"You're busted," Cal told her, "You left your Stasis book on your Sparrow and Dad found it when he was fixing it." "Now, Cal, this isn't your business. Let us handle it," Petra said, gently taking Thora's arm and pulling her into the garage. Crow was waiting. Petra shut the door so the younger two wouldn't try to barge in on their discussion. Thora tore away. "Mom, I can explain! I've seen a future and something's coming that I can't tell you about, but the only way to prevent it from killing all of you is this. The guardians use Stasis. Tons of people use stasis and aren't evil. 'Blame the wielder, not the weapon, for the evil it has done,' is what Mother Sjari always says, and Stasis itself isn't evil." "Actually, that isn't entirely true. When a murderer kills people with a gun, it's the murderer's fault, not the gun's, right? But Stasis isn't just a gun. Stasis has a desire to kill and to control and it has devoured good people who sought to use it for good, and sold their souls to the Darkness. This isn't okay." Thora backed up, bumping against the wall. "Alright, call me a monster if you want to, but I'm just trying to do what's right. I know what Stasis wants, but I can handle it. I'm more powerful than the Stasis." "Thora, sweetheart, you aren't a monster." Petra put her hands on Thora's face, remembering when the girl had been tiny enough to hold. "You're just a kid and you're trying to do too much for us. Whatever it is, we can handle it- it isn't worth losing you!" "No, it isn't worth losing [i]you.[/i]" "I think maybe you need to stop looking at the future so much. It's only making you more stressed and you've become a bit controlling. We're concerned." Crow crossed his arms. "Foresight can be deceiving." "Has it been, so far?" "Well, no, but the point is, you don't know what you're getting into with Stasis. I've seen my friends try to control it and it's a huge struggle that we don't think you're ready for. Don't get me wrong, it isn't all bad in the right hands- but you're just too young for that." "You should have at least told us instead of keeping it to yourself," Petra agreed. "Don't you know how dangerous it is?" "Less dangerous than being unprepared. You're the ones who don't know- I don't see either of you trying to look at the future. I'm just trying to be helpful. Maybe you're the ones who are being too controlling." "We just want to protect you!" "Well, I don't need your protection!" Thora opened the garage door and ran up the stairs. Petra tried to follow her, but the girl slammed her door shut and refused to answer her calls and knocking. Petra wanted to knock the door down and demand that Thora talk to them- and she was perfectly capable of doing so- but that didn't feel like the best solution. Instead she leaned back, where Crow had come up behind her, squeezing her shoulders. "Come on, darling. We can try again later this evening. She'll listen to us." "I hope so," Petra murmured, letting him bring her back down the stairs. "Otherwise I don't know what we'll do." But Thora didn't come out of her room for the rest of the afternoon, not until it was time to head down to her evening training session, and she managed to slip past all of them using her magic. "We need to talk," Crow said, after Cal and Lidy went to bed. "Something's wrong with her. She's so different than she used to be, and I think Mara is rubbing off on her." "Mara?!? How can you make this all Mara's fault? She welcomed us back even after I left and she's been so much better than she used to be. I didn't see all the things she was doing wrong until I realized now, she's doing them right. You still just don't like her! If you really want to let go of Uldren, you really have to let go of your grudge against Mara." "Not if she's poisoning my daughter's mind. It's that same blind arrogance. She thinks she can do anything now, because she can see what's coming. But Mara could never see the consequences her actions had on other people, and we agreed to raise our children better than that." "So what are you suggesting? We can't leave! We're happy here." "Not as happy as we were when it was just us." "You, maybe. I'm perfectly happy here as well. You don't have to be spymaster. If you don't like it, I'm sure you can find someone else to take over." "That isn't the point. I'm not suggesting anything so drastic. I think Thora is doing way too much training. Maybe just pull her back, not let her spend so much time with Mara and the Techuens.. the Reefborn awoken can be very blind in a lot of ways, even you. You didn't see it until you left. I'm worried you're forgetting how to see it again." "Or maybe you just aren't willing to accept that things have changed." Crow sighed. "Maybe. But we have a real problem on our hands. The best way to find the cause is to control the possible factors and watch." "You're right. Tomorrow we'll tell her, then, to stop working so hard. We'll all stop working so hard. We need to spend more time together." "Yeah. It's getting late. Let's just go to bed and deal with the rest in the morning." "Alright." He wrapped an arm around her as they went up the stairs to their room. Neither one of them noticed the slight ripple of light that concealed the invisible, angry girl behind them.