I let Cove take the lead once we exited Jemima. Ani and Ranch disappeared and reappeared periodically during our walk, probably tormenting the local wildlife. We retraced our steps from yesterday until about halfway when Cove suddenly broke away, heading through the underbrush and deep into the trees.
We stopped beneath a willow tree a few minutes after we couldn't see nor hear the stream anymore. Cove settled at the tree's roots, Ranch sitting at his feet to beg for attention. Rather than get my clean khakis dirty, I pulled out a blanket I'd packed in the bag, setting it down on the ground before kneeling on the grass. Moisture seeped in from the damp, wet leaves, staining my knees, but it was better than the alternative.
"I'll make sure there's no one around," Cove said. He closed his eyes, and a cool tendril of his magic brushed against my own. I didn't bother to follow his path, sensing that I might need to save my power for later.
His face relaxed when he opened his eyes again, revealing how tense he had been since yesterday. He slouched against the tree, finally giving Ranch the attention she begged for and scratching her cheek.
"I be-leaf we can speak freely, now. And once we're back, I'm going to teach you how to use some basic mental magic. Last night's fiasco could have been avoided If I'd been able to connect with you."
"Telepathy?"
Cove nodded.
I could see how that would be convenient. But he excelled at magic, so why couldn't he–my earrings. Right. That was quite the oversight on our part.
Wait. "Do you read people's minds often?"
Cove dodged eye contact, which was an answer in itself. "Most mages are taught to defend their minds early. It takes a strong mage like my father to break through their defenses."
According to that logic, were non-mages fair game? I thought back through my life, wondering if someone had ever read my mind. As my thoughts turned dark, I decided it was better for my sanity if I didn't know. With each passing moment, I felt more and more grateful for the earrings.
I had a lot of questions and some explaining of my own to do, but I started with the most pressing. "Can we leave?"
Cove frowned, his gaze drifting to the sky briefly as he thought. He shook his head. "I sensed a fragment here; we can't leaf without it."
I had my doubts. "Wouldn't it be better to go back to our world and prepare for this? We were expecting space Jurassic Park, not….whatever this is."
He shook his head again. "We need to get the fragment," he said, leaving no room for arguments.
Since he was my ticket home, and it was technically my job, I dropped it. Bitterness still swelled in my chest.
I vented my feelings out with a sigh. "I may have an idea. But first, I need to know what's going on."
Cove's eyes shot to me, suspicion crossing his face. "You–?" He saw the truth in my expression and cut himself off.
Finally, he explained. "It's been a long time since I read it, but this is the dystopian story What Lies Ahead. Well, I say dystopian, but that's a bit of a misnomer–Mattie and her village are told a lot of 'lies' about the external world, which was the inspiration for the title. The rest of the world is actually almost completely rebuilt at this point. Only the most damaged cities, like the one we showed up in, are still abandoned."
With his penchant for puns, it was no wonder why he'd picked up the novel. His explanation made some of what the Mayor had been hinting at make sense, but I still had a lot of questions. Realizing this, Cove delved into a deeper explanation.
"What Lies Ahead starts off with a typical dystopian premise–set in the far future when humanity has been wiped out by robots–you get the gist. What made What Lies Ahead different is that the A.I. didn't end up being very successful. As soon as people's devices began acting glitching out, they turned them off. The robots and some nukes were stopped by a joint effort between tech-savvy citizens and the already-equipped military with EMPs. Between the unexpectedly efficient military and the doomsday preppers, they were able to rebuild quickly.
"The Mayor's great-grandfather decided to make a bid for power in the meantime. He convinced the town that technology was evil while going behind their backs to create the robots. He used them to scare the townspeople. Whenever the robots would break, he'd simply pay for them to get repaired.
"The current Mayor continues his ancestor's work, using Mattie's father–Gael–to repair and reprogram the robots.
"Mattie eventually discovers an investigator in the city who explains about the outside world. Betrayed, she does some digging and finds out everything. She teams up with a group from the outside world and exposes the Mayor's lies for what they are. Interestingly, the Mayor's name was never mentioned. At the end of the novel, it's revealed that, since the Mayor wiped the truth from Jemima's history, Mattie decided to wipe the Mayor's name from the world's history."
That would have been really good to know before I'd spoken to the Mayor, and I told him such.
His hand drifted to tug on his ear. "I'm sorry; I should have noticed it sooner."
Now it was my turn for explanations. I started with a question. "Have you ever interacted with reality in your dream?"
Cove's eyebrows shot up. "No. We're just observers."
My heart dropped a little in my chest. If Cove didn't know, then finding how I'd gotten the splinter would be far more complex than I'd anticipated.
I started actually explaining. "I had a dream last night about a cave filled with technology. Mattie's father and the Mayor walked in, talking about Mattie and rebuilding the robots." I didn't bother elaborating, as Cove could use his knowledge of the novel to infer the discussion. "The Mayor told her father was instructed to piece back together a robot he was worried would 'act out. But that wasn't the only thing. I think the robot could see me. When I moved, its eyes followed."
"That's not possible."
"I also got a splinter when I touched the table," I said, holding the injured finger out for inspection.
Cove was already shaking his head, and I felt his magic brush my own. "No, I mean it's all impossible. Splinter aside, your magic is weak enough that you should be drained after the dream. But your magic isn't drained–in fact; I'd say it's fully replenished. I don't know what you saw, but it wasn't a dream of the future."
"This happened in Heirs, too." I pointed out. "Whenever I dreamed about the chimera, I'd wake up like normal. The only time I felt drained was when I dreamed of Mariana's parents."
Cove leaned on his knees. "So you think it's connected with the fragments."
The ease at which he picked up on what I was thinking was astonishing. "Exactly."
He frowned, looking at my earrings. "Those earrings were powerful enough to keep my father out. Only someone insanely powerful or you should be able to work around them. Are you sure it wasn't the witch who gave them to you?"
I thought of the flame, trying to link it with Ava. I thought of our journey here, of how the fire had spread down through the spiderwebs. My hand drifted up to my earrings, feeling the warmth within. All these pieces, they didn't connect in the way Cove wanted. Whoever had given them to me wasn't Ava. Of that, I was sure.
"I'm positive."
Cove's eyes widened suddenly, and he looked down at Ani, who was chasing a butterfly. "We're connected with our familiars….is someone using that connection?"
My knowledge of magic was far less than Cove's, so I deferred to his judgment. "Perhaps?" I said, feeling doubtful.
"I'll have to check with Father."
The thought of anyone using Ani to get to me, even Jacob, sent a roaring protective fury through my veins. My hands tightened into firsts. It took me a few moments to calm down and clear my thoughts.
"What about the splinter?" I asked.
Cove tossed his hands. "Maybe it was from the floor? I've never heard of anyone getting injured in a dream before. It's impossible."
It wasn't from the floor. I was sure of that, too. "Maybe."
And now, we had to decide what to do.