Chương 106: IDLE HOURS

Jamie was bored. Not the mild, passing kind—the sort that could be solved by a snack or a walk—but the deep, gnawing boredom that crawled under her skin and demanded movement. Elias's room was quiet in the particular way only his space ever was, like it existed slightly apart from the rest of the house.

The shutters were half-drawn, letting in narrow bars of afternoon light that dust motes drifted through lazily, and the air smelled faintly of ink, old paper, and the cedar oil his mother insisted on rubbing into the furniture. Elias himself sat in the middle of the bed, legs crossed, back straight, fingers interlocked and resting on his stomac. He hadn't moved in… a while. Jamie paced in a slow circle around the room, feet thudding softly against the wooden floor.

She ran her fingers along the spines of his books, tugged one, his Velvet Archive, free at random, flipped it open, then shut it again with a disappointed huff.

"Boring," she muttered, mostly to herself. Elias didn't respond. His eyes were closed, expression neutral, breathing slow and even. He was in it again—deep enough that the world might as well not exist. Jamie stuck her tongue out at him. She wandered over to the narrow wardrobe against the wall and pulled it open without asking. Inside were Elias's clothes, neatly folded and arranged by size and use, which in itself felt like a personal affront.

She rifled through them anyway, lifting two long sleeved shirt and comparing them. She opted for the blue one over the ashen colored one, inspecting sniffing it, wrinkling her nose.

"Why do all your clothes smell so flowery?" she asked. No answer. She tossed the shirts back, shut the wardrobe, and her gaze snagged on the Jade Dagger resting on the table near the head of thebed. Her boredom sharpened into interest.

"Oh, don't mind if I do." She snatched it up, feeling the cool weight settle into her palm. The jade caught the light, its white surface veined with silver that almost looked like it was flowing if you stared too long. Jamie grinned and stepped back, dropping into a loose stance. She shadowboxed across the room, slashing the air dramatically, spinning, ducking under imaginary blows. She leapt onto the bed beside Elias, narrowly missing his knee, and struck a ridiculous pose with the dagger held high.

"In your face, Baba!" she declared. Elias didn't even flinch. Jamie deflated, flopping backward onto the mattress and staring up at the ceiling. After a moment, she rolled onto her stomach, propped her chin on her hands, and leaned close to his face. She waved a hand inches from his nose. Nothing. She frowned thoughtfully, then reached over to the table, fropping the blade and picking up a pen. Carefully—very carefully—she leaned in and drew a small symbol on his cheek. Then another on the other one.

Shade under his eyes and drew a line under his nose for good measure, curling the edges up like a moustache. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Still nothing. She snorted softly and slid off the bed. She sat cross legged on the ground for a few moments then let out a groan and lay flat on her back, arms spread wide. Her eyes tracing the faint cracks in the ceiling plaster. Elias spent a lot of time in his Spirit Domain. Jamie knew that much.

You could tell when he was really gone—the way his Flow went quiet on the surface, like a lake freezing over. It had been happening more often lately. A few weeks had passed since they'd gone to see SK. Since then, Beth had punished them. Beth decided that since they had so much excess energy, they could put it to good use. They'd spent days clearing the shop's storage rooms, hauling crates, scrubbing shelves, doing tedious, serious work from morning to way past closing time.

And then Beth had made Aina their supervisor. Jamie's eye twitched. Aina, who took everything seriously. Aina, who watched them like a hawk. Aina, who had been sticking close ever since, as if Jamie and Elias might spontaneously combust if left alone.

'We still found ways, though.' Jamie smiled faintly. They'd gone back to the glade more times in past few weeks. SK didn't seem to appreciate their regular visits.

'Like that one time SK had chased them off with curses and thrown artifacts that chased us angry dogs. Hm, It was like playing tag. Or that other time he flooded the entire clearing with illusory fire just to see if we'd run. Hahaha, he was so annoyed when I froze the clearing again.' She chuckled'Or that other other time, when he moved the whole space.'

Jamie had laughed herself breathless when she realized what he'd done—shifted the entire glade to a different location near the Iron Forest, where the Flow ran thick and metallic. SK had been smug about it too, standing there with his arms crossed like he'd won some grand contest.

'Didn't matter even if his shack had legs.' Once Jamie had been to a place, it was easy to find again. Her Anti-Flow didn't just sense—it remembered. That and her powerful sense of smell together with her exceptional tracking skills. Her papa had taught her that, back when she was small and always getting lost.

'Papa's been busy lately,' she thought. Too busy. That was why she'd been sleeping at Elias's house more often. Her father was out most nights now, sometimes not coming back till a couple days later. He still checked in on her, still fussed over her, still laughed at her stories and ate sweets with her—but something else had his attention. She'd noticed the map first. Roric had spread it out across the wall, a detailed rendering of Blackhaven and its surroundings. The Iron Forest Node was marked. The outer roads.

Alleys she'd grown up running through. There were ribbons pinned all across it, marking locations He had been quietly searching.

'Not beasts.' Jamie knew that much.

'If it were beasts, the city wouldn't be included. Whatever he was looking for, it walked among people—or hid where people had been.' She'd followed his gaze once, watching the way his fingers hovered over a particular ribbon, jaw tight. One of the marked locations lay close—too close—to where SK had relocated his glade.

'SK?' she'd wondered.

'Or something else?' She rolled onto her side and stared at Elias again. He looked peaceful like this. Too peaceful.

'Why does he want to learn about Arrays, from the old man? Couldn't Aina teach him?' That hadn't surprised her. Elias liked knowledge—intent, almost hungry. Jamie found herself interested too. To her, Arrays looked like fun. She'd moved the ribbon aside when her papa wasn't looking. Papa didn't need to know... yet. SK could stay their secret for a little while longer till Elias learned what he wanted to learn. Jamie pushed herself up and dusted off her clothes.

She paced the room for a while, finally crossing the room to grab the mirror leaning against the wall. She dragged it until it stood directly in front of Elias and wrote on the glass in big, looping letters: BORED. GOING TO LOOK AROUND. She smiled at his reflection, then turned and slipped out of the room, the door closing softly behind her. Elias didn't move. Not yet. But somewhere deep within, the stillness stirred.