Chapter 77: Love and Hate Are One
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I Love You, I’ll Kill You; Enigma
He was notably different. Sometimes, she still wondered if the differences were all in her head. There was no sense in asking him how he was doing. Ezio only ever smiled in that way that didn’t reach his eyes, and insist he was fine. Cassandra didn’t want to see him lying anymore, so she’d stopped asking.
He sat in his wheelchair by the window. Anymore, Ezio was always by the window. Drake was at the table, typing away at something on his laptop-probably his next bestseller, if luck was on his side-and Cassandra was two seats over, sketching something she’d seen in a dream. Ezio was so quiet now, most of the time, when the three of them were together, if there was talking, it was her and Drake. As time went on, Ezio felt more and more distanced from them, like he was slipping right through their fingers, and there was nothing to be done about it.
It wasn’t surprising, all in all. A lot of things had changed in the last few weeks, and there were things he had to deal with now that he hadn’t needed to before. It felt like everything was different all at once, and even where they lived had changed, who they lived with. Morgyn and Caleb seemed to have broken up at some point-they weren’t really talking anymore-though Caleb still lived here and most of the time, so did Morgyn.
Once again, Morgyn was gone. So it was really debatable if Morgyn still lived here or not. Then, Morgyn was the only sage left. It was probably to be expected, but how could Cassandra be fair in this situation when Ezio was still here and needed the sage more than magic realm did? Whatever. She was biased, and she knew that, so she mostly kept that feeling to herself.
She glanced up at Ezio, and then turned her dark eyes to Drake. “You seem to be having decent luck,” she said.
Drake’s icy blue eyes, their glow soft in the brighter light, flicked up at her. “Yeah, thankfully,” he answered.
“I take it you figured out the problem you were having?” she asked. Something about a particular scene in which a character’s history came out, and then suddenly revealed to be the villain. She didn’t quite understand the writer struggle, but she’d never thought to consider it too much. Her father was an author, of course, but there were things that went on in his head she didn’t want to think about.
Drake’s, however…
“Yeah, it figured itself out, mostly,” Drake answered. “What’s that?” He gently nodded at the paper on the table.
Oh. Cassandra glanced at him, and then lifted the sheet up. Apparently, she’d started drawing stars and things, and then ended up sketching Ezio over there by the window.
“That looks pretty good,” Drake said, smiling.
“If you say so,” Cassandra answered, dropping it back onto the table. Idly, her hands drew together and she started fidgeting, dark eyes looking over at Ezio. He was still in his own little world. But maybe he didn’t need to be in theirs, right now. Maybe wanting him to be was a little selfish. “He’s just-” she started, very softly, but Drake shook his head.
“Ezio,” he said, looking over at him.
Ezio didn’t verbally respond, but he did look over at them. His eyes never quite focused.
“We’re going to head outside for a bit,” Drake said. “Do you want to go somewhere or do you got it?”
“I can manage,” Ezio answered, and then turned back to the window.
Cassandra frowned, but Drake nodded towards the doorway, picking his laptop up. Cassandra gathered her pencils and took her papers, and they shuffled out into the hallway and into the backyard. The yard was rather large, with a greenhouse on one side, and an indoor gym on another. At the front of the house was a fountain in the centre of the walkway, several trees, and a detached building for what Cassandra assumed might be a butler.
Not that they could afford a butler right now, but maybe someday.
“He’s weird, right?” Drake said, as soon as they were out of earshot of him.
“Yeah,” Cassandra said. “Like he’s here and not, it’s just really unnerving.” And worrisome. But then everything about Ezio was worrisome anymore.
“Well, soon we’ll be heading somewhere else, away from here,” Drake said. “Not sure what Kassander has up his sleeves, but I suspect it’s a little more than a romantic night on a rooftop in San My.”
“You think?” Cassandra asked, tilting her head.
“Probably,” Drake answered. “Kassander had that look on his face that said he was planning things. I got used to him doing that.”
Cassandra considered that for a moment, and then tilted her head again. “Isn’t that frustrating?”
“Nah,” Drake said. “It used to be, but like I said, I got used to it. He always means well, and usually he’s right when he thinks you need something. Maybe it’ll help with whatever’s going on in Ezio’s head.”
Well, Cassandra wasn’t sure about that. But, maybe just this once, she could hope. Or at least, trust Drake, because he seemed to be hoping. He could do it for the both of them, then.
“It just, feels like he’s not even here,” Cassandra said. “Like he really did die and stay that way, and this isn’t…” It wasn’t really him. But she was afraid to say that. That maybe it’d turn out to be right. That thought wasn’t fair, was it? That just because he was going through a hard time, he wasn’t him. She frowned.
“He’ll come back,” Drake said, though his tone sounded like he didn’t really believe it and just hoped beyond all hope he wasn’t lying.
And maybe he would, but something told Cassandra, he’d never be the same again. Of course, none of them had any illusions otherwise. Nothing was ever going to be the same again, and they knew it.
* * *
Nobody had really come back to magic realm since the All was restored. For Morgyn, that was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because it meant the sage could focus on other things than who was messing up what potions how, and why so-and-so’s Inferniate was exploding. It was also a curse, because it meant there was nothing else to focus on or think about. Magic realm was far too quiet, and yet if Morgyn sat there in the seeming silence and listened, there was a strange… vague roaring sound, somewhere beyond the island chain that made up the inhabited part of the realm.
What that meant, Morgyn had no idea, but the ginger had far too many problems right now as it was. There was no reason to go looking for any more of them, that much was for sure.
Of course, unravelling this particular mystery was proving to be more trouble than Morgyn had expected. Ezio was rather very clever, and very good at covering up his own tracks. Unfortunately, that meant Morgyn had no idea where he’d been before and what he’d looked at already, which meant tracing his steps and figuring out what he’d learnt was a little more complicated than just following a trail at magic realm.
And all Melanie had to say on the matter was that Ezio was poking around in magic realm’s history and had discovered something… disturbing. Disturbing enough, and threatening to Morgyn enough, for him to decide to do something about it. And what exactly did that mean?
There was a reason she wasn’t telling the sage everything, of course, and it was frustrating. But then talking to her since their little altercation a few days ago had been frustrating in general. Morgyn wasn’t simply over it now that the words had been spoken. If anything, now that the words were spoken and the sentiment had become more thoroughly formed, Morgyn was even more angry. Morgyn snorted softly under the ginger’s breath, pulling another book down off the shelves on the untamed sage’s balcony. And she dared to pretend she was doing this because she cared about him. Well if she cared that much, she’d have just told Morgyn what was going on.
“You have to find it yourself,” Morgyn said in a mocking tone. “Yeah, okay then.” Whatever. It wasn’t as if Morgyn had the time to argue with her, because for every moment Morgyn spent on something besides figuring out what Ezio had, that was more time Ezio had to get ahead of the ginger. Morgyn wanted to know what he did before he did something unspeakably stupid, yet again.
Yes, that was a tall order. Sacrifices must be made. Melanie could be yelled at later.
The ginger idly sifted through the book in-hand, one eyebrow quirking upward as the sage did so. Thus far, it didn’t give anything useful away. Mostly, much like discussion of the subject with Liberty had, this little venture was only managing to inform Morgyn how little the sage knew about the All. Actually, how little anyone seemed to know about the All. The ginger hadn’t been kidding when Morgyn told Liberty the All just, appeared in historical texts, and it was almost always exalted as if it were some sort of important thing.
And yet, aside from stating that the All was the source of magic, which was what they’d always been taught, it never ventured to say why the All was this great important thing.
Morgyn was confused. One would think, in a situation where there was this great important thing, the history books would try a little harder to explain why it was a great important thing. Instead, it seemed like every history book the sage found any mention of it in was trying very hard to pretend it didn’t exist. Now why was that?
Morgyn sat down at one of the tables, setting the book in-hand down on the wood. Then, the sage released a loud breath and slid down in the chair. This was proving more difficult than Morgyn had expected. Maybe it was time to call in backup, but then, the sage wasn’t sure who exactly to ask for help. Morgyn hadn’t even heard from Simeon in weeks, and L was similarly tied up, so that left them out. Morgyn and Caleb may not hate each other, but things were still a little weird between them, and maybe Morgyn wasn’t ready to be friends the way they’d been before, not yet. Ezio was definitely out, the Essairs would have answers but had plenty of other things to deal with.
That left maybe Drake and Cassandra. And Liberty, if Morgyn could ever work up the courage to call her again. It wasn’t like things were weird between them, it was just that… well, maybe that was something the sage ought to figure out. What was so weird about calling her suddenly? Maybe it was the, Morgyn and Caleb weren’t a thing anymore, and now there was nothing keeping Morgyn from doing something stupid. Then, it was only something stupid because Morgyn and Caleb had been a thing at the time.
So… maybe it wasn’t stupid? Oh jeez.
In this particular instance, maybe calling Liberty was a bad idea, because then Morgyn would be too busy trying to figure out what they were to each other to get anything done, and the sage couldn’t afford to dawdle too long and lose sight of Ezio in this one. It was almost like everything else had stopped mattering besides him. Maybe that wasn’t far from the truth. In all things, through every up and down that life threw their way, there was always Ezio, and Morgyn wasn’t about to lose him, not again. Unfortunate that it took Morgyn this long to come to this conclusion, but, Morgyn never claimed to be the brightest bulb in the shed. … wait, maybe that was brightest bulb in the drawer or something… Morgyn was also bad at metaphors, it turned out.
Maybe Drake and Cassandra had noticed something Morgyn hadn’t. Ezio showed them a side he didn’t typically show Morgyn, and that was okay. It just meant they likely would have better luck pulling this apart if they did it together.
As Morgyn sat there, thinking, the sage’s green eyes drifted up onto a shelf nearby. And what should be sitting there on that shelf than something the sage hadn’t expected to find. That book Ezio used to flip through in the eighties, the one that never seemed to be written in the same language twice.
Morgyn sprung up and grabbed it, sliding it down from the shelf. Wasn’t this in Spire? Well, it was enchanted. Maybe it’d decided it didn’t like being tossed into a box or something and had teleported itself here. Morgyn set it down on the table, and then took a breath in, and flipped it open.
Naturally, it was in gibberish. Well, Ezio had figured out the gibberish. Maybe Morgyn could, too.
* * *
Everyone had noticed that Ezio was quiet, and Caleb was no exception. In thinking of it, he couldn’t think of any other thing that would happen. Truthfully, if Morgyn was to be believed, and Caleb had no reason to disbelieve the ginger, Ezio had died, and was very aware of this event. That was bound to be a somewhat traumatic event to be aware was happening. It made sense he’d need some time to process it, and Ezio’s processing was always a very quiet and private matter.
If nothing else, he did seem to love the sea. Caleb was surprised by this turn of events, but then he supposed he never bothered to ask Ezio about anything he loved. Maybe no one else ever had, either. He had the unfortunate circumstance of being much quieter than Morgyn, and in most things, Morgyn stole all of the attention just by being who Morgyn was. It wasn’t like it was Morgyn’s fault, or that the sage was somehow doing it on purpose, it was just how the dice had landed for them.
Ezio never seemed to mind. But Ezio never seemed to mind anything.
Caleb sat not far from Ezio, once again sitting in the sand by the water. His attention was entirely on the waves rushing up onto shore and breaking, then receding. Caleb had never paid much attention to the ocean before, but with Ezio sitting there, watching it with rapt attention, he wondered if there was something secret in the breaking waters that Ezio could see that no one else did. Ezio seemed to know things none of them did a lot of the time. Or maybe Caleb was giving him more credit than he should.
“How’s Lilith?” Ezio asked suddenly.
Caleb glanced over at him, and then shrugged and turned back to the water. The lighthouse’s beam was visible from here. “She went back to Forgotten Hollow,” he said. “We haven’t talked much since then.”
Ezio made a noise. Caleb couldn’t tell what kind of a noise it was. “Sarnai is back.”
“How do you know that?” Caleb asked, looking over at him. Morgyn was being careful not to tell him. The last thing anyone wanted was him ending up in the hospital again because he’d done something dumb. Again.
“I have friends,” Ezio answered, glancing at him and smiling a little. He turned back to the water. “They tell me things sometimes.”
Caleb raised an eyebrow, just slightly. Ezio was something else anymore, and Caleb wasn’t sure what that something else was. Maybe the answer was, not good. Instead of voicing that concern, he tilted his head. “I see,” he said. Somehow, the more he saw it anymore, the weirder Ezio’s smile was getting. Caleb wasn’t sure how to take that.
Strangely, Caleb found himself weirdly uncertain around him now. He knew how to exist around him when he and Morgyn were still dating, but now that they weren’t anymore… shouldn’t Ezio hate him? He’d threatened him over Morgyn before, and yet they were sitting here, watching the ocean, not a care between either of them. Ezio hadn’t said anything. It was difficult to imagine Ezio wasn’t aware that they’d separated. Morgyn and Ezio told each other everything.
Maybe not everything. Morgyn seemed unaware of that one time Caleb got high and attacked Ezio with kisses in an elevator. Caleb was trying to forget it too, but… well, the memory had lingered. It was a stupid thing to have on his mind, and Caleb wasn’t ever sure what to do with it when it popped up. But, of course, the scent of Ezio made it resurface.
Maybe he should go make other friends. Friends that weren’t Ezio and didn’t smell like bad decisions that he strangely didn’t really regret.
Ugh, what was he thinking?
“Are you okay?” Ezio’s voice startled him out of his thoughts.
Caleb blinked, his eyes refocusing. Ezio was looking at him in that slightly concerned way, but only slightly. His grey eyes were still notably unfocused and glossy, as they tended to be anymore.
“Fine,” Caleb answered. “I’m fine. Why? I was just. … you know, thinking. About stuff.” Really, he was thinking about stupid things, so maybe it was just as well Ezio had shaken him loose of that one.
“I see,” Ezio said, and then turned back towards the water. “I come to find I love the ocean.”
Yeah, Caleb had noticed that. “What else do you love?” Caleb asked, and he honestly hadn’t realised he wanted the answer until the question came out.
Ezio’s gaze flicked over to him, and Caleb almost took the question back. Something in his eyes made Caleb wonder if that was a personal question, or- but, Ezio turned back to the water, and breathed in. “The stars,” he said. “I love the stars. I love the sunrise. That split second of twilight as the sun sets. The seabirds, the feeling of sand, foggy mornings, the smell of coffee. The sound of crickets at night, the crackling of a fire. The scent of the earth just after a rain, the colour purple, valerian flowers, and winterfest lights. That blurred, speckled lighting effect you get when you take a picture of lights out of focus. I love the snow. And I love the feeling Drake gives me, or when Cassandra’s hand reaches out and takes mine.”
Caleb had no idea he liked purple. If asked, he would’ve pegged Ezio’s favourite colour as grey or black, considering everything he owned seemed to be one or the other. “You don’t own a lot of things that are purple,” Caleb said.
Ezio snorted. “Purple might be my favourite colour,” he said, “but I’m not its favourite person. I don’t look very good in it.”
“I’d bet you look just fine,” Caleb answered, tilting his head.
“How about you?” Ezio asked suddenly. “What do you love?”
Caleb blinked. Come to think of it, no one had ever asked him that, and Caleb had never had a reason to consider it, either. It took him a few moments, thinking about it, and he wondered if that Ezio’s point, making him shut up. Effective. Eventually, he shrugged. “Roses I guess,” he said. “It’s kind of cheesy because everyone likes roses. Strawberries, music with a good driving synth in it. Rainstorms and the colour red. But not that vibrant apple red, I like burgundy better.”
Caleb glanced at Ezio. Ezio tilted his head.
“And the smell of coconut and lime,” Caleb said.
The light sparked in Ezio’s eyes. He knew what Caleb meant. He knew exactly what Caleb meant.
Ezio was quiet for a moment, and then quietly, he said, “I think I’d like a nap.”
“Okay,” Caleb answered. He stood up, reaching out to pick him up and get him back in the house, but Ezio pulled away from him. Caleb withdrew.
“Um, could you go get Drake, please?” Ezio asked.
Oh. “Yeah, sure,” Caleb answered, and then turned and headed into the house to do exactly that.
He was right. He shouldn’t have said that.
* * *
As to be expected from a book even Ezio couldn’t get through to, this leather-bound beast was a difficult nut to crack. Of course, Morgyn enjoyed a challenge, so this wasn’t much of a deterrence, especially given whether Ezio lived or died kind of hinged on figuring this one out, that was a nice motivator. In any case, the ginger was quite right in the assumption that assistance wouldn’t go amiss here, and that meant gathering up what Morgyn had already pieced together and the resources the sage was using to do it with, and dropping it all on someone that could help.
There was no telling if Cassandra and Drake could help, but it was a better bet than Morgyn going at this alone. The sage tended to be jumpy and somewhat impulsive, and despite attempts to curb this instinctual behaviour, it was much easier said than done, and certainly wasn’t perfected overnight. Or even a few nights. In any case, the sage stacked the bunch of books Morgyn had been flipping through, and then Transportalated back to their house in Brindleton Bay.
Fortunately, finding Cassandra and Drake wasn’t much of a complexity, as they were right there in the dining room, one tapping away at his laptop, the other embroidering something (Morgyn didn’t know she knew how to embroider…).
Unceremoniously, Morgyn slammed the stack of books onto the dining room table. Drake jolted slightly, looking up at Morgyn with a look in his eyes that said ‘what the hell, man?’ without actually using words. Cassandra looked equally annoyed.
“Ezio just got to sleep,” she said smoothly.
“… oops,” Morgyn answered. “Sorry, anyway, look, I need your help.”
“What’s this?” Drake asked. “Morgyn Ember, asking for help?”
“I still know how to set you on fire,” Morgyn said.
“You’d never do it,” Drake replied.
Damn it. He was right. For many reasons. “Ehh, that doesn’t even matter, look,” Morgyn said, pulling one of the books from the stack, though several fell off the top anyway, and setting it down, flipping to a specific page. All of the books had fluorescently-coloured sticky tabs in them (joy be unto being a university student and knowing these things exist). “The first mention of the All is right here,” Morgyn explained, tapping the book. “But all it says is its name and it doesn’t come back up again, until, this book-“
Once again, Morgyn pulled another book out from the stack, sending a few falling onto the table. Cassandra stood up and gathered the loose books up. Drake silently closed his laptop as Morgyn pulled the book open at one of those brightly coloured tabs.
“And it claims the All is the source of all magic right here, but then, if you read here-” and Morgyn flipped the pages again to yet another brightly coloured tab – “there’s mention of magic from outside the All. None of this is adding up, it just, it doesn’t make any sense!”
Cassandra quirked one eyebrow upward. Drake glanced up at her, and then back down at the book, then looked up at Morgyn. “Morgyn, what are you doing poking around in this stuff? What inspired this, exactly?”
Well, Morgyn supposed that might be nice to explain, yes. Morgyn sort of loosed a breath, glancing to one side, one hand rapidly tapping against a leg. “You know Ezio just as well as I do, maybe better,” Morgyn said. “He’s not right anymore. Hasn’t been for a while now. Do you remember, in the eighties, just after Aine disappeared and I became the new untamed sage, Ezio started reading these weird books, and this one,” Morgyn flicked the leather-bound monstrosity, “started telling him interesting stories? Well that chapter didn’t end there. He kept going. And now he’s found something dangerous and I don’t know what he discovered.”
Drake frowned. “Wait wait,” he said, “how do you know he did, then?”
“… would you believe me if I told you a ghost told me?” Morgyn asked.
“And why are you listening to a ghost?” Drake asked.
“Because the ghost is our mom!” Morgyn answered.
Drake didn’t say anything to that, but he did stare at Morgyn like the ginger’s mind had gone for several seconds.
Morgyn coughed slightly. “You um, you missed some things,” the sage said.
“I’ll say,” Drake replied. “So what have you gotten so far?”
Morgyn shrugged. “Something is messed up,” Morgyn answered. “The reason this matters right now is something to do with the dawnlands and the dusklands. Not sure what that means exactly, or what those are, just that’s what I’ve heard. Ezio found something out and I don’t know if he’s trying to stop it himself, but the All seems to not be what we think it is, and from what I gather, Ezio seems to have come to the conclusion it’s a threat. Specifically to me, I believe, but I’m not sure why, nor what makes him think it’s a threat specifically to me. And it has something to do with Aine, and something about chaos, but I’m not sure what that is either.”
Drake glanced at Cassandra. She shrugged, and sat down. “Further than we’ve gotten, at least,” Cassandra said.
“Were you guys also trying to figure this out?” Morgyn asked.
“Yes,” Drake answered. “But he’s not talking, and we don’t have the library that you do.”
Morgyn snorted. “I suspect Keisha and Ethren know something about this, too, but I haven’t had time to go ask them.”
Drake made a noise. “Cassandra, Ezio and I are due at the Leones et Lupi in a few days,” he said. “But after that, we’d certainly be willing to help. I know him well enough to know when there’s something weighing heavily on his mind, at least. I can’t say how much of it is whatever he’s discovered, and how much is the traumatic event of dying, but I suppose that’s semantics.”
Morgyn sighed. “I can’t say that either,” Morgyn answered. “I just need someone else’s brain to pick this apart with me, because nothing is adding up and I’m losing my mind.”
Cassandra smiled. “I was fairly certain yours was long gone,” she said.
“Hey now,” Morgyn said.
Drake snorted. “We’ll help,” he said. “When we get back. Maybe you should ask Keisha and Ethren about this too though.”
Yeah. Maybe.
* * *
Just knowing that there was help to be had eventually was enough to liven Morgyn’s spirits and reawaken then initial gusto the ginger had when first tackling this mess. There was no guarantee they’d figure it out, and there was no telling what exactly Ezio would do with the information he had, nor how much time they had. It was all a bunch of nebulous questions with equally nebulous guesses, and Morgyn didn’t terribly like nebulous questions and nebulous guesses. Morgyn wasn’t very fond of having questions that had guesses rather than answers, truth be told.
This would be much easier if Ezio would simply tell them what he’d gotten into, but Morgyn knew better than to ask. Ezio was as secretive as he was caring. That is, too much.
The sage sat in magic realm once again, poring over varying books. This one had some kind of mention of the All in relation to the faeries, but that was pretty much a dead end. Most had accepted the faeries as mere myth and legend by now, something that decidedly did not exist. Well, there were a few alchemists here and there that swore faeries still existed and simply did not like humans very much, particularly casters. Why not, that Morgyn had never figured out but the sage didn’t make a habit of chasing things that didn’t exist.
Of course, if faeries did exist, and the All was somehow tied to them, then… what did that mean? Did that complicate things or make them simpler? Morgyn didn’t know. Of course, it was difficult to say how they were connected, and a number of things rode on that too. Then, even if the two were somehow related and the faeries might have answers where Morgyn had questions, it wasn’t as if it made a difference. Faeries didn’t like humans. Particularly casters. Morgyn was both.
Then again, this leather-bound monstrosity might be bound in faery magic. From what Morgyn had been able to glean from the particular enchantment, it was at least nothing Morgyn had ever seen before. Now, Morgyn wasn’t the sage of enchantment, and there was no such thing anyway, but Morgyn had been exposed to a number of different kinds of magic before. It stood to reason that if this book was enchanted using remotely common, spellcaster means, the sage should recognise it.
So either it was something very, highly uncommon, or Morgyn didn’t know as much as the ginger thought. Either one of these was believable, one more so than the other.
As Morgyn sat at the table the sage had coated in stacks of books, all about varying historical events and covering varying accounts by different individuals, the sage anxiously tapped one finger against the table’s glass, the other flipping the pages when necessary. The roaring was getting somewhat louder, but then as soon as Morgyn started to think so, it began to die off again, like a constant ebb and flow. That was curious in and of itself, but that was for later-Morgyn to be concerned with.
Morgyn flipped the page again. The next passage spoke of the All’s power, and how the early spellcasters that settled magic realm feared its power was not enough, as the chaos was indeed a formidable force after all. Morgyn squinted at the page. What was chaos? The sage flipped backward one page, two, checking for any other mention of chaos, then forward. No such mention volunteered itself.
“Great,” Morgyn said with a sigh, dropping the pages. “More questions. The hell is chaos?” Well, there were multiple different ways one could think of chaos. There was, of course, the physics definition of chaos, which was simply behaviour that was so unpredicable it appeared random. Theoretically such behaviour was simply due to a strong sensitivity to the most minute of changes, not that it was actually random. Then, there was the mythological approach. In several different mythologies, chaos was the formless… stufff that existed before the universe.
Either one of those could perhaps be what the book was referring to, but it didn’t quite make sense. Why would the All need to be more powerful than either one of those things?
The great leather-bound monstrosity shimmered and shook, and then shoved itself off the table, taking several other books with it, and flipped itself open. Morgyn raised an eyebrow, glancing around the table, and then stood up to go look at it. The book had stopped on a specific page, on which was written words Morgyn could understand, for once.
‘Everything is chaos. Chaos is everything.’
“What?” Morgyn asked, under the sage’s breath. As Morgyn reached down and picked up the book, the words shimmered and vanished, like they’d never been there at all. “And what is that supposed to mean?”
Ugh, for every answer Morgyn got, it felt like there came yet another five or six questions. Morgyn closed the leather-bound beast, tossing it onto the table, and then went to picking up the other books it’d scattered across the floor in its excitement to tell the sage such a non-answer.
“I see you’re getting places,” a feminine voice said.
Morgyn startled slightly, looking up and over one shoulder to find Melanie sitting on the table. “Yeah,” Morgyn answered, “so many places.” Read: none.
“You got to the part about the chaos at least,” Melanie said. “Though a different part about the chaos than your brother did.”
Morgyn glanced at her, and then stood up, turning around and setting the stack of books down on the table. “You know things you’re not telling me,” Morgyn said. It wasn’t a question. “Why?” That was.
Melanie shrugged. “I want to see how much of this you can unravel on your own,” she said.
“You and I both know Ezio could easily kill himself again over this,” Morgyn said. If it was bad enough, at least, and thus far Morgyn had been lead to believe it was. “I can’t stop him if I don’t know what he’s learned.”
Melanie’s eyes narrowed. “I never said anything about stopping him,” she said. “You decided on your own that’s what you were doing.”
“You said he’d need me to save him,” Morgyn replied.
“Yes,” Melanie answered. “And saving doesn’t always equate to stopping.”
That response was… what kind of a response was that?! Morgyn’s nostrils flared in anger, but the sage recognised it for what it was, and drew a deep breath in, instead, releasing it.
Melanie looked amused.
“Well,” Morgyn said, “if we’re not out to stop him, then what are we out to do? Actually, here’s a better question, why exactly should I trust you?”
Melanie shrugged. “Who knows?” she asked. “I’d say because I’m your mother, but you seem to think that more of a reason not to trust me.”
“When your response to me trying to save your son are Oh we’re doing that, that wasn’t the plan, that’s a good reason not to trust you,” Morgyn answered.
Melanie squinted one eye closed. “I guess so,” she said. “Well, there are things he hides from you. I suppose you’ll understand someday.”
“No, I don’t think I’ll ever understand,” Morgyn replied.
Melanie shrugged, but she didn’t say anything more. The two sat in silence for a long time. Then, Morgyn looked over at her.
“Why are you the only ghost I can see?” Morgyn asked. “I can sense them, sometimes, but I can’t see them.”
Melanie tilted her head. “Do you really want to see them?” she asked. “I’ve been blocking them out for you, so that they don’t overwhelm you.”
“No,” Morgyn answered. “Not really. That’s fine then.”
Something told Morgyn that wasn’t as altruistic as she’d made it sound.
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