Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Opal

You guys better be on time!

Opal

You got the tickets I sent you and reserved your seats?

Opal

I hope you guys look presentable! You all better look like your work for Prada!

Opal

Aries I swear if you show up half-naked again. I’ll make what you did to Brett look like a love tap!

Opal

And Mia FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WEAR A DRESS!

Akin arrives first at the prestigious venue, waiting at the base of the alabaster staircase, dressed in a shiny burgundy, Dolce & Gabbana floral-jacquard three-piece suit.

The selection of superior fabrics forms the essence of the elegant three-piece with notched lapels and front button fastening.

Shortly, Aries arrives in a custom-tailored black suit with silk brocade, a gold-embroidered blazer with a chest welt pocket, and a polo shirt underneath with his signature, silver plain necklace.

“~Dayum~,” Akin draws out with all the melodrama he can muster.

“Try to stay dry, Ballo.”

Aries’s sleek hair is groomed to the front with a middle parting, his fade maintained with a trim that compliments his symmetrical and ultra-sculpted face.

Aries gives Akin a quick once-over. The suit flatters his dark skin, moonlight sharpening his iconic cheekbones. His hair is kept neat and short.

“Look at you, Aries, looking like you’re Braidwood-born.”

Aries chaffs at the backhanded compliment. “And you still look like a basic bitch.” He thumps Akin’s shoulder. “That designer ain’t foolin’ anyone.”

Akin comes closer, meeting Aries at eye level. “You can just admit that I look good.”

Aries smirks and his gaze strays past him.

Akin swivels around, his mouth dropping open at the sight of Mia sashaying over to them in a high-slit black dress, long-sleeved with a plunging open back.

Bold with white high heels and a strapless white clutch bag, her hair straightened and left free to stream behind her.

“Now ~she ~looks good,” Aries says.

Mia smiles shyly, looking away, her eyes fixing on Akin for his response.

His eyes trail over her body before he drags them back up to meet her gaze. “There are no words to describe such beauty.”

Mia swats the compliment away with a manicured hand. “Shut up.”

“We should head inside,” Aries says.

Akin offers his arm to her. “My lady.”

She takes his arm, entangling hers around his euphorically.

Akin walks forward to align himself with Aries, offering his other arm. “My lord.”

Aries tosses him an apathetic glance. So instead, Akin loops his arm around his which he doesn’t protest against and they make their way up the flight of alabaster stairs.

A million steps later, they finally make it inside. Already scant of breath, awe robs the little air Mia has left.

The interior of the concert hall has remarkable neo-baroque architecture with grandiose chandeliers, golden ornaments, and pastel-colored ceiling art.

Aries breaks away, heading in the opposite direction.

“Where are you going? The main auditorium is this way.”

Aries reaches inside his blazer pocket.

“I booked a private gallery.” He fans out three gilded invitations. “You coming?”

When they arrive, they are escorted up to their own exclusive balcony with premium cushioned seats and a deluxe view of the stage.

The enlightening ray sweeps over the interior like a searchlight.

Below them, the seating swoops up the raked armchairs like an ancient amphitheater, reminiscent of the sweep of the Colosseum, to house the semi-circular auditorium.

A triumphal arch is on its flank as a grand entrance, a ceremonial entrance derived from the imperial age with its superimposed arches.

“Wow, I feel like royalty up here.”

Akin slants closer to Aries. “This must have cost you, bro. How much do I owe you? I’ll pay it back for me and Mia.”

Aries lounges on the seat, steepling his fingers with a powerful stare overlooking the masses. “You can pay me back by enjoying yourself. This is for Opal.”

Time traipses out of bounds and before they know it, Opal is on stage. The main lights dim to focus the spotlight on her.

From the exclusive gallery boxes down to the rows of occupied seats, everything is draped in darkness. An ocean of faceless people. Opal’s spine is ironed flat behind the black grand piano.

She steadies her breathing and begins to play, conducting the complexity of her emotions into a symphony.

The sound ripples through the vast expanse effortlessly. A seed grows to form infinite branches, every note infusing immortal life into her, evicting every remnant of trepidation.

The serenity of the forest, the light that comes to the boughs, it bellows from the piano, translating feeling into sound. Her emotions channel through the piano, traveling through an immeasurable space.

The Chiangs look on with varying degrees of attentiveness.

Sanako watches with her clasped hands to her lips, Daiyu is blank-faced, laser-focused on her daughter, whereas Mr. Chiang wipes his cheeks dry every few seconds, tears constantly leaking.

By the time her piece is over, her fingers frolicking over the keys for the final farewell, her spirit is earthbound. She falls. But this time she’s captured by the uproarious applause. She even forgot that they are there, and she is here.

The cheering endures as she moves offstage.

“There’s our virtuoso!” Akin enthuses.

He goes up to her and sweeps her off her feet, spinning her around, both of them laughing. Akin puts her down to give her another bone-crushing hug.

Swept up in the tide of praise and congratulations, Opal cannot even get a breath out to thank him.

Opal eases back, grinning gratefully. “Thank you, and thank you guys for coming. It means more than you know.”

Her eyes dart to Mia and her brow runs up her forehead. “~Whoa~.”

“No, you are a ~whoa~.” Mia pulls her into a firm embrace. “You were amazing out there!”

Opal responds with the same enthusiasm. “How did you guys get back here?”

“Aries,” Akin says in a furtive voice. “No one can say no to him.”

“Miss Chiang.”

Opal’s spine snaps straight.

An event coordinator wearing a headset approaches her with resolute haste. “These were sent in for you.”

He turns away and beckons a sequence of people with the snap of his fingers. Everyone’s eyes are transfixed on the line of workers carrying thick bouquets of red roses, so large they need both hands to carry.

Promptly, Aries strides to them with his hands in his pockets, wearing a grin that transforms his face.

Aries slides out his hands and opens his arms and like a magnet, Opal draws to him in a flash, throwing herself at him and he catches her with an impossible grip, burying his face into the crook of her neck.

She slips back, but Aries keeps her at arm’s length as her eyes skim over the vivacious bouquets. Opal recedes and submits a polite request to have them sent to her dressing room.

Eventually, she reunites with her family at the foyer, her sister and her father fawning over her fulsomely.

Opal stares at her mother expectantly. “So what did you think, ma?”

“You were good,” she says expressionlessly.

“~Good?~” Mr. Chiang shouts, outraged. “She was ~great~. We should celebrate.”

He swivels around to motion to the prim and polished group. “And your friends should come with.”

Akin raises his hand like he’s in class. “Can I suggest my mom’s restaurant? Friends and family discount, of course, and I think my mom is in today. She likes to pop in sometimes in the week to supervise things herself.”

“My mom was on her way to fetch me,” Mia says. “Might as well tell her to join us instead.”

***

Jada seats them all at the family size table, and joins Daiyu’s other flank, right across Sanako who sits opposite her at the end, next to Opal who is beside Aries.

Akin sits between him and Mia with a saved open seat next to her. Mr. Chiang settles across from them, on his wife’s right side. They all slide over the menus on the table and peruse them.

“Hopefully, I will get to see you perform next time,” Jada says, shuffling closer toward the table.

“No doubt that you were outstanding tonight, if that’s anything I can remember from when you were all tater tots. Will you be performing at the Talent-Fest this year?”

Opal gives an unsure nod. “Maybe, but it’s near the end of the year and that’s too close to finals.”

The waiter comes over, but Jada dismisses her, waiting for Irene’s arrival first.

“So, Aries.”

His eyes zip up to meet with Daiyu’s fault-finding stare, under critical observation.

“Remind me again. Do you go to Braidwood High?”

His bare hand subconsciously fiddles with his finger, forgetting he’s without his rings. “No, ma’am. I’m working. The company I work for has expanded into Braidwood, so that’s what brought me back here.”

Daiyu’s face is frighteningly impassive whereas Mr. Chiang hands him an impressed nod.

“A working man,” he says, his voice welling with approval. “I can respect that. I was the same at your age.”

This encourages Aries’s smile. “Thought I’d work to be an employer instead of studying to be an employee.”

“There’s nothing wrong with an education,” Daiyu argues with a scruple of cynicism. “A good education comes with a certain affluence and class that money cannot buy.”

Akin’s eyes widen comically, turning his head slowly to include Mia in his bewildered look.

“Good thing he has all those attributes, and so much more,” Opal says to his defense.

Daiyu’s stare heats up to a skin-blistering glower. Opal wilts, looking away.

Jada attempts to douse the tension by gesturing to their matching black and gold colors, saying, “You two make a stunning couple.”

Opal shakes her head, nearly giving herself whiplash. “No—”

Daiyu interrupts with a sharp-pitched laugh, quick and disparaging. “No, my daughter is focused on her studies and when she’s ready, she’s going to marry a good~ Chines~e doctor like her sister.”

She gives Sanako a proud grin, which he daughter returns with an uncomfortable smile.

On cue, Irene enters the restaurant and approaches them, her presence defusing the awkwardness, but the tension cleaves to the air.

Irene plops down beside Mia, scanning the table with a quizzical look on her face, the tenseness unavoidable, spurring immediate discomfort.

“Why does this part of the restaurant feel like I’m attending a wake? Did I miss something?”

“No,” Daiyu says with a fabricated fascination. “I was trying to familiarize myself with Opal’s old friends. They have all grown so much. No longer the kids they were.”

“Akin,” Mr. Chiang says to snatch the attention from his meddlesome wife. “Opal tells me you are a ~very good~ soccer player.”

Akin smiles modestly, raising his broad shoulders exaggeratedly. “Well, I’m not bad,” he says with a laugh.

The server comes over to take all of their drink orders first, collecting their menus, then she leaves.

“Are you thinking about going pro?”

Akin puts fist to palm thoughtfully.

“I have a couple of opportunities and endorsement deals.” Bitterness corrodes his tone. “But my father wants me to get an MBA like him, so I have something to fall back on if the ‘soccer thing’ doesn’t work out.”

“Nothing wrong with having a backup plan,” Daiyu says, her attention fastening on Mia. “And what about you?”

Mia glances at Irene instinctively. “Oh, I’m planning to study overseas, kind of want to get as far away from Braidwood as possible.”

“I can imagine,” Sanako says, speaking up for the first time. “There are a lot of bad memories for you guys here. I heard about Erin and Keila. I’m so sorry.”

Mia peers over past three heads to get a good look at her. Sanako is a much more mature version of Opal with the twin ebony tresses and dark bronze eyes, almond-shaped and doe-soft, complementing her delicate features.

“Thanks,” Mia says on their behalf. “It’s nice to see you again by the way. I hear you’re also a doctor now, right?”

She nods stiffly.

Daiyu makes a displeased sound. “Sanako, don’t be shy,” she says, offering her unnaturally sweet smile.

Then she looks back to Mia. “She’s not some general practitioner, tell her about—”

“~Ma~,” Opal blurts with frustration flooding her voice. “No one wants to hear you boasting about her qualifications. We don’t care.”

Daiyu snaps back in Mandarin, and Opal retorts, sparking an exchange of terse words and furious whispers.

Mr. Chiang adds his voice to placate them both, but it makes things worse and no one else knows how to deescalate the situation.

Akin slumps to the side, closer to Mia, whispering in her ear. “This is not how I imagined things going.”

Mia draws closer to him, her face inches from his. “Were you expecting another reunion moment kind of thing?”

He looks away momentarily. “Something like that.” He watches the argument brewing between them, forcing Sanako to attempt an accord.

“Definitely not this.” His eyes flick up to hers. “Do you think they’ll notice if we sneak out the back?”

Mia takes a moment of mock consideration. “No, but I bet my mom will.”

In unison, they look over at Irene, who’s already staring back at them with a glare that can wither flowers.

^INTERLUDE: Return to the Black Glade^

^EIGHT YEARS AGO^

“I know that this is Akin’s birthday, but his present is for everyone.” Keila placed the colorful gift box on the table and she took off the lid. “When I saw it, I knew that it was meant for all of us. Birthday boy first.”

Keila took the box with both hands and offered it to Akin across from her.

Akin reached over and stuffed his hand inside, shuffling past wrapping paper, his fingers brushing against cold metal before he fished out the chain. A gold necklace with a pendant shaped as a broken heart.

The box made its rounds until everyone at the table was holding their own.

“There are three hearts with the word ‘best’ on them,” Keila explained, “and the other three have the word ‘friend’ on the other half of the heart. So they can all link with the other so they can say best friend.”

“Thanks, Keila,” Akin said, beaming a lustrous smile.

Akin pivoted to the side so Erin could help him put it on, then he helped her. Mia helped Opal, then vice versa. Keila helped Aries, then he helped her until everyone was uniformed with the glittering gold necklace.

All of their parents sat at the adjacent worn leather booth. Sur la Mer, previously just Jada’s Diner, was closed for the day to celebrate Akin’s birthday, which was coming to an end.

Katherine slid out of the booth and strutted over to the kid’s table, bestowing kind smiles to them all.

Erin looked up at her eagerly, wondering if it was time to go home. Though she indulged in the company of her friends, another awaited her.

“So, good news, the celebration doesn’t end just yet.” Katherine and Mia exchanged knowing looks. “A few days before the party, we talked it over with the other moms. And tonight you’re all sleeping over at Aunty Irene’s house.

“Your moms have your bags packed ready in the trunk. Aries, your grandfather is sending someone to drop off your stuff later. But Irene and I will drop you all off at her house, right now.”

Akin let out a whoop and shook Erin excitedly, whereas her smile wavered at the news.

***

The moon was a toothpick-thin smile in the dark. The stars were glittering like scattered elf dust.

It was late into the night, all the kids were camped out in the living room, mattresses splayed on the floor with small sleeping forms packed together. Girls were on the floor and the two boys were on the two separate couches.

Erin rose, nestled on the edge, eyeing the little lumps rowed out in front of her. She got up to a full stand, tiptoeing to the side of the living room to retrieve her tog bag.

And then she began to change into her clothes, dressing warmly with a tank top underneath, a long-sleeved top over it with her favorite turquoise jacket.

“Erin?”

She gasped, fumbling, her body bumped the wall in fright and for stability.

Mia straightened up, rubbing sleep from her eyes, moonlight pouring into the space through the sliding door, casting Erin in thick darkness, only able to see her frozen silhouette.

“What are you doing up?”

“What are ~you~ doing up?” Mia threw back. “And why are you changing out of your pajamas?”

Erin finished buttoning up her jeans. “Just go back to sleep,” she whispered furiously.

“What?”

Mia clambered, trying to stand up on the mattress, sending a jostling shift and triggering a wave of tired groans. One by one, the other started waking up with angered confusion as to what was happening.

“What’s going on?” Akin mumbled.

Opal propped herself on her elbow, staring directly at a fuzzy-looking Erin. “What?”

“Can you guys shut up?” Aries yanked the blanket over his head and turned to face the head of the couch.

“Erin is trying to escape.”

Suddenly everyone was alert. Aries rotated back around. Akin sat up on the couch, legs dangling over the edge, and the girls lifted themselves straight. Everyone’s attention was fixed on Erin like she was a criminal on trial.

Mia moved off the mattress to stand at the edge, creating a way for the others.

“Would you like to explain yourself?” Opal demanded.

“Why are you sneaking out at night?” Akin asked.

Erin raised her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. You just have to promise to never tell anyone. I’m serious. Bad things will happen if you do.”

“You’re scaring me,” Keila murmured.

“Is this why you’ve been actin’ weird?” Aries assumed. “Because of this big, bad secret?”

“More than that,” she said darkly.

“One day, Leonard was hurting me in the car when it was raining. I used your knife, and I cut him and I ran out into the woods. And there I found something inside the river. You know where the bridge is?”

“Table Bridge, yeah,” Akin said. “My mom and I pass that place every time on our hikes.”

“It’s not just a place…it’s an entrance.”

Aries perked up with an amused scoff. “An entrance?”

“I wouldn’t believe me if I were you, either,” Erin retorted. “Which is why you’ll have to see it for yourself.

“I’ve been going there this whole time. And other days I’ve tried jumping into the river at different spots but I just ended up getting wet. The only entrance is at the bridge.”

A moment of silence descended, heavy and prolonged.

“Is anyone else worried?” Opal asked.

Everyone broke into a chorus of mumbled agreement.

Erin sighed exasperatedly. “I’m not crazy. Come with me and see for yourself, I promise. Your lives will change after this. Just trust me. You trust me, right?”

Aries swung up to sit straight on the couch. “I trust you.”

“Aye,” Akin said in a pirate accent.

Opal gawked at them in disbelief. “This is crazy. You want us to sneak out on our own to go into the woods? Haven’t you seen those scary horror movies?”

“Opal’s right,” Keila said quickly. “Most of them happen in the woods.”

“Don’t worry.” Aries stood up, stretching with a yawn. “I’ll protect you if you’re so scared.”

“I am curious about where Erin has been disappearing to,” Mia admitted.

“So let me show you.”

With that, the entire group changed back into their casual clothes of that day, lacing up shoes and putting on jackets.

Mia went into the kitchen and equipped the boys with flashlights since there were only two in the house, then led them outside.

From that point, Erin walked at the forefront, pioneering into the woods just across their street.

Aries hiked beside her with the flashlight on, illuminating the path as they ascended the steep incline, artificial light probing nature.

“How do you know where to go?” Opal asked. “Isn’t your house all the way on the opposite side, by Hillcrest?”

“There are many paths to the bridge.”

A feathered melody echoed through the trees. The canopy of interlaced leaves was woven over the eternal summer sky. It was like a dome of black speckled with glowing pinpricks.

The undergrowth was crinkly and crunching underfoot. A broth of smells swirled around them. Bilberries and chanterelles adorned the forest floor, questing for starlight.

“I can’t”—Akin gasped, out of breath—“believe we’re doing this.”

“It’s dark out here and every tree looks the same,” Keila echoed. “Erin, how the heck do you even see where you’re going?”

“You guys complaining,” Mia said breathlessly, “isn’t helping.”

“You’re not freaked out about this?” Opal whispered frantically, staring at Erin’s back. “This is creepy. Erin, you’re telling me this is the reason you’ve been blowing us off? To creep in the woods like a disturbed person?”

“Lay off her,” Aries defended.

Opal scoffed bitterly. “Of course you wouldn’t see anything wrong with it.”

“Guys,” Mia snapped, her eyes darting to even the tiniest movement beyond them. “Let’s just…trust Erin. I want to know what she knows.”

Erin sent her a cursory glance from over her shoulder. They journeyed their way to Table Bridge in silence, attention flitting to the exhales of the wind, the rustle of the leaves and scuttling nocturnal mammals.

In due course, Erin stepped onto the extension of wood, ushering them on the bridge in single file.

“What…what is supposed to happen right now?” Akin questioned with bulging fish eyes.

“We jump,” Erin answered simply.

“Okay, no way,” Aries refuted. “Do you actually mean you wanted to get in the water?”

“Erin, are you insane?” Opal shrieked, strangling her volume to keep it low. “You want us to jump off a bridge, into the river, at night?”

“I can’t swim,” Keila informed, hoping to inspire a retreat.

“You won’t need to.”

“Erin, you’re insane,” Akin said, shaking his head. “That’s it, field trip over. We’re going back home—to Mia’s house, I mean.”

“Nah, I’m out,” Aries agreed.

Decided, the five of them walked back to the start of the bridge, gathering at the end.

Mia stopped to swivel around, wondering why Erin remained where she was, at the middle, staring back at them defiantly. She couldn’t see her face lucidly, but the defiance was clear.

“You guys wanted to know where I’ve been going,” Erin said loud enough, no longer scared of the woods or the darkness. “Now you want to chicken out because you’re scared?”

“I ain’t scared,” Aries said to state the facts. “But you’re crazy if you think anyone’s jumping off a bridge. We aren’t and you won’t—not anymore.”

“What you’ve been doing is dangerous, Erin,” Keila said, hugging herself tightly. “What happens if you drown or something? You can’t be taking night swims in the river! And at night and on your own.”

“I’m not swimming,” Erin denied.

“I’m going to tell your mom,” Opal said to lay down her verdict. “I’ll tell her and you’ll never be allowed to come back here again. It’s not safe!”

“You won’t keep me from him,” she blurted.

“Him?” Mia repeated. “Him who?”

“You won’t keep me from him,” she echoed, edging toward the brink haphazardly.

Aries shot out his hand, carefully making his way to her. “Erin…let’s talk about this, ye? Come off the edge, okay, no one is going to snitch on you.”

“They’re waiting,” Erin whispered absently.

Erin leaned limply until she fell off the edge, swallowed by the water. The surface bubbling.

“Erin!”

Aries dropped the flashlight, rushed forward and impulse hurled him over the edge and into the water. Akin followed after him without thought.

Bewildered, the others traded panicked looks and Mia extended her hand to Opal.

After a fretful moment, she clasped her hands with her and she offered her hand to Keila. She stared at the hand, shaking her head with tears welling in her eyes.

“Trust me,” Opal urged. “Trust us.”

Keila finished the chain. Holding hands, they leaped into the water together. Mia opened her eyes and she couldn’t see Erin, Aries, or Akin. She saw nothing but felt…everything.

Still linked to the other two girls, Mia fluttered her legs to the top, lifting the other two like a lifeline as they breached the surface.

Erin stood in a grandiose archway, looking back at them triumphantly.

Mia rose beside Akin, ogling the opulent interior, high-ceilinged with human-size decorative statues that lined the rim of marble.

Everyone else popped out of the water like daisies, stuck in a trance that awe cast upon them, frozen in the water.

Erin instructed them out and after a while, their wits returned to them slowly and they sloshed through the water to the ledge.

Aries climbed out, then Akin and the boys aided the girls out of the grand pool.

“Erin…what is this place?”

“This is our home.”

“Our?” Akin slanted closer like he was having trouble hearing. “Why do you think that?”

“Because he told me.” Erin smiled ambiguously. “Come, I’ll take you to him.”

Erin directed them out of the chamber like a tour guide but when they came to the corridor, instead of taking them outside, Erin ventured down the gigantic corridor of the edifice.

The friends stared at the sumptuous decorations including rich and elaborate mosaic floors, wall paintings, and more marble statuary.

“This is nuts,” Mia uttered in a breath.

She tilted her head back to gauge the full breadth of the towering interior with long colonnades with beautiful ornamental facades and intricate tapestries narrating a timeworn story.

The edifice included a sprawling complex of buildings that consisted of various rooms, including residential quarters.

Erin led them outside to the terraced, botanical garden of abundant flora and fauna surrounded by columns that opened outward to the natural surroundings of the dark forest.

Erin ambled to the open space but paused when she was near the tree line of the forest.

Without sound or word, she summoned him.

“Please, guys, don’t freak out,” she warned. “That makes him shy.”

“Erin, who is he?”

Aries flung a look at Mia. “I think that’s the least of our worries.”

Opal spun around deliriously and she let out a short, maniacal laugh.

“How can you tell us not to freak out when you discovered a whole new world in the river? I mean—” She cut herself off.

A palpable presence swept over them, as tangible and as unseen as the wind. Deep reverberations of something dark and something hair-raising. A peril unknown.

Erin spotted a peek of its mask behind a tree, asking from afar if it was safe to approach.

“It’s okay,” she said aloud so they could hear her. “They’re here to see you.”

Akin swiveled around dramatically. “Who’s she talking to?”

“At this point, nothing can shock me anymore.”

A spillway of shadows cascaded in front of them, wisps of black knitting to shape an amorphous form. The Sporkah grew to loom over them by several heads, a menacing mask of white and black on its face with red streaks.

“I take it back,” Aries murmured.

Keila trembled and backed away, her mouth gaping but not a sound was released. Opal and Akin retreated, their arms billowing from their sides as if searching for something to hold on to so they wouldn’t collapse.

Aries was paralyzed on the spot, abounding in a fear he felt shame in feeling. Keila began hyperventilating, clutching her chest as if trying to grip her lost breaths. The others were too distraught to notice, let alone try to calm her down.

Erin wanted to roll her eyes but their reaction was normal. They were handling it much better than she did, considering she had vomited and fainted.

Erin moved to stand in front of it. “This is Tzelem. I promise he’s friendly, he’s the sweetest.”

No one said a word. And not for a long time.

“I know he looks scary,” Erin said carefully. “But he’s super nice, I swear. You just need time to get to know him.”

“Wha-what is happening right now?” Aries said, voicing his deafening thoughts. “What is that, what is this place and how the hell are we here? And how the hell you not dead—how are we all not dead?”

Erin took a breath and explained everything she knew—only what she was permitted to share.

She told them what they needed to know from the first time she discovered the Black Glade to the months she spent with him alone in his vast prison.

Opal had found Keila’s side and soothed her with a calming massage, rubbing circles on her back.

They were receiving the information far better than Erin had expected, but that was likely because the shock had not worn off yet. It didn’t for her, not until she visited for the second time and only then was it real to her.

The Sporkah wanted to acquaint itself with them and establish the initial bond.

“Now he has to touch you.”

Akin jerked away. “Excuse you?”

“It’s how he will be able to communicate with you, too,” she expounded. “You’ll hear him in your head, not like a voice, but like the voice in your head when you’re thinking. Like thoughts, quiet thoughts.”

She looked around at them. “Any volunteers?”

After a long moment, Aries stepped forward.

“Of course,” Akin commented. “Always gotta prove something.”

“Always gotta say something,” Aries muttered back.

“No.” Keila went up to Aries to grip his arm, coiling herself around him protectively. “It could kill you.”

“Don’t worry, your crush will be fine,” Akin teased.

“If it does, at least I won’t have to hear his mouth no more.”

Akin pulled a nasty face at him. “I hope it kills you.”

“It didn’t kill Erin,” he pointed out to quell Keila’s worry.

Keila untangled herself from him and realigned herself with Opal, hooking arms with her fearfully.

Erin looked over at the Sporkah and gave it a nod.

It wafted closer to Aries and lowered its head, its neck extending downward, its soulless eyes staring into his, locking his gaze. Its arm materialized out of its body, elongating to Aries, eye contact hard-wearing.

It placed its bony hand on Aries’s chest. He sucked in a jagged breath. Keila lurched forward, but Erin lifted a halting hand.

“Whoa,” Aries breathed. He stumbled back and looked at himself and then at the rest of them. “He’s a friend. He doesn’t want to hurt us.”

Opal’s face tautened. “How do you know that?”

“I can’t explain it. But he can.”

Opal braved forward. The Sporkah touched her and the bond was made, followed by Akin.

And after several minutes of persuasion, Keila consented, reluctantly. But the moment she was touched by shadows, it evicted every remnant of fear within her.

It was a calm certainty that descended upon them, the same warm-hearted certitude one would have that a loved one would never even think to harm them.

Last was Mia, but the moment it reached for her, it blasted back with a skull-rattling screech that ripped through their ears, rattling their skulls.

Its anguish sent a tremor through the ground, destabilizing them a few fear-inducing seconds before they regained their balance. And all was silent.

“What did you do?” Erin screamed, dropping her hands from her ears.

Mia gawked at her guiltily. “I—I—”

Akin released his ears. “You—you just scared a monster, bro.”

“He’s not a monster!” Erin yelled, red-faced, rage quickening her blood.

“I’m sorry,” he squeaked. “That’s not what I meant but Erin, he isn’t exactly a zoo animal!”

Erin pleaded with it telepathically to return, but it insisted on cowering behind a centurion tree. Erin persisted until it felt safe enough to only approach her.

She reached out to it and it bent forward and she placed her hand on its mask lovingly, as if cupping its cheek.

“I’m sorry,” Mia said in a rush. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you.”

The Sporkah vanished in a microsecond, but in a flash; it loomed over her.

Mia made the first move and stretched out her arm. It stared at it cautiously before her hand touched shadows, its skeletal hand dwarfing hers.