125

125


CALLAN

I didn't know either. 

The Moon Goddess? 

Destiny? 

Those words carried a lot of weight. Dangerous weight. 

"What the hell does that mean?" I asked. 

She looked so frustrated as she replied. "I don't know. I don't understand any of it either but with everything that's happening, I guess I'm gonna have to look for the answers myself."

For a long moment, I just stared at her. The confusion, anger and fear inside me wouldn't stop brewing. It all kept clashing and colliding inside me like a storm. 

But beneath it all, beneath all the fear and shock was something else I hadn't admitted yet. 

And that was... Awe. How could someone be this powerful, yet clueless? I shook my head slowly. 

"Ariadne... it's already very clear that you're gifted. You don't see it yet... I mean, you're already seeing it, but if this is the beginning, imagine just how monstrously big your potential is. If you ever get to be able to control this- whatever the hell it is- you could become powerful. More powerful than anyone the Kingdoms have ever seen. I am not overstating if I tell you that even Seers and sorcerers are not this gifted." 

She looked at me like she wanted to believe me, but there was still that flicker of doubt in her face. 

"You're just saying that to make me feel better. This is dangerous and that's the problem. What if I hurt someone with my powers? The blast that happened back there. What if you got hurt? That thing would have killed you." I let out a low breath and leaned closer to her, flashing her a smile before I continued. 

"Yes, I could have been hit, but I wasn't. And that's the only thing that matters. This changes everything, if you look at the positive side of it." 

Despite the reassuring words I had said, her eyes told she was still scared. Scared of herself. Scared of what she had done and of what she could do if those powers randomly came back. 

Because of that, I did the only thing I could do at that point. I reached for her, wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her into me. She was tense for a moment but she soon relaxed into my arms, still trembling like a leaf caught in a wild wind. 

"Everything will be okay," I whispered against her hair, stroking it. "I promise you that." 

She hesitated, but then her arms finally came up slowly, clutching my back. It wasn't a strong grip, but it was enough to tell me that she was getting better. 

Enough to tell me she needed that lie, even if it wasn't true. We held on to each other like that for a while and at another point, I felt her tense up again but I didn't say anything. I stroked her back the whole time until we finally pulled back. Then I looked into her eyes. 

"From now on, you need to document everything. Every strange thing that has ever happened to you while you were in here, anything that won't just happen to any normal person. Every vision, trance, whatever it is... write it down. When you're done writing it down, I need you to get it to me. I'll help you figure out a way to train it and control it. That's what you need right now." 

She looked conflicted after the advice and frowned as she asked. "And until then?" 

"Until then, you keep up your physical training. Don't stop. Don't get weak. Your body and your mind need to be sharp if you want to survive this. You're too gentle for what your body demands from you. And maybe the voice that spoke to you was right about your destiny. You can't run away from this because you're going to be forced to grow, and with the challenges facing you now you have to train your abilities as fast as possible. Because you'll need 'em." 

Her lips pressed into a thin line as she nodded slowly, then she said. "Just so you know, your brother was here." 

My brows came together in a frown. "You already told me that." 

"No, not like that... when we were hugging," her eyes flicked towards the door before she continued. "Magnus. He was staring at us when he saw us. From outside the door." 

Oh. That's when I realised why her body had suddenly gone tense the second time. I didn't even care to look  back now. 

Magnus was surely hanging around, looking for scraps, anything that would give him a clue about what happened at the room. 

"Let go of it. Don't worry about him. Just make sure you don't tell him anything no matter how much pressure he puts on you. I know he won't let go of you easily. He's going to keep asking questions and you've got to make sure you keep stalling. Every response to every answer is that you don't know what happened. In that way, he won't know where to attack you from. He's going to be clueless." 

Her lips trembled. "But what if tries to hurt me? You know how he acts when he really needs to get something. He doesn't back down until he gets what he wants."  

"No," I replied sharply, shaking my head. "He won't touch you. I'll make sure of that. Remember everything I told you. Once you get out of here, you need to start training immediately. If you are a very fast learner then maybe getting you and your sister out of this place would be a very easy job for me. I'll need the list today, so I can start researching on how to structure your training. And it has to be done in secret-" 

I stopped when I saw her staring at my face, her lips curved up in a smile. "What? Why are you looking at me like that" 

She leaned forward and put her arms around me, causing my heart to skip. 

"Nothing. Thank you, for everything. I owe you a lot."