Page 29 of The Dawn Chorus

‘May I?’

Warden held out a hand. Wary, I went back to him and placed my arm in his grasp. Even with the gloves, he was gentle as he rolled up my sleeve, exposing my swollen wrist.

‘Extend your fingers as far as you can, if you would,’ he said. I did, and he touched the teardrop-shaped hollow that appeared at the base of my thumb. When he applied a little pressure there, it twinged, and I stiffened. ‘The healing seems very slow. You should wear the brace I gave you, or the bone may not settle in the correct position.’

I wished, yet again, that I understood him. He needed me alive and strong until the Bicentenary. Beyond that, he had no reason to care whether or not my broken wrist healed.

‘Okay,’ I said, and he released my hand. I stepped back as he rose to his full and daunting height. ‘Are we going to train now?’

‘No.’

‘Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little rain.’

Warden opened a drawer, moving a little slower than usual. ‘Your training is over, Paige.’ He removed a taper from inside. ‘You may do as you please.’

‘Over,’ I echoed. He walked to the hearth. ‘Warden, we have more than a week until the Bicentenary. I could still get better in that time.’ I paused, realising. ‘You’re giving up on me. You don’t think I stand a chance against her. That’s why, isn’t it?’

‘Quite the opposite.’

Those words caught me off-guard. I waited for him to explain.

‘Nashira knows you are capable of possession. She will expect you to try to use that ability against her. She will also expect you to fail.’ He dipped the taper into the fire and used it to start lighting the candles on the mantelpiece. ‘Fortunately, you will have the element of surprise on your side. To my knowledge, she has never been possessed. If our luck holds, the sensation will stun her, even if you cannot seize full control of her body.’

‘What if it doesn’t stun her?’

‘It will. You have stunned me before.’ One by one, the candles flared to life. ‘There is no more we can do in the time we have. Pushing you any further may do more harm than good. It is time for you to gather your strength, Paige. To rest, and to make ready.’

‘But it still hurts when I do it. It still feels like tearing myself in two. I want—’ I turned away in frustration, eyes hot. ‘Fuck it. I’mnotready.’

Warden said nothing as I walked across the room and gripped the windowsill. The next swell of thunder vibrated right the way down my spine, through my breastbone and my ribs.

‘Scion calls us unnatural,’ I murmured, ‘and sometimes, when it hurts to use the part of me that makes me different … I wonder. If it was always a curse. Never a gift.’

A creak from the floorboards, and then he was beside me.

‘Listen,’ he said. ‘To the storm. It has the potential to destroy. It is neither quiet, nor gentle, nor soft. That does not make it unnatural.’ Lightning illuminated his features, the blue making his eyes stand out. ‘Let the storm into you, Paige. Hold it inside. See yourself as a force of nature, vast enough to defeat a god, and carry that image for all of your days.’

He needed to comfort me, to keep me on side. That was what I told myself. And yet there was passion in his voice – quiet, restrained, but present. If he had been human, I would have thought he meant it.

‘In short,’ I said, ‘if I tell myself I can beat her, I will?’ I shook my head. ‘You don’t believe that.’

‘I believe it would be a start,’ he said. ‘Your spirit responds to fear, to anger, and to danger, both to you and to those you love. You will never be in more danger than when you stand before Nashira on the night of the Bicentenary.’ His gaze burned into mine. ‘Perhaps we should both trust that you can save yourself, Paige Mahoney.’

As we stood together at the window and watched the storm move on, I realised he was right. Dreamwalking in his presence would never be the same as it would be with Nashira.

With him, I was no longer afraid.

Chapter 4

The Witching Soul of Music

PENAL COLONY OF SHEOL I

31AUGUST2059

After that, time moved quickly in the colony. All at once, it was the last night, and the stars were bright and clear above the Residence of Magdalen. I looked at them through the bars on the window.

The day after tomorrow, for better or for worse, there would be no bars around me.