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“New skill?” It didn’t take much acting to look confused. “I’m only an apprentice. What skill could I teach you?”
He leaned one hand against the rail, looking out over the ocean. I examined his profile, wondering if it could really be this easy. The ease of it all made me uneasy after the way things had turned out in the crevasse. What fresh deception was he preparing?
He abruptly turned his head, fixing me with his startling green eyes. “I’ve been fascinated with you ever since we met, Delphine. It’s not often I meet someone with an ability that surprises me.”
Unease filled me as I realized the obvious—Grey wanted to know about my wall. But I pretended ignorance.
“Me?” I kept my reply short, avoiding any comment that might have the taste of a lie.
“The first time we met, when I tried to test you, I couldn’t reach you.” He leaned forward, the eagerness in his voice and eyes betraying him. “And then again in the warehouse, when I sent my power into you, you pushed me out.”
I drew back, letting one hand float to the place where he had stabbed me.
“The warehouse…” I put all my uncertainty into my voice.
Grey winced before quickly pasting his smile back in place. He took my other hand in both of his, fixing me with an earnest look that struck me as a lot less earnest than it had back on land.
“Let me apologize again for that. It was a terrible error in judgment and a shame that stays with me.” He bowed his head in false contrition. “Of course, I never meant you any permanent harm since I knew you would be able to heal yourself.”
I left my hand in his, blinking at his lowered head. I didn’t feel any of the strange, unquestioning, unthinking certainty of before, just the normal sensations that came from my ability. Grey didn’t need to use any special ability because he was telling the truth.
I sorted back through his words. He hadn’t actually said he felt guilty. He’d called it an error in judgment and spoken of shame. Was he ashamed of having inflicted pain on another person, or was he ashamed with himself for letting his emotions lead him into a poor strategic decision?
Somehow I felt sure it was the latter. If nothing else, I was getting a firsthand lesson in how to manipulate words in order to avoid a healer’s truth telling sense.
“Thank you,” I said, thinking of the future value of the lesson in order to give my words the ring of truth.
When he looked back up, he was beaming. “I’m not surprised to find you so gracious.”
He let the words stand as an apparent compliment, although I could guess the true meaning behind them. He still thought me in thrall to him, and that knowledge was far more welcome than any of his compliments could ever be.
“I don’t know if I can teach someone else how to make a wall,” I said. “I’ve never tried before.”
Grey frowned. “Is it difficult?”
I tipped my head to the side, honestly considering his words. “Not for me. But I don’t really understand how I do it. I created it almost as soon as I was activated, so at the time I was driven entirely by instinct.” I had no desire to help Grey, but I also didn’t want to make him suspicious. “Master Clay told me he tried to do it and couldn’t.”
I met Grey’s face openly, keeping my features calm. He would sense the truth of my words, and hopefully they would help prepare him for his eventual failure. I didn’t want him blaming me, but neither was I going to put effort into teaching him.
Giving false lessons to a healer turned out to be no easy task, however. There was only so much prevarication I could manage in answer to direct, detailed questions. And what I had thought might be an hour’s lesson between Grey’s other tasks turned out to be a marathon effort.
Grey might have taken the captain’s cabin for himself, but he wasn’t actually involved in sailing the ship. Given he was a healer, it made sense, but I had still expected him to be up on deck playing the part.
Instead, he shut us both in his cabin for the better part of two days as he tried again and again to recreate my wall. We didn’t even break to eat with the others, instead taking brief breaks to eat the food that was delivered by one of his followers.
The cabin was almost as large as the one which housed all the females onboard, so there was plenty of room for us, but it contained few other luxuries. Apparently there had been barely time to make the basic furniture and no time for extra ornamentation. It made no difference to our efforts, although I soon grew bored of plain brown walls, plain brown floor, and plain brown roof.
We weren’t alone, at least, since Grey brought in a steady stream of his followers, usually one at a time. All of them had a healing ability, and he had them attempt to make a wall as well as attempt to breach mine while he gripped my other arm, using his power to watch the interplay of our abilities.
Whether he tried to push his healing power into me himself or watched someone else attempt it, he couldn’t find a way past my wall. And when we reversed roles, none of them could put up a wall to keep me out.
“Is this an ability unique to you?” Grey stared at me hungrily as the sun approached the ocean on the second day at sea. “How can no-one else do it? I understand the rest of them failing, given their weaker seeds, but even I can’t…” He trailed off, his brow creased in a scowl.
As time had worn on without anyone making any progress, both my confidence and my curiosity had grown. Why were they all unable to replicate what seemed an easy feat to me? Faced with Grey’s specific and repeated questions, I soon began to think about it in earnest. But even when I was trying to be helpful, I could think of no way to explain it.
“I had no idea it would be so difficult,” I said. “I really don’t know what’s so different about me.”
Grey stared at me, clearly frustrated, but unable to claim I was lying to him. He had failed, but he couldn’t blame me. And from the way he was reining himself in, he wasn’t ready to risk scaring me by unleashing his true anger and frustration. So far, I had been the only teacher, but he had spoken of both of us learning a new skill, so he still had other uses for me.
