heart open, testify, tell me i'm not crazy
Marcus had been leaning closer, drawn in despite himself by the impossible horizon shimmering in the pool. The longer he stared, the more it tugged at his curiosity. But the thought shattered the moment Nova shifted beside him. Instinct snapped his attention away from the vision below. His gaze darted to her hand and how it reached out. Fascination vanished, replaced by a tight knot of worry.
“Hey—”
His voice was calm but firm as he lifted a hand slightly, a quiet signal for her to stop where she was. “You shouldn’t touch these,” he said, glancing toward her before looking back down at the strange horizon within the water. “Or step in them. Not even a little.” The words sounded almost ridiculous out loud, but the stories he had read in the library had been clear. The pools weren’t harmless wonders. One careless step, one curious touch, and she could vanish into some unknown.
“If you fall in, yoou end up somewhere else.” His gaze flicked toward the other pools scattered nearby, suspecting that each one held its own impossible view. He frowned slightly. For a brief moment a question crossed his mind that he didn’t say aloud: Hadn’t her mother ever told her about the Eyes of Vi? Nova moved through the world with such easy confidence, such certainty about magic and gods and strange places, certainly some of that had to come from what Safrin hd shared with her...and not just the fact that Safrin was her mother. “So… yeah. Let’s admire them from here.”
“Hey—”
His voice was calm but firm as he lifted a hand slightly, a quiet signal for her to stop where she was. “You shouldn’t touch these,” he said, glancing toward her before looking back down at the strange horizon within the water. “Or step in them. Not even a little.” The words sounded almost ridiculous out loud, but the stories he had read in the library had been clear. The pools weren’t harmless wonders. One careless step, one curious touch, and she could vanish into some unknown.
“If you fall in, yoou end up somewhere else.” His gaze flicked toward the other pools scattered nearby, suspecting that each one held its own impossible view. He frowned slightly. For a brief moment a question crossed his mind that he didn’t say aloud: Hadn’t her mother ever told her about the Eyes of Vi? Nova moved through the world with such easy confidence, such certainty about magic and gods and strange places, certainly some of that had to come from what Safrin hd shared with her...and not just the fact that Safrin was her mother. “So… yeah. Let’s admire them from here.”
m a r c u s
