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up at Elias so quickly he flinches. “What if I can get your heart back? You wouldn’t have to obey them anymore.”
Elias scoffs, “It’s not possible.” I shake my head. “Do you know that for certain?” He stares into my eyes briefly and then firms his lips. “No—but Terra, the headmaster consumes our hearts. That’s how he—”
“I don’t think he does. Unless you’ve actually watched him devour your heart firsthand. His Shadow most likely has it hidden somewhere. We just need to find it,” I say with more hope than I have. Elias looks back toward the daunting wall of the city and grits his teeth. “Any idea where to start looking?”
“What did you want to discuss, professor?”
“Not so much discuss as just to let our Shadows figure out what they need to between each other. I’d rather have classes run smoother, so letting them get their aggression out is good. Or perhaps it’s us egging them on? As long as you’re open to it, of course.”
Is he saying what I think he’s saying? “How do you intend on finding out?” I ask as a shudder rolls languidly down my spine. Kallos offers me his hand. I look from his palm to his eyes as he mutters, “By letting them mingle, how else?”
“Oh, little Nova, this was a bad idea,” Kallos says in a dark, voluptuous voice.
“Why?” I ask on an exhale, letting my head drop down to his shoulder. “Because all I’ve ever known is control with my Shadow, and yours crumbles all that work in mere seconds. I cannot speak of the things I want to do to you.”
“What’s wrong?” I ask as I take a few steps back, not sure if I should turn and run or help him in some way. He shakes his head and nods to the door. “Leave,” he rasps painfully. It’s so weak that I feel like I need to do something.
I step closer to him and reach my hand out to his shoulder for comfort, but he snaps his head up and snarls at me, his teeth sharp, those brackets that look like stitches stretching. “I said leave,”
Was it my Shadow that made him change like that? Amser answers, startling me because it has been quiet for days. I wanted to play with his dark side. Why did you run away?
“Hello, sweetheart. What are you doing up here past class hours?” His eyes drift behind me and land on something that makes darkness settle in his features. “Playing with Kallos, are we?”
“Now he is someone I want to watch ruin you. Raine can join too and get some pointers from him,”
“Where are we going exactly?” He chuckles and lets his arm slacken around my neck. “Remember our talk of finding my heart? You were right. And I think I may have figured out where he keeps them.”
“To Za’Afiel,” I say as I stare at the familiar stone-framed doors. The last time I passed through the black gates was with my comrades.
Many little mounds raise portions of the snow, reddened by what lies beneath. Terra notices and looks back at me with confusion and denial. Her brown hair has a light blue hue to it, the moon framing her in luminance. “It’s exactly what you think it is,” I say in a monotone voice. There’s a reason why the halls are so quiet.
“But Edgar described this place as peaceful… What happened?” she says sadly, as if she can imagine what this mansion was like filled with the laughter of many ignorant souls.
“The Empress of Fernestia wanted this faction shut down. They have all the Novas they’ve been searching for. Cein ordered the culling yesterday. I found out this afternoon when Arthur was sitting in his empty office in the Nova House for once instead of his study here.”
I shut my eyes as I think of the pain I saw in his. He didn’t seem surprised about it; it was more like an old, dreadful wound, one he knew would eventually open. The circles beneath his eyes were dark. There were no traces of light in his eyes.
“We’re not going to run into Dr. Cein here, are we?” she asks barely above a whisper, like someone might hear. I shake my head and hold the door for her as she steps through into the stairwell. “I’m trying to keep him away from you for as long as I can,” I admit.
“Why’s that?” “Because he’s an evil man, Terra.” She levels me a look that says, But so are you, and I chuckle. “Way more than me, sweetheart. Who do you think raised me?”
“That must have been terrible to go through,” she says in a quiet voice after a few moments. There’s sympathy in her tone. I’m not sure there’s much more I hate in this world than pity, but oddly, when it’s from her, I find that it’s easier to accept. I sigh. “Yes. It… was.”
Stolen at a young age and being raised by a monster—it makes you one in kind. I don’t remember my real parents or the village I was born in. All I have are memories of torture and intense training.
The first Shadow. The start of all of this. Maybe that’s why Cein keeps me so close. ...
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“Why would Emerai hide the hearts down here?” She looks up at me with those green eyes and I stare for a second longer than I should. “I thought the same thing at first. Velis led me down here and I was certain it was mistaken, but then I felt something strange in the room. I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel it.”
She raises a brow. “Is that why you brought me here? You think I’ll be able to see them?” I nod and open the cellar door, the wood creaking on its hinges.
“They are here, I’m certain of it,” I say as I let the shudder of the heavy air run down my spine. Terra visibly shivers and wraps her arms around herself as she looks around carefully. Her eyes widen as she stares at the stack of rocks. She whirls to face me, eyes wide and filled with horror. “You don’t see all of the blood?”
Elias stares at me like I’m utterly insane. He looks at the crates filled with pulsing hearts, dripping blood and quivering, then shakes his head cluelessly. “Are you talking about the rocks?”
Only we can see the hearts. Emerai cannot hide anything from time. We see all the moments of a Shadow's past, what they’ve taken and tried to discard.
“They may look like rocks to you… but they are hearts,” I say with a knot curling in my stomach. They thump an off-beat tune, and as I watch them, a few stop moving, turning gray and cold before dulling into what truly resembles a stone.
Elias’s brows pull in. “Well fuck, how are we going to find mine then? They all look like fucking stones to me.”
Amser whispers, His heart is older, among the first to be stolen. It’s tucked away with the others behind that wall.
“Amser says to look behind this wall.” I press my hand against the cold stones and worry the entire room will cave in if we mess with it.
Elias’s face is skeptical as black smoke pools at his feet and Velis emerges in its small feline form. Amser wisps from my veins and joins its mate. They stand side by side and let their tails tangle.
The Shadows both place their paws on the stones. Dark vines start to crawl up the wall and form into an arched door. The black veins look like spindles of poison, the definition of evil and rot. Velis sits on one end while Amser takes the other and they both look up at us expectantly.
“Has Velis ever done that before?” Elias approaches the makeshift door and pushes the stone. It opens eerily. Dust and mold sting my nose. “Negative,” he says curtly as he disappears into the shadows of the secret room.
