Page 34 of Chaos and Crowns

He cracked his eyes open, finding the churned mud replaced by lush grass. Fresh spring air filled his nose in place of the smoky air of the battlefield. He looked up to find the Sanctuary before him, standing tall as it had for hundreds of years, and now hopefully would for thousands more. His vision blackened around the edges, even as the presence of the Light that always inhabited the corners of his mind darkened, slipping away to almost nothing. He didn’t fight the loss of consciousness now, knowing he had carried out the Commander’s final orders. Here, in a dimension apart from the rest of the world, what remained of the Eteria could regroup. They would be safe.

15

Odelle took a sip of her redeye and grimaced. The beverage was more Nora’s speed, but even after a solid ten hours of sleep, Odelle was exhausted. Nothing less than six shots of espresso was going to make her sound chipper on the afternoon’s broadcast.

Still, as a makeup artist caked powder on her nose and a sound technician hooked a microphone to the back of her dress, Odelle’s spirit lifted. The hustle and bustle of the station around her filled her veins with an energetic buzzing. Even though she had only been away from work for the two days of the weekend, she felt like she had been missing this for weeks. The familiarity of it all made being chased by Shadow creatures and stranded in the snow seem farfetched, like something that happened to somebody else. Being back in her element allowed her to polish her hardened confidence back into a shining armor, buffing out the scratches left by the weekend’s failures.

As Odelle scanned through the stories she would be covering, her task reminded her that the fight against the Shadow was still very much a part of her life. She squinted at the different headlines, seeing if any of them caught her eye, but she only found typical stories on thefts, small apartment fires, and a local election. In a city as big as Chicago, any subtle undercurrents of evil would be difficult to spot.

Odelle finally sat behind the wide desk and shot a smile at Paul, her co-anchor for the broadcast.

“Do anything exciting this weekend?” he asked as he straightened his papers.

“Too exciting,” Odelle admitted with a chuckle.

“Hot date?” Paul asked with a knowing look.

“You could say that,” Odelle admitted.

“What did you guys get up to?” he asked.

“Camping.”

“In February?”

Odelle laughed, “Yeah, he’s an odd one.”

“Now I’m extra glad I stayed inside with my family, even if my daughter insists on playing with a toy that plays animal noises nonstop.”

Odelle was saved from the conversation by the call for quiet on set. As she was cued in, she fell into her rhythm blessedly easily. Doing something she knew she was good at brought her more comfort than she cared to admit. After a weekend of failures, it was reassuring to be reminded of her competence.

The feeling of being on solid ground once more only lasted a few minutes. News of a homicide played on the teleprompter.

“A couple was found dead in their Lincoln Park home on Saturday. Police suspect that they were killed during a robbery, as a valuable antique was found to be missing from their extensive collection. The victims have been identified as Don and Margaret Whitehall…”

Odelle didn’t realize she had trailed off until Paul cleared his throat next to her. She jumped but had lost her place.

“Don Whitehall’s neck appears to have been broken in the attack, but the cause of death for Margaret Whitehall has not yet been determined.” Paul took over for her and Odelle snapped her mouth shut, trying not to show her shock to the camera. “Police have not yet identified any suspects, and the investigation is ongoing.”

“And now for sports,” Odelle jumped back in, managing to pull her nerves together. If her hands gripped the edge of the desk a little tighter than usual, only Paul could see that. Even as she managed to finish the broadcast without any more hiccups, her mind kept wandering. Of course, she knew Mr. Whitehall had been killed, but she had been too busy worrying about survival to think about how that would be handled by police. But Mrs. Whitehall—had Thad killed her in the fight?

Odelle continued to fret even as she stripped off her sound equipment. She needed to visit Thad and get answers about what happened after she and Antony jumped out the window. Odelle was on a bus to the park before her brain caught up with her body. Thankfully, she was conscious enough of what she was doing to focus on the Sanctuary as she stepped into the portal.

Odelle found Thad in the first place she checked, bustling around Antony’s bed. Her heart sunk at the sight of Antony lying unconscious, just as she had left him the night before. Thad’s warm smile at the sight of her eased her anxiety, though.

“It’s good to see you all in one piece,” Thad greeted as he ushered her into the room, pulling up a stool at Antony’s bedside.

“I wish we were both in one piece,” she admitted as she took a seat, taking in Antony’s slack face. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but it seemed like a little more color warmed his cheeks than before.

Thad sighed. “It doesn’t make it better, but this is hardly the first time Antony has done this…or the hundredth if we’re being honest. All that power and he still manages to push past his limits more often than the rest of us. Even before the Defeat, when using the Light became more dangerous, this wasn’t an uncommon sight.”

“Why?” Odelle frowned. “With all his centuries of experience, you’d think he’d be more careful.”

“That’s what I say!” Thad threw his hands up in exasperation, even though the fondness didn’t leave his face. “Antony jumps headfirst into any project, even if it knocks him on his ass—always as if he has something to prove.”

Antony’s words from the hot spring played in Odelle’s mind. The dejected way he had talked about his visions of peace, the guilt in his voice as he admitted to being the only surviving Smith. Perhaps he was trying to prove something, if only to himself.

In the following silence, she remembered why she had come.