Lahat ng Kabanata ng Mate Rebound : Kabanata 181 - Kabanata 190

POV: Elara's POV~The baby did not cry when I put her in the cradle. She just looked up at me, wide-eyed, and was silent, watching. She did that often. Looking the way someone who had already seen too much looks. I was envious of her silence, her forbearance. My hands still shaking, I now hovered over the edges of the wickiup blanket.Damien was across the room, sitting by the hearth, sharpening his blade. Not because he needed to. But he needed something to do with his hands. He’d not said much at all since we found the stasis-locked Jasmine echo, or since we found the Uncut man down in the vault. His body was here, but something of him had gone wandering. I glanced at him again. There were low eyes and a tight jaw. “You haven’t touched your food.”He didn’t respond at first.“Damien,” I tried again, softer.“I just can’t get that chamber out of my mind,” he finally said. “On what else is it that’s hidden beneath us?” I nodded. “The Academy was built on secrets. Now they continue to

Elara's POV~ She blinked, though not like a newborn waking up, but more like a memory returning. Her skin looked pale, her hair clung to her cheeks, and she glanced at me. "Mother," she whispered again.I froze.Damien followed immediately after, with his blade in one hand and the swaddled baby securely against him with his other. Lyra moved closer but did not answer. Even she knew that this was not a time to interrupt. I knelt slowly. "What’s your name?" I asked. The girl tilted her head to indicate that she didn’t know.Her lips fumbled as they sought the means of expression. But she didn't say a name, she made no sound, but then, she began to cry, not from sorrow, but from the effort of so much memory that her body seemed to recall more than her brain could contain. I reached out to her, hesitant at first.She didn’t flinch as my hand brushed her cheek. It was warm, real and not an illusion. "Do you know who I am?"“Even in that, you tell me that all is not changed,” she murmured

Elara’s POV~I had woken up very early before the sun had risen. The morning felt like every one of those mornings when you'd get to feel and know that something was off. The baby, Jasmine's echo-born daughter laid asleep in the cot next to my bed. Damien had stayed on guard all through the night, never letting her out of his sight for a moment and for once he had allowed us to care for her because there was only a few hours left before he could make any headway in finding what he needed. I watched as the baby, tucked her knuckles beneath the edge of her blanket gripping tightly as though she was protecting herself in her own dreams. Maybe she was.The new Academy was being formed. Brick by brick. Spell by spell. It was never the same as before, and it wouldn't get to be. And that definitely the point. We weren't at war anymore. We were now learning to live. And the idea about that mostly terrified most persons than it provided comfort to the rest. Heavy with sleep I dressed up an

Elara's POV~Damien was the first to move. He threw his door open and stepped out onto the street without a second thought. I stepped out alongside him. When I looked at what was scattered on the floor… I suddenly felt a sick feeling in my stomach. The road was littered with black feathers and bodies of dead vultures. There were at least two dozen vultures who lay on the ground, every one of them had started to decay.It wasn’t just the sight that irritated and disgusted me, but it was the silence. There was no wind, and no sounds coming from the forests on either side of the road. “What happened to them?” I whispered.Damien crouched to examine a bird without touching it. He took out his phone, snapped a photo. “Get into the car.” His command, his voice harsh, as my pulse shot up in direct response. “Damien—”“Elara now,” he hissed, still staring at the bodies. I got into the car and sat down without saying anything. He opened the door and got in next to me, starting the car as we dr

Elara's POV~Father’s chest rose and fell weakly as his face turned pale enough to reveal the blue veins beneath. “His pulse is fading!” one of the healers barked as she brought her hands to his chest and furrowed her brow.A second healer was bent over a low table, stacked with serums and small glass jars. “We need heart root, fresh and not dried ones.”“That’s rare,” the first muttered. “Rare or no,” snapped the second, “without it, he'll be gone by nightfall.” I clutched my mother's arm as she wept into her hands. Her shoulders were jerking so hard I could feel it in my bones. “Mother—”Tears streaked down her cheeks, and she shook her head. “They said he’s been poisoned. Elara, they told me it's already inside his heart.”“Poison? How? How could this happen? Who—”“Not for days!” she shouted, her voice matching my uncertainty. “He hasn’t received any guests. No one’s been near him,” she cried as her fingers knotted together. “I would have known—”A gray-haired elder came walking i