Lunara's POV
Evershade's noise level exceeded my previous recollection of it.
In addition to sound, a feeling of "heaviness" was present in the way that everyday life went on with little or no interruption, thus allowing people to lose awareness of how close they lived to a vast unknown.
I stood on the opposite side of the street from the school gates with both her arms crossed over a disposable coffee cup she had not used. My coffee had already become cold several minutes ago, yet I had not realized it.
I could see them—Six separate threads, faint in all, interwoven through all the other students in the pathways leading to the school gates, like a hidden constellation.
They were unformed, unaware, and would soon awaken to life. Of the six threads, I was drawn to one particular female student: Averyn, the girl who was walking with her three friends while wearing a half-zipped hoodie, and who appeared to have her mind elsewhere while sharing a hearty laugh with them.
As the echoes of their laughter penetrated my ears, I sensed that there was a fracture of light in Averyn; she was a memory that remained in existence from afar. The Codex reacted to Averyn first for a reason.
At first glance, I sensed the first stirrings of the Awakening in Averyn. However, I knew it was still too soon to come to any conclusions regarding how far this particular initiation would extend to other women and hopefully for myself.
But it had begun.
I turned away before I had the chance to linger too long. It was dangerous to watch; it was more dangerous to become attached.
When I stepped through the library doors, the doors opened with a soft hiss; the smell of old books and polished wooden tables surrounded me in a familiar scent that felt like magic. This library was a mask to my role; it was a needed mask.
As I walked past the head administrator's desk, he greeted me with a loud and cheerful, "Good morning! Settling in okay?" he asked me.
"Yes," I replied, with a warm human voice; I had rehearsed my reply before arriving that day. "The students have been very welcoming."
This no longer was untrue.
From my position behind the circulation desk, I began to notice the patterns of a given day. Who stood by the fantasy bookshelves, who looked out the windows, who flinched when the air pressure changed ever so slightly but in a way that a person could sense it.
Averyn entered the building after lunch.
I did not look over at her right away.
While she pretended to sort through some returned books, Averyn counted and steadied the soft light coming through her skin before I glanced up at her.
When I finally looked up, Averyn was already looking at a shelf that I did not know she would be allowed to go on.
"That section is a little empty," I said in a lighthearted way.
"I'm Sorry," said Averyn, startled. "I didn't know."
I replied, "No problem. Some stories are still waiting to be discovered."
Averyn hesitated as if she wanted to say one more thing, but she nodded and turned.
The light began to flares. My hands rested upon the edge of the Table. "Soon, but not yet" echoing through her thoughts.
That night while in the comfort of my own secret place, a hollow scrolled stone lorebook wrapped in dying memories and magic was hidden away within the great masonry that made up the city.
I awoke the memory of being surrounded by the light of Aether's skys and felt the echo of being ripped asunder by the choice that took all from me in one blow.
"they do not know the way" I whispered into the silence of the cavern around her.
In reply the Codex began to pulse back at me. Somewhere far away from me in Evershade there was something watching and this time it was watching back.