Page 105 of Anomalies

“H-how did you find this?” The one I’d taken from the Dame burnt along with most of my things.

“It took a while, but Callan told me you lost a picture of her in the fire. I figured there had to be another of her somewhere.” She starts doing that thing where she forgets to breathe between sentences. “You can’t tell Pa, but I cut that one out of a scrapbook one of the Scribes made, gods, he’d be furious if he found out, and⁠—”

“Kimber.” Her mouth snaps shut. “What did Callan tell you?”

“He said the picture you had of Esme burned,” she replies slowly. “He came here a week before he left and asked me to find you a new one.”

My eyes fall to the picture.

“Cin,” Pax calls this time, looking rather serious as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. He hasn’t smiled in days, and the way he’s frowning is enough to send my heart racing.

I give Kimber a quick hug. “Thank you,” I tell her, then I keep hold of her shoulders as I pull back. “But leave my third eye alone, please.”

She smiles sheepishly. “I did it out of love.”

“Yes, I know, and I love you too, but there are other ways to tell me to calm the fuck down.” I release her only after it looks like she understands. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

I meet Pax and Hunter at the end of the bridge, and we walk the entire way to the Yard in silence. I don’t have the courage to ask what they found out, and it seems like they don’t yet have the strength to tell me.

It wasn’t until Hunter started wrapping my knuckles with tape in preparation for today’s lesson that I felt brave enough to ask. “Are they dead?”

“We don’t know.” Hunter’s jaw ticks, his eyes downcast on the tape.

“Well, what do you know?” I glance between him and Pax. “I know Pa told you something.”

There’s a long and drawn-out silence as the two exchange glances, then Pax shakes his head firmly.

Hunter goes back to my hands. “We don’t want you to worry⁠—”

“I’m already worried.”

Pax shifts on his feet, staring back at me for a moment, and then he exhales. “Sometime last week, Easton summoned his Velkan.”

“Okay…” I say slowly, eyes darting back and forth between the two of them. “That doesn’t mean⁠—”

“Pa was able to confirm that Callan did too,” Hunter says quickly, then snaps the end of the tape off with his teeth and moves to my other hand.

Dread erupts inside me like a volcano. “So, the two of them…” I stammer, “they were…”

“Dying,” Pax blurts, and the ground shifts beneath my feet. “And we don’t know if their Velkans were able to save them.”

My eyes snap up to the bags under his eyes, to the dull flicker of life on his cheeks, to the overgrown stubble on his jaw.

Two weeks ago, he told me Callan was going to be okay. Two weeks ago, we were worried but not afraid.

Now we’re afraid.

“W-we have to find them,” I stutter through my words, tears pricking my eyes. “We can’t just⁠—”

“No,” Hunter snaps, and Pax scoffs. “No one is leaving. We were given strict instructions to stay put, to keep you alive, and to maintain your training. So that’s exactly what we are going to do.” He finishes with my hands and slides his own into the focus pads, holding them out for me to hit into.

“They’re coming back,” Hunter tells me, but it feels more like he’s telling himself. “They have to.” His chin jerks to my wrapped knuckles when I don’t put up my fists. How could I? What would be the point? “Come on, Cin.”

I glance at Pax, to the worry etched in his face and to the anger that burns there too. That must be what they’ve been fighting about; Hunter wants to stay, and Pax wants to go save them. His brothers are out there, and my⁠—

Nothing… I guess. My nothing.

The first punch jerks my sore muscles awake, violent enough that tears spring to my eyes.