Novel, Day 9

Once Devon and Ivy were ready to go, the group went to find some lunch in the midway. Meredith and Adina giggled to each other about Elliot and Ivy. She was still twitchy nervous from her presentation, constantly second guessing if the tea had seeped properly or if she had said anything wrong. The group would be talking about something completely different, like how much of the salad was left, and she would blurt out “LEFT! I served them left to right, not right to left!” Elliot was obviously finding this hilarious, but doing a fairly good job of keeping the laughter out of his voice. He had taken it upon himself to become her caretaker. She would blurt out about the direction of her serving in the presentation, and he would put his hand on her shoulder and offer her a bite of his sandwich. Adina found their obvious rapport especially entertaining. As they left the midway to head toward her archery competition, Adina tugged the cuff of Meredith’s sleeve, and the two of them fell to the back, then behind the group, so they could speak in private.

“Meredith, are you seeing what I’m Seeing?”

“I’m not sure, what is your Sight telling you?”

“You know how Ivy is all crackling violet energy after a contest like that? Well, she still is, that’s not the thing. The thing is that whenever Elliot touches her, it steeps to more pinks and orange, and the crackles are dissipating much faster than usual. His presence is totally grounding her.”

Meredith beamed. “What else?”

“Well, it’s too early to be sure, but their auras seem to be syncing. I’m not 100 on that, mind you. But his aura is getting the orange and reds when he is around her.”

Meredith squeezed her friend’s hand. “I can’t See with my gift, but I can see with my eyes. I’m so pleased. They seem perfect for each other.”

Adina smiled and nodded. “Their auras haven’t linked, not a thread, but their souls are reaching for each other. It’s just a matter of time.”

Meredith gave her friend an awkward, sideways glance. “Linked, huh? So what do Samuel’s and mine look like?”

Adina laughed loud enough to catch the attention of the group, who noticed how they had fallen behind and waited for them to catch up. “Oh, my dear, you’re not exactly one yet, but you’re so tangled together there’s no separating you.”

Adina’s archery contest was to be held in the main arena. There was a practice area behind the arenas where the contestants could warm up. As Adina stood in line to pick up a bow and quiver, she challenged Elliot to a target match. “After all, we’ve only seen you fling frogs and cards. I want to see how good you are on a range.” He agreed after a bit of coercing from the group, and admitted that it wouldn’t hurt to get some practice in before his competition the following day.

At the target range, Adina and Elliot were able to get neighboring targets, since the Archery and Ax ranges were next to each other. There were benches behind the ranges, where groups of people were catching their breath or relaxing in the relatively warm autumn day. Samuel and Devon sat with Meredith and Ivy, laughing and relaxing while their friends prepared themselves with their own personal rituals. In order to get targets next to each other, Elliot would have to throw on a target further away than his target would be in his competition, and Adina would have to shoot a target closer than hers would be in a few hours. Once in the preparation area, both competitors were all business. They both were aware of the deadliness of their weapons, and treated them with the proper respect. They both toed the line at the same time, Adina setting her nock, Elliot planting his grip. Without an external signal, they began at the same time. Adina drew and released her five arrows in rapid succession, all but the first crowded in the bulls eye. Elliot’s five axes were thrown with similar speed, each hitting and sticking in their own small, separate target, all touching the center ring.

Whoops and hollers erupted from the viewing gallery as the contestants waited for the line to be called all clear before retrieving their opponent’s projectiles. Adina had scored 24 points, and Elliot 23, as the blades of two of his axes had cut the line, placing their score in the ring just outside of center. They came back to the bench to get some water and let other people have their targets, as it was crowded and many people needed to rotate through.

“It’s not a speed competition.” Meredith laughed.

“It isn’t? I couldn’t tell.” Ivy was honestly just naive on the subject.

Elliot ran his hand through his hair. “Usually, in practice, you start as fast as possible. It shows where your weaknesses are so you can work on them during the rest of the practice.”

Adina smiled. “It’s also a macho thing. A way of sizing up your opponent’s raw abilities.”

Elliot laughed. “Yeah, it’s that, too.”

The all clear was called again, and Adina and Elliot left to get in the preparation area for another round. As they prepared themselves for the signal to toe the line, a group of young men approached the bench. Elliot watched as the men struck up a conversation with everyone, watched as Ivy smiled and talked with them. He suddenly wanted to be over there, to hear what they were talking about; to be able to put his arm protectively around Ivy’s shoulder, as Samuel was instinctively doing to Meredith at that exact moment. Adina’s movement forward caught his attention, for he had missed the call, and that the person in front of him had finished and was clearing the targets. He mentally chastised himself for not having his head in the game as he went to the line.