The Burned Rogue Book

Chapter Seventeen: Everything

Chapter Seventeen: Everything

That night, Atlas and Gair slept on the bed. Javi slept on the floor next to Gair and I slept on the floor next to Atlas. His hand was hanging off the bed holding mine.

The dream slammed into me like a wave. My eyes snapped open in the darkness. Colum materialized, but he didn’t seem to notice that I was there. He was eyeing his sword with longing for the world he used to know. I sat up, and he noticed me.

“There is a memory that has been calling you back,” Colum said.

“I don’t know which one,” I said. “I just…there are things that I need to know, but I don’t think they’re hidden in a memory.”

He shook his head. “Nevertheless, there is something that you need to know, and it is in a memory that you need to access.”

“Is it my memory?”

He frowned. “No. It is…in your mother’s.”

“What?” I breathed. “But she’s…”

He offered me a hand. “It’s calling you back.”

I took his hand, and the room started disappearing around us.

We were back in that great columned hall, but only two men were there.

“Do you know what’s going to happen?” I asked Colum. He watched the two figures.

“This was the day of the great battle. The morning of.”

Jakob and Colum were talking, and neither of them looked happy.

“Where does my mother fit into all of this?” I asked.

“I think that is what we’re going to find out.”

Jakob was shaking his head. “That’s crazy,” he said.

“It’s the only way.”

“You’ll get yourself killed, Colum!”

Colum turned to Jakob. “It’s me, or you, your wife, your unborn child, my wife, and the rest of the Campus.”

“There has to be another way. You’re the last—”

The last Dreamer, I know. And the next cannot be born if I am dead. But there is so much more at stake than just my Fire.”

“But can’t someone else…?”

“Die in my place? Never, Jakob. I will not allow it. The Losts need my name to unleash the power of the Book, but us Rogues also need me for the same reason. It’s my name.”

“Have you talked to her about it?”

Colum looked at the ground. “I can’t. She will never let me do it.”

“She’s been looking for you.”

“Hasn’t everyone?”

“But I think she wanted to tell you something.”

Colum sighed. “I…I don’t have time. The Losts are going to be here—”

“And the rest is a battle,” the ghost-Colum told me. There was a loud explosion, and he grabbed me and pressed me close, his hand cradling my head against his chest. The room faded again, the sounds of battle distant. Colum seemed to be shaking. When I knew it was safe to pull away, I did, but Colum disappeared. I shook my head.

“No, no, no, where’d you go? Colum!” I called. I started coughing, and I realized the overwhelming amount of smoke. It clouded everything, and I stumbled over mounds. I wondered why the ground was so bumpy, until I realized, to my horror, that they were bodies. Some, in the distance, were glowing. Others were already turning into saplings. “Colum!” I called, and I started running. In the haze and bodies, I was so lost. “Colum!”