Blaize and the Maven: The Energetics Book 1 (10 page)

Minh raised his eyebrows. “This is a personal prophecy Cuinn. We will scribe it for you and you can review it to see if any of the elements resonate with your own dreamwalks and prophecies. Perhaps there is something to your own dreamwalks after all. For now we support you taking the girl as an Adherent. But be careful. You must provide stability. An anchor to her pride. Come to us again if you think you have more dreams of note. We will discuss this further between ourselves.”
 

Minh stood up, as did Damanea.

Kenji, the past farseer rose more slowly. “Your history is weighing you down. It is a millstone around your neck. Be confident now that you have come through that experience wisely. There is no need for the past to be repeated in the future.”

Cuinn arrived home after a long night of travelling and very little sleep. He’d stocked up on coffee at the airport, knowing he would drive home tired. When he arrived at Cathair Cuinn, he wanted nothing more than a shower and bed. But before he could head upstairs to his rooms, Tierra appeared from the direction of the kitchen. She gave him a warm hug, then took his hand and led him back to the kitchen. “You need food. Sit there, and I’ll get you something. Toast okay?”

Cuinn nodded and sat on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. There was an easy silence between them for a couple of minutes before Tierra asked sympathetically, “How’d it go?”
 

“It’s been worse, and it’s been better." Cuinn’s tone was bleak, and he glanced over at Tierra's back, hesitating before telling her. "They gave me a prophecy. About me.”
 

“What?” Tierra turned with a mug dangling from one hand.

“I know, I know. It didn’t make much sense, but it was official. They want me to see if I can reference it with any of my prophecies. The small but nasty set of puzzle pieces I'm unable to work out.”

“You’ll figure it out.” She put a plate and a mug of tea in front of him and went to tidy up. “And Blaize arrived yesterday, so you’ll have some help. She seems smart.”

“I tried to get rid of her again with Minh and the others.” He spoke around a mouthful of toast. “It’s the last thing I need right now. I’m exhausted and I’m not in the right space for teaching, but even the farseers seem to think it’s important I take her. I don’t want to risk it again, but I don’t have any choice. I owe Marius for his help with the Sophea situation. And the worst of it is he thinks it’s for my own good. They have no idea what we’re messing with.”

She coughed but he ignored her, ploughing on, “It’s such a bad idea. For all I know she’s not even capable of using Ajna energies anyway. What a waste of time.”

“Cuinn. Please.” She motioned urgently to something behind him.

He swivelled in his seat.

Blaize stood in the doorway, mouth open.

None of them spoke.

An eternity of seconds of tense stand-off passed as their eyes
—
his appalled, hers mortified
—
connected across the cheery kitchen.
 

Blaize shook her head, colour in her cheeks, pivoted on her heel and left the kitchen.
 

Cuinn put his head in his hands.
 

“Shit.”

***

Blaize didn’t quite run back to her cottage, but it was close.
 

Her brain felt muddled from jet lag and tiredness, but her cheeks burned.
How dare he?
 

She reached her front door, threw it open and headed up the stairs in a few bounds. She pulled her case out from under the bed where she’d stashed it neatly just hours ago, and gathered her clothes, scooping them from drawers and dragging them off hangers. She heaped them into the case, dumping socks, pants, dresses, and shirts in together. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to remember everything she had tidied away into cupboards and drawers earlier, but she couldn't focus.

The noise as the front door opened and shut made her screw her eyes closed and wince. She pressed her hands to her cheeks to cool them down, and shook her head, trying to clear it.

Measured footsteps sounded on the stairs. Her face hot and her pulse hammering, she stepped from her bedroom door across the square yard of hall at the top of the staircase to grab more of her stuff from the bathroom. Her throat felt thick and it was hard to swallow.
 

She gathered her possessions from the bathroom and spun back around to the door. Exiting, she flew across the narrow space at the top of the stairs back to the bedroom, her arms full.
 

And slammed into a wall.
 

She had a split second to see that she’d run directly into Cuinn’s back as he faced into the bedroom, his tall frame taking up most of the small space between the rooms, and then, thrown off balance, she toppled backwards and down the stairs.

The shampoo, soap, toothbrush, and everything else she was carrying fell as she threw her arms out to catch herself. Her stomach hitched in a burst of adrenalin as she pitched into empty space, managing only to slow her progress by grabbing the rail. But her head still slammed into a step, her feet ending up towards the top of the stairs and her head closer to the bottom.
 

“Blaize!” The voice seemed to come from a long way away. “Blaize, talk to me. Please!” But before she could answer, the dizziness took her, and she heard no more.

Cuinn scooped Blaize into his arms, and twisted his body to get them both down the slender staircase without bumping her again.

As he sped out of her front door, he kept up a constant stream of pleas and questions, his insides clenching at her lack of response. Energetics were usually pretty hardy, and long-lived, but it wasn’t impossible for them to be hurt, injured, or even killed. He might not have wanted to be her Maven, but it was nothing personal.

His guts roiled as he carried Blaize to the main house.
 

As he went in through the kitchen door, he shouted for Tierra who ran in and quickly assessed the situation, then directed him to the living room.

Once there, he lay Blaize down on a sofa. Moments later, Tierra hustled through the door with a damp cloth.
 

“Did you need to move her?” Tierra leaned over the sofa to take Blaize’s pulse.

“She was lying upside down on the stairs.” Cuinn fidgeted in place.
 

Tierra’s eyebrows rose. “What happened?”

“She walked into me at the top of those stairs, fell, and hit her head. I didn’t push her if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Don’t be silly.” Tierra examined Blaize as she spoke. “Where did she hit her head, do you know? In one place, or more?”

“Where it’s bleeding. Only once.” Cuinn stood a few feet from the sofa, clenching and unclenching his hands, while Tierra used the cloth to gently wipe the blood and inspect the injury.
 

“It’s probably not as serious as it looks. Head injuries always bleed more than they should,” said Tierra, absently.

“What if there’s internal damage? It was a pretty hard knock on the head.”

Tierra didn’t answer immediately. She lifted up the girl’s eyelids to assess her pupils, and did some other fast checks.

“I’ll look energetically to see if there’s any damage to her brain. If there is, the nearest energetic facility is Victoria Island, so we’d need the chopper to get her there or maybe Cara here, but I don’t want to do that unless I have to. Can you get me some ice and a clean dish towel?”

Cuinn nodded. He bolted out of the room and barrelled back through the door moments later, coming up short as he saw Tierra on the floor next to the sofa where Blaize lay. Tierra was massaging her forehead. She used the chair to pull herself up and rubbed her wrist.
 

His heart jumped in his chest.
What the hell …

“What happened? Are you okay? Is she?” His gaze flickered wildly between the two of them.

“Calm down Cuinn.” Tierra sent out a calming thread of safety, security, and comfort from her earth energy towards him though it lacked her usual strength.
 

“She was protecting herself, and managed to kick me just as I was withdrawing. If that was Blaize harnessing Ajna energies without training, she’ll be a force to be reckoned with when she's trained.”

“But is she okay?” Cuinn persisted.

“I’ve checked her, and I think she’s fine. I couldn’t see any energetic or physical disturbances in her energy. There’s some swelling; she’ll have a killer headache and a bump. And we should keep an eye out that there’s no concussion. There’s no need for the chopper.”
 

Cuinn’s shoulders dropped from where they’d been up next to his ears and he let out a long breath. He sank to the floor near the sofa. Tierra touched Blaize’s pale skin and did another fast scan, and then leaned back, nodding, her own body seeming to lose some of the tension of the last few minutes. “We need her to wake up now and keep her awake for a while. I’ll bring her round, and you can sit with her for the day. It might be an opportunity for you to talk.”

Cuinn hunched his shoulders. “Sure.” He had an unpleasant cocktail of emotions inside him—shame, guilt, and mortification. And he didn’t think it was going to get any better for a while. Tierra wasn’t someone who shouted or got angry, but her disapproval of his actions was clear.
 

His cheeks burned. Blaize’s prone body lay on the sofa like a reproach. He hadn’t given her a chance. It might not have been personal to him, but it was to her.

Tierra placed some of the ice in a tea towel and held it against Blaize’s injury. “Can you hold this while I wake her up?”
 

Cuinn shuffled over and put a hand out to hold the makeshift ice pack in place. Tierra dipped one of the other tea towels into water and wiped it around Blaize’s face. Tierra closed her eyes, and Cuinn felt a shimmer at the edge of his consciousness as she sent a little soft energy into Blaize to gently bring her back to wakefulness.

After another minute, Blaize groaned.

“Owww. What the hell happened?” She didn’t open her eyes. “Can someone turn the lights off in here? My head feels like a nuclear device went off.”

Cuinn watched her, more relief pouring into him, along with more guilt at how pale she was, and at the shadows under her eyes.

Tierra walked to the curtains and closed them, blanketing the room in an artificial dusk. “Blaize, it’s Tierra. You fell and hit your head. I’ve checked and you’re going to be fine apart from a nasty headache. But we also need to make sure you don’t have a concussion, so Cuinn will stay with you for the day to make sure you don’t fall asleep again.”

“Cuinn? Awesome.” Blaize mumbled it, but her meaning was clear enough.

Cuinn took a breath to speak, to apologise, but Tierra held up a hand to stop him. Blaize still hadn’t opened her eyes.
 

“Blaize, I’m going to put a cool cloth on your forehead and eyes, which should help with the headache and the light. You need to just stay where you are. I don’t think you’re going to want to eat for a while, but you only need to let Cuinn know when you do.”

Tierra moved Cuinn’s hands away from Blaize, and put a fresh cloth over her eyes and forehead. “Cuinn, move one of the armchairs over to the sofa. You should stay close.”

Cuinn did as he was told, and then slumped down into the chair.
 

“You can’t go to sleep either,” said Tierra, as she turned to Cuinn. “I’ll pop in and see you both once an hour or so, but I think you should use this time to get to know each other a little better.”

***

Blaize heard Tierra’s footsteps leave the room. There was silence. Blaize stayed still, the pain in her head immense, an inflating balloon squashing her brain against the walls of her skull.

“Blaize?” Cuinn spoke softly, in a deep baritone.

“Cuinn.” Her answer didn’t invite further conversation. She had no wish to speak with him at all, and especially not with this pain in her head.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just came back from seeing the Ajna Guild Leaders. It was a rough and tiring trip. I shouldn’t have said what I said, and I’m sorry you overheard it.”