CHAPTER

31

Ard must have dozed off in the Be’Igoth, but his eyes snapped open as the door swung wide. He sprang to his feet through sheer instinct, but the figure in the doorway was no enemy.

“Raek!” Ard raced through the debris on the floor to reach his friend. “You’re alive! Thank the Homeland. You look fine. Why haven’t you…”

He trailed off now that he was closer. Raek didn’t look fine. His face was covered in sweat and his jaw trembled as if he were freezing cold. Ard had seen that kind of Heg withdrawal on him before. But what was really unsettling were his eyes.

The brown irises seemed to have a milky haze over them, and the whites had discolored to a uniform pink. The skin around them was slightly puffy and swollen, with little veins bulging like streaks of blue lightning.

Moonsick.

His best friend was dying. Stricken by a plague that had always seemed so foreign and unimaginable when they’d been younger. It was a horrible reality now, and Ard felt the weight of responsibility crash onto his shoulders. Getting Moonsick had been his idea. Would Raek have attempted it if Ard hadn’t seeded the thought? If he hadn’t been so sure that there was a way to cheat the sickness with a glorious transformation?

Looking at him now, Ardor Benn wasn’t so sure. Something must have gone wrong. Why hadn’t he used the Metamorphosis Grit yet?

“He hasn’t had a granule of Heg since yesterday.” San Green pushed past Raek and charged into the Be’Igoth. The lad was noticeably thinner than when he’d left, and he moved with more confidence. How quickly Pekal could turn a boy into a man. “He told me where he kept his stash. It was…” He trailed off, studying the ransacked room. “Homeland! What happened here?”

“Why…” Ard stammered. “Why didn’t he transform?”

“It’s not too late,” San said, drawing a knife. “He entered the second phase this morning. We’ve got time before he starts tearing into people.”

Raek… He was talking about Raek! Not some wild Bloodeye monster.

The young man cut into the padded arm of the couch, withdrawing a paper roll of Compounded Health Grit. Ard wanted to feel shocked that his friend had kept a stash right under his nose, but it wasn’t the first time this had happened. And Ard was in no position to be judgmental. He was just grateful to have them back alive for the moment. Three days since the Moon Passing meant they’d made excellent time coming down from the summit. He’d been expecting them in another day or two… but not like this!

“What happened up there, San?” Ard asked. But the scholar ignored him, holding the paper roll out to Raek. The big man squinted at it, his eyesight obviously failing. Then he reached out and pushed San’s offering aside. He looked back at Ard and nodded resolutely.

“What’s going on, Raek? What are you…” Ard trailed off as he saw the glass vial in his friend’s hand. He stepped forward, taking it for his own inspection. “Metamorphosis Grit? But if you had it up there, why didn’t you—”

“He wouldn’t let me,” San explained. “I tried to detonate it for him, but he said he had an Urging not to.”

“Raek?” Ard said. “Raekon Dorrel said he had an Urging? Oh, he must be farther along in Moonsickness than I thought. Already gone insane.” He turned to look at the sick man. Raek flipped him an offensive hand gesture.

“He felt really strongly that we needed to bring the vial back to you,” San went on. “What happened here?”

The motivation behind Raek’s supposed Urging suddenly struck Ard like a Void detonation. There was only one vial of Metamorphosis and two Moonsick creatures that needed it. Luckily, the Mixing experts had returned. They could make more.

“Hedge went off-script,” Ard explained. “He followed us to Motherwatch, but she finished him off.”

“She’s awake?” San cried.

“Only for a moment,” replied Ard. “Quarrah’s with her now, keeping her in Stasis. But we haven’t been able to try to transform her yet because we were waiting for the two people that know how to make more Metamorphosis Grit.”

“We gave Quarrah the formula—” San began.

Ard cut him off with a wide swipe of his hand across the trashed room. “We need the experts to identify the source material.”

San rubbed his chin, an overwhelmed look on his face as he turned to examine the littered space. “How would we even—”

“Just figure it out, San!” Ard snapped, tucking the vial into his pocket. He took a deep breath. There was a lot riding on this. Too much. “Let me get more light.” He crossed to a rack on the wall by the door, picking out eight pots and detonating them at various spots across the room. In moments, the inside of the Be’Igoth matched the bright morning sunlight that slanted through the half-open door.

By the time Ard finished, San had located the empty canister of processed dragon tooth and was trying to trace its path from the overturned table. Judging by the look on his face, he didn’t have much confidence in what he was discovering.

Raek stood by awkwardly, a silent monolith that occasionally squinted his bleary eyes at the messy floor.

“Well, you did it, Raek,” Ard said to him. He waited, willing his friend to reply, but knowing that he couldn’t. The first phase of Moonsickness had stolen his voice, and with it, any chance they might have had for a redeeming conversation. But at least this way, Ard could say his peace without Raek interrupting.

“It took me a while to come around, but I understand why you went,” Ard said. “I guess I owe you a thanks.”

Looking at him now, Ard was grateful he wasn’t the Moonsick one. Although he probably wouldn’t have let it progress so far. He would have transformed on the summit, like Garifus and the cultists. The fact that Raek hadn’t done that made Ard feel even more responsible.

“This is going to work.” Ard pointed at the three books on the desk. “I wrote up everything you’ll need to know. The big one has all the information we need to convey to Hedge. I’ve got notes for Baroness Lavfa, too. And Moroy Peng. Oh, and there are a couple of miscellaneous folks who might need some coaxing. It’s hard to know what things people did naturally, and what we inspired them to do…”

Ard trailed off. His rambling was falling on deaf ears. Not literally. In fact, Moonsickness sharpened hearing and smell. But Raek didn’t care about what Ard had written in the books right now. He was going blind! There was probably only one question on his mind…

What are you going to do with that single vial of Grit?

Ard felt a pang of guilt at the unasked question. They’d go through with the transformation soon enough. He just needed to make sure they had the ability to make more Metamorphosis Grit first.

“This is…” San grunted in frustration. “This is impossible. Even if I could tell which pile was the dragon tooth, it would be so contaminated—”

“It has to be there.” Ard dropped to his knees, scouring the piles of loose Grit as if his untrained eye would be of any assistance. “I didn’t touch a thing in here since Hedge trashed the place. We need to find it.”

“There’s enough in the vial for Raek,” San said.

“And for Motherwatch?” Ard didn’t want to talk about it so openly in front of Raek. But the big man was so silent, it almost seemed as if someone else were in the room. “What if we divide what we’ve got?”

“I don’t know.” San sat back on his knees. “That wouldn’t be a very big detonation.”

“But it would be enough to cover his head, right?” said Ard. “That’s how Stasis Grit works…”

“We’ve never tested Transformation Grit like that,” said San. “It would be better to make sure he’s completely enveloped.”

“Maybe they could share the space.” Ard glanced nervously at Raek. “We can be at the Pale Tors by early afternoon. Raek can stand right next to Motherwatch. We catch them in the same Transformation cloud.”

San looked skeptical. “I wouldn’t risk exposing Motherwatch to the Grit while she’s in Stasis.”

“You’re saying we have to wake her up for the transformation?” Ard exhaled. San was right, but the risks were woefully apparent. Motherwatch had eaten Hedge the moment she’d awakened. He couldn’t expect Raek to share a cloud with her. “Can’t you just start making the Transformation solution using every pile you find on the floor?”

“That’s a possibility,” said San skeptically. “But it would take days to sift through all of this. Maybe weeks.”

So it was down to that awful question Ard had been avoiding. One detonation of Transformation Grit. Two Moonsick beings.

Save Raek. Or save Motherwatch.

Ard wouldn’t voice his options aloud. Putting the choice into words sounded so cold and heartless. Raek was practically family, but Ard needed to remain purely objective about this.

What could Raek provide them that Motherwatch couldn’t? He needed to become a Glassmind to travel back in time and make sure their plans came to fruition.

But Motherwatch had the potential to become a god. If she became something greater than a Glassmind—something beyond Perfection—couldn’t she travel back in time to plant the clues? She was the final hope. Possibly the only thing that could save the world from its impending doom.

Slowly, Ard drew the vial from his pocket. He stared at it for a moment, his heart hammering. So much depended on this little drib of liquid, and no matter how difficult the choice, Ardor Benn knew what he had to do.

He moved toward the exit. Raek’s reddening eyes were boring into him, but his friend made no move to stop him in a silent test of their brotherhood.

Ard reached out and pushed the door shut.

Behind him, San sighed in obvious relief. “Oh… I thought you were going to—”

“What?” Ard swiveled around to face the young man. “Thought I was going to leave? What do you think you know about me? Yeah, I make the hard calls that other people won’t even look at. I’ll sell out my friends if my ambitions direct it. Sparks, I’ll even gamble with the fate of the world if I think I have a better plan. But when it comes to Raekon Dorrel…” He swallowed against the sudden emotion in his throat. “Well, I’d let all of time and space burn out of existence before turning my back on him.”

Ard looked at his friend. Raek’s pink eyes shimmered in the bright Light Grit. His blanched face looked especially haggard, moistened with the sweat from his withdrawals. A lifetime of memories passed between their gaze—joys and sorrows, laughs and squabbles, elaborate plans, harebrained escapes…

Ard held up the vial of Transformation Grit. “Are you ready?”

Raek nodded solemnly, moving into the center of the room.

“Okay,” Ard said. “We’ll need to act fast. Give Garifus less of a chance to connect you to his hive mind.” If he didn’t link up immediately. “How do you think I should do it?”

“We were going to use a rock on the summit,” San suggested.

“Sparks! We need to crack it, not shatter it.” Ard felt strange that he was talking about his best friend’s head. “San. Go ask Geppel for a hammer.”

“A hammer?” said San. “You’re just going to take a blazing swing at his skull with a hammer?”

Ard shrugged. “Better than a rock, isn’t it?” Raek didn’t look overly worried. There was an inherent trust between them. Trust to get the job done right, even when it was Raek’s own head on the line.

San grumbled as he pulled open the door to the Be’Igoth and disappeared outside.

“Maybe you should sit,” Ard said after a moment of silence between him and Raek. “I’ll want to make sure I can reach the top of your head, and the Glassminds we’ve seen have all been on the tall side.”

Raek picked up a wooden chair that had toppled to its side in Hedge’s raid. Placing it squarely on the floor, he dropped into it, his breathing laborious. Through his dirty gray shirt, Ard could see the distinct outline of the metal pipe forming a circle on his chest. If this worked, his friend would soon be free of it.

Ard remembered the night of that wound with vivid clarity. Raek, aflame in a sunflare cloak, trying to pass himself off as a glorious Paladin Visitant. It had been Ard’s plan within an overly complicated ruse. Ard’s fault that Raek had ended up with King Pethredote’s sword in his chest. Ard’s fault that the subsequent years had come with such a terrible cost for his friend.

That night, Ard had only been able to disguise his partner as a pretended Paladin Visitant, but today he could transform him into something real. Something even more powerful than a fiery Paladin. Mortal aches and pains would be little more than unpleasant memories for Raek. He would be able to absorb and manipulate Grit. To move though time itself.

This was a life-altering transformation for Raek. But for Ardor Benn, it felt like redemption.

San stepped back into the Be’Igoth holding the small hammer that Ard had seen Geppel using to pound loose nails in the boardwalks.

“Will this do?” San handed the tool to Ard. Gesturing for the young man to stand back, Ard moved into position behind Raek’s chair. Ceremoniously, he passed the vial of Transformation Grit over his partner’s shoulder.

“I’ll let you do the honors,” Ard said as Raek took the small item in his trembling hand. Without a moment’s delay, he brought it down, smashing the glass against the floor between his feet.

The detonation cloud looked just like any other, slightly hazy, even vaporous as it surrounded Ard and Raek. The former felt nothing, his grip tightening around the handle of the hammer, waiting for the change.

In front of him, Raek looked frozen in his chair. So still, that even his shaking had ceased. Then there was a wet ripping sound, like the tearing of soggy fabric.

Something red and shiny was emerging through Raek’s scalp—a new head that rose up as his skin shed away like the husk of dragon.

The emergence of Raek’s new form seemed to deny possibility. He stretched upward, shoulders and arms ripping free, the new ones pale blue and even more muscular than before.

In a way, it looked as if this grander form had always been inside him, cooped up in a substandard shell. Raek couldn’t remain seated, rising to his new height as he stepped out of his old legs. A few shreds of cloth clung to him, but he was mostly naked, towering almost to the ceiling.

The first sound he made was a low moan of satisfaction, as if he had just awoken from a great slumber and stood to stretch. Then he turned sharply and Ard caught the first glimpse of his face.

It was still unmistakably Raekon Dorrel, though his crooked nose was straight and his abundance of old scars was gone. But his eyes were completely unrecognizable. They looked like detonations of Light Grit in his head, but they glowed with an intense crimson like the Red Moon.

As Ard stared in a blend of awe and dread, his friend raised a blue hand to his chest, feeling the smoothness of his new sternum. A smile crossed his face at the assurance that the awful pipe was gone. But Raek’s moment of celebration was short lived.

He gasped, fiery eyes squinting shut as his hand flew to the side of his head.

“They’ve found me,” he whispered, his new voice filling the Be’Igoth with its multi-resonant timbre. He fell to his knees in front of Ard, head lowered as if in worshipful reverence.

“Hang in there, Raek.” Ard stepped forward, raising the hammer. He brought it down with a tentative blow directly on the crown of Raek’s new skull. The tool glanced off without so much as a mark.

“Hit me!” Raek bellowed. Ard thought he saw a flicker of light beneath the red glass where his brain should be. Ard raised the hammer again for a more deliberate strike, but Raek suddenly lurched forward, his large body spasming in pain. He knocked into Ard, sending him staggering backward to collide with the wooden chair.

The hammer slipped from Ard’s grasp, clattering to the floor as he tried to keep his footing. Sparks shot from Raek’s fingertips, but not in the controlled way that he’d seen from Gloristar and Garifus. In fact, sparks were sizzling across his entire body as he convulsed like a person struck by lightning from above.

As Ard turned for the hammer, one of Raek’s involuntary sparks found a loose pile of Grit on the Be’Igoth floor. A small Barrier cloud detonated around them, Ard jamming his fingers against the impenetrable shell as he reached for the fallen tool.

No! This couldn’t be happening. He spun to find something else he could use. An inch or two of the chair leg stuck into the Barrier cloud, but it wasn’t enough to break off. Raek was only partially contained inside the dome, the perimeter passing right around his middle.

“San!” Ard screamed. “Get Null Grit!” The shocked young man sprang into action, sprinting across the room and practically pulling a cabinet door off its hinges. But Ard knew he wouldn’t find anything in there. Hedge Marsool’s raid had been too thorough.

“Ard…” Raek groaned.

Ard turned to his friend, who was lying facedown, one arm outstretched into the pile of old skin he had just shed. His blue hand lifted through the heap of cloth and discarded flesh.

Raek was holding a length of metal pipe.

Ard snatched it by one end and brought it down on the back of Raek’s head with a merciless blow. He saw a scuff on the smooth glass where it had struck. He swung again, landing it in the exact same place.

It cracked. A single hairline fracture that Ard could barely see in his panic. A third blow split it longer, and a forth sent a spiderweb of cracks from ear to ear. Ard was bringing his arm down for another blow when Raek’s hand shot out, catching him by the wrist. He raised his face from the Be’Igoth floor, glowing eyes fixing on Ard.

“Let’s not overdo it,” Raek said.

Ard managed to sigh and laugh at the same time. His grip went limp and the metal pipe clattered to the floor between them.

“That could have gone better.” Ard rocked back on his knees. “What was all that sparking?”

“Glassminds can do that,” Raek said defensively.

“Not like that,” said Ard. “Looked like you lost all control of your bodily functions.”

“Oh, forgive me for trying to figure out my new abilities while fifty-six Glassminds tried to blow up my brain with their mind powers.”

“What were you trying to do?” Ard asked.

Raek held up his hand. Suddenly, the Barrier dome and the Metamorphosis detonation began to dissipate, the clouds absorbing into Raek’s palm until the air in the Be’Igoth was clear and calm.

“I thought you were big before,” San muttered as Raek and Ard rose to their feet. The lad’s back was against the wall, still empty-handed from his search.

“Do you still hear their thoughts?” Ard asked.

Raek shook his head, gingerly reaching up to touch his cracked scalp. “I’d say you did the trick.”

“Does Garifus know you transformed?” Ard followed up.

Raek shrugged. “I’m guessing so.”

It was strange to talk to him. Raek was so much the same in speech and personality, but his body was impossibly different and alien.

“We better prepare ourselves, then,” said Ard. “In case the other Glassminds come after you.”

“I don’t think they will,” said Raek. “They’re all on Pekal, killing the dragons. I didn’t share my location with the hive mind, which was probably the first thing that tipped them off.”

“Good work,” Ard said. “I wouldn’t want people poking around in my thoughts, either. Makes a fellow feel downright violated.”

“They could only see what I showed them,” Raek said.

“Which was…?” questioned Ard.

“Nothing,” he replied. “But they weren’t so stingy with their thoughts. They told me all of their plans. Probably as a test to see how I’d respond.”

“Perfect.” Ard rubbed his hands together. “You know their plans.”

“I mean, it wasn’t anything new or groundbreaking,” said Raek. “Kill all the dragons. Then wait for the next Moon Passing to get everyone in the Greater Chain good and sick. They’ll transform anyone willing to share their ideals.”

“Did they provide some more clarification on what those ideals are?”

“They believe that the ideas of the majority will always dominate over the few,” he answered. “That unity means we’re all the same, and there’s no room for anyone who thinks or feels differently.”

“Sounds like the Homeland, sure enough.” As Ard stepped forward, his foot hit the metal pipe. It rolled across the floor, stopping against Raek’s bare toes.

The Glassmind stooped and picked it up, holding the piece of scrap thoughtfully in one hand. “Feels like I haven’t really taken a breath in years.”

“You’re finally free,” Ard whispered.

Taking the pipe in both hands, Raek bent it in half and cast it aside.

“You couldn’t do that before,” Ard pointed out.

Raek grinned. “I’m full of new tricks.”

“Spherical Time?”

“I’m ready for it.”

“Might I recommend putting on some clothes first,” said Ard.

Chuckling, Raek picked up a fallen tablecloth and tied it around his waist. “I’m going to need some Visitant Grit to access the Sphere. Garifus and his buddies probably used up all the Islehood fragments. That means we’ll have to find a piece on Pekal and feed it to one of the dragons before the Glassminds kill them all.”

“Let’s skip that step.” Ard crossed the room and produced a lock box from one of the cabinets. Pulling the key from his pocket, he opened it, proudly retrieving the keg that was lying inside.

“Is that…?” San stepped toward it, squinting in disbelief.

“Pure, processed Visitant Grit,” Ard declared. “Ready for your detonation and absorption.”

“Where did you get that?” Raek asked.

“We have Hedge Marsool to thank for that,” said Ard. “He left it hidden in a secure location in the Char. I sent Geppel to pick it up for me a few days ago.”

“How did you know where it was?” San asked.

“Because we told him exactly where to hide it.” Ard crossed back to the desk, setting down the keg and picking up one of the books. “It’s all right here. Everything we need to get where we are today. Let’s start at the beginning. Remember the treasury convoy that Forton Spel told us about last year? The one that got robbed outside of Midway?”

“Oh, I remember,” said Raek. “There were one thousand four hundred and three Ashings being transported in the second wagon from the end. What does that have to do with Hedge Marsool?”

“He’s the one who stole them,” said Ard. “Based on the information we learned when Spel recounted the incident for us.”

“And why are we starting there?” Raek asked. “Why do we want to help our enemy earn a thousand Ashings?”

“Think about it,” said Ard. “A man like Hedge Marsool isn’t going to trust the Urgings right away. We need him to gain our trust. Feed him a couple of quick moneymaking jobs. Once he starts following his gut without question, we’ll let him know it’s time to hire us for the dragon heist.”

“You have more jobs than the Midway convoy?” Raek asked.

“Just another small one.”

Raek put a fist on his hip disapprovingly. “What is it, Ard?”

“We need to give him a roundabout way to steal our safe box in Teffelton.”

“What?” Raek roared. “That was Hedge?”

“Sorry,” Ard said. “I had to give him something.”

“You said you didn’t know who got to that box.”

“I didn’t,” admitted Ard, “until I really thought about it this week. It had to be Hedge. The Teffelton box was too secure. The only way someone could have found it was if we had told him about it.”

“But wait…” said San. “You’re going to give Hedge instructions based on what you heard that Hedge had already done?”

“Spherical Time, kid,” said Raek. “It’ll break your brain if you think too hard about it.”

“I think that ought to do it,” said Ard. “Prove the Urgings that Hedge is receiving are more than common feelings.” He held out the book he was holding. “Next, I’ve detailed the Urgings he’ll need to hire us for the dragon job—writing the note in the Char ruins, Quarrah’s note in Lord Dulith’s vase, the events of our first encounter with Hedge at the Be’Igoth.” Ard wiggled the book at him. “Maybe you should just read it.”

Raek accepted the journal, thumbing through the pages as if he were fanning himself. “Got it.”

“No time for funny business, Raek. I spent a lot of time writing these.”

“I said I got it.” He shoved the journal back at Ard.

“You barely even looked at it.”

“I have perfect recall, Ard. I read what you wrote. And besides, I remember everything you ever said, word for word.”

“Flames,” Ard muttered. “That can’t be a good thing.”

Raek nodded his head in agreement. “Surprisingly unpleasant.”

Trying not to think about what offensive things he might have said over the last fifteen years, Ard turned to collect the books for Raek to speed-read.

“You really thought through everything, didn’t you?” Raek said.

“The best I could.”

“I might be the Glassmind.” Raek quickly thumbed through the remaining books. “But you…” He handed them back to Ard. “You’re always the mastermind.” Striding past, he picked up the keg of Visitant Grit and popped open the lid. “Spherical Time… Let’s find out what all this hype is really about.”

Extending one blue finger into the opening, Raek ignited the Grit with a controlled spark. Instead of filling the room, the detonation funneled straight into his pale blue hand, absorbed until only a small orb of haze hung in the air in front of him.

Raek’s eyes peered into the sphere with unmatched intensity. Ard saw nothing unusual, even moving around the room to view it from different angles.

“Fascinating,” Raek muttered.

“What is it?” San asked.

“All of time and space.”

“Could you be less cryptic?” Ard said.

“The past, the future, and countless possible alternatives are flickering past my vision,” he explained. “It’s like the view from a carriage window at full gallop. Only now I can see every passing blade of grass in perfect clarity. And as long as I stay connected to the Visitant cloud, I can use my mind to refine the search.”

“What are you looking for?” San asked.

“Not what,” Raek said. “When.” He pulled back his hand and the detonation cloud grew, stretching into a tall oval. It hovered before him like a doorway into time.

“Well, well… there you are.” Raek stepped forward, passing into the Visitant cloud. His body shimmered at the perimeter, then vanished completely.

San took a startled step toward the lingering cloud, but Ard caught his arm. “What happened?” the lad asked.

“He’s doing it.” Ard squinted into the haze, but there was nothing to see.

Then, all at once, Raekon Dorrel reappeared. He stepped out of the cloud, drawing the detonation back into his hand as he looked at Ard and San with a big grin.

“You’re still here,” said Raek, dusting his big hands together. “I’m guessing that means we didn’t screw anything up?”

“Not yet,” said Ard. “But there’s a lot more information to pass.”

Raek shook his head. “I did it already.”

“All of it?” he cried. “Sparks, you were only gone a couple of seconds!”

“Seconds, hours, days…” Raek mused. “They mean nothing to the Sphere. All I had to do was step into one of the alternate timelines and travel to wherever—whenever—I needed to go.”

“What did you do when you got there?”

“I sifted through those shadow timelines until I found Hedge feeling something, or saying something… Then I drew that emotion or that whisper and applied it to him in the Material Time. He had the words ‘Treasury convoy outside Midway. Second wagon from the end’ running through his head for weeks.”

“But he took the bait?”

“Actually, no.”

“What?” Ard shrieked. “It didn’t work?”

“Hedge didn’t steal the money from that convoy,” explained Raek. “But when he heard about the theft, he cursed aplenty and decided to start trusting his gut.”

“So he still did what we wanted.” Ard grinned. “All of the other Urgings go smoothly?”

Raek nodded. “Like clockwork. Speaking of which… Our jail guard—the one you called Hal—wasn’t being very open to the Urgings, so I had to convince someone else to stash that mantel clock loaded with Heg under my cot.”

“Really?” Ard said. “Who?”

“The one guy who seems to obey every Urging without question.”

“Prime Isle Trable?” Ard cried. That almost felt like dishonest manipulation, abusing a man of such faith.

Raek chuckled. “He couldn’t get the thought out of his head. He whined about it when he came to Be’Igoth. Poor guy didn’t want to do it, but he’s just too blazing faithful!”

“Out of curiosity,” said Ard, “you didn’t tinker with me, right? I mean, beyond the Urgings I’d written about in the journals.”

Raek smiled, clapping his hands together. “San! Let’s get some water boiling.”

“Excuse me?” The lad scratched his head.

“You feel like a cup of tea?” Ard questioned.

Raek stooped, picking up a handful of spilled Grit from one of the piles on the floor. “I feel like making Transformation Grit.”

“Is that the dragon tooth?” San asked. “But it’s so contaminated…”

“Then I’ll pick through it by hand.” Raek opened his fingers, studying the small pile of powder. “It’s time to create a god.”

Do broken things always need repair? I wish I were better at accepting the beauty in the cracks and the holes.