The Opelux and Other Monsters || Book One

CHAPTER 6 (PART 2) - UNKNOWN

Colleena and I stole armfuls of cushions from several benches and piled them under a tree on a large patch of grass, Dellsen watching sullenly next to the cart he'd parked next to the tree.

Satisfied with our work, Colleena approached the cart and proceeded to remove all the gold lids. "I'm assuming, based on your attitude, you snitched to Tritteon."

"Yes," Dellsen said crisply. "He's pissed."

"Did you tell him I don't care?"

"Yes. He's pissed with you." His nostrils flared. "And with me for not stopping you."

Colleena laughed like this was the funniest thing she'd heard all day. And then she turned to me and changed the subject. "I suggest we start you off slow and simply," she said, grinning as my stomach growled audibly. She picked up one of the small, gold plates off to the side and set a triangle of toast, a hardboiled egg, and two orange slices onto it.

"She's a skeleton, Thash. She's going to need a lot more than that if she's going to gain anything back," Dellsen said, shaking his head and averting his gaze.

I glanced down self-consciously. The robe hid my protruding ribs and wraith thin waist fairly well. But though the sleeves were long, they didn't hide my boney hands and wrists. And though I had yet to see my own face, because there hadn't been a single mirror in the bedroom or bathroom, I was pretty sure it was as gaunt as the rest of me.

"Who is the Medic here?" Colleena snipped, throwing him a look. "Any more than this at this stage and her poor stomach won't be able to keep it down. Like I said, we will have to start slow and work our way up." She looked down at the plate. "Even this amount might be pushing it." She handed it to me and nodded toward the cushions. "Eat slowly and stop frequently. As soon as you get at least half of that down, you can go explore."

I nodded. With the way I was feeling, I was pretty sure I would be able to finish all of it. The nausea from the bathroom was long gone.

If I hadn't been so hungry, the order might have been disappointing. But she'd placed answers well within my reach, and I found it easy to settle into the pile of cushions and focus on my body's physical needs.

She'd been right, though. After only a few bites of toast and a single bite of the egg, my stomach began to protest.

I set the plate down and turned to Dellsen. "What kind of magic did you use to float in that cart?"

Dellsen blinked and then his eyes narrowed, and I knew I'd asked the wrong question. He looked at Colleena, almost questioningly.

"Zourr don't have magic," Colleena laughed. "Only Oria. Our bodies couldn't handle anything so complicated. What we have is Poeir. Organized Poeir. And what he was using is called a Thet Veehm."

My face heated. "That's right. Tritteon said as much. What is Thet?"

Dellsen leaned toward Colleena like they were conspiring. "She doesn't know any of this and yet, she's supposed to be one of us?"

Colleena ignored him. "Thet is the ability to move things with your mind. I have it as well, though I'm not as skilled. I've put all my study into my Nourr as I never had much proclivity for the latter to begin with. So, I only know basic Veehms."

"Veehms?"

"Uh, well, the easiest way to explain it would be to compare it to an Oria spell or enchantment. We just have a different name for it."

I looked out at the shelves upon shelves of books surrounding the enchanting park. "Why are you giving me all this information so readily?" I asked carefully, avoiding looking at her. "Last night they all seemed almost irritated whenever I asked anything."