Page 97 of Anomalies

Sable roars when darkness snakes across my chest, and I’m thrown from the circle of Sol Marks.

23

LUCINA

My hands slam into the ground, and the world erupts in fiery ribbons of gold. Flames burst through the floorboards, then there’s a flash of silver, and a bellow of pain, and my Dark Velkan roars against the onslaught of the fire.

I run. Straight to the middle. Straight to the Sol Marks. I run faster than my feet can carry me⁠—

Those frigid fingers snatch my ankle, and pain bursts through my knees as I fall to them.

“She tells lies, Lune Sylra.” His shadow flashes, dark as night, across the walls, swallowing the entire room as it burns.

A bright burst of light cracks across the floor, skittering like lightning, and it severs his hold on my leg.

“Here!” Sable’s scream cuts through his shouts of pain, and when I scramble to my feet, she’s standing right where I need to be.

In the circle of Sol Marks.

Fire rises around her. “MOVE!”

His shadow flashes, prowling closer. Cold and grim and angry. He’s so angry I can feel it. I feel it festering under my skin, as if he’s found his way into my very blood. As if he’s lived there all along.

Sable erupts; fury incarnate, and I fall through the flames, crashing at her feet.

“Home,” I cry out⁠—

Crickets.

I hear crickets. And the rush of a nearby stream.

I breathe a sigh of relief and peel myself off the cold stone, staring off vacantly at the Eldral still gripped in my palm. My limbs burn, and my insides are hollow as I stand.

A twig snaps.

I wait a heartbeat. Then another. Jolting forward when the shrubbery rustles. I thrust my hands into the creek, splashing water across the stone to wash away the chalk, and frantically wrap the Eldral in the wrinkled parchment, shoving it underneath the rock behind me.

I stand in time to see Ceres step out of the tree line.

She freezes, the corner of her lips tilting in a knowing smirk, then she prowls forward. “I don’t see any Ajax…” she notes, her moon white skin nearly translucent, a stark contrast to the red tendrils of her hair and the dark tunic she wears. “Are you all alone out here, Lucina?”

I clear my throat, my palms suddenly thick with sweat. “Yes.”

She pauses, arching a crimson brow, her gaze sweeping across the rock I stand on. “Then who were you talking to?”

My hands flex, the rest of me going numb with fear. If she finds the Eldral…I’m as good as dead. “No one, I⁠—”

Pax bursts through the trees, his face a mix of relief and anger when he sees me. “You’re going to sneak off the first godsdamn night?!” he snarls, barreling towards me. “Callan’s going to kill me—” His voice cuts when he sees Ceres. “What are you doing here?”

She only glares at him. Chiaros, you could cut the tension with a knife.

“I thought I heard something.” Ceres’s dark eyes slide to me, then down to the rock I stand on. “You really shouldn’t let her out of your sight, Paxton,” she chastises as she turns to leave. “Not with a killer on the loose.”

He glares at me with enough anger to fill the creek we stand by, and I wait until Ceres is gone before opening my mouth. “I know you’re angry⁠—”

“Angry?” he chuffs. “Angry doesn’t cover it, Lucina.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.” I subtly use my feet to kick the Eldral fully under the rock, deciding that’s the best it’s going to get as far as hiding it goes. I can’t very well throw it in my pocket with Pax here. “I-I just needed some air.”