Not Aymery, Tris thought, flinging herself back on the bed. Not him.
She'd been having daydreams of Aymery returning home, making the family a nice profit somehow, and then bringing her in to be his assistant, or apprentice, or something. In those imaginings, her family had seen that Aymery's judgement was right, that they had done Tris a wrong when they got rid of her. They would want to make amends. They would want her back.
She wished the lightning would return, and touch her again.
Her eyes burned, but it was impossible to cry. She was too tired. The day had been long already. It was only seven in the evening; if the fog hadn't set in, there would still be light in the sky. It didn't matter. Putting her spectacles on the floor and covering her eyes with her arm, Tris slept.
The Hub clock was chiming midnight when she began to wake. By the time the bell that marked the half-hour called through the misty air, she wasn't a bit sleepy. With a sigh, Tris sat up. Disgusted, she realized that she'd gone to sleep in her dress and stockings. Everything was hopelessly rumpled.
About to undress, she heard a creak downstairs. If someone else was up, maybe they could talk - she wasn't about to go back to sleep. For one thing, she was hungry.
Gathering up her spectacles, she padded out into the attic and over to the opening where the stair pierced the floor. She walked softly, to keep from rousing the other sleepers in the house.
The person downstairs was being very quiet. He - or she - was also in the dark; there was no sign of lamp or candle.
Another soft creak, and two more. Whoever made them was coming towards her. One last thump, and then nothing; the walker had gone outside, through the back door next to the stair.
As quickly as she dared, Tris climbed down the ladder, and peered outside. A dark shape was vanishing in the dark fog, walking through Rosethorn's garden.
It's him, a disgusted magical voice said.
Tris jumped and whirled. Briar was right behind her.
Then why didn't Little Bear bark? she demanded.
He hasn't so much as rolled over since I went to bed. Briar frowned. We'll lose Aymery if we don't move. Or should I just wake Niko?
Tris walked down the path, peering into the fog. He's going for a stroll, she insisted.
He always tippy toes when he's on a nice, happy stroll, agreed Briar with false cheer as he followed.
Tris glared at him. She heard someone stumble, and curse, not far away. Aymery was as blind out here as she - or was she blind?
Stretching out her power, she pushed through the dark, wet curtains around them, as if she sent ripples through a pond. There he was, the one moving thing that picked through the clinging mist. Puckering her lips, she blew, thinking of duelling sea-breezes. Little puffs of air battled in front of her, shooing the fog to one side of the path or the other for a few feet ahead. Now Tris was able to move forwards at a trot, with a bit more ground visible, while the fog let her know Aymery's direction. Briar was right behind her.
We're going to ask him, and he'll explain, Tris said as they passed through the grape arbour. You'll see.
She clung to that, trailing her cousin around the baths and around the temple itself. There, in front of the temple porch, her foot caught: she sprawled face-first on to the ground. She had tripped over a curled-up novice who used her armour for a pillow. Briar hit the legs of a snoring red-robed dedicate, who was stretched out like a felled tree near the path. He stumbled, and righted himself. Neither sleeper so much as moved.
Huddled shapes lay all around as far as the pair could see in the mist. Briar knelt and shook the sleeper who had tripped him. The man simply rolled over. They were alive, then, but sleeping as if drugged.
Now we know why Aymery was in the kitchens, Briar remarked. And why Gorse didn't see him. Aymery made sure he couldn't be seen, so he could put sleeping-potions in the food. A good thing we kept to the food we already had, right?
When they looked up, the fog had closed in; Aymery was gone. They could barely see each other.
Tris was beginning to think Briar was right. She hated that. Her elbow and a knee throbbed from her fall. Aymery had vanished and could even now be letting their enemies inside... He could be doing anything, while she stood here blind!
Tris slammed the fog up and forward, as hard as she could. The air shuddered; mist exploded away from her chubby form. Trees bent and groaned, leaves flapping. Sleepers rolled away from her. Briar hung on to a temple pillar and sent his power into the ground, racing to protect the trees from the pain of ripped greenery.
Aymery, suddenly visible, was thrown into the wall beside the North Gate.
Tris glanced up. The fog was racing into the night-dark sky, colliding with storm clouds that had been forming higher up. Had she started something? I can't think about that, she decided, and stomped up to her cousin. "Aymery!"
Briar ducked behind a tree. He'd let Tris do the talking. Let the maggot think they were alone, and he might speak truthfully.
Aymery lurched away from the wall. "What are you doing here?"
Despite the heavy snoring all around them, the cousins spoke quietly, as if they might wake someone. "Aymery, please... You aren't -" Tris swallowed hard. "It looks bad, Aymery. It really does."
"You don't have to worry," he said earnestly as she approached. "I'll protect you. Nothing will happen to you."
"What about my friends? What happens to them?" Tris stopped a foot away from her cousin.
"I'll do my best, and - you'll just have to trust me, that's all. In case you forgot, I tried to get you to leave, remember?"