Page 58 of Titus

“Let’s go.” He pulled the reins to the left and squeezed Demona’s sides, trotting to the gate.

“Captain, what about Lysander?” Arik called out, confusion clear in his tone.

Fadon didn’t bother turning around, his eyes only ahead in the direction of where the omega waited. “He’s not coming.” His words echoed off the courtyard like a final note in a song.

Chapter 25

Sierra

Eat, sleep, explore, swim. Repeat. That was my regimen over the next few days.

I rarely spoke, rarely even saw Auria and Demos. I had the cabin to myself at night, and never broached the subject as to where they slept. My sole focus was on moving on, healing, and processing everything that had happened since that day I had crawled under Old Shawney’s porch, which felt like a lifetime ago.

My strength returned, each day growing exponentially. In fact, I had never been stronger. Muscles I had never known existed hugged my bones. My skin was as soft as it had ever been. My now white hair thicker, longer. My strides more substantial, quicker. Even my senses were sharper. I had more energy. My movements were executed with absent-minded focus, agility matching thought. Breasts that were once soft and small were now full like ripe fruit. Even my bottom and hips had swelled, transforming from maiden to woman.

Demos had mentioned the word acceleration once in describing what my body had been going through. That was exactly what was happening, like the Creator hadn’t been finished with me, had zoomed into my body and blood, rebuilding me at an astonishing speed, as if It had made an error prior and had to remedy it as fast as possible.

But my being, where my thoughts, perceptions, and sense of self resided, wasn’t touched. I was still the me who was just a young woman from Providence, naive about the world. Friendless, with only my principles to rely on.

I had to admit, however, the days were also special, filled with peace and wonder. There was no one to tell me to come in, to change my dress, to stand up straight, to practice a complex back stitch. Instead, I studied how fireflies’ little glowing bodies were signals to their potential mates. How fish rarely swam without their friends nearby. How ants made war with rival ants, creating miniature kingdoms, and how they fed their sisters water, their mouths becoming tiny pitchers.

Swimming had become my favorite thing. I was mesmerized by the water on my silken skin, the feel of it like a cool satin sheet. When I floated on my back, my eyes on the sky, my ears picking up the sounds of another world below, I felt more alive than I’d ever had. In those moments, I was right where I was supposed to be. Here. Now. One with Nature. Marriages and bloodlines and treaties were as meaningless as a wet piece of old parchment; all were concepts created by Man, their importance only worth the interest put in.

After a while, I came to accept all the changes in my body. I wasn’t quite ready to welcome all of them, but I no longer fought against them. As long as I still shared air with the trees, the ferns, the birds, and ants, I was part of this grand beauty called Titus. I was supposed to happen, I wasn’t a freak. And most importantly, I was still me.

A flock of bluebirds flew overhead, and somewhere nearby a woodpecker started its hunt for food in a nearby tree. The thought of food called to my stomach. Reluctantly, I swam to shore. I would come back in the afternoon, when the sun kissed the water in rivulets of gold. It was my favorite time in the pond.

Water pooled at my feet on the grass as I bent to the side, squeezing all the excess water from my hair. That’s when I noticed Demos a few yards away, sitting on a massive rock, his robes glowing in the morning light.

He respectfully turned his head, but not before I saw his eyes travel over my naked body. My heart pounded for a few seconds before I shut down any thoughts of him that could lead to paths I promised myself I wouldn’t travel.

I gathered my hair into a tight knot at my nape, grabbed the dress I’d left on the bank, and put it on. I had long grown used to not having any underthings, nor stockings or shoes, and for the most part I enjoyed the freedom and feel that only a thin strip of material covering me gave me. But for the first time since I’d been here, I found I wanted the barrier of more clothing, an armor that would add another layer of protection between me and Demos.

Why he was here? Demos had never been around while I swam, so his presence now was curious. Perhaps he was here to tell me we were leaving.

I took a deep breath and sat down beside him on the rock. Since it was still morning, the sun hadn’t yet warmed it, so I felt the cold hardness underneath me, which normally would have had me breaking out in shivers, but I had recently learned that, along with all the other changes going on inside me, my intolerance to cold was almost non-existent. It was one of the changes that I’d actually welcomed.

“My lady,” Demos said, tossing a long stem of tall grass onto the ground. He plucked up another, and I wondered if he was fidgeting. Demos wasn’t one to move much when conversing, unlike my father, who talked with his hands.

“Servant,” I replied.

I swept my gaze across the pond and beyond, where a forest of pines bordered this strange oasis. There was no doubt in my mind now, after spending so much time exploring this place, that wherever we were wasn’t supposed to be. I still had yet to ask. I was a curious creature by nature, but in this I feared the answer.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head back. I wanted to keep the serenity from my time in the pond. So, when he started talking about our departure, half of me wasn’t listening.

He grew silent, so I turned to look at him. There was a slight frown at the corners of his full mouth. He was looking ahead, deep in whatever thoughts held him captive.

Even though I knew Demos—in more ways than most probably did, I thought dryly—and had spent so much time with him, the man was still a stranger to me. As if I’d only dipped a toe into what I thought was a puddle, only to have it reveal an ocean underneath.

The silence was starting to get to me, though, so I said, “Tell me about Erikos. I’ve never heard of it before. Is it far?”

That had him looking back at me. “Erikos?”

“Yes. That is where you hail from, is it not?” Now it was my turn to pluck a long reed from the ground. My fingers twirled it around and around, making it spin.

“Ah. Erikos isn’t a place but a family name. I never really had a home, so when I joined the Owl, I had Erikos added to my registration. No one ever bothered to look into it, nor has the subject come up. You are the first.”

“Never had a home? Did you and your parents travel, then? Like nomads?”

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