I snapped. Of all the people to lecture me about my actions and how they affected other people. My short temper spiked as heat engulfed my skin. “You can say that to me?”
“That’s not fair. I already told you why I left.”
“Like that makes up for the fact I’ve spent the last six years wondering what I did wrong to send you away. Six years, Mom. Six years I’ve been going through the same thing over and over, replaying every minute of our last days together, wondering what I could have done differently to stop you from leaving.”
“There’s nothing you could have done,” she admitted. “I would have left even if you’d known. It was just easier this way.”
“For who? You?”
She didn’t deny it, and I hated her for it. The room heated, the air growing hot, humid. My breathing became labored as I pulled in rancid breaths, the air thick with the smell of sulfur. If I stayed here, I’d wind up setting the room on fire, so I hurried out. Leo would be here when I finished tribunals for the day, and I needed time to get my head in the game.
I kept my attention on the pavement under my feet as I marched across the grounds toward the training field. What the hell was happening to my life? Rob was angry with me for messing up Leo’s tribunal. Leo was incapacitated because of me. Clay would probably blow me off. Bryan, well, I didn’t know what he’d do. He’d become a bit unpredictable since returning from the void.
But there was one person I could always talk to. I turned and headed toward the ruins. Tribunals weren’t for another few hours. I had time to talk to Cressida.
Stepping around a few new fallen rocks, I entered the dilapidated stone structure. The roof we’d built held through the summer. We’d see if it lasted the rainy season, which, judging by the clouds that’d rolled in today, would be soon upon us, submerging the island in gray and a constant drizzle until next spring.
“Cressida? Are you in here?”
She slowly walked out of the darkness and squinted when she stepped into the light. Shielding her eyes, which made no sense since it wasn’t that bright, she took another step, leaving the darkness completely.
I sucked in a breath at the sight.
Her eyes, once so bright and full of spirit, were shadowed and sunken. Her skin had turned a sickly gray, and her hair had gone limp. Even her robes seemed to have lost their luster.
“Cressida? Are you sick?”
“Hello, Katy. Thank you for coming. I didn’t know how else to reach you.”
“You called for me?”
She nodded slowly and took another step, which seemed to take a great deal of effort. I rushed over and helped her to a large square stone that was part of the original wall and now sat partially imbedded in the earth and covered in moss. Once she sat, she offered a weak smile. “Something is out of balance. I feel myself fading, Katy. Something is draining me.”
I immediately thought of my ward. Could I really be the reason Cressida Clearwater now looked like she was one breath away from death? How did I inevitably mess up everything I came into contact with? I took a seat next to her and sighed as I picked at the moss growing on the side of the stone.
“Something is draining Leo too. He’s still in the infirmary and, according to Syd, it’s pretty much a miracle he’s still alive. My mom blames me. So does Syd.” I paused before adding, “So do I.”
“You hurt him?”
“In a way, yes. I had my hand on him while calling fire.”
She tilted her head to one side, studying me. “Did you call fire? Or did you attack with fire?”
There was a difference? I didn’t want to split hairs. “Attack. I think I may have really hurt him. He’s got a bad fever. Like, really bad. I don’t know what to do.”
A rustling caught my attention. Cressida smiled warmly as she kept her gaze on the entrance. I followed her stare and spotted a few flowers as they sprouted out of the ground, starting as buds before blooming into beautiful colors with bright petals. I called to the flowers. The cluster pulled from the ground and floated through the air, the roots dangling beneath them. The set landed in my open hand.
I petted the velvety soft petals, smiling at the way the flowers seemed to lean into my touch. “Look at you. You started as nothing more than a seed. Isn’t that how we all start?” I tugged at one of the petals. The flower curled into a pointed cocoon, protecting itself. “I wish I could tuck myself away sometimes. Maybe then I’d have the strength to emerge as a beautiful flower instead of this timid excuse of what used to be the prophecy.”
“You are still the prophecy,” Cressida pointed out.
I sighed. “I don’t feel like the prophecy. I feel like…” I couldn’t finish, too embarrassed to admit my failures.
“You feel like you let others down,” she finished for me.
I looked at her. “Exactly.”
“Release the bud, Katy. Release your doubt and fear. Have faith it will blossom into its true nature when the time is right.”
Sending the cluster of flowers back to the ground, I made sure it adequately buried itself so it’d have a nice, long life protected here in the ruins. I glanced down to the stone, lifting a bud the cluster had left behind. It never ceased to amaze me how something as small and simple as a tiny bud had the power to transform into something as big and beautiful as a flower.
I twirled it between my fingers, studying it.
“It’s quite beautiful once you see past its surface,” Cressida went on. “Look beyond what you can see. Open
