31. THIRTY ONE #2
The Ecliptuari didn’t respond. They slid the daggers into the slits carved into the floor, the sound echoing like a lock turning. They stepped back and the bars groaned as they rose quickly all around me, sealing me in.
Beneath my feet lay an engraved eye made of gold brass, it appeared old and surrounded by etched stars.
What is this?
I approached the bars, my small hands barely able to grasp the thick, cold iron. I smeared my blood across the metal, leaving a red stain as a mark of my defiance against their perfect, white-masked world. I pressed myself against the bars, enraged.
“Go on then. Light your torches. Chant your words. Let’s see your truth.”
Footsteps echoed in the background, heavy and approaching. The doors swung open, and three figures stepped through. It was the brothers. I knew it.
Each one moved with cloaks trailing behind like shadows. This time, they hid behind sculpted white masks and hoods, reminiscent of the Ecliptuari. Their white masks weren't just clay; they were featureless, swallowing the torchlight.
“You think I don’t see you?” My voice sliced through the silence. “You think those theatrical masks conceal your identities and elevate you to Gods?”
I gripped the bars tightly, my knuckles turning white. “You’re just cowards in costume.” I let out a sharp, ugly laugh. I knew what was under those masks. They didn’t wear the masks to scare me. They wore them to hide the shame they felt for doing this to another person.
As my eyes darted around, each of them walked toward the triangle and took their positions. They didn't speak, which was unsettling since Torin always had something to say. I stared at them, my heart pounding.
Torin was shorter and stood to the right; the other two were similar in size, making it hard to tell who was who.
I searched for something to distinguish them—a twitch of a hand, a muscle tick, anything.
Then I noticed it: the one on the left shifted slightly, one hand curling into a fist before relaxing again.
That had to be Cillian. I was certain of it.
I knew Fionn would never flinch, and Torin would make a show of it.
But Cillian carried the passion. If anyone could be swayed, it was him .
Seraphina’s voice rose, commanding attention.
"Three born of stars. One marked soul."
Her words rolled out like thunder, not loud, but heavy enough to press against my chest. She began to walk behind the brothers, circling the outer edge of the chamber.
I could feel the blood dripping from my hands, each drop striking the floor in rhythm with her words.
The Ecliptuari bowed their heads, as if the phrase itself was a command. They moved forward toward the brothers, taking their hands and slicing them open like mine. Seraphina’s gaze was fixed on the brothers, unblinking.
"When the triangle bleeds into the circle, the heavens will open, and the blood moon of Vareth shall burn with power."
The brothers raised their hands above the rivets and let their blood drip down. The blood turned blue as it hit the grooves, glowing strangely as it spiralled toward me. I felt sick as the blue glow reached my feet.
Seraphina’s chants grew louder.
"Then blood shall awaken what prophecy has sealed, and the mark’s bond shall be revealed."
My head felt like it was on fire as she spoke. I looked down, focusing on the large, creepy stone-carved eye. It wasn't just a marking; it seemed to react to Seraphina’s chants as if it were alive. When the eye shifted, even slightly, my breath caught in my throat. What was this?”
"And power shall arise where the ritual is fulfilled," she continued.
I thought of my mother sitting in her wheelchair in the kitchen, staring out the window at the abyss, waiting for me to come home.
My hands trembled around the iron bars in anger as I thought of her, hoping I would return.
She would never know what had happened to me.
She would never stop looking and Dennis, he was always away, always working.
She would be alone. She would have no one.
I shook as I clung to the bars, a scream tore from my throat, but I didn't let it be mere noise. I aimed it at the brothers.
"You're monsters, all of you!" My voice broke into a desperate cry, but I kept my eyes locked on the one who had flinched—the one on the left. I knew it was Cillian. "Is this the 'charming' future you promised?
Seraphina didn’t so much as glance my way as her voice became louder and faster, chanting her spell. Her and her damn spells. I hated her.
"You were never meant to leave, girl. The mark chose you. The bloodline of the threebinds you. And through your offering, our people will be freed." Her eyes burned with blue fire. "Your blood will choose its bond. If not, today you die."
My gaze swept over the brothers, as the torches sputtered and shadows crawled across their masks. Then I felt a cold seep into the chamber and under the stone. That's when I felt a force clawing its way upward, reaching for me with unseen hands.
I pressed myface closer to the bars,
“Cillian. Let me out," I begged, my voice echoing against the chamber walls.
Cillian's hand twitched again. I pressed closer to the bars, enough to catch his eye.
"You were the only one who looked at me and made me feel anything," I said. It was a lie, or maybe it wasn't, either way, words were the only weapon I had left to throw at him .
Seraphina's gaze swept the circle. Her voice sliced through the air. "There is no other way. Do not falter”. The mark chose her, and the Varethym Order binds us all.
I saw Cillian's throat clench.
"You know I heard Seraphina and Fionn planning this," My voice shook with fury .
"Fionn, maybe you should tell your brother how you and Seraphina planned to get Cillian in line.'
The dance, that was your plan. To make him jealous." I see it now.
Cillian flinched again. This time I had his attention.
“Do not distract. Hold the circle,” Seraphina snapped.
"And you," I said, turning to her, "maybe you should confess how you used the séance to find me." If I were going to die, I wanted to ensure they knew exactly how deceitful she and Fionn were.
***
The lights flickered. Then I felt the hands. They weren’t flesh-like or visible, but they were real. Ghostly fingers slid over my ankles, arms, chest, throat. They were everywhere, tugging not at my body but at my soul. They were trying to tear me from myself.
“No!” I shouted, clawing at the air. “You can’t have me. I won’t let you take me.”
Then the voice slipped through. A loud demand in my mind.
“Tilly.” The name thrummed through my brain.
The necklace disc. The centre of the eye. Now.
I had no choice. My fingers tore the necklace from my throat, and I dropped to my knees.
Seraphina chanted, “Blood to blood.”
Stone scraped against my skin as I pressed the disk into the centre of the eye, driving it deep. I Prayed it would do something while those hands continued to tug at me.
The lights flickered once. Twice. And then they blinked out, every single one of them. Seraphina's voice rose, louder than before, her chant cutting through the dark like a blade. My head burned..
The whispers in my mind returned, rising louder and sharper. This time, the word spilled from my lips.
“Velarki. Velarkaki. Velarki.”
The floor moved beneath my feet as if something underneath the Manor was trying to escape. Inhuman screams echoed from the doors behind me.
“Tilly, stop!” a voice shouted. Then another called, “Tilly!”
Seraphina rushed to the bars, a torch blazing in her grip. She struck the floor, and fire surged, racing in a circle around me.
“She speaks the lost dialect of the First Marked,”Seraphina said, the torch blazing in her hand.
Her voice pierced through the roar of the flames. “Nothing can come out. Nothing!”
She was willing to burn me to death. Just like the others.
I ignored her and continued chanting.
“Velarki, Velarkaki. Velarki.”
The flames clawed higher. Smoke choking me, my lungs burning as weakness tangled with the fire in my veins. The floor groaned beneath me, stone grinding and turning, as if the Manor itself were being split open.
Then the lights flickered for just an instant.
I had barely uttered the words when the Manor began to tremble, a low, ominous vibration that rattled through the stones and into my bones.
Seraphina's chant cut sharply through the air, causing the iron bars to shudder. She stumbled back, her torch flaring, her frightened eyes lifting to the ceiling. “They’re coming for her!”
Cillian was the first to remove his mask. To my shock, it wasn’t Cillian at all—it was Fionn. His voice echoed though the room. “It’s impossible! They can’t know where she is. The power we used should have blocked everything! ”
But the walls groaned, and dust fell from the rafters. The door behind me tore free from its hinges.
The Ecliptuari staggered back, their steel blades clattering as they raised them in defence. The brothers shouted, their voices breaking, while their masks tilted toward me in horror. Even Seraphina faltered, her torch wavering as the circle shuddered beneath her feet.