Free The Wizard's War by Rain Oxford

moment
before returning with a small jar of salt. “You were clinching your teeth. That
will cause irreversible damage,” she explained.
    “How would salt help?” I asked, not seeing her logic.
    She patted my cheek until I opened my mouth, then she
sprinkled a little of the salt on my tongue. Having eaten nothing yet that day,
the salt woke my taste buds in the worst way. I held out my tongue and
scrunched up my face. I couldn’t even say anything because I didn’t want my
tongue in my mouth.
    Sari laughed. “See? You cannot clinch your teeth like
that.”
    I glared at her as she handed me a napkin to wipe the
un-dissolved salt off my tongue. Once I could speak, I really had nothing to
say.
    She sat beside me. “Is it Ron?”
    “Isn’t it always?”
    “Does it bother you to be here with me knowing that
he dislikes me?” she asked. Sari had met my family only twice, and both times
Ron not only dominated the attention, but was extremely rude to her.
    “Actually, he doesn’t dislike you. When you’re not
around, he is very civil about you. He doesn’t mock you like he does most
people.”
    She laughed. “It’s just to my face that he has a
problem.”
    “Yes, but that’s with anyone. And there are two sides
to Ron. There’s the sweet, quiet boy he was when he was little, and there is…
well… the one you met. But despite the things he does and says, he really just
wants to know that he is loved and isn’t about to be abandoned.”
    Ron said things he didn’t mean and acted outlandish
to divert attention, usually away from me. He constantly worried about my
safety and my visions. I knew he really cared about my opinion, like in the
matter with the Raktusha and Lore, but he never really asked for it. He always
assumed I would agree with him. I didn’t tell him that I wanted to choose Lore,
because that would leave Ron out of being Noquodi.
    “Do you want something to eat?” Sari asked. I nodded.
She patted my arm and left for the kitchen.
    Sari’s father had died a few years before, so she was
being raised by her mother. Luckily, the woman adored me. When she had to leave
for work for several days, she had no problem at all with me staying with her
daughter. Honestly, there was too much trust in Anoshii. If this were Shomodii,
there would be a father sitting on the porch with a shot gun… even if it wasn’t
the girl’s father.
    My headache came on quick; a telltale sign that I
would have a vision soon. Even though Sari was aware that I was a seer, I
wanted to give her a heads up before it happened.
    It occurred to me that Sari was taking too long about
the same I realized it was too quiet. Ron always made a lot of noise in the
kitchen. I got up and went to the door. There was no sound. “Sari?” I called.
It was uncomfortably familiar to be calling her given name without her title,
but we always kept up the pretense of being a couple. Of course, I called
people of Earth by their first names…
    There was no answer, so I walked down the short hall,
checking the empty bathroom as I made my way to the kitchen. The closer I got to
the kitchen, the more my head pounded. I couldn’t push this one off.
    When I saw Sari, my vision was the least of my
worries; Sari was unconscious on the floor. I ran to her side, knelt, and
checked her neck for a pulse. It was strong, and when I put my fingers in front
of her nose, I could feel her breathing. I turned her over, but there was no
sign that she would be coming around any time soon. There was no blood or
bruising, either.
    Summoning my Iadnah energy, I scanned for any injury
or clue as to what could have caused her to faint. Instead of a mental image of
ruptured blood vessels or broken bones, lethargy flooded my system. It was my
only excuse for not reacting quicker when I felt the sharp sting in my right
shoulder. Even as my limbs became limp, I managed to halfway turn to look
behind me before something heavy and hard came down on my