Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Long Overdue
“Elena, where are you?” I yelled, bursting through the door to our home.
The herb cart was parked in the corner where it always was, but there was no sign of my sister.
I checked every room and climbed the ladder to the loft, calling her name.
Only silence greeted me. My heart was already pounding from my sprint home, but now it felt like it might burst through my rib cage.
I was on the cusp of panic and doing a terrible job of suppressing it.
I imagined Orlik and Syra tying Elena up and stealing her away.
I had failed at the one job my mother had given me, all because I’d let Darion distract me.
Just like what had happened with Bren back at the farm when I was eleven.
I fumbled for the locket around my neck.
Deep breaths. My mind quieted as the only option I had became clear: I would confront Orlik directly.
I began to gather my thieving supplies and stock my belt with new potions.
I was stashing my throwing daggers under my tunic when a voice called out from behind me.
“Where are you off to this time?”
I raced to the front door and hugged my sister like I’d never let her go. “Thank the heavens you’re safe.”
“Of course I’m safe,” she said. “Ouch! Not so tight. Your dumb potions are digging into my chest, and you’re smashing our dinner.”
I pulled away and took a moment to inspect her. Everything looked normal except for the crushed loaf of bread sticking out of the sack of food she held.
“What in the dust has gotten into you?” she said with genuine concern in her eyes. “Is this about those bastards at the market? I can take care of myself, you know.”
I had spent my entire life looking out for my little sister, so it was tough not to protect her from everything. But by hiding things from her, I was, in a way, making her less safe. I had to tell her what I had discovered today. She had to understand the danger we were in.
“Elena, sit down. We need to talk.”
I told her everything, starting with my thieving and my grand plan to escape to a farm, which all felt quite na?ve as I spoke it aloud.
The idea of the farm touched Elena, but she was more than a little annoyed that I had kept it from her, once again reminding me that she wasn’t a child.
She had guessed on her own that I was a thief, but I filled in the gaps.
An unexpected thing happened as I told Elena all the things I’d been keeping secret: I felt better. A massive weight was being lifted, one I hadn’t even realized I was carrying.
Next I recounted the Emberlight Trials and everything I’d done with Darion (except a few intimate details).
Elena listened with rapt attention, as if my story were one of the plays at the local theater she loved.
She particularly enjoyed the race through the catacombs with the bone rats on our heels.
“Were there really hundreds of them?” she asked.
“I didn’t really have time to count, but you couldn’t even see the floor.”
She grimaced and giggled at once, wiggling her body. Elena was fond of the macabre.
Finally, I told her about my conversation with Mrs. Crowe, though I didn’t mention her by name, per her conditions. When I told Elena that we were Emberborn and that some Emberborn had special abilities, she didn’t seem as surprised as I anticipated.
“I kinda suspected that,” she said.
“What?” I was genuinely shocked.
“You’ve always seemed special to me,” she said. “Your memory, the way you can climb, all of that. And sometimes it’s like I can feel an energy flowing through me, especially when I’m doing physical things like sword fighting.”
“Let me try something,” I said. I closed my eyes and cleared my mind. Only the crackling of the fire broke the silence. And then I felt it. Without all the background noise, I could very subtly feel Elena’s Ember flowing through her, detecting just the faintest hint of ozone and citrus.
“Dust, I can sense it!” I said.
“Sense what?”
“That energy you mentioned. It’s called Ember.”
“And you can sense it in me?”
“Yeah. There’s a glow and an odd smell. It’s called Veilsense, and it’s my Ember. Sentinels have Veilsense, too. It’s how they hunt Emberborn down.”
Elena looked scared, and I was glad. She needed to be.
“You mean Sentinels are Emberborn who hunt their own kind?” Elena asked. “That’s horrible.”
“It is.”
“Well, what are we going to do now?”
“I really don’t know,” I said. “We can’t sell our herbs in the market anymore.
Not for a while, anyway. I’m worried about The Butcher spotting us.
I’m not sure I should do the Emberlight Trials anymore, either.
The whole thing feels like a fantasy now, and to be honest, I’m upset with Darion for keeping this from me. ”
“What?!” Elena nearly screamed. “You have to keep doing the Trials! You’ve already come so far, and if there’s anything we can do to stop The Butcher, it’s that.”
Hearing her say those words with such certainty was a surprise and a shot of confidence.
She was right. I had to keep going, and having her support made the decision much easier.
All this time, I’d been so worried about keeping her from knowing too much, but in doing so, I’d ignored what keeping these secrets was doing to me.
That profound sense of relief at revealing the truth continued to flood through me.
I’d had no idea just how much this burden weighed until I had someone else to confide in who could help carry the load.
“Okay,” I said. “You’re right. I have to keep doing it.”
“Of course I’m right,” she said with a sly smile. “I always am. The sooner you realize that, the better off we’ll be.”
For the rest of the day and well into the night, I was lost in thought, planning how I might infiltrate both the Citadel Library and the Citadel Clock Tower.
Entering the library seemed doable, but I knew next to nothing about how to get into the tower.
What I really needed to do was visit Garrick again.
He’d said I had to wait since he was worried about attention from the Sentinels.
But what if nobody saw me enter the tavern?
Late in the evening, as I was preparing potions that could help with stealth, I reached into my pocket and discovered something flat and soft. I pulled out an oval-shaped pale green leaf.
My breath hitched. This was the very leaf I had given to Darion when we’d kissed under the night willow. Markings had been scratched into the flesh: six hash marks and a bell.
Sixth bell, under the night willow?
I had no idea how Darion had slipped it into my pocket, nor was I sure if I had interpreted the message correctly, but either way, sixth bell was not far off. I shouted to Elena that I’d be back later and headed into the night.