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Into Dust

NYX

T he Luminary stared at me through teary, haunted eyes.

“Delphyne?” I muttered, confused.

Her mouth looked strange. Like she was having trouble keeping it closed.

Her platinum hair was erratic, bursting free from the old braid that looked like it had been weaved ages ago. Her robes, usually gold and glittering, were a tattered and worn silver. She looked nothing like the prestigious leader I was familiar with.

“Uh…Are you okay?”

She made a garbled sound.

I backed away, my face crumpling. “Delphyne? Seriously…”

She opened her mouth to respond but no words came out. A waterfall of blood did. Followed by her severed tongue which fell to the ground with a wet thud.

I screamed and jolted awake.

The sky was now steeped in darkness. The moon had risen.

“Goddess,” I whispered, my hand over my thrashing heart.

It was only a dream.

I stood up, trying to shake off the unsettling visual of my Luminary spitting out her bloody tongue. I walked to the ledge, peering over before I hopped up to sit with my legs dangling over.

Despite my abysmal circumstances, it was a beautiful night. Warm…no, wait. I gasped a little, noticing a bite when the wind touched my cheeks. Perhaps the wind was loyal to December, dancing down from the mountains to give the city a winter’s kiss. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d felt such a cool breeze here in LA. Things really were changing.

December . My birthday was right around the corner. I’d never spent it alone before.

“At least you’ll always be here,” I said to the moon.

She didn’t say anything back. A dark cloud moved in front of her, stealing her pale light.

“Never mind,” I grumbled.

I sighed, glancing down at the city streets below my dangling feet. I let my flames free, releasing them over my fingertips, playing with them. They danced through my fingers and over my palms like little fire sprites. My heart knocked steadily, synchronized with the thrum of power inside me that was devastating enough to bring the whole city to its knees if I saw fit. I whirled my fire through my fingers, letting it slither up and around my arms like snakes.

A curious thought dawned on me. Jedidiah had been changed by fire. Had I been changed by earth? I didn’t feel different. But we’d Power Shared, right?

I banished my flame, determined to conjure a different magic. I held my hand out, breathing deeply, trying to tap into Jedidiah’s magic. I’d seen him summon plants and vines and stones. I tried to channel those visuals to manifest them now. I stared at my palm, my brows crinkled together, and my shoulders quaking a little with how hard I was focusing.

Nothing.

I sighed, slumping in defeat.

“Maybe the Power Sharing was a one-way street,” I murmured to the wind.

Movement from my right snatched my attention. The cloud over the moon passed just in time to shine light upon the snake on the ledge slithering toward me.

My lips popped open in disbelief. The snake’s scales glimmered with silver, but their base was black. He was over a foot long, his tongue darting out as he made his way to me.

“Well, hello there,” I muttered, holding out my hand instinctively. He didn’t hesitate at all before he slithered over my palm. I lifted him up, cooing little compliments as he twined himself around my hand. His scales reflected the moonlight and almost looked blue.

Had I done this?

The last time I’d attempted to tap into earth magic, it had manifested as snakes. Golden snakes that had burst from the grass to attack Solaris…

The snake combusted into dust.

I jumped, dismayed. The dust scattered through the wind, disappearing forever. I was left dumbfounded, wondering if I was going mad after all?

Before I could ponder the ominous curiosity, I felt a weight on my back. The weight of being watched. My skin bristled as I whirled around expectantly, my breath speeding up.

“Oh. It’s you.”

The raven stared at me, nearly invisible in the dark.

I released a long-suffering sigh. “You can tell him I need some time,” I snapped, turning back to glare at the city.

I didn’t hear those wings flapping away.

“Beat it, Zazu!”

He refused to leave.

I crossed my arms. “Fine. You want to stay? What do I care.” I whirled back to him again. “Can you talk, or what? I know if you slice a raven’s tongue they can talk. Has your master mutilated you for his own convenience yet? Because if so, give him a message for me: Fuck off.”

He doesn’t need to mutilate me to communicate with me .

My eyes popped. I heard his voice in my own mind.

A moment of silence.

Then I released a single harsh laugh. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, right? I could hear Niaxus.” A cold spear shot through my heart. I blinked away the acidic blur welling in my eyes. “But you are no dragon,” I added hoarsely.

You should seek proper shelter. Bad things this way come.

I gave him a flat look. “No way I’m going to stand here and take advice from a demented bird. Run along, Polly! Before I burn off your tail feathers!”

The raven cawed at me, three times. Loudly. I launched forward, flailing my arms. “Shoo! Shoo!” He vaulted into flight at the last minute, screaming at me as he ascended. I continued swiping the air, warding him off. “Go! Tell him spying on me will only piss me off more! I’ll run again! I don’t care what happens to me if I do!”

Solaris’s raven cawed and shrieked while he vanished into the night. I stood there, breathing heavily, listening as his calls got further and further away.

Him being gone came as no relief. In fact, the roof just felt colder.

I sighed. Where to go from here?

I glanced out at the city. It didn’t feel like home. I wondered if it ever had. Or was it just Luna Academy that gave me a sense of belonging?

Luna Academy.

My friends. My sister .

“No. No.” I shook my head, pacing back and forth. “Think of something else. Anything else.” My heart hammered, my eyes welling up again. I tried to jump out of this train of thought, but it hit me full steam ahead anyway. I saw their faces, heard their voices. My sister’s big blue eyes watching me, learning from me. Visions of the hallways and common room, all the excitement there. And the Sphere, oh Goddess. My fire lighting it up, the girls cheering for me. Me—the girl everyone wanted to be. Beautiful, powerful, popular.

“No. No, no, no. Fuck!” I grabbed the thing closest to me and hurled it off the roof with all my might, my vision a watery mirage.

Shit . That was the little metal table with the ashtray on it. I probably just killed someone.

I laughed. A horrible, deranged sound. Then I fell into a fit of sobs that lasted half the moon’s travel across the sky.