Page 211 of Keldori By Daybreak

The door creaked open, and Fana stood inside the freezer with Lyria’s helm, Orla’s goggles, and her blindfold in hand. Water dripped from the ceiling and the shelves, but it was tears that slid down Fana’s face.

She stepped forward, dropped her blindfolds, wrapped her arms around my waist, and cried.

The freezer was now broken, so I moved most of the food we’d salvaged from its shelves to the refrigerator in the back storeroom.

The tub of vanilla ice cream, however, had nowhere to go but our stomachs, and I was more than happy to invite Orla to try one of Keldori’s finest delicacies.

Fana cheered up considerably when I introduced her to chocolate syrup, even though she still couldn’t stomach too much food.

I managed to slip away while they were distracted by dessert, not wanting to make my friends feel inclined to stand out in the rain with me. They were fed. They were comfortable. Now I needed to figure out the puzzle of the stone that filled my grandmother’s shop.

Rain soaked through my cotton t-shirt and my new jeans stuck to my legs, stiff with rain water. I pressed my hands against the stone again. I couldn’t tell if the heat was coming from the rock or from the built-up Skal swirling just beneath my skin.

An off-kilter pulse thrummed against my palm, like two heartbeats overlaying each other. I pushed my forehead against the rock and closed my eyes. Rain water collected in the grooves along my nose and cheeks before spilling down my face.

There had to be a way inside.

“Wren.” Ciarán’s voice sounded behind me, and I curled my hands into fists.

“You shouldn’t be out in the rain,” I said.

“Neither should you.”

I turned around and leaned my back against the rock. Ciarán’s bun had collapsed in the weather, and he stood with his rain-soaked hair around his shoulders.

“What are you doing out here?” I asked.

It wasn’t unreasonable to think he’d followed me to help or make sure I stayed safe, but the tether buzzed with a new anxiety. There was another reason.

Ciarán chewed on his bottom lip as he squinted up at the rain and sighed. “I was hoping you might take me home.”

“Home?” For a horrible moment, I thought he meant he’d made his decision to stay in Skalterra, but then he looked down the street.

He took a heavy breath, and his furrowed brow softened. “I don’t know which one was mine. I only remember as far back as your grandmother giving me the chicken on the train platform.”

“Oh.” My breath caught. I was so stupid. I’d been so focused on the rock in the shop and finding shelter while we sorted it out that I’d completely forgotten this wasn’t just my homecoming.

In fact, Keel Watch Harbor was more Ciarán’s home than mine. I’d only lived here for the summer. He’d spent his entire second life on this street. The only difference was that I actually remembered my time spent amongst its shops.

I took his hand in mine and led him down the sidewalk.

“This way,” I said. “At the end of the street.”

His fingers clenched. Nerves mixed with a nostalgic ache for something he couldn’t name, and the concoction of emotion washed over me from his end of the bond.

The door on the side of the bagel shop was unlocked, the same way the tavern had been. I stepped aside and let Ciarán turn the doorknob and pull the door open to a set of wooden stairs.

Jackets hung off hangers next to the door, and shoes lined up on a low shelf. Ciarán paused on the doormat, staring at the shoes with a strange look on his face.

He jolted out his reverie, then ushered me inside after him.

“Sorry,” he breathed. “I didn’t mean to leave you out in the rain.”

He wrung his hands and looked up the photo-lined stairway. He slicked his wet hair back from his face, slipped out of his boots, and started up the steps.

I thought about offering to leave, but not even the illusion of privacy existed between us at this point, so I followed him up the stairs, giving him space when he stopped to inspect every framed picture of his aunt, uncle, and cousin that decorated the wall.

He inhaled sharply at a picture near the top and pulled it down to better look at it.