They gathered inside Ash's old room in the tavern—Oroton at the headboard, shoulders sloping with exhaustion. Eli Miki, Shorty and Gunner at the foot of the bed, Ash in the rocking chair to one side.
They stared down at Gigi's body, which had been carried on a makeshift stretcher up the beach and placed beneath the sheets after being carefully removed from the salt hardened poncho, her blisters cleaned and dressed with a salve. The only item they hadn't been able to remove was the watch, which was still clasped in the old woman's hand, as though even in death, her body did not want to let it go.
But she wasn't dead. Every now and then, her chest rose and fell as though drawing breath. Each time it happened, the watching assemble drew a collective intake of their own, held breaths.
It had been nearly three minutes since her chest had risen last. Fear and worry was tight on all their faces. All except Eli's, whose jaw clenched every now and then, but otherwise was his usual mask of neutrality.
The silence stretched out.
"Is she still alive?" It was broken by Miki.
Oroton leaned in, checked her pulse, parted Gigi's eyelids for dilation, and concluded for the third time. "Alive."
"How is it possible?" Miki said.
"She's in a self-induced coma," Oroton said. "She told me about the phenomena once. Said the body can be suspended between life and death for quite some time. I told her it was dangerous, and that it should only be attempted should the situation be dire enough to require it."
"What do you think happened?" Shorty said.
"I don't know. I guess we'll find out when she wakes."
Doubt hovered in the silence that followed. It was hard to believe that someone so cold and pale, who'd slowed their breathing so drastically, could still be alive.
Oroton ushered them out the door. "I will tend to her. For now, I think it's best you return to your respective houses and continue battle training. Don't mention this to your students. It will only cause unnecessary concern. I'll send word should her condition change."
They filed into the corridor. Shorty and Miki spoke in low tones before going separate ways. They must've made up since their fight the night before. Gunner descended the stairs to the tavern as slowly as a pallbearer. Then, it was just Eli and Ash.
Ash's mind was on the pocket watch. It had been over a month since she'd had the strange, foreboding dream and yet, when she'd seen the pocket watch in Gigi's hands, it had surged to the surface as though she was envisioning it once more. She remembered it all. The man with deep brown eyes hazed with cataracts, the wall of clocks behind ticking an out-of-time percussion, the exact weight and lustre of the gold, the engraving K.V written in perfect hand.
What was it that he'd said. "For you. My finest invention."
"Ash," Eli said, startling her out of her reverie. "Do you have a moment to talk?"
She scanned the hallway, making sure nobody had heard him use her name.
Eli tilted his head towards the vacant room on the other side of the hall. "It's probably best if we do it in private?"
Ash's stomach rolled. What was so important that he needed to say it behind closed doors? Her mind drew the strangest conclusions. Had he seen her with Gus the night before? Had he seen her drinking all that wine? Did he want to question her about it now?
Ridiculous, she thought. Why would he care about Gus, or the wine? He'd already made it clear that what she did in her own time was 'none of his business'. For him to care about Gus would mean he cared about her. And he didn't, of course.
So she followed him into the spare room on the opposite side of the corridor where he shut the door behind them with a click that, to Ash, sounded catacomb loud.
Eli studied her, as though her face was a roadmap without directions. She knew the expression because it was often how she caught herself looking at him. After a long pause, he said, "I told Freia about her brother."
Ash drew back. It wasn't what she'd been expecting him to say.
"Not about you," he quickly added. "Just that he'd been found dead." He paused. "She deserved to know."
Ash's voice quavered. "Is that why you were... why she was... " She filled in the blanks in her mind. With her. Crying.
Eli nodded. "She took the news well... considering."
Despite Ash's relief, she couldn't help but take a step away from him. Jacob was right. Eli did a good job of playing the hero. His performance was flawless—would've had her thinking he cared about Freia, cared for her brother, while trying to protect Ash at the same time. But now, she knew better.
If it wasn't for her newfound control over her force, Eli might've been in trouble. But as it was, the air merely rippled with heat—her annoyance displaying itself in a brief increase in degrees. "Speaking of things that people deserve to know. While you were talking to Freia, I was talking to Jacob." The words spilled out of her, a bike on a downhill roll with no brakes. "He told me how he has trouble sleeping sometimes. Wanders. Sees things he shouldn't."
Eli frowned. "Jacob could use another friend—"
Ash continued without waiting for him to finish. "He said on the night of the Spring Equinox, some years ago, he went for a walk to the lake. You know, the one where we ..." her voice trailed off. The momentum of her bike suddenly petering out.
"Ash." Eli's voice was a shudder of breath. "What are you trying to...?"
"I know what really happened to her," she said. "To Heather." Her voice rose, warbled in her throat. "You k—"
Eli pressed his hand over her mouth, the force of his grip startling. "Don't."
His other forearm dug dangerously deep into her collarbone, his whole weight pressing down on her. The part of her mind that wasn't reeling from the shock, bristled with satisfaction. So the real Eli was finally showing. She managed to turn her head to the side, just enough for her words to slip out. "Is that why you helped me? Because I look like her? Because you were trying to make up for what you did?"
"Stop it," he squeezed his eyes closed.
"Or do you want to kill me too?"
"QUIET!" His bellow came out in a flood of hot, damp breath like steam spouting from a kettle. He slammed the wall dangerously close to her head, all trace of calm was gone. His burns flushed a deep shade of purple and his temple bulged. "You have no idea what you're talking about," he said in a contrasting whisper that brought goosebumps to her skin.
She didn't back down. Didn't flinch. "You're a murderer." She allowed a small tentacle of fire to burst forth. "You're a liar." She increased the heat between them to uncomfortable searing. "But I'm more powerful than you and you know it." She laced her next words with the enunciated warning, "Don't... touch... me."
As though only just realising his arm was pressed against her collarbone, the other to her cheek where her mouth had been before she'd turned it, Eli let both flop to his sides. Still, his face still hovered inches from hers. "If I'm a murderer and a liar, then what does that make you?"
Ash rose onto her toes and leaned closer so that her nose was almost touching his chin. "I'm not a liar."
"Then, how about you explain why they thought your name was Valancia Asher in those posters we brought back from the city. Strange, don't you think? If your name's really Ashalia, why would they have used a name so close to yours?" He paused for dramatic effect. "Unless you've got friends in high places who are covering for you. Unless there's something you're not telling us?"
His words were a mallet—threatening to crack the shell of her one remaining secret.
Jai. A secret she wasn't yet ready to give up.
Instead of answering, she shoved him with all her strength, bolstering the shove with a skin-searing blast of heat. "You don't know what you're talking about."
Eli stepped back, a cool satisfaction in the relaxed brace of his shoulders as he said, "I guess that makes two of us."
They stared at each other for some time, a bull and a matador in a mental standoff that neither looked to win. Just as the skein of tension between them threatened to break, there was a knock on the door.
Oroton entered. "Gigi's awake," he said, a curious gaze flicking between the two of them.
Ash and Eli sighed, the tension between them momentarily dissipating at the relief of knowing Gigi was awake.
But Ash's relief was soon replaced by apprehension at Oroton's next words. "She's asked to speak with you, Sprout. Says it's important."
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