Page 37 of Anomalies

I think I’m going to be sick. “Okay,” I start, ignoring the obvious squeak in my voice. “So how do I get rid of him⁠—”

Kimber yelps when every light in the room is snuffed, leaving us in complete darkness. The temperature drops, and goosebumps rise on my skin.

There is a shuffle, followed by the strike of a match, and Pa’s aged face illuminates as he sets a melted candle in the center of the table and sits back into his chair. “He didn’t like that question.”

“I don’t care if he likes it or not,” I reply, but my voice is shaky. “I should have a choice in who binds themselves to me.”

Orange shadows from the flame flicker across Pa’s face, his lips curved into a frown. “There is very little in this life that you will have a choice in, Lucina.”

Something heavy settles in my gut.

“To have even one Velkan is an honor,” Pa continues, “but to have two…You are very protected, child, that is a good thing.”

“But Pa,” Kimber starts, “her second Velkan, he is⁠—”

“He was,” Pa corrects her, and my eyes dart between them. “He was a lot of things in life, but even the dead can turn over new leaves. He belongs to Pyra, but don’t you think making the sacrifice to become a Velkan redeems at least a fraction of his soul?”

Kimber falls back in her chair, silent.

“He’s using me to redeem his soul?” I ask, unaware until now just how hard I’ve been gripping the teacup. “Is that why he’s leaving me gifts?”

“Gift…” Pa’s stare goes out of focus, those all-seeing eyes locked in one place, then his head snaps up, and the flame on the candle stills. “He left you something blue.”

I look at Kimber, finding her wide eyes already stuck on me. “Yes,” I tell him. “A sapphire.”

Pa’s wrinkled brows lift, his glazed eyes rounding as he looks to his granddaughter. “Oh, Mouse,” he says. “We do have a problem.”

“What is the problem?” I ask, sitting up straighter in my chair. Aside from the fact that a demon has attached itself to me to redeem himself… or haunt me…. or send me a message…

“You are familiar with the Chiaros?” Pa asks, “And the way they were formed?”

I nod, attempting to steady my breathing, shadows dancing all around the room as the flame begins to tremble along the wick of the candle.

“Aura, Pyra, and Vita were born from a dying star.” His voice carries through the dimly lit space. “When Chiaro collapsed, our world was made, and after the Matrons were born, do you know what the first thing they did was?”

I shake my head slowly, settling my hands on the table.

“They found a way to communicate. They created something we called the Tether—three stones embedded in a gold chain. The ruby is the heart of Pyra, the emerald belonged to Vita, and the sapphire was pulled right out of Aura’s leagues of bright blue sea. When connected, it gave the Matrons the power to communicate with any soul in the Chiaros. It was a marvelous thing, until it fell into the wrong hands. Lucina, do you know who Alaric Tenebrus is?”

“He was…one of the original disciples, right?” I ask, and Pa nods.

The story Pa told at Selumira sparked more questions. Gemma told me that Alaric Tenebrus was the first disciple to convert to black magic. He pledged himself to the dark side of Vita, and from then on, her shadowed blood ran through him. He convinced four other Sol disciples to convert, then the five of them fled south, creating an empire of Rogues. Like us, they have five royal bloodlines; the Tenebrus line is the most potent.

Everyone knows Alaric Tenebrus. He might as well be the devil.

No one has ever given a name to the side of Vita that he began worshipping. She is the darkness between stars, the phantom wind that knocks moons out of orbit or swallows them whole. She’s the furious and sinister part of Chiaro that just didn’t break off right when it collapsed. She never found her place amongst the stars, so she takes her anger out on them.

No one worshipped her…until Rogues.

Pa readjusts himself in his chair, purple robes shifting across his arms. “He got his hands on the Tether,” he tells me. “Then imbued it with a great evil, giving spirits the power to travel through the stones instead of just talk through them. Alaric created the Twilight Passage, a tunnel system that connects our plane of existence to the spirit world. The magic in the stones is so potent that only one is needed to access the passage.”

My mouth dries out. I have a key to the Twilight Passage sitting on my nightstand.

“It was Etis Van Reenan—our highest ranked disciple— that stole back the Tether and separated the stones when she realized it couldn’t be wholly destroyed. Etis wanted it to be nearly impossible for anyone to possess all three stones at once. So, she gave each stone a condition: The sapphire had to be given freely, the emerald she left up to Fate, and the ruby requires a great sacrifice. They have to come to you in the way she intended, and that is the only way to possess them. Using an Eldral at all is damning, but using one that does not belong to you, could be fatal.”

“Gods…” I mutter to myself, and Kimber stiffens.

“You must never use it,” Pa says sharply. “The consequences of possessing an Eldral are dire enough, but using one is… far too risky.”