Page 94 of Anomalies

“I’d like to speak to my Velkan,” I say, now that I have an audience, and more shadows spring up from the floorboards in response. You cannot bargain with death, and you cannot beg it for anything—Nana taught me that. “Get him for me.”

The floors creak as more and more shadows appear, their silhouettes forming on the walls as real people, walking around and assessing me. I can hear them talking—sharp whispers and long-drawn-out sighs, then my spine snaps straight when a cold breath sweeps past my ear.

“Get him yourself,” it hisses, then dark laughter ripples through the room, echoing off the endless ceiling.

“Stupid girl, stupid girl.”

“Dance for us, child.”

“You’re here.”

My gaze snaps straight at that final voice. “You! Come talk to me.”

Long limbs, ashen skin, a deep, dark void where his face should be, I lock my heart on it, refusing to let it wander, then I stop breathing entirely when a shadow bursts forward.

And all the other shadows…flee.

A man materializes right before my eyes. He paces back and forth in front of me like a caged animal.

I hear the drag of heavy chains, so loud it reverberates in my jaw, and I swallow against the fear gathering deep in my gut, my racing heart screaming⁠—

The shadow ceases its pacing, and I freeze.

It straightens to its full height, then there is another creak of chains as it turns⁠—

“NO!” I shout, and the shadow dissipates. I expel all the air from my lungs so fast that I sway on my feet. That was not my Velkan.

I get my breathing under control, then I reset my intentions. Cloaked in shadows, cold to the touch, the sharp click of heels on hardwood.

The room erupts into hungry shadows, and they move about the room like dark wisps of smoke, materializing as people, animals, creatures I don’t even recognize.

“Move, girl.”

“Come see us closer.”

I keep my feet planted, ears straining against the onslaught of harsh whispers in search of the one I’m looking for–

“LEAVE.”

My eyes shoot open. I know that voice. “You.” I focus on it entirely. “I want to talk to you.”

I hear the click of heels, and this time the shadows clinging to the walls don’t flee⁠—

They bow.

A woman passes along the wall to my left, robes billowing out behind her. She steps through, materializing right in front of me—a vision of shimmering gold. She’s the only thing in this room aside from the pale blue walls that isn’t void of all color and vibrancy.

The image of her sharpens. She’s watching me with big brown eyes, her expression fierce, and when her voice booms in my ears, all the blood leaves my body. “Only your mother would have done something as foolish as this.”

Oh, my gods.

I’d found my Velkan, just not the one I was looking for.

“Sable,” I breathe. Sable Van Reenan—former Dame of the Sol. My grandmother.

Her hair falls in soft curls along her shoulders, silver like Delia’s robes, and her skin shimmers. There’s an ethereal warmth to her that’s comparable only to the golden diadem pressed into her stern brow, bright and gleaming. Sable looks down her straight nose at me. “I thought you were smarter than this, child.”

“I took precautions,” I reply, replanting my feet on the ground. “I didn’t have a choice⁠—”