Now Papi. Evanae. My siblings. Our villa keepers.
My home had been ransacked and ruined.
Stars.
“Safah,”a voice called.
I whipped around. There was no one there. I was completely alone. Isolated in a home that was once filled with so much life and love, that was left an empty, desolate mirror of its former self.
“Safah,”the voice called again. It was coming from the darkened hall. I was apt to ignore it and planned to fly in the opposite direction. But then a strange peace filled me, in spite of my growing sorrow.
So I flew into the hall and followed the voice.
It kept calling out to me. Each time I paused in another room and took in the damage. Each time I began sobbing as I found heirloom after heirloom destroyed. Each time I was ready to fold myself into a corner and grieve, the voice called out to me. And I followed.
The voice took me floor to floor in the villa. I kept flying higher, checking rooms, and finding none had gone untouched. Then I reached the floor my family mainly slept on. Papi and Manmi also kept their individual offices up here, and growing up, my siblings and I had to complete all our studies on this floor.
Without thinking about it, I flew to the doors of my youngling bedchamber growing up, throwing them wide open. When my vision cleared, I looked around my bedchambers and gasped.
Chapter 55
My room was perfectly intact. My bedcloud was perfectly made. The pillows were fluffed and poised just like I’d left them. There was my comfy desk chair tucked in behind my glass desk with gilded embellishments. The washroom door was hanging ajar as I’d left it because I had been rushing. Even my sprawl of scroll papers where I’d been journaling were still splayed out over my desk like I’d gotten up, planning to return.
And then I didn’t.
My rugs were in order. My portraits were still hanging. My windows were closed and not shattered.
Someone did this with intention. To send a message.
One that was being clearly received.
Slowly my sorrow began turning into unmitigated rage.
Angels had been sent to do this, the way they’d done it, on purpose.
I pivoted from the chamber, rushing for Manmi’s office. Like I’d expected, it was in shambles. Her desk chair had been tipped over. The glass of the desk had been broken. Her scroll shelves were in disarray. But her drawers were still closed.
I floated over, flying past the mess, and positioned myself behind the drawer of her desk. I waved my hand over it, drawing on my starfire so Manmi’s ethèrlock would sense the power.
“Wings high, Safah Eloise Anathelle,” a small voice spoke out from the mist of the ethèrlock. It was whimsical and otherworldly. I wished Manmi was alive so I could learn how she did this. “You may open.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, tugging the drawer back.
It was filled to the brim with scrolls, scrollbooks, and ledgers. A gold mine for anyone hunting for information. What could Manmi possibly have been writing?
I righted the fallen desk chair, and sat in it, crossing my legs, tucking them beneath me. I pulled out one of Manmi’s journals, thankful it was still open. The last page ended in an unfinished sentence. I thumbed through it, landing on an entry she’d written a few cycles before she’d passed.
Thorndawn, Julial 7th, cycle 197, Sixth Age, 7thCycle
Safah is inquisitive, sharp, and still curious. I have no doubts she will uncover what’s hidden. Evanae follows in her footsteps, even if she doesn’t realize it. Evanae is my wildling. Always a wonderer, never too shy to question. To poke. To prod.
I believe my fifis will be catalysts for the inevitable. I am ashamed to admit it took me too long to see the truth. But I trust them. Their wit. I also trust my bibis. It will be hard on them, but they will do what is right before the Infinite in the end.
Safah doesn’t know about the Star. She cannot. Her knowledge will lead to exposure. If she is exposed, she will die a painful death dragged through the Ages. My only prayer is that her true fire remains dormant. That the bibi of Valoryensfinds her. That she learns I lied. I was wrong. He is the only safe place. He is true. He is hers.
I pray to the Infinite they find their way to each other, and neither kills the other before they realize the truth. Perhaps Evanae will play a part. Curious little flower she is. She’s even found an Archived tome:History of the Fallenspawn: the Truth of How They Came to Be. I love my wingmate, my bibis, my fifis. It breaks all seven of my hearts that I will probably be taken before I can reveal to them the truth. But where I have failed, may the Infinite finish the way.
Arèmen.
