Morning Star

Chapter 22: his insanity | Eva

As soon as the words fell from Ethan's father's lips, Sarah had bolted in the direction of the figure skater, with Peter following close behind. Giving Sofia, Ethan and his parents an apologetic smile, I ran after them.

Cailyn and Jas followed. Zero called their names once in confusion, before slowly trailing behind. Ethan strode purposefully after us, leaving his parents and Sofia standing there, bewildered.

"Excuse me," the blackcurrant eyed siren elbowed her way through the crowd of fans, ignoring their snide comments at her rudeness. "I need to ask you a question about your brother."

The figure skater halted, halfway through signing an autograph. The girl whose poster he was signing gave Sarah a dirty look, but she didn't even glance her way. "Oh?" the figure skater enquired, shifting his body to face us, the sequins on his deep purple suit glimmering in the white light of the ice rink. "I wasn't aware my brother had affiliated himself with...adolescents. How quaint." He batted the group of fans still surrounding him with his fans, and after a few terse seconds, they dispersed.

Sarah bristled, but she wisely chose not to speak. Instead, Peter picked up the conversation, saying, "We have an urgent matter that needs to be settled with Jason, sir. Please, we really need your help." Sarah and I both stared at Peter's strange politeness.

"My brother has not stepped foot outside his home in a year," the figure skater said eventually, after a moment of silence.

"Because of his wife?" Jas asked, her voice quiet.

"Definitely because of Sophie," the figure skater confirmed, a hint of grief appearing on his face, then vanishing just as fast as it had come. "Say, do you believe in magic?"

Oh, did we?

Risin chuckled. We are magic.

"Let us say we do," Cailyn replied, eyeing the figure skater with suspicion, her hands creeping to her sleeve, to where her scissors were stored. I doubted she actually intended to hurt the man - it seemed like more of an unconscious act than anything.

The figure skater lowered his voice. "Soph was always obsessed with magic. She was endearing, but she was completely and wholly insane. She was driven mad by the thought of one day discovering something that couldn't be real. If I were to be honest, that may be why she died. She pushed herself too hard, and then she fell ill as a result."

I exchanged a wide eyed glance with Sarah and Peter, my brain whirring. If Jason's wife had been so immersed in discovering magic, even when it was practically non existent on Earth -

"Did Jason have the same ambitions as his wife?" I questioned, my palms turning sweaty as I dreaded his answer.

The figure skater shook his head. "No. But he loved Soph very much, and he would do anything for her. Anything. I wouldn't be surprised if he continued her research in the one year he's been gone from the world."

It would make sense if he had. It would explain why an Earthen scientist would sneak into Jendilya and kidnap Kelvin. It was possible we were following a completely wrong lead, but nothing had made more sense to me, in that moment.

"He would be going places if he didn't insist on shutting himself away." The figure skater spread his arms, and we instinctively stepped back - except for Cailyn, who tightened her fingers around the handle of her scissors. "This planet, my friends, is multifaceted and contested, fraught and fragile, owned and everyone's; what we see and what we saw and what we expect or hope or see. The world is an object, populated with miniature versions of itself. It is ours to conquer and rule as we wish. And all those people, the ones who are captivated by me...they become mine."