Stars blazed(猛烈地燃烧)in the sky above Spook like a million tiny suns. They shone through the mists, which had during the last year become thinner and weaker. At first, he had thought the world itself was changing. Then he had realized that it was just his feeling. Somehow, by burning tin in his body for so long, he had permanently strengthened his senses to a point far beyond what other Allomancers could attain.
The burned tin had begun as a reaction to Clubs's death. Spook still felt terrible about the way he'd escaped, leaving his uncle to die. During those first few weeks, Spook had burned his metals as almost a self-punishment he'd wanted to feel everything around him, take it all in, even though it was painful, or perhaps because it was painful.
But then he'd started to change, and that had worried him. But, the crew always talked about how hard Vin pushed herself. She rarely slept, using pewter(白镴)to keep herself awake and alert. Spook didn't know how that worked he was no Mistborn, and could only bum one metal but he figured that if burning his one metal could give him an advantage, he'd better take it, because they were going to need every advantage they could get.
The starlight was like daylight to him. During the actual day, he had to wear a cloth tied across his eyes to protect them, and even then going outside was sometimes blinding. His skin had become so sensitive that each little stone in the ground felt like a knife jabbing(猛刺)him through the bottom of his feet. The cold spring air seemed freezing, and he wore a thick cloak(斗篷).
However, he had concluded that these discomforts were small prices to pay for the opportunity to become whatever it was he had become. As he moved down the street, he could hear people turning over and over in their beds, even through their walls. He could sense a footstep from yards away. He could see on a dark night as no other human ever had.
① Always before, he'd been the least important member of the crew the dismissible boy who served as a handy man or kept watch while the others made plans. He didn't feel annoyed with them for that he'd been right to give him such simple duties. ② Because of his street dialect, he'd been difficult to understand, and while all the other members of the crew had been carefully picked, Spook had joined through the back door since he was Clubs's nephew.
Spook sighed, sticking his hands in his trouser pockets as he walked down the too-bright street. He could feel each and every thread of the cloth.
Dangerous things were happening he knew that: the way the mists lasted longer during the day, the way the ground shook as if it were a sleeping man, periodically(周期性地)suffering a terrible dream. Spook worried he wouldn't be of much help in the critical days to come. A little over a year before, his uncle had died after Spook fled the city. Spook had run out of fear, but also out of a knowledge of his lack of power. ③ He wouldn't have been able to help during the campaign.
He didn't want to be in that position again. He wanted to be able to help, somehow. He wouldn't run into the woods, hiding while the world ended around him. He was sent to gather as much information as he could about the Citizen and his government there, and so Spook intended to do his best. If that meant pushing his body beyond what was safe, so be it.
He approached a large crossing. He looked both ways down the intersecting(交叉的)streets the view clear as day to his eyes. I may not be Mistborn, and I may not be emperor, he thought. But I'm something. Something new. Something people would be proud of Maybe this time I can help. ④
① The shining daylight that almost made him blind.
② The little stones that jabbed him like a knife.
③ The cold spring air that seemed freezing.
④ The sleepless people that turned over and over in their beds.
⑤ The awakened awareness of being unimportant when keeping watch.
⑥ His street dialect that made him hard to understand.
“Perhaps he'd find a way to become useful to the others.”
