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“They are not all the same,” he said quietly. He gestured toward one shard near the centre. “Some were made to store power. Energy held in suspension.”

His finger shifted to another, darker fragment. “Some were made to remember.”

Maia frowned. “Remember what?”

“Moments,” he said. “Events. Sometimes entire lives.”

“Like the one in your room. What about the others?”

“History,” he said finally. “Real history. Not the version your kind writes to make it easier to live with.”

Maia hesitated before asking the next question.

“When the Hollow Wraith came,” she said slowly. “I didn’t know what I was doing. But power came from the shards near me. When I held them. You saw that, didn’t you?”

Caelith’s head snapped up.

“It burned in my hands,” she added.

“And what did you feel when it burned?” he asked.

“It wasn’t a hot kind of burn, it was more like a pressure burn. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but it was alive. I think the only way I can describe it is that it was like holding lightning.” She paused as she lowered her voice. “Do you think… well, could it work again? If the Fracture were to spill, would - or could - the fragments react in the same way as they did to the wraith?”

Caelith looked at the fragments. “Maia, you know I can’t tell you that.”

Maia took the shard he’d pointed to. “Then don’t tell me,” she said. “Show me.”

“Maia—”

He glanced toward the upper gallery. Other scribes moved between the long tables, bent over their own work. No one was watching.

“Come with me,” he said.

Maia followed him immediately.

“Fragments respond to presence,” he said, closing the door behind them. Maia’s heart instantly started racing.

“Then you’re present. Help me, please,” she said, walking over to the table and placing the shard down under her hand.

“Just this once, Maia. I mean it.”

He walked over to where she was standing and put his hand over hers. The glass brightened instantly beneath their joined hands. Symbols flared across its surface.

Maia sucked in a breath.

“You see?” he murmured. “Power. It seems to come easily to you.”

But something else had caught her attention. She pulled her hand free and stepped away from the table. The light faded immediately.

“Stay there,” she said.

Caelith frowned but didn’t move. Maia stepped forward again and the fragment brightened. She took another step, closer to him this time. The shard flared brighter still.

“It’s not reacting to me,” she said quietly. “And it’s not reacting to you.”

She reached out and caught his wrist. “Touch it again.”

“Maia—”