Eyes in the Water Read Free Page A

feather, dark as obsidian, floated down,
and Colette lifted it curiously, full of innocence. He watched her
face until he realized intuit had been attained and then withdrew
from her mind.
    He waited. It seemed an eternity.
    “ What did you see?” he finally asked.
Anticipation danced through him.
    She opened her eyes, blinking in the light.
“I am to be Queen of the whole world.”
    It hit him with the force of an arrow
bursting through a bull’s-eye.
    And yet, it was like he had always
known.
    Yes, it is truth. Everything in his nurest
and prescient senses affirmed it.
    He took a breath, allowing all the pieces to
align. His fingers flicked around his own tree and carefully tapped
out the lines and connections and pointed to the symmetry. It all
made so much sense now. All his intuit, his determination, Colette.
The drive to leave his own terrisdan for another. Everything.
    I will protect her , he reaffirmed
silently.
    Brenol had awoken on the floor with his head
throbbing and nausea gripping his ribs—an occasional consequence of
the memory transference—but he had not cared. No, he wept only at
the pain of departing from the memory’s beautiful folds. It had
been so vivid, so perfect.
    Deniel’s affection for Colette had always
been fraternal. He was older and had grown up with her. There had
never been a question of romance, but the cartontz impulse to guard
the girl had flowed in every vein and directed every breath. Brenol
had acquired this latter drive along with Deniel’s memories, but he
had always blazed with more. The tree lingered in Brenol’s thoughts
and dreams and stoked his already present love for Colette into a
tremendous fire. He had tried to love the Genesifin, but in the
end, his love was really only for Colette.
    All was Colette.
    Absentmindedly, Brenol pulled out the small
white manuscript he had forgotten to leave hidden at home. Though
dripping wet, its pages showed no signs of damage. In the dark, it
radiated light, casting beams across the surface of the black
waters and cavern walls.
    Strange. I’ve never actually brought this
down here with me…
    He rotated the book in his hands, childishly
amused as he manipulated the lights, but when he nonchalantly
opened it, all innocent musings ceased. His breath caught in his
throat with a croak.
    There, amidst the mysterious verbiage, upon
the pages that he both treasured and loathed, lay the code he knew
dearly. The code of the juile, as brightly aglow as the
constellations followed by hope-filled sailors, was stamped across
the very text. Sense had been hiding not behind but upon the words
and sentences he had grappled with daily. Pages and pages of coded
light. Pages and pages. Only to be seen here, in the waters. It was
simple—so, so simple.
    How’ve I never thought to read it here?
    He would have smacked himself had the mystery
not yanked him from every other thought and inclination.
    He delved in.
    ~
    Preifest had been right. It was all here. It
was the Genesifin. It was the beginning and the end. He shuddered,
finally seeing how fate would grip the people and lands of Massada.
No control, no power, they were just blind and sealed to their
doom. The world would change. The maralane would die. The cold and
icy surroundings would encroach on the terrisdans. Many peoples
would suffer. While the writings did not detail everything, it was
clear that this destiny—and growing winter—had been at work for
generations.
    It was nearly dawn when Brenol decided to
return home. He closed the Genesifin reluctantly and pushed his
frozen limbs weakly through the water until he remembered the
aurenal.
    I need to tell Colette, he thought,
sliding the case out again. And before she leaves the
river.
    He had unlatched it and opened his mouth to
speak when he was greeted by Colette’s musical voice. It was
strained, but gentle and understanding. “Tell her it is time. Tell
her you know your place and you must take it. Tell her you know
it’s not easy,