Personally, I felt that being able to shoot superheated beams of light from your eyes was far more useful than being able to tell how old something was. But, I figured I would take what I was given.
I left the hut, walking over to the others, who were talking about Australia’s discovery. They looked up as I approached, waiting for me again, like they had before.
Waiting for leadership.
Why look to me? I thought with annoyance. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t even want to be in charge.
‘Lord Smedry,’ Draulin said, ‘should we wait for your grandfather, or should we go in after him?’
I glanced down at the pouch and was annoyed to find that the strings had unraveled as I was walking. My Talent, acting up again. ‘I don’t know,’ I said.
The others looked at one another. That hadn’t been the response they’d been expecting.
Grandpa Smedry obviously wanted me to lead the group into the Library. But what if I gave the order to go down below, and something went wrong? What if someone got hurt or got captured? Wouldn’t that be my fault?
But, what if my father and Grandpa Smedry really needed help?
That’s the problem with being a leader. It’s all about choices – and choices are never very much fun. If someone gives you a candy bar, you’re excited. But, if someone offers you two different candy bars and tells you that you can have only one, what then? Whichever one you take, you’ll feel that you missed out on the other one.
And I like candy bars. What about when you have to choose between two terrible things? Did I wait, or lead my group down into danger? That was like having to choose to either eat a tarantula or a bunch of tacks. Neither option is very appealing – both make you sick to your stomach, and both are tough to choke down without catsup.
Personally, I like it much better when someone else does the decision making. That way you have legitimate grounds to whine and complain. I tend to find both whining and complaining quite interesting and amusing, though sometimes – unfortunately – it’s hard to choose which one of the two I want to do.
Sigh. Life can be so tough sometimes.
‘I don’t want to make that decision,’ I complained. ‘Why are you all looking at me?’
‘You’re the lead Oculator, Lord Smedry,’ Draulin said.
‘Yeah, but I’ve only known about Oculators for three months!’
‘Ah, but you’re a Smedry,’ Kaz said.
‘Yes, but . . .’ I trailed off. Something was wrong. The others looked at me, but I ignored them, focusing on what I was feeling.
‘What’s he doing?’ Australia whispered. By now, she’d gone back to looking just like her old self, though her hair was a bit messy from sleep.
‘I don’t know,’ Kaz whispered back.
‘Do you think that last comment was him swearing, do you?’ she whispered. ‘Hushlanders like to talk about our posteriors . . .’
He was coming.
I could feel it. Oculators can sense when other Oculators are using Lenses nearby. It’s something built in to us, just like our ability to activate Lenses.
The sense of wrongness I felt, it was like that of someone activating a Lens. But, it was twisted and dark. Frightening.
It meant someone was activating a Lens nearby that had been created in a terrible way. The hunter had found us. I spun, searching out the source of the feeling, causing the others to jump.
There he was. Standing atop a hill a short distance away, one arm too long for his body, staring down at us with his twisted face. All was silent for a moment.
Then he began to run.
Draulin cursed, whipping out her sword.
‘No!’ I said, running toward the hut. ‘We’re going in!’
Draulin didn’t question. She’d just nodded, waiting for the others to go first. We dashed across the ground, Kaz pulling out a pair of Warrior’s Lenses and slipping them on. His speed immediately increased, and he was able to keep up with us despite his short legs.