Page 315

“It means their aether turned into a solid mess that plugged up their heart,” Taly said. She’d picked up a few new words and phrases at the healing park.

“Exactly,” Aiden said. And with that, he pulled a little drawstring bag from inside his coat, upending it. Countless tiny, white crystals scattered across the table. “This, Skye, is what I took out of your shoulder,” he said, sorting the larger bits of stone from the powder. “It’s the same residue we found in the blood of every host, clogging up their veins and arteries. Look familiar?”

Silence fell across the table, all eyes turning as Skye picked an identical piece of crystal from Taly’s hair and held it up to the light.

“Now give it a push with your magic,” Aiden said.

Violet aether pulsed around Skye’s fingertips. But the crystal showed no signs of life. No flicker, no hum, no response at all. It was as though the crystal absorbed nothing, reflected nothing back—a complete and utter blank.

“It’s hyaline,” Skye said after a moment.

Ivain straightened. A bleary-eyed Sarina lifted her head. Kato’s spoon paused halfway to his mouth. Even Aimee had gone uncharacteristically still.

“It’s unorthodox,” Aiden said. “I’m aware. And it doesn’t fit with anything that we know about hyaline. But it is scientifically sound to say that aether can undergo a change of state, even if we’ve never observed it.”

“Wait. Back up,” Skye said, still staring at the tiny shard of crystal pinched between his forefinger and thumb. “Are you saying her aether transformed into… hyaline?”

Aiden shrugged. “I don’t have any other explanation. It was the same in every case—aether inexplicably gone, hyaline crystal clogging up their circulation. Except for in humans, where we found only trace amounts. How do you get something that looks like a Curse but isn’t?” he said with all the finality of a closing argument. “That’s how.”

“But why did Taly’s aether crystalize on her skin instead of inside her tissues like it did with all the others?” Sarina rubbed her temples in slow, deliberate circles. “And why doesn’t she have the same marks?”

“Simple,” Aiden said. “Aneirin wasn’t touching her. He wasn’t…possessingher. You see, with any state change, there’s an exchange of energy. And in this case, the suddensnapof so much aether into a solid form would’ve absorbed an extraordinary amount of heat. In other words, it bled cold.”

“The portals,” Taly murmured. “Passing through them… It was colder than anything I’ve ever felt before.”

“Same when Aneirin touched me,” Skye said, just as quietly. “His hand was like ice.”

Aiden nodded. “The marks on Skye, on our victims—they’reburns. Almost like frostbite. But you, Taly, never had direct physical contact, so whatever aether-altering property this thing has was acting externally.Andyou just happened to have a high-level glamour protecting you from the brunt of it.”

“At least that’s one use for water mages,” Kato muttered. Aimee shot him a look that could kill.

“So, this Aneirin then,” Eula said. It was the first time she’d spoken, leaning against the wall, separate from the family. “Is it safe to say that he can drain aether?”

“No,” Ivain murmured, rubbing his jaw as he pored over the file—like if he looked hard enough, the facts might rearrange themselves. “No, I think he’s doing more than that. He’s taking aether and turning it into something else, intohyaline. The only absolutelynon-magical substance ever discovered. That’s not a drain or transference. It’s destruction. Complete nullification.”

“Unless it’s not actually non-magical,” Taly said and dropped another bit of crystal into the sugar bowl.Plink.

Both Ivain and Eula turned to her, their brows raised.

“The collar,” she said. “The one we found on Kato. It was made of hyaline, but it was also enchanted.”

Ivain frowned. “We don’t know that for certain. There could still be foul play at work.”

“Sure,” Taly conceded. “But assume for a moment that there isn’t. Think about it. Aether changes state all the time. It has its base form, but when you alter it, its affinity shifts. It becomes fire aether, earth aether, and each one of those variations has its own unique properties—smells, textures, even tastes. What if aether crystallizing into a solid isn’t a change of state? What if it’s just another affinity? Aether finding yet another way to exist.”

“Have you been dipping into my mirthroot again?” Aiden asked.

“Yes.” The process of having her aether siphoned out and crystallized on her skin had left her with a pounding headache. “But hear me out—what if hyaline isn’t inert? What if its power had something to do with, say, spatial anomalies?”

Ivain’s lips thinned. “Vacuum Theory.”

Taly picked off another flake of crystal and dropped it in the bowl. “Bill, he’s… bending space, somehow. And he’s doing it independent of time. Not even I can do that. Not even the Gates can do that. Time and space are irrevocably interconnected—that’s why it’s called spacetime fabric. But Vacuum Theory says that if you could create a condition where aether was completely absent, space would start to… fold? Bend? Fracture? Nobody really knows because it’s all theoretical. But that’s starting to sound familiar.”

She paused, letting the words hang. “The riftways, anyone? We already know they don’t use time crystal to function, and shadow crystal is just a power source. I looked at Kato’s notes on the riftway repair—there’s nothing else at work there. Just hyaline. And when they inserted the core incorrectly, it triggered a spatial deletion event. Nobody else thinks that’s weird?”

“And Aneirin?” Skye said. “How does he fit into this?”

“One, it’s Bill. Everyone, please take note. I’ve told you this. And two…” Taly shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s doing something with hyaline, and space bends in the process. Maybe he figured out a way to enchant it.”