My parents whom I’d mourned for were alive. The very parents who blinded me and left me with a mess of feelings. I had to find them. Even if I was a grown woman who didn’t know how to feel about them, they were my parents. Besides, I had to find out why they let me think they were dead for so long. A couple weeks had passed since Nikon and I had returned to Itpy, and each day increased my desire to search for them.
I believed Antonia when she said they were alive, despite the fact she’d never told me she was Vading of the entire country or how much she hated me. Did she lie about my parents? There had to be a reason, but without my understanding it, her betrayal was a knife in my gut. She previously helped me when I became blind, but then she turned into the leader of the country without my realizing it. No matter the case, if there was a small chance my parents were alive, I would discover their whereabouts.
I wasn’t certain where to start, and my lack of sight wasn’t the only problem. The warriors conducted more raids every week, keeping me from joining the rebellion. Everyone was trying to hide from the Reding’s and Vading’s orders sending the warriors out. There were many in hiding like the Jackal, the background leader of the rebellion—but especially us. If we were caught, Antonia, the Vading, would have me killed or worse, make me a slave because those who were blind and caught were doomed to slavery in the pyramid.
“Oh, no.” Nikon’s voice pulled me back to the present. We’d finished dinner and had been lingering around the table.
“What?” I asked.
“I know you pretty well now, Cassandra, and I can tell by the look on your face that you’re planning something I’m not going to like.”
I tried to wipe the expression clear but wasn’t certain I managed. Not when I wanted to join the rebellion and find my parents this much.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, Cass.” His warm hands enveloped mine.
The touch of his skin against my fingers, which brushed his calloused ones, brought a peace to my heart. The familiarity of it was a balm I never expected in the first months we knew each other, notably when he’d broken into my secluded hut, wounded to the point of being unconscious. I sighed. “If you must know, I was thinking about my parents.”
“Because Antonia said they were alive.”
It was a statement, not a question, but I felt the need to answer. Even though we’d spoken of it before, he’d been distracted with the loss of the plans he’d stolen from the Reding . He’d never even found out what they said. “I understand you don’t trust her after how she treated us, and to be fair, I don’t either. If they’re alive, I have to find out. Wouldn’t you want to go after your parents if they were alive but hidden from you?” Because they had to be hidden. If they could have told me they were leaving, they would have. I didn’t think that them turning me blind changed their love for me.
“Perhaps.” There was a reluctance in his tone I didn’t understand.
I threaded my fingers through his. “I need to do this, Nikon. I need to discover if they’re in trouble or wasting away somewhere. That they didn’t leave me. And how Antonia learned they’re alive.”
“I have to admit it’s difficult for me to understand a loving family, but you usually have kind things to say about your parents. Maybe there is something to searching for them, if it would make you feel better.”
Finding them would make me feel better, but was it a realistic request? With the Reding and Vading searching for us since we escaped from them, and increased patrols by the warriors in our city, keeping us safe was hard enough without adding anything else. But they were my parents.
It was true they might have caused my blindness by putting the magic sand on my eyes, but they probably had the best intentions. If I was to discover for myself, I had to find them. “It would make me feel better.” Specifically, if they were in danger or… something. Why else wouldn’t they find me? I needed to make sure they were well. Of course, I wasn’t safe from the Reding and Vading myself.
But what if my parents didn’t care about me, like Antonia?
I pushed the thought aside. They were nothing like her.
“I understand you want to figure things out with your parents,” Nikon said. “Perhaps when things calm down, we’ll have a better opportunity.”
“You’re right.” Didn’t mean I had to like it.
“You two are the most touchy-feely siblings.” Zoe’s scratchy voice coming from the hall was familiar and made me grateful my friend was joining us. Maybe she could get our thoughts somewhere more positive.
To my disappointment, Nikon’s hands left mine. It was for the best, since we were supposed to be brother and sister. No one knew we weren’t, and we should keep it that way. Though if we could tell anyone, it would be our housemates, Zoe and her brother, Kaius.
But there was no reason for Nikon and me to touch other than when we were pretending to be siblings. We hadn’t fallen in love at first sight, and never would since I’d never regain my sight. There was something between us, but it was only close friendship.
“How are you doing, Zoe?” I asked.
“Better now that the day’s over.” There was the scraping of the chair on the ground next to me, as she must have pulled it back to sit by me. When she continued, her voice was closer and at my level, confirming my suspicion. “Working overtime is hard, and the rebellion isn’t going very well with all these raids. People are scared.”
“For good reason,” Nikon said.
I clenched my jaw. “There has to be something we can do. This is beyond anything I expected the government to do, and I expected them to do some pretty horrible things.” I didn’t want to think about all the beatings that were going on. I wanted to believe everyone was safe and well. Like Hettie. With all that was taking place, my good friend who kept my hair cut and my mood lifted had been staying away as of late. I hoped she was safe at her work and home.
“What can we do about it?” Zoe said. “If we rise against the warriors, the maveor will likely call in more. We’ll get oppressed even further. We need to find a way to change opinions for good, not only make things better for a short time. Especially if that gets us all arrested. We need more people so that we stand more of a chance against it all.”
The room fell silent. The three of us had much to think on.
What could I do? I was a blind woman in a world that didn’t want or accept the blind. No matter how much I wanted to make a difference, trying to do so would make me one of the Reding and Vading’s slaves. Being around Antonia again after she publicly declared how much she hated me wasn’t high on my list of things to do. That meant I had to stay far away from the warriors, markedly the elite ones.
“I should go to bed,” Nikon said. “I’ve got an early morning at work tomorrow. One of my bosses is moving his stall and wants me to help before customers arrive.”
The desire to give his hand a squeeze nudged at me, but I didn’t want to invade his space or make Zoe suspicious. Besides, I didn’t know where his hand was.
The chafing sound of furniture moving came from where Nikon had been seated next to me. I stood as well. “Might as well go to bed myself. And I need to check on Tewy. He hasn’t made an appearance in a while. My room’s probably a mess.”
Zoe gave a soft chuckle. “That monkey certainly causes a stir.”
I grunted and headed down the hall.
She called out, “Goodnight. I will be here with Kaius tomorrow, so we’ll cook dinner.”
“Sounds good.” I made my way down the hall. It wasn’t as familiar as my old home by the waterfall, but I had become so aware that I made my way around without a problem. I missed the simplicity of my life before I was taken away from the waterfall by Nikon’s unexpected appearance and our subsequent flight from the elite warriors chasing him. We hadn’t recovered the plans he’d stolen from the Reding. I didn’t dare bring up the subject with him because I knew how upset he was about losing them in the first place.
Whatever those plans contained, it didn’t seem like a good thing. Why weren’t they where Nikon left them so he could get someone to help him read them? There had to be something important that would make the Reding so angry as to go after one of his most trusted warriors. We would never figure it out. It drove me crazy, but I had a feeling it was worse for Nikon.
At least the high priest didn’t seem to be after us as well. As the intermediary between people and sand magic, he didn’t seem like a threat, but he’d never done anything to contradict the Reding and Vading. Who was to say he’d be any better?
I was almost to my room when a hand clasped my shoulder. Since Nikon’s footsteps had followed mine, it wasn’t a surprise. I turned toward him, wishing there was a way to help him.
“We will search for your parents,” he said, surprising me. “If it means so much to you to find them, we will, as soon as it’s safe.”
Without coming in contact with him, I leaned closer. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, it seems Tewy did not make a mess of your room and is, in fact, asleep on your bed.”
I giggled and gave a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I didn’t want to have to pick up after him, again.”
“He’s getting better. I think he’s simply bored.”
It was a sad contemplation, but Nikon was probably right. “It has to be hard on him, not living near a bunch of other monkeys where he can get out and play.”
Nikon patted my shoulder before moving away. “We’ll figure something out. Maybe I can build him something to play around on out of wood we find outside of the walls of Itpy.”
“That would be nice.”
“We’ll make it a plan, then.” The boards closer to Nikon’s room squeaked. When he spoke, he was farther away, but close enough that his voice was soft. “Goodnight, Cass.”
“Goodnight.”
I went to my room and changed into a nightdress, before finding Tewy in the middle of my bed. I’d have to disturb him if I was going to get any sleep tonight. I crawled into bed, moving him to my side. He gave a soft ooo before curling up in my arms.
Though there were many worries swirling around me, I fell asleep. A lovely but not long enough sleep later, I was startled by rough hands shaking me awake.
Nikon said, “We have to go. The warriors are raiding.”