The blue star twinkles in the night sky. So bright, yet so far away.
It doesn't matter the distance. I will reach it. I WILL reach it. Even if every breath grows more labored, even if each stroke of my wings comes slower and heavier.
This light, this star, I don't know what it is. Only that I need it like a traveler in the desert needs water.
A voice blooms around me, warm and soft as my dawn light.
"Forgive me, Theo. I wish I could have given you more."
~*~
Theo's eyes flew open.
He gasped for breath, cold sweat slicking his skin. His hands twitched, desperate to grasp something distant, something already fading away. A blue star. A gem tumbling through the air. No, a voice.
A voice he'd never heard before. A voice so familiar it made him want to cry.
"Theo." Something soft and cool pressed on his shoulder. "Theo, are you all right?"
This wasn't the voice from his dream. No, it meant far more to him.
After a few hard blinks, Theo's vision cleared. Enough to make out an unfamiliar room, a bed with blue-striped covers. He was lying on top of it, his shoes off.
Zenith stood beside the bed, leaning toward him. Even in the dimness, his blue eyes sparkled behind his glasses.
Zenith. Here. In front of him. A hot mix of emotions rushed through his body, too tangled for him to begin to make sense of, let alone release.
All he could do was haul himself up by one elbow, slowly easing to a sitting position. A faint ache throbbed between his eyes and his throat felt dry as sandpaper, but otherwise he seemed no worse for the wear. The draining exhaustion from his contract with Darian was just a memory.
Speaking of contracts…. Theo closed his eyes and reached for his Levia. The pink light flickered, still faint. But there was no hint of a hard, crystalline glow.
"Zenith," he burst out. "Our contract – "
"Yes, my contract with Oliver is gone. Thanks to you and my liege," Zenith said quietly. "Since you were asleep, you haven't been able to reform your contract with me."
"Then, then I'll do it right now – "
The hand on his shoulder squeezed. "It's all right. There's no need to hurry. Focus on recovering your power first."
Theo squirmed, but saw the sense in Zenith's words. "So...we really beat him?"
"Yes." For the first time, Zenith turned away, his eyelids sliding half shut. "Again, I must apologize. If only I had fought harder against Oliver's control – "
Theo yanked on his arm. Zenith whirled toward him, alarmed, and Theo took the opportunity to climb up onto his knees and grab the sides of Zenith's face.
Zenith jerked, but didn't pull away. So Theo pressed down, digging his palms into Zenith's skin, and glared into his azure eyes. "I already said none of it was your fault. So don't blame yourself, okay? The only person who needs to apologize is Oliver."
Zenith swallowed, his throat convulsing. Then he lowered his head.
But before he could speak, the door flung open. Darian swept inside, Ryan hot on her heels. "Hello, Theo, are you – ah. Am I interrupting?"
Heat seared in Theo's cheeks and he quickly let go of Zenith, flopping back against the pillow. "N-no, it's all good!"
"My liege." Zenith acknowledged her with a sharp nod.
"Good to see you're okay," Darian said, hand on her hip. She was back in her glamour, wearing the sailor shirt and shorts she'd started off the day in. Only the shadows beneath her eyes hinted at the travails she'd endured.
Theo had...successfully formed a contract with her. A seraphim prince. He still couldn't wrap his mind around it.
Strange. Even though their contract was gone, he thought he still felt a faint pulse of her power. No, wait – this wasn't her all-encompassing night sky. It was a tiny pinprick deep inside his chest.
Before he could ask about it, Ryan had to dive in. "Great, he's awake! So can we get outta here now?"
"Here? Where is this, anyway?" Theo asked. It definitely wasn't the prison, but it didn't seem like Meg's beach house either.
When Ryan said, "The Enson manor," the bottom dropped from Theo's stomach.
"Uh, what? How did we – "
"When the arena broke, it spat us out here." Darian shrugged. "You've been sleeping for about an hour."
"Is that safe?" Theo's heart pounded. "What about Oliver?"
"Ehh, he can't do anything without his precious ring." Ryan linked his hands behind his head. "He's whining and crying up a storm but whatever, it's all his fault! Begging us to give his ring back and shit, mommy and daddy trusted him with it, yeah, yeah! Shoulda thought of that before stealing other wizards' familiars!"
Grinning, he slammed his fist into his palm. Well, someone seemed to be in good form.
But something else he'd said caught Theo's attention. "The ring. What happened to it?"
"I've got it." Darian pulled something out of her pocket. As he leaned toward it, Theo felt that pinprick of light in his chest flash a little bit brighter.
For a moment, a woman's voice whispered in his ears. But it vanished as soon as it came, and Theo didn't have time to wonder about it before Darian held the gem toward him.
Barely larger than his fingernail, it had an irregular, jagged edge as if it had broken off of a larger crystal. Despite its size, its color was rich and deep. As Darian turned it, tiny sparkles danced across its surface like stars.
So beautiful. And so similar to Darian's Levia, except its blue was lighter. More like the star he had chased in his dream.
Something about it seemed naggingly familiar. He'd seen this color before, and not just in his dreams. But what….
"I'm not sure what this thing is," Darian was saying. "Meg doesn't know either. All we know is that it has the ability to greatly enhance Levia, allowing the Ensons to maintain their prison and contract with dozens of familiars at once."
"Pretty cool, huh? Way more than a brat like Oliver deserves," Ryan said, puffing out his chest.
"More than you deserve, too." Darian shot him the evil eye.
"Hey, hey, don't be like that – "
As Darian rounded on Ryan, the crystal glinted in the light. Something wrenched in Theo's chest and his breath caught.
It struck him like an arrow. A memory. A dim room, just like this. A shard of crystal in his hand. Turning it back and forth, watching the light sparkle across its blue surface.
"Wait," he blurted, extending his hand. "Can I see it?"
Darian shot him a sharp look, making him blush. But to his surprise, she held it out. With trembling hands, Theo accepted it.
The pinprick of power in his chest pulsed. A wave of Levia rolled through his body, stirring to life his own dawn light. Yet what he felt the most was the cool, smooth crystal against his skin.
'A tarp sliding off a half-finished painting of a seaside cottage. Dust swirling with every step. And in the corner of a drawer, behind the brushes and dried-out tubes of paint, a blue glint.'
"I've seen this before," Theo said.
"Wait, what?" Darian whipped toward him. "Don't tell me you know what it is?"
"I...I don't. But I…." Theo took a breath, unable to believe the words about to leave his mouth. "I've seen a crystal just like this. In….in my mom's studio."
His tongue almost tripped over the words. Who could blame him? Not like he'd had many chances to say 'my mom' in his life.
"Your mother's studio?" Zenith asked, blinking.
"She was...an artist." Theo struggled to force his voice past the lump in his throat. "After she died, Dad never touched her studio. It's still in our house. I usually...stayed away from it. I was scared of it as a kid. But one time when I was ten, I think, I got curious. I snuck in, looked in the drawer. And I found a crystal just like this one."
He remembered how it had felt in his palm, cool and soothing. Yet at the same time, he'd had this overwhelming sense of wrongness, that he shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't be touching it. So he'd put it back and crept away and never went into the studio again.
"Why would your mother have something like this?" Darian's brows knitted.
"I don't know." Mouth dry, Theo stared at the crystal again. "Maybe...she really was a wizard."
His voice died into a murmur, as if he was too afraid to voice the idea out loud. There had to be a reason for it. His dreams, his powers. But he'd spent his whole life studiously avoiding the subject of his mom. Now, he might have no choice but to face her.
"Then I'll give it to you." Darian's pronouncement made Theo snap his head up.
"Are you sure?"
"Why not? It seems like you might hold the key to figuring out what it is."
"Hey, hey, wait," Ryan blared. "We Crowleys have resources, you know, we could study it a lot more in depth – "
"For fuck's sake." Theo clenched his fist tight around the crystal. "Can't you get your priorities straight for once? What about Avia, huh? How's she doing?"
Ryan jumped like he'd stepped on a pincushion. "She's fine, okay," he said, his face turning red. "We got our contract back and everything."
"Glad to hear it," Theo said dryly. "Now why don't you show a little gratitude? Don't forget you're the one who came to us begging for help."
Zenith moved a little closer to Theo, looking faintly alarmed, but Theo didn't stop glaring at Ryan. Who cared if it was petty of him; he had a right to it.
"Ugh...okay, yeah, I know." Grumbling, Ryan turned to the side and ran his hands through his hair. "Okay, okay. I guess I owe you one, okay? Thanks. Whatever."
Well, Theo figured that was about as close to a sincere thanks he was going to get out of Ryan. "You're welcome. So everything's good, right?"
"Um...well." Ryan shifted from foot to foot. "There's just one thing…."
Theo sat up straighter, heart pounding, and Zenith and Darian swiveled toward Ryan. What now?
"Look at this." Ryan stuck his hands into his pockets. When he yanked them out, caramel goo dripped from his fingers and his face twisted in utter agony. "They all melted."
"Oh." Theo expelled the breath he'd been holding. "Too fucking bad for you."