Sixty-six

How to proceed, you may ask? With endless caution. I'm walking on very thin ice and the wrong choice of words might tilt the scale.

" I'm twenty-one," I begin carefully, " Not a child," I emphasise every word while my eyes focus on the dashboard, and try to find the right words.

There have been certain moments in life when words have evaded me in the worst possible moments. This is one of those times.

" No. He raised you. He was meant to care for well-being, not f-," He stops himself there, appaled, outraged, and maybe a tad disgusted. All in all not good.

" I was sixteen, when I came into his care, under extenuating circumstances. Whatever happened between us has nothing to do with grooming or any other things that you might think," Nope. Words are not on my side. I know there are better ways to manage this situation, but I can't help the defensiveness that bleeds into my tone of voice.

Gerald laughs, " Oh my god. He fucked with your brain so badly that you can't even see it," He mocks, and I'm about two seconds away from snapping his neck.

" Here is the thing Gerald. You may know Mason, but you do not know me. You have no idea what is going on. So I'm asking politely to keep your opinions to yourself. It's complicated, but I like to think that I have enough functioning brain cells to know whether I have been brainwashed or not," I huff out in frustration. For once he doesn't laugh.

" Alright, then. What are you? It is going to be a long way down so might as well fill in the silence. You're not fit to drive just yet, so you need to keep me awake. So tell me a story, Lily," He cajoles with a tempered tone.

With a deep breath, I begin from the very beginning. I've been looking for someone, a third person who has no skin in this game to offer me insight. And right now my brain feels like cotton wool. Nothing makes sense anymore, and this drive it's a perfect opportunity to untangle some of the less intricate mysteries-the ones that do not require long-lost knowledge, just the simple power of deduction.

I speak for hours on end, in which Gerald listens-mostly quietly-, humming here and there as I tell the story of how I ended up in the woods with one foot in the grave.

By the time I finish my story, we've already crossed over the border of Varan District, and are halfway through its neighbour, Lakshi. Formerly part of Varan but divided due to political and economic dissension.

" Hmm....that's quite a story," He pulls onto the side of the road, and watches me with a keen interest. Curios, maybe.

" Your wounds are healing," The faint light coming from the street lamp offers some help to see how the small cuts and bruises have already faded.

" They are, " I say quietly. I'm no longer surprised that this is happening. During my training sessions with T'aethi, I've figured out that I heal at a faster rate than humans. If for them a cut might take up to a week to close over, for me is a matter of days and in certain cases hours. The downside, it doesn't heal clean, it leaves marks similar to little welts that take longer to fade. After all, I'm not a pure-blood daiō. I am also human.

" You drive," Julian slips out of the driver's seat and walks to my side. I don't know the way but he needs sleep more than I do. While he walks around the car, I climb over the console, dragging the drip bag after and slide into the driver's seat.

While he slides into the passenger seat, I arrange the drip bag to keep the medicine flow constant. I need to be ready to face whatever is expecting me in Morston.

Once I put the car in drive, Gerald rubs his eyes, trying to chase away the haze out of his vision. Driving for so many hours takes it out of you. His bloodshot eyes find me in the dim lighting of the car while I shift the gear and press the pedal to the floor. He might regret allowing me behind the wheel. I threw caution to the wind a long time ago and I'm not going to start now being careful.

A heavy silence settles in the car while Gerald absently looks out the window, once in a while frowning and dragging in sharp breaths between clenched teeth.

He does that for a good chunk of time while I focus on the road. There are other cars on the road but not as many as expected. That will cut our journey short. Not by much, but sometimes even a millisecond can make a difference between life and death.

" History is written by winners," Don't I know it?

" I know," I say absently while my gaze briefly snags on a lake on my right. The moonlight reflects off its placid surface like a mirror.

" With that being said. I'm a firm believer when it comes to apocryphal writings and folklore that some, if not most events have been completely erased or tempered with. If I wasn't there to see it, then I take everything with a pinch of salt," When you have nothing but crumbs, then you cling to whatever speck of information you might find for dear life, hoping that in the end, the truth will prevail.

" Agreed," I say calmly, trying to follow his line of thought. I already know where he is going with this, but I don't want to interrupt his critical thinking process.

" Let's start with the very beginning, " He suggests and turns in his seat so he can look at me. Sadly I can't do the same but it doesn't matter, my ears work just fine.

" You said that Anika and Hector had trouble guiding you when your powers emerged," I nod. That what was Anika wrote in her journals. We were sisters but then again my mother slaughtered mercilessly the other seven after she transferred their powers to me. So, I'm kind of...I don't know what I am.