Mia stood on the deck and watch the fleets of ships already blazing and their smoke rising way up in the sky even as they got further away from shore.
Xavier came out to meet Mia, who had stood at the deck for half an hour already. He allowed her to stay there at first because he thought she wanted some sort of reassurance that this wasn’t a dream, but now, he was curious to know why she hadn’t moved.
He stood beside her and took hold of her hand to squeeze down in reassurance, only to have her yank it away from his hold and flinch away. This made him turn to her, and he saw her behold him with the most terrified look, as though he were a monster about to harm her.
“Stay away from me.”
The change in Mia took Xavier by surprise. She didn’t want Xavier close to her. She had a look of t
