“I-I don’t understand. Are you or are you not a Sol?”
Kalden leans closer. “We can talk about this la?—”
“It’s a simple question,” I say, stepping back.
His shoulders roll forward, but he allows me my space. “I am.”
“You’re what?” I press, needing him to stop being so vague for once.
“A Sol.”
“You can’t be,” I whisper, though I know it’s true. I feel it in my gut, hear the honest steadiness of his tone. “Your skin . . . It’s . . . It’s not all charred and cracked. You can talk and think and . . . feel. Sols can’t do that.”
His jaw twitches. “The creatures you know as Sols are actually Pyres.”
“Pyres?” I test the foreign word with a grimace.
“There is some truth to what they teach you down there. Sols are humans who’ve learned to harness the sun’s energy. But we aren’t bloodthirsty monsters. Our humanity stays intact unless we channel too much power and push ourselves to burnout.” Kalden’s tone darkens, as do his irises. “When a Sol crosses that line—when they let too much of the sun’s power course through them—it incinerates their soul until all that’s left is an empty shell of burnt flesh, a mockery of who they once were, with an insatiable hunger for what they lost.”
My chest squeezes in on itself.
“You lied to me,” I begin, voice shaking as I recall the promise he made during our first training session. “When you vowed that I wouldn’t become a monster, you knew I’d assume you meant I wouldn’t become a Sol, didn’t you?”
His silence is enough of an answer.
“This whole time, you’ve been telling me a little bit of sun exposure won’t take away my humanity.”
Gem reappears at my side, voice unsteady as she asks, “How could you expose yourself?”
I squeeze my arms around myself. “Remember what I told you about what happened in the transport tunnel? Well, Kalden saw it. My hand, when it was still glowing. He confronted me during our first training session, then told me there was a way I could harness the sun’s power in moderation to fight back without turning into a monster. He even made a pulse promise, but I guess that was a lie.”
Black strands spill over Kalden’s sweat-streaked temples as he shakes his head. “It wasn’t a lie. Not entirely.”
“Notentirely?” I mock. “Sun’s pits, Kalden! Can you stop being so vague and be honest with me? Are Sols fucking allergic to the truth, or is that just you?”
“I meant what I said,” he snaps, then takes a breath before adding more calmly, “Sols aren’t monsters. You are not a monster.”
Gem holds up a palm. “Wait. Are you saying Orelle is aSol?”
More screeching precedes the sound of Kalden’s name being called from the opposite side of the nearest dune. The afternoon sun casts a golden silhouette against his dark curls as he turns away from us, peering in the direction that Niles took. And when his glittering eyes return to mine, I kick myself mentally for believing the man in front of me was just a mere human.
“Temporarily, yes. You’ll return to your normal human form shortly after sunset, as we all do. The sun bestows its power as a daily gift—one we don’t get to keep in its absence.” Kalden casts another glance over his shoulder. “I need to go help Joss and Niles with the Pyre, but I promise I’ll answer all of your questions later.”
Kalden turns and hides his true self no longer, hands extending towards the ground as he launches bolts of energy. His golden-streaked form rapidly retreats through the warm air, taking sandand dust with him.
Once he leaves us, Gem and I don’t speak for what feels like the longest minute of my life.
My eyes drift to the lapping waves while my mind processes through the facts, each one its own brand of grim.
Seafoam spills across the sand.
Yvonne is dead.
The water recedes, taking with it the stream of crimson flowing from her corpse.
Gabe, Aruna, and Twilynn are still missing.
Shimmering waves writhe forward.
