Chapter 27 #2
“Challenge, yes,” Amity said, her lavender eyes dancing. “But let’s try to wait at least another year before you get yourselves arrested by the Nox.”
Viri pouted, but then Reeve nudged her again and winked at her, silently telling her they’d sneak away later and have their competition.
Braedan was staring at the ground as if to not give away their plans, but the dimple in his cheek showed he was on board to return after their ceremony ended.
The three of them had plenty of experience getting up to mischief while Jorth and Amity were off hunting—today would be no different.
“Fine,” Viri grumbled to keep her parents from becoming suspicious, before her attention returned to the obelisk. “How long is this going to take?”
Amity brushed Viri’s hair behind her ear, smiling down at her daughter. But then she bit her lip as her gaze caught on the silver strands amid the red, concern flitting across her features. Uncertainty, even.
Viri had never seen her mom uncertain about anything in her life. “What’s wrong?”
Amity shared a look with Jorth, who wrapped his arm around her, as if she—or both of them—needed the comfort.
Clearing her throat, Amity said, “Nothing’s wrong, darling. It’s just…you’re so young. Maybe we should wait another few years for you to Impart.”
“I’d like to wait another few years,” Braedan said with a huff. “I’d like to not do this at all.”
“You know you can’t do that, son,” Jorth said, though not unkindly.
“I know, I know.” Braedan rolled his eyes. “The laws. The wards. The burnout. Blah blah. I get it—I just don’t have to like it.”
“I don’t mind Imparting.” Viri shrugged. “It has to happen sometime.” She glanced questioningly at her mom and dad. “I heard you talking about me maybe burning out early—I thought this was what you wanted?”
Her parents looked startled to learn about her eavesdropping—almost nervous, really—but it wasn’t like they’d said anything interesting.
Most of it hadn’t even made sense, like how she was “special,” and how someone had warned them about a “cost” and told them never to let her Impart—which was ridiculous, because of course she had to Impart.
Not just because of the laws, but because if she didn’t, she would burn out.
Her parents wouldn’t have suggested she yield her magic four years early if they weren’t worried about her.
But Viri was happy enough to get rid of her ellixen today, since she knew Braedan was sad about it, and having her do it at the same time would make it easier on him.
“We think it’s for the best, darling,” Jorth confirmed, smiling at her, though it was tinged with unease. “We just want you to be as safe as possible.”
Viri wasn’t sure if he meant from burnout or from reapers, but either way, after today, neither would be a problem for her anymore. She wished Reeve was Imparting as well, but he’d stubbornly said this should be a family moment, claiming he didn’t mind waiting for his own ceremony.
“Are we doing this or what?” Braedan asked, looking slightly green as he glanced at the obelisk again.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Amity said, laying her hand on his shoulder and sending him an encouraging look. “You remember what to do?”
Braedan nodded. “I just have to touch the stone and—and will my ellixen into it, like an offering, and it’ll automatically draw it out of me.
” His face was hesitant but also curious as he added, “Erlis Milton told me siphoning works the same way, just in reverse. That instead of willing the magic out of you, you will someone else’s magic into you. Is that true?”
Viri looked at her brother in surprise, as did Reeve, but both Amity and Jorth frowned.
“Young Erlis shouldn’t be talking about things he doesn’t understand,” Jorth said tightly. “I’ll be having a word with his father.”
“Is he right, though?” Braedan asked, undeterred. “Is it really that easy to siphon magic?”
“There’s nothing easy about killing someone for your own gain,” Amity said reprovingly.
“The act itself might require little effort, but the scars it leaves behind are eternal. To deliberately steal ellixen—to steal life—from another person changes who you are on a fundamental level. So no, it’s not like yielding your magic to the obelisks.
That’s a gift, freely given, used to strengthen the wards and protect our community.
Siphoning is selfish and hateful and brings nothing but death.
” With apparent effort, she smoothed her features.
“But today’s not for such unpleasant talk.
It’s a day of celebration. So let’s do this, and then we’ll all go out for a nice lunch at the Juniper Grill. Sound good?”
Viri nodded eagerly, her stomach rumbling at the thought of visiting her favorite restaurant in the Entertainment Guild.
Reeve nodded with her, as did Braedan, though his came slower, his mind still distracted by whatever Erlis had told him.
Viri nearly kicked him so he would hurry up, but Braedan managed to shake himself out of his own reverie.
“All right, I’m ready,” he said, still looking queasy at what he was about to do.
“You’ve got this, son,” Jorth said, smiling proudly.
“We’ll be right here, cheering you on,” Amity added, wrapping him in a tight hug and kissing his cheek before stepping away again.
Braedan’s throat bobbed, but then a sigh left him and he turned and strode stiffly across the grass, halting in front of the obelisk.
He glanced back just once, his expression unsure, but Amity and Jorth sent him reassuring looks—while Viri and Reeve pulled faces, causing his lips to quirk upward and his tension to ease.
With a visible exhale, he placed his hand against the obsidian stone and closed his eyes, concentrating hard.
Viri’s palms turned sweaty as she watched her brother, but only a few seconds passed before his body relaxed and his eyes reopened, a relieved smile curling his mouth as he lowered his hand and walked back to them.
“That’s it?” Viri exclaimed, squinting at him. “Are you sure you did it right?”
Jorth chuckled. “That’s it, darling. It’s not meant to be difficult. It’s a gift, remember? Imagine it like the obelisks are grateful to receive your offering and take it as effortlessly as possible.”
“Did it feel strange?” Viri pressed her brother. “Did it hurt?”
“Yes to the first, no to the second,” Braedan said, rolling his shoulders and flexing his fingers, as if feeling for something that was no longer there. “No pain, just a kind of…warm tingle?”
Viri kept squinting at her brother, trying to see if he was lying.
He’d always been protective of her—too protective, sometimes—so if it really had hurt, then he would have already started arguing with their parents to let her wait another few years.
His open expression said he was telling the truth, and Viri uttered a quiet phew sound, not realizing how worried she’d been.
“My turn!” she cried. “Then we can eat!”
“I gave you half my vanilla bun on the walk over,” Reeve said, shaking his head with amusement. “How can you still be hungry?”
“Because you only gave me half.”
His lips twitched, but before Viri could see it turn into a full grin, she spun on her heel and began skipping toward the obelisk.
“Viri, dearest, wait.”
Amity’s anxious voice made Viri turn back to find both her mom and her dad looking oddly apprehensive, their cheeks pale, their eyes brimming with fear.
Viri peered around frantically, wondering if maybe their hunter’s marks had begun to burn, indicating a reaper was nearby, but there was no one in sight except the five of them. No danger at all.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
Amity loosed a shaky breath and opened her arms. “You forgot to give us hugs.”
Viri scrunched her nose. “Really, Mom? I’ll be, like, twenty steps away.”
“She gave me a hug and a kiss, too,” Braedan reminded Viri. “Just let her do it, or we’ll be here all day.”
Blowing out a breath, Viri walked back and let her mom embrace her, then her dad, both of them squeezing fiercely, as if they didn’t want to let her go.
“We love you, darling,” Jorth said, his voice husky. “We’ll be—We’ll be right here watching, just like with Brae.”
“Don’t try to force anything with the obelisk,” Amity warned, her fingers clenched in front of her, as if she were stopping herself from hugging her daughter again. “Just—Just let it take what it wants. Don’t fight it. And definitely don’t try to take anything from it.”
Braedan frowned. “How would you even do that?” He seemed confused, but reassured Viri by saying, “It feels a bit like knocking over a bucket of water—by the time you realize your ellixen is gone, it’s already done.
There’s nothing to fight, nothing to take back.
Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” They shared a look only siblings could, mutually agreeing their parents were just being weird.
“No fighting the obelisk,” Viri dutifully promised her mom and dad. “Got it.”
With that, she turned and hurried away before they could change their minds about letting her Impart today, her thoughts on the garlic chicken and crispy potatoes that awaited her at the Juniper Grill when this was over.
But when she came to a stop before the obsidian stone, her hunger was replaced by butterflies rioting in her stomach.
Viri had never been this close to an obelisk before.
A heavy, insistent humming vibrated over her skin and into her bones, causing goosebumps to rise on her flesh and her blood to stir in her veins.
It was like she could feel the power within the stone, like the air was saturated with magic.
There were times in her life when she’d felt a prickle of ellixen no one else seemed to notice, but she’d never experienced anything this strong before, like something deep inside her was calling out to the obelisk—or perhaps the obelisk was calling out to her.
Braedan hadn’t said anything about this. Nor had her parents.
Viri wasn’t sure if she was more anxious or exhilarated by the strange sensations electrifying her nerves, but she was wholly mesmerized by the power she felt, and helpless to resist stretching her hand out toward the stone.
The moment she touched it, a gasp left her—
And her world exploded.
Fire—she was on fire. Only, there were no flames, just a searing, agonizing burn spreading across her body as pure energy—pure magic—flowed from the obelisk into her.
A suffocating, possessive feeling encompassed her, like the stone was searching for something while also claiming her as its own, a dark voice seeming to whisper, “Mine. Mine. Mine.”
The burning increased so much that Viri screamed, certain it was boiling her alive. She tried to yank her hand free, but whatever magic was coursing through her kept her trapped in place, connected to the very thing that felt as if it were killing her.
Another tortured scream left her, and through teary eyes she saw her mom and dad running forward while shouting at Braedan and Reeve to stay back.
Terror gripped her at the sight, because while she didn’t know what was happening, she could tell it was so very wrong, and she didn’t want her parents anywhere near her.
They were mere steps away when she threw her free hand out to warn them, but the most blistering surge of magic yet flooded into her from the obelisk, scorching like an inferno in her chest, before rushing down her outstretched arm—
And slamming into her parents.
Amity and Jorth barely had time for their eyes to widen in horror before the ellixen struck them, blasting them off their feet.
Even Reeve and Braedan were blown backward by the shock wave, both landing in the angelrose hedge, looking dazed.
But Viri’s parents weren’t looking dazed. They weren’t looking anything at all.
Because they weren’t moving from where they’d fallen.
The magic—
The obelisk’s magic—
Viri’s magic—
A strangled sob left her even as the burning continued to rise, but the flames were nothing compared to what she felt as she stared at her parents, their eyes open but unseeing, their bodies unnaturally still.
All the fire in the world couldn’t melt the icy numbness sweeping through Viri as she realized the horrible truth.
Her parents were dead.
And she’d killed them.
Viri wrenched herself out of the memory and leapt to her feet in front of the Guardian’s crackling green fireplace, tears streaming down her cheeks as she rasped out to everyone and no one, “I killed them. I killed them.”
Braedan hadn’t murdered their parents—she had.
She couldn’t look at him. Couldn’t look at Reeve.
Couldn’t even look at the Guardian. Her mind was a mess, her grief so acute and shame so severe that it was impossible to string a rational thought together.
The only thing she knew was confusion, having no idea what had gone so wrong with the obelisk, or why she’d been so certain of her brother’s guilt.
The answers were within her now, the door to the memory unlocked, but she couldn’t bear returning to it yet, too overwhelmed by everything she was feeling.
The stone walls were closing in on her, her vision swirling as she tried to fill her lungs, but every ragged breath felt like daggers piercing her throat, her chest, her heart.
“Viri?” came Reeve’s tentative voice, as if from far away.
She needed air.
She needed air.
“Viri, are you—”
The room spun around her, the urge to vomit rising with every second. She needed to escape. Needed to breathe.
So she did the only thing she could.
She ran.