Gale: A Sci-fi Novella by Lyssa Chiavari

Author:Lyssa Chiavari [Chiavari, Lyssa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-12-27T00:00:00+00:00

☽

I don’t know if Ferda’s father’s words caused the fit. Maybe it was just the built-up strain of the day. Maybe this was how my body was choosing to cope with stress. Maybe I’d used my meiga abilities too much today, and it was more than my body could handle.

Or maybe there was no reason. Maybe it was pointless to speculate, when this was just the way things were.

I lay there on the cold, hard floor, collapsed in front of the dying fire, feeling overwhelmed and unmovable long after my muscles finished spasming and my head stopped spinning.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. After everything that had happened over the last week—everything I’d seen and learned—this really was the most sensible answer. It all came together, now: my parents’ fear, the way they hid from the Watch, the desperation with which they guarded my ailments from discovery. And especially my father’s reluctance to get in touch with any of his “former colleagues,” as my mother had put it.

The Brothers weren’t just mythical figures. They weren’t the heroes of Gale. They were just two bitter men with a thirst for power and a hunger for revenge.

But one of them was my uncle. And the other was Ferda’s.

If they knew about me, they would kill me. I knew that for certain. I couldn’t fathom how my father had escaped death the first time, but I knew that if the Watch learned the truth about us, it would not happen again.

My muscles ached as I pushed myself up off the floor. I staggered across the room to the kitchen table, where I’d dumped my satchel. The vial of amber liquid was nestled safely at the bottom. I withdrew it and took a small sip. I still didn’t trust Ban, but it seemed like the medicine had worked for a short time, at least. I wanted to be able to speak with my parents when they got home from labor without a fit interrupting us. I could only hope that the liquid’s effects would last long enough to let me think of a solution.

After swallowing the medicine, I wandered into the bedroom and sat on my pallet, mentally rehearsing the evening’s conversation. The thin light through the blackened window grew dimmer as midday shifted to late afternoon. My eyelids felt heavy, and I belatedly remembered Ban’s warning that the medicine would make me drowsy. I hadn’t noticed the night before, since I’d taken it right before bed.

Surely a short nap couldn’t hurt. My parents will wake me when they come in.

I drifted off, my mind bobbing gently on waves of emptiness.

“Miranda?”

The ground was soft and damp beneath my body. Leaves rustled in the breeze, and unfamiliar animals whistled.

“Miranda, wake up.”

My eyelids were so heavy that I didn’t think I’d be able to lift them no matter how hard I tried. But someone was prodding me persistently, and her voice cut through the stupor of my sleepiness.

“Ferda?” I asked groggily.

She looked down at me in concern.

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