights left on in the silent kingdom blinked warmly in the distance, even as a tendril of shadow snaked its way across the window pane at Dante's frustration.

"I'm going to find you," he vowed. "Whether you wish it or not."