The windows had clearly been open for some time, through both sun and storm alike; the curtains hung heavy and damp, leaves and other outside debris littering the floor all around them. Several weeks’ and countless storms’ worth of debris, it looked like.
Heart pounding, I made my way to Orin’s room, to the closet where I knew he kept most of his traveling equipment.
All of it was still there.
My heart continued to race faster and faster, my magic pounding right along with it. It was so loud, so obvious, that I wasn’t surprised when I felt Aleksander’s power rise up in answer. His voice was in my mind a moment later.
Are you okay?
I wasn’t sure. It didn’t seem like Orin had planned to leave—but then again, he could be absent-minded and unpredictable. Maybe he’d simply wandered off somewhere and lost track of how long he’d been gone?
Nova?
I closed one of the windows, my hand bracing against the latch, and I took a deep breath.
He’s gone.
I endedup sitting on the back porch after all, just as I had on so many beautiful days before this one, letting the noise of the creek and the woods lull me into a calmer, more thoughtful place.
Orin never showed up.
Instead, it was the four of us talking, arguing, trying to decide what to do next.
“You know the way to this Hollow Grove place, don’t you?” Thalia asked.
“…I think so.” I frowned as I tried to picture the paths I’d last walked more than a year ago. “I’ve never been without Orin leading the way, though.”
“But do we reallyneedhim?”
“We don’t know what sort of magic is actually at work in said grove,” Zayn pointed out. “His guidance would be nice.”
“Lots of things would benice,” Thalia countered. “It would beniceif he’d told Nova more about this grove to begin with, for example. Or if he’d properly warned her aboutanyof thesethings we’re facing. But that’s not the reality we’re dealing with, now, is it?”
Zayn settled into a sun-bathed chair and stretched out, tucking his hands behind his head. “Someone’s in a bad mood.”
Thalia fumed in silence for a moment before storming down to the creek, mumbling something aboutannoying Soltarisan assholes.
I watched her leave, the pit in my stomach widening. “Of course she’s in a bad mood,” I said. “Her relationship with Orin aside, the very air of this realm is unsettling for a Shadow wielder. It feels strange to me even after only a few months of getting acclimated to Noctaris, and despite my Vaeloran blood that gives me power in both realms; I imagine it’s worse for her.”
Thalia was a Shadow feyth. Incapable of creating magic from nothing, but able to draw out the dark energy of a given place, or to channel the magic summoned by higher divine beings. In the Below, where Shadow magic was more abundant, she and her staff were often a force to be reckoned with. Up here, there was much less material for her to work with.
Zayn considered this for a moment. “Her father was your teacher, right?”
“Yes.”
“He was Aetherkin?”
I nodded.
“So, a step above the feyth when it comes to the hierarchy of magic, but still technically out of his element here. Because I assume he was Shadow-aligned too, like his daughter. Or necromancy-inclined, or whatever you want to call it.”
“Yes…which is maybe why he taught me by way of lectures, more than anything. When it came to magic, his skill lay more in creating potions and trinkets and occasional weapons. Things like the bracelets I once used to temper my power.”
Yet, I’d never wondered much about his magic. Never thought it strange that he knew so much about my shadows despite not being able to fully wield them himself. It had never crossed my mind that he could possibly belong to another realm entirely.
I should have asked more questions; I felt like such a fool, standing here. A stranger in my own home. An ignorant?—
No.
