Chapter 32: Ten Minutes

Justiciar Hale’s home sat at the top of a hill in the Lantern District, only two blocks from the Cathedral, and he insisted that all of them stay there for the night.

"I can order the Cathedral guards to protect you, but the High Priestess knows a great many people in this city," Hale said as he unlocked the front door. "I would rather have you under my roof, where I can keep an eye on you."

"So are you looking out for us," Kai asked, "or are we prisoners?"

"Yes," Hale said.

Draven had been hauled off to the city prison in chains, still muttering about his shoes, and the High Priestess had disappeared into some tunnel under the Cathedral. Nobody knew where she was, and Kai tried very hard not to think about it.

The house was nicer than anywhere Kai had stayed since he came to Veyrath, with thick carpets and soft beds, and a cook who gave Kai a dirty look the moment she saw his soot-covered vest. Every one of them got their own room, which had never happened before on this journey. Garrick fell face first onto his bed and was snoring within seconds, boots and all, while Elowen sat on the edge of hers with her sword across her knees, facing the window.

"They will take my title away," Elowen said quietly when Kai stopped in her doorway. "The High Priestess will call me a traitor."

"Do you mind?" Kai asked.

"When I tell my sword that I did the right thing, it stays dark," Elowen said. "That is all that matters to me," she added after a moment of silence.

Sunny refused to take a room at all, and instead he sat down on the floor in the hallway outside Kai’s door with his back against the wall and his sword across his legs.

"You have a room," Kai said.

"I am guarding you," Sunny said.

"From what?" Kai asked.

"From whatever comes through that window," Sunny said. "And from you."

Kai didn’t know what to say to that, so he just went inside and closed the door.

There was a copper bathtub in the corner of his room, already filled with warm water, and Kai almost started crying at the sight of it. He hadn’t had a real bath since Earth, so he took off his vest and boots, tossed the rest of his clothes into the corner, and lowered himself into the water until it was up to his neck. It was the best thing that had happened to him in a very long time.

[A lot happened to you today]

"That’s an understatement," Kai whispered.

[You also gained a lot of faith today. From your true believer, the Champion, the Justiciar, and the rest of them. You have 24 divinity points]

Kai’s eyes snapped open, and he nearly slid under the water.

"Twenty-four?" Kai whispered. "That’s the most I’ve ever had."

[Yes. And there is a skill I would like you to see]

That was new, because in all the time she had lived in his head, Syraphim had never asked Kai for anything.

"Okay," Kai whispered. "Show me."

A small golden window appeared in front of him, floating just above the water.

[Lesser Manifestation (15 points): Allows Syraphim to appear outside of the user’s body for 10 minutes a day.]

Kai stared at the glowing words for a long time without saying anything.

"You want a body," Kai whispered.

[Only for ten minutes]

"Why?" Kai whispered.

Syraphim was silent for a long time before she answered.

[When I left your body in the Cathedral today, I felt things. I felt the air, and I could see you with my own eyes. I did not want it to end]

Kai didn’t know what to say to that, so he stayed quiet and let her finish.

[You do not have to buy this skill. It will not get you more followers, and it will be useless to you. I just want it]

Kai thought about the beach and the moon, and then he thought about Syraphim’s face looking down at him in the Cathedral and the golden tears drifting away from her eyes, and about how she had grabbed that ribbon and come back to him when she could have gone to the right guy.

"Buy it," Kai whispered.

[Are you sure?]

"Buy it," Kai said.

[Skill learned: Lesser Manifestation. Divinity points remaining: 9.]

For a second, nothing happened at all, and then out of nowhere Kai felt warmth spreading out of his chest, and he watched the light above him grow bigger and begin to take shape. First a hand appeared, then an arm, then long platinum hair, a gold collar, and two halo rings that began slowly spinning, and she was wearing a very thin white dress.

Syraphim floated in the air in front of him for one perfect second, and then she fell.

She dropped straight into the bathtub and sent water splashing everywhere, and when Kai wiped his eyes, she was sitting at the other end of the tub, soaked from head to toe, and her dress had gone completely see-through, so Kai looked up at the ceiling.

"Oh," Syraphim said. "It is wet."

"Yes," Kai said, staring very hard at the ceiling. "That’s what baths are."

"I did not know where I would appear," Syraphim said. "I appeared where you were."

"I’m naked," Kai said.

"I know," Syraphim said. "I have seen you naked before. I live in your body."

"That’s different!" Kai said.

"How?" Syraphim asked.

Kai opened his mouth to explain how it was different and realized he didn’t actually have an answer.

Syraphim looked down at the water, then lifted her hand out of it and watched the droplets fall from her fingertips, and her white eyes with their gold rings went wide. She touched the side of the copper tub, and then her own wet hair. And then, very carefully, she reached out and touched Kai’s hand.

"You are warm," Syraphim said softly. "I did not know you were warm on the outside too."

Kai’s face turned so red that he was pretty sure it was warmer than the bathwater.

"Your heart rate is increasing," Syraphim said.

"Stop," Kai said.

"Are you scared, horny, or humiliated?" Syraphim asked.

The door to Kai’s room swung open.

"Kai, I can’t sleep, and I was wondering if you..." Mira said, and then she stopped talking.

She was wearing a nightgown that she had obviously borrowed from someone and holding a candle in one hand, and she was staring at Kai and the soaking-wet goddess sitting in his bathtub.

There was a very long silence while everyone stared at everyone else.

"All three," Kai said. "The answer is all three."

Sunny poked his head around the doorframe, took one look, and immediately put his hand over his eyes.

"I will guard you from farther away," Sunny said, and walked off.

Mira set her candle down on the dresser and tried very hard to keep her composure.

"I see you bought something," Mira said.

"She asked me to," Kai said. "She’s never asked me for anything before."

"It is only for ten minutes a day," Syraphim added. "I have seven minutes left."

Mira looked at Syraphim, and Syraphim looked back at Mira, and something passed between the two of them that Kai didn’t understand and was a little bit scared of.

"You saved him today," Mira said. "You could have left, and you came back."

"Yes," Syraphim said.

"Thank you," Mira said.

"You are welcome," Syraphim said. "You bit him on the way here."

Mira turned bright red all the way to the tips of her ears.

"That was private," Mira said.

"Nothing is private," Syraphim said. "I live in his head."

Mira grabbed a towel off the dresser and threw it right in Kai’s face.

"Get out of the bathtub," Mira said. "And put some clothes on her."

"She doesn’t have clothes," Kai said from under the towel. "She’s made of light."

"Then put more light on her!" Mira said.

She stormed out of the room and slammed the door, and from the hallway, Kai heard her say something to Sunny that made the Holy Champion cough really loudly.

Syraphim sat in the bathwater with her chin resting on her knees, looking at the door.

"I like her," Syraphim said.

"Really?" Kai asked.

"Yes," Syraphim said. "She is jealous. That means she cares about you."

"She’s not jealous," Kai said.

"Kai," Syraphim said, and she smiled at him, and it was the first time he had ever seen her smile with her own face. "I can read your heart rate. I can read hers too."

Then her light began to fade, and she started to disappear, breaking apart into tiny specks of gold that drifted back into Kai’s chest like snow falling upwards.

[Manifestation complete. Time remaining today: 0 minutes.]

Kai sat alone in the cooling bathtub with a towel over his head, feeling the warm little light settle back into its usual spot in the back of his mind.

[Those were the best ten minutes of my life]

"You only had seven," Kai whispered.

[They were the best seven]

There was a knock on Kai’s window, so he pulled the towel off his head and looked over to see a little brown owl perched on the windowsill with a letter tied to its leg, sealed with gold wax and stamped with a crown.

[Kai. That is the royal seal]

Kai stared at the owl, and the owl stared back at him.

"I’m still naked," Kai said.

The owl blinked at him slowly, like it had delivered letters to plenty of naked men before and didn’t care one bit.