Page 4

CRUMPLED PETALS

STILL BACK THEN

K aden grabbed my hand and pulled us toward the conservatory. Letti skipped after us. Her bouncing golden curls seemed to meld into the pulsating glow.

Absently, I reached back and rubbed the flat, star-shaped scar on my nape like Mama used to. It often beat in time with my heart … and the illuminated Dormancy pods.

The conservatory was hauntingly beautiful, despite housing such ominous items. Ten thick, adjacent glass panels formed a perfect decagon, and the shiniest metal I’d ever seen crept along each connecting point. From the outside, the glass walls curved slightly inwards, giving the impression it was imploding. Its silver base was just large enough to house the starburst of pods within. The glass roof was rounded, like a soap bubble caught on a spoon.

When the pods were inactive, there wasn’t any way to enter the conservatory. Kaden and I had spent countless hours trying over the turns, but the aqueous metal seams fused with the glass, making it impossible to find a crevice offering a way in.

I had often watched the sleeping vessels with my face pressed against the concave glass. Their glossy obsidian shapes reminded me of human-sized dewdrops gently stretched out. To Kaden’s dismay, I sometimes joked that the Dormancy pods were staring back at me, like the giant eyes of a lurking spider. Kaden loathed spiders.

Finding an available vessel in a village our size was easy. There were five of them within an hour's walk. We were lucky we had the one in our backyard. The Larkins always used this one, too, as it was the closest for them. It was incomprehensible how they were built. They’d been scattered across our world for as long as anyone could remember. At least, that’s what Mama had always said.

I squeezed Kaden’s fingers, his hand still wrapped around mine. He looked into my eyes with an unreadable expression, which I found unnerving. His irises looked varnished in shades of umber with the bright light coating them. I turned back to the conservatory; its surreal energy coaxing my focus.

Tomorrow was the seventh day. It was when the dazzling beams would be suctioned into the pods. The dark, solid forms would transform into swirls of smoky mist confined within amber-colored glass. Within a few thumps of a heart, the golden glass would rotate on its axis and evaporate from view, fading into the void without a sound. The inky, twirling mist would slither and hover in the pod's shape as if still encased.

That’s when you knew your time was up. There was nothing else you could do but plant your whole being within the dark unknown—cradled inside one of the suspended caskets made of churning nightmares. My head felt stretched and fuzzy thinking about it. I was sure Kaden could feel the moisture slick on my palm.

I was about to grab Letti’s hand when a sobbing shriek sliced through our numb fixation on the conservatory. The three of us whipped our heads toward the disturbance. Letti gasped, and my hands flew up to cover the startled cry clawing its way out of my throat.

“What’s the meaning of this? Stop this madness!” Kaden’s father, Emmet Larkin, bellowed as he struggled against two armored Draumr guards. They were holding him back by the shoulders.

A sobbing Hestia was floating parallel to the earth, her paralyzed body in a stiff line as if made of ice. Hazy ropes of milky light wrapped around her figure.

On her left was a stern-looking woman and, on her right, a grim-faced man. They shared matching tattoos that covered the front of their necks in black ink. Each looked like a mishmash of geometric shapes and lines, the pattern vaguely creating a hieroglyph of a locust.

They were Akridais. I was certain of it. It was my first time seeing the Elders’ elite Druik enforcers. They wielded their gifts at the discretion of and on behalf of the Elders and their laws. The strength of an Akridai’s ember was immense though still significantly weaker than an Elder’s.

My heart tried to crack through my ribs as logic overtook my initial confusion. There was only one outcome when you were in their custody. Kaden must have realized this as he lurched toward the path they were on. I tried grabbing the back of his tunic, but he jerked out of my grip.

The Akridais’ thick pewter-colored robes and capes whipped behind them as they marched the group to the conservatory. A menacing fluorescent-yellow aura clung to each of their bodies. Ebony shades slithered within the glowing air around each like grymseed oil creeping atop a puddle. The epicenters of their powers were pulsing orbs of light suspended between their open palms. The slippery, twisting auras breathed, siphoning in and out of the orb.

“Halt, dirtling!” the female Akridai commanded, neither breaking her stride nor dissipating the energy between her hands. Kaden did not stop his trajectory. “Halt, or they will perish this instant!”

Kaden stilled, his body tense. His parents, the guards, and Akridais reached us and the conservatory. I tugged Letti behind me. She still clutched the sweet bouquet Kaden had picked, cradling the petals against her chest.

“Pa, what is happening?!” Kaden’s voice was frantic. Mr. Larkin swung his head from left to right, desperation blanketing his eyes. He had stopped struggling when Kaden ran toward them.

Upon reaching the sealed conservatory, the male Akridai lifted one hand away from the energized globe in his other palm and touched the center of the concave glass wall. His ember crept over the panel in oily tendrils. The glass devoured the writhing energy and then dissolved into nothingness from the center outwards.

The male turned around and waved his hand toward Hestia, who was whimpering now. Her body glided through the created doorway and paused next to the closest Dormancy pod. The glow from her bindings was consumed by the pod’s pitch-black shell, no reflection in its glistening form.

“Listen well, dirtlings, for I will only say this once. Hestia Larkin is accused of using unregistered ember. Furthermore, she is accused of wielding said ember to tamper with the Dormancy pods.” The male Akridai looked bored with the entire ordeal. Everyone was holding their breath as he went on. “The punishment is culling, which we will proceed with immediately.”

Letti started crying and dropped the astra poppies to the earth. The ground felt like it was tilting, but my legs locked, keeping me upright. My breathing was labored. “Go, now, Letti! Get inside the cottage!” I cried, pushing her toward it. To my relief, she listened and ran. Out of the corner of my eye, Father arrived and caught Letti in his arms. His head moved subtly from side to side in disappointment as he glimpsed the scene. He brushed the back of her hair and carried her back home without a second glance.

Kaden was shouting, his expression burning with anguish. He was now being held back by his father. Solemn tears were streaming down Mr. Larkin’s cheeks, pooling in his beard. I couldn’t feel my legs as they carried me over to Kaden. We all understood there was nothing we could do to stop this.

With the wet taste of salt lining my lips, I took Kaden’s hand. “Kade, let’s be here for her,” I implored. He looked at me, his eyes like a wild animal caught in a snare. Then he stopped struggling, defeated.

The Draumrs flanked the doorway as we approached the entrance. The Akridais stood at either end of the pod, feeding it their ember as the male did with the glass panel earlier. As the pod drank in their energy, the amber glass appeared, the murky mist within alive.

Simultaneously, they brushed their fingertips in a circular motion over the ends of the now amber surface. A burst of neon-yellow zipped from their dimming auras down through their arms and hands. The glass spun and vanished.

Together, the Akridais guided Hestia’s incapacitated form into the pod, glowing power streaming from their hands and creating the path. Kaden cried, “We are here, Ma!”

Hestia strained her eyes toward us as far as she could, her head immobile. Her eyes were shiny. She blinked once. One solitary tear crept down her cheek. “I’ll save a spot in Surrelia for each of you. I love y?—”

As the pod's encasement reappeared and twirled into place, her last word was cut short, wrapping her in a morbidly beautiful cocoon. Placing their outstretched hands on the vessel once more, the Akridais closed their eyes in concentration.

Behind their hieroglyphic tattoos, their skin burned bright before fading. The last of their waning, oily auras absorbed into their arms and surged through their hands into the glass. The Akridais each slumped, looking drained. Without another word, they left the conservatory and walked away into the dusk, the Draumrs obediently following.

Before we could step inside, the glass wall reappeared, entombing Hestia. Kaden, Mr. Larkin, and I pressed our bodies into the glass as close as possible, not breaking eye contact with her. I didn’t want her to be alone. This couldn’t be real. She was a second mother to me.

Within a few breaths, the pod emanated a twitching, golden light. Hestia was screaming in what looked like pure agony, but only deafening silence met us. The inky mist slithered into her ears, her mouth—any pore that could be found. Then, without warning, her body turned to ash and burst into stardust. The pod turned solid and dark. The curtain had been drawn.

Mr. Larkin sagged to his knees, weeping onto the glass. A scream tore out of Kaden as he charged into the woods. I was a grymwood, silent and planted into the earth. My feet tingled, ready for movement. They carried me back to my cottage, crushing the rest of the flowers Letti had dropped. In my stupor, I didn’t notice Gavrel approaching.

As he took in the scene before him, his eyes blazed, making them appear as if they would combust anything in their path. His fists clenched so tightly at his sides that I thought they might implode. He wore the standard, soot-colored Draumr uniform, a sword strapped across his back. He looked older somehow. More rugged. More broad. His shoulder and chest muscles were straining against the fabric of his structured overcoat with every ragged breath he took.

I murmured breathlessly, “Gavrel, I don’t …”

And I passed out, Gavrel catching me before I hit the petal-strewn ground.