Rhea wants nothing more than to kill her father. But not just because he's any run-of-the-mill scumbag. No, he's a god. And he's the one who cursed her with being a goldblood -- half human, half godling. Good for her, she's willing to do anything to...
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MY EYES FLY OPEN.
The clearing looks like it always has. Trees, birdsong, mist. Taiga sits across from me, fingers steepled, looking curious.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," he says, trying to hide a smirk.
I clear my throat. "I-"
I shake my head, trying to compose myself. But I can still feel the shaking and the sound of thunder rumbling still haunts my ears.
What was that?
A dream?
"What did you hear?" he asks, looking at me intensely.
It starts to rain. A few drizzles at first, creating a fine dew over the grass we sit on. Then sheets of rain pour on us.
I look up, letting the cool drops pummel my face.
"Thunder, I think," I say. "And I saw lightning in the sky."
Taiga gives me that look again, the one where it seems he is appraising me like I am a deer to be hunted and sold.
We don't spend much longer in the clearing. Taiga takes me back to the goldblood compound, though he has me shut my eyes on the way.
I'm not happy to do so, but I don't try to fight it.
The way back is apparently running forward, as fast as I can. I expect to run into something -- the rocky outcrop, the trees, even off the mountain itself. But instead, when I open my eyes again, I am at the entrance into the cavern.
It is dinner time, and a cozy bonfire blazes in the middle of the cavern tonight.
"Let's try again tomorrow," Taiga says, as we talk towards it.
Goldbloods are sitting around the fire, roasting what looks like meat on long sticks.
He hands me a stick of raw meat -- lamb, it looks like -- from a bucket by the fire and invites me to sit down next to him.
I do so. We roast our lamb in silence, listening to the crackle of the fire and the conversation around us. My hair and clothes are starting to dry.
"What does what I saw or heard mean?" I ask finally, blowing some smoke off my roasted lamb, now ready to eat.
Taiga looks thoughtful. "Our powers present themselves to us in a lot of different ways. Of course, usually its spontaneous. Earlier in our life, or even when we're kids. Unexpected things we can't explain happen. Like starting fires when you're angry," Taiga says, with a bitter chuckle.
I look at him curiously.
He shakes his head.
I won't be getting the story tonight, it seems.
"For others, it's triggered by being in danger or near-death. Eugene was apparently about to be executed when he found out that his skin could harden and become like armor."
