Page 180 of Fallen Stars
“She is a wicked, wicked power,” Eli said. “She corrupts anything she touches.”
“El’s shadow said the same,” Enzo whispered.
“What?” Eli asked.
“When I was in Elara’s dreamscape, I met her shadow. And she told me that I’d have to kill her. That the darkness was being corrupted, and that if I didn’t stop the shadow, it would corrupt Elara too.”
There were gasps from the rest of the group.
“You’re the reason she doesn’t have shadows!?” Merissa exclaimed.
“Gods, Enzo,” Leo murmured.
Enzo’s entire body was tense behind Elara. “He had no other choice,” Elara snapped. “He saved me.”
She felt Enzo squeeze her waist.
“One second. Elara had shadows?” Adrian asked.
Isra sighed, quietly filling Adrian in on the events that had taken place in Castor, including Elara walking through Ariete’s dreams and the retrieval of Enzo’s tether. Elara winced as she listened, shrinking further into her chair as her family looked at her in varying shades of pity. She tried not to think about the absence of her shadows or how much she missed them despite her new comfort with moonlight.
Eli took a last drag of his cigarette before stubbing it out. “If our suspicions are correct, then I think she’s going to try and break through into our world on Hallow’s Eve, and that this witch knows how to stop it or at least how to help us.”
“It will take three more days to get there,” Adrian said.
“How do you know that?” Merissa asked.
Adrian shrugged. “I can feel it in my blood now, how far away we are from shore.”
“So this witch…this woman from another world. Who is she?” Isra mused.
Eli pushed the parchment across to her. “I was hoping you could tell us.”
Isra glanced around the room to the expectant faces. “Fine,” she sighed. “But you owe me something big for this. If she’s from another world, then to read her energy is going to drain me.”
Eli sighed. “I’ll give you anything you want. Just find out what you can about who we’re dealing with here.”
Isra let out a long breath, shrugging out her shoulders as Elara and the others watched, enraptured. Isra’s eyes rolled back, turning pure white.
“That’s still scary as shit,” Adrian muttered.
“Tell me about it,” Leo replied.
Isra’s hands hovered over the paper, an ice blue frost gently creeping over it. Archaic Svetan coated her lips as she began to mutter, dipping into Celestian now and again.
“Other hands have passed over these,” she murmured. “An angel and a serpent.”
“That would be Lias and I,” Eli interjected. “I first took it to him since I was in Concordia. All of us Stars felt her wake.”
Isra didn’t reply, still muttering to herself as Elara felt the temperature in the room drop. Merissa shivered, taking a sip of her tea, and Enzo tightened his arms further around Elara.
“I see chaos,” Isra whispered. “Fire and brimstone and spells taken by teeth.” Her eyelids flickered. “I see pain, so much pain. No place to call home, no place to rest. Running, running, she’s always running.”
A chill began to take over Elara.
“Spires and instruments, charts of stars. They know you. They know you all. They’ve prayed to old gods, and now you wake. Stardust and blood and ties too loose. She bears serpents and gods. Holy monsters. And the whole of her is a half.”
“Can wetrusther, Iz?Enzo pleaded.