Shades of Starlight (Hiatus)

Chapter Thirteen

The pain in my temples was what brought me back to reality. Faces swam around me, muttering strange words and holding glittering objects. Nothing was clear, but everything was bright and hurt my eyes, worsening the pain in my head. It was like opening my eyes underwater in a polluted human river, toxic chemicals making their way to my brain. The darkness wanted to win, I knew. It was there, lurking in the unknown depths, waiting to make its move. But on the shore were my family, my friends. Keefe, Sophie, Mom, Fitz, Biana... They wanted me to emerge from the water, not drown there, in agony.

My head cleared somewhat with that thought, and the face in front of me lost its blurry quality. They smiled. It was the figure I'd seen earlier running from the glass pyramid.

"Elwin?" His eyes filled with tears.

"You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that. Bullhorn's been sleeping next to you for a week. Just an hour ago, he moved, and here you are." I looked around and saw that I was in my own room, in Candleshade. Nothing was out of place, everything just as I had left it. I heard a sniffle behind Elwin.

"Keefe... is that you?" I thought I had seen a spiky blond head behind Elwin. When he stepped forward, I realized that I was right. My big brother was wiping his puffy, red eyes with his sleeve. His face was stained with tears, and it looked like he hadn't been sleeping. He knelt down beside me, staring into my face.

"Cass," he said, and his voice cracked. My nose burned, and my eyes welled up. I'd missed him so much. But I needed to know something important before I could be happy.

"Where's Sophie? Is she okay?" Elwin chuckled.

"I should have known that would be your first question. Sophie's fine. Your leap was only about a hundred miles or so, and she wasn't hurt at all. A bit faded, but understandable under the circumstances. You weren't at all faded. Just... hurt," Elwin explained. I felt my forehead. I had been hit with the blast from the melder just where my scalp line started.

"Plus, she manifested as an Inflictor after she woke up from the sedatives. Almost killed her new bodyguard," Keefe jumped in. My eyes widened. Inflictors were rare-really rare. I only knew of one, Councillor Bronte. The ability was to inflict dark emotions on the people around you. It was kind of scary.

"So she has three abilities?" I asked. Telepath, Polyglot, and now Inflictor. That was amazing. I knew she was mysteriously special. Elwin nodded. Keefe was staring at my forehead for some reason. After a minute of silence, he cleared his throat.

"Elwin, do you have a mirror? Cass is going to want to see... you know." I looked at him questioningly, confused.

"Ah, yes, of course, I have one right here," Elwin said, opening a desk drawer and giving me a large white hand mirror. I looked into it and gasped.

"What the-" I exclaimed. There was a small, dark mark where the melder had hit me at the very top and center of my forehead. And the pieces of hair growing by it were midnight-black.

"The melder you were blasted with was a strange one," Elwin explained. "I'm not quite sure what its purpose was. I think it was meant to mess with your brain, but you seem absolutely fine. I have no earthly idea why those hairs are black... but you can dye it back, I'm sure, and the rest of your hair was unaffected." I stared at my hair for some time after that, putting it in front of my eyes so I could actually see it. My hair was so long, it seemed like the black went on forever.

"If that happened to me, I would die," Keefe announced. I laughed. Maybe I wouldn't dye it back. Maybe I'd keep it... as a reminder. It didn't look bad, anyway. Actually, it looked kind of pretty. My friends could weigh in on the decision.

"Are you ready for visitors?" Elwin asked, reading my mind. I nodded, and he went to the door and opened it a crack. I heard whispering coming from it, then my mom's voice.

"I should go first, I'm her mother," Lady Gisela declared, pushing the door out of her way.

"Mom!" She rushed over to me, asking hundreds of questions while fixing my hair into a sleek, braided updo. A few minutes later, Father came into the room. Keefe visibly stiffened when he entered.

"Cassia. How are you feeling?" He asked awkwardly. Keefe glared daggers at him. I raised my eyebrows at Keefe. He gave me a kind of shrug-nod-head roll that translated to 'I'll tell you later'.

"Fine," I said to Father. He nodded and left. That was weird. Why didn't he stay, like Mom? A few minutes later, Elwin let Sophie in, who looked nervous but excited. I launched out of bed and hugged her as tightly as I could. Everyone in the room gasped, but I was exactly what I had told Father-fine. My head didn't hurt at all, and neither did anything else.

"I'm so glad you're okay," I told Sophie once I'd finally let go. She beamed at me.

"You too! I've been so worried..." Tears ran down her face.

"It's okay, we're safe," I whispered. She nodded, blinking hard.

"I know, it's just-you know, you almost died! And everything's so confusing, did they tell you I'm an Inflictor? Plus, Councillor Bronte's calling for a tribunal!" I froze.

"A tribunal? What for?" Sophie looked slightly ashamed.

"A couple of weeks ago I... bottled Everblaze."

" You what?!" I nearly shouted.

"I know, I know," she muttered. I laughed.

"That's insane. You're crazy. Wow, I can't believe you didn't tell anyone! When's the tribunal?" If it was possible, I liked Sophie even more now. I was ignoring my mother's glare, the one I knew she was giving me. When we were alone, she'd probably lecture me about not being friends with Sophie anymore. But I was not going to let her stop us from being best friends. Forever.

"About... half an hour," Sophie said, looking at Elwin for conformation. He nodded. I gasped and ran to my closet, scrounging for a fancy dress.

"What do you think you're doing?" Elwin asked, taking the dress I was considering from me. I grabbed it back.

"I'm going, and you can't stop me," I told him. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Yes, I can, I'm your-"

"Actually," Mom interrupted. "Cassia's presence is required at today's tribunal. She should be getting ready for it now." Keefe laughed at the look on Elwin's face.

"All right, all of you, get out," I ordered. "I'll meet up with the Vackers and Dex before the tribunal starts." Sophie hugged me one last time, Keefe saluted to me, an old joke, Elwin pointed two fingers at his eyes, then at me, and Mom just smiled.

When they were all gone, I chose a dress the same shade of red as Sophie's sundress, with silver decoration and a matching necklace. Sophie would notice it, I was sure. That color of red would probably always be significant to us. Mom had already done my hair, so there was no need to work on that. A bit of silver eyeliner and red lip gloss later, only five minutes had passed, and I was ready to go. That was a record for me. Not that I was constantly late or anything, I just usually needed a long time to get ready for events. I left my room and went downstairs, where Dex and the Vackers were waiting for me, Dex standing a few feet away from Alden, Della, Fitz, and Biana.

"Are you ready to go?" Alden asked after I'd hugged everyone. I smiled. I was finally back with my friends and family. Sophie might have been in trouble, but I was sure the charges would be lifted. We'd suffered a lot the past two weeks, but we would be fine.

"I'm ready," I told him.