power.”
Jaran leaned forward. “Can they give it to us too? At least Kelsa, she’s young. Orthos has trained her well.”
Lindon looked to the floor.
Even now, his parents didn’t believe that he could have earned power on his own. He must have borrowed someone else’s.
Then again, they were somewhat right.
Yerin had protected him, pushed him, and fought for him when he was too weak to do it for himself. Eithan had given him his Iron body, his Blackflame Path, his Jade cycling technique, his contract with Orthos…almost everything. And what Eithan hadn’t given him, Mercy’s clan had.
The only one whose power he hadn’t borrowed was Ziel.
Kelsa made a dismissive sound. “Stop it. I know you know about the fire in the sky that drove away Heaven’s Glory. That was Lindon.”
Jaran made an expression of clear doubt. “I heard that was Orthos.”
“It was Lindon. Alone. If I had to bet on a fight between Lindon and the whole Heaven’s Glory School, I’d put all my money on Lindon.”
She glanced at Lindon quickly, and he suspected she wanted him to confirm that she was right. He gave her a tiny nod.
Jaran blew air out of his cheeks. “The heavens have blessed you enough for a lifetime, boy.”
“They have.”
That had been true before he’d even left Sacred Valley. If life was fair, Suriel descending from heaven to bring him back from death would have been the only miracle he ever received.
Seisha’s hand tightened on her notebook. “Are you going to fight Heaven’s Glory? You and your friends, I mean.” She gave Kelsa a faint smile. “Orthos has already done more than we could expect, but if you and the others are really all Gold…”
“I’m sure we will.” Lindon had been on fire to do that very thing before he’d walked into this room. Now, the cabin felt claustrophobic, and he wanted nothing more than to leave.
His mother’s grip tightened further, to the point that the wooden backing of the notebook splintered slightly. “Do you have to? Can’t we all go now?”
“I won’t leave until we’ve made Heaven’s Glory pay in blood!” Jaran announced.
“And what are you going to do?” Seisha shot back. “What can any of us do? They only came for us today because we fought them.” She softened as she looked back to Kelsa. “Not that it’s your fault. You were very brave.”
“I don’t think you understand how much stronger they are than the Jades,” Kelsa said. “I’m not sure I understand.”
Seisha carefully set her strained notebook down on the table. “No one is invincible. Orthos is stronger than they are, and look what happened to him.”
“Now we have hundreds like Orthos,” Jaran insisted. “We can take the fight to their gates!”
“I can’t imagine they’re all like Orthos. And how do we know what secrets the Schools have hidden up their sleeves?”
Lindon fumbled behind him for the door. He was afraid he was going to throw up.
This had been a mistake.
He should have saved his family without meeting them. What had he expected?
His family argued with each other as though he wasn’t present. If he opened the door to leave, Kelsa would notice and include him in the conversation. His parents would halfheartedly loop him in, but they would continue making decisions without him.
It was as though he’d never left.
As he was about to turn, his vision filled with purple.
Dross, in physical form, drifted ahead of him. Seisha jerked back with a gasp while Kelsa gathered White Fox madra.
One boneless purple arm raised in greeting. [Hello! Don’t be alarmed! I am Dross, the spirit that lives inside your son’s brain.]
Jaran inclined his head in the entirely wrong direction. Dross’ voice was inside his head, so it didn’t give any clues to his location. “Greetings, Dross. I am Wei Shi Jaran. Thank you for protecting my son.”
[Ah, yes, I thought you were making that mistake. It’s not easy for me to admit this, but it’s actually the other way around. Without him, I’d still be rusting at the bottom of a well. Oh no, wait, I’d have been torn apart by collapsing space. That’s even worse than I thought.]
“You can stop, Dross,” Lindon said quietly.
[I could show you some of your son’s memories, or maybe all of them? No, he doesn’t like that idea. So I guess that means he’s going to share his thoughts with you the boring way: with his mouth. Now take it away, Lindon!] Dross drifted to the side, gesturing to Lindon with both arms wide.
The three members of