nero led us down a corridor and then up another flight of stairs to the guest wing. the rooms were spread around another circular pattern with the stairs in the middle of the hall. each room had an expansive view of skyfell. my room was right between hemi and kael's while joss would be sleeping in his own suite on another floor. we were given an hour to freshen up and then dinner would be served. i crawled onto the round bed lined with silk and looked around the light and breezy room. the wind blew on the silk curtains and created an eye-catching spectacle of color. i wondered if faraway was enjoying the lower regions of the land-based skydown. i opened my mind to him and got nothing. sitting up in bed, i tried to reach him with my thoughts but all i heard in my head was a fuzzy drone sound.

i jumped from my bed and flew out of my room and pounded on kael's door. he answered my frantic knock with his hand on his vest, keeping his knives within reach.

"thalia, what's wrong?" he asked. "are you okay? are you hurt?" this was one of those rare moments when kael actually seemed normal.

"i can't reach faraway! i can't hear him or speak to him. something is wrong." i felt lost as if an important piece of my soul was missing; i had begun to rely on him so much lately that i felt numb without his connection.

"come on!" we took off running down the halls and ran into nero and joss.

"joss!" i yelled. "something's wrong; i can't reach faraway down below." joss looked at my panicked face and let out a sigh of relief.

"oh, i wondered about that." he actually seemed calm. "i wasn't sure if the mists would hinder your abilities to mindspeak. many of our abilities are lessened because of the mists."

nero walked over to me and tried to calm my fears. "no one can mindspeak outside the veil of mists; they act as a protective barrier. just think of it as trying to have a conversation standing at the bottom of a waterfall; with all of the noise, it would be hard to hear the other person speaking. it's the same with the veil, just amplified. in many ways our greatest protection is our liability, because it also lessons our ability to use our own gifts." he put his hand on my shoulder and led me to a giant window in the foyer; this side of the building overlooked the mists and the edge of the city. "if you are that worried, i can send someone to check for you."

"thalia, i'll go." kael spoke. i craned my neck to look at kael in disbelief; had i heard right?

"ha! no way, sword boy! you wouldn't be able to keep up," joss taunted and i saw kael's brow furrow in challenge at being called sword boy. even though kael acted old and responsible, in reality he couldn't be but more than five years older than joss.

"keep up or i will bury you, puppy!" kael was rising to the bait and willing to dish out his own insults. joss was the only one who got under kael's skin and made him act irrationally.

kael started to turn towards the door to exit when joss hollered out. "oi, this way." joss stepped out of the giant window in the foyer and onto a terrace. i followed after him and had to pull myself back against the building in fear. there was nothing over the side of the terrace. i peeked over and all i saw was mists, and a whole lot of nothing. we were on the cliff side of the city and joss was reaching behind him to bring down another skite.

"you have got to be kidding me." i looked at joss in surprise. "you aren't really going to jump off and fly down there with that?"

joss grinned his adorable dimpled smile at me. "of course, this is the fastest way to get to the skydown. you want me to check on faraway, right?" he pulled up a skite and handed one to kael. he went over the harness with him and the instructions for steering. i could see by the clench of kael's jaw that he was scared but too stubborn to let joss outdo him.

i grabbed kael's elbow and yanked him back inside the room. "what are you doing? you don't have to do this! please don't do it?"

kael looked at me with surprise and i saw his blue eyes soften for a second before they hardened with determination. "you did say that you wished to never see me again. why would you care what i do?"

i was at a momentary loss for words; he had caught me off guard. "i don't want to see you get hurt." i really didn't. the skite terrified me, even though i knew joss knew what he was doing. but kael had never operated one and i was scared that he wouldn't survive the jump. obviously my word choice was not what kael wanted to hear. he abruptly pulled his arm from my grasp.

"you think i can't do it?" he turned his back on me, shoulders stiff and determined.

"what? no! i didn't say that." and i hadn't. where was he coming up with this?

kael whirled on me in anger. "i can do anything he can do," he spat.

"no, you can't! you've never flown one of those death machines, what if you make a mistake and die?" i was getting angry; i reached for his shirt and held on.

"then the bond between us will be broken. you can be free to live your life without a pet swordbrother following you around." he snarled in challenge. "you can then live your life with the denai."

i dropped my hand limply to my side and stepped back. his words had hurt me; they were true, but they hurt all the same. this time i turned my back on him and waved him off. "fine, go, jump and rid yourself of me. i see how it is; you prefer death than being bonded to me." i didn't mean it; i said it to hurt him back, if it was even possible to hurt him. i felt kael draw closer to me but then he stepped away as joss jumped down from the ledge and came inside.

they were going to dive off of one of the city launching points. the launching points were marked around the city by various colored flags that marked the distance from the ledge of the city to the ground. these were deemed safe distances to dive with a dorabill or a skite. the jesai family had a launching point from their own veranda.

"you ready? i'll race you down." joss was in his element; he wanted kael to do it and he wanted him to lose. kael was his sword teacher at the citadel and was stronger and a better fighter. joss had challenged kael to try and impress me, but it had backfired. now joss was enacting a bit of revenge. i knew it, but did kael?

"let's go." kael said stiffly, and they both turned and left out the window. i waited a minute before following. they were both harnessed into the skites and were standing on the ledge. joss counted off and they both jumped. i raced to the edge and looked over to see joss' skite fly smoothly in a wide circle before disappearing into the mists. kael's skite didn't glide like joss'; it shook and dropped straight down into the mists, falling like a stone.

i clutched the veranda wall, my fingers digging into the warm stone. i heard myself scream kael's name as my world spun.

chapter 20

he was dead. kael was dead, i knew it. warm hands pressed against my forehead and leaned me forward. opening my eyes i stared into the worried green eyes of joss. no, wait; the eyes seemed older as if they carried years of worry. it was nero.

"don't sit up too fast," nero warned. "take a deep breath."

"is he okay? did he make it?" i held nero's arm in a death grip, refusing to let go until he told me that kael was all right.