"AHHH!"
Kael's nightmare fractured at the hair-bristling shriek that tore through the shack. He didn't even take a second to shake sleep from his eyelids as he leapt to his feet, arms raised, already searching for the threat.
Els bundled against the wall, her eyes wide, pupils shrunken to pinpricks. Her trembling finger pointed at Tonio, who glared back at her as she screamed.
"A giant rat! Kraghor offer me your blessing. May Kythra burn darkness away. Morvana, please don't weave fate more terrible than what you've already given me—"
Kael's jaw dropped, and for a moment, he heard Els pray to every god she knew. Then, he fell back on his blankets and slapped his leg with a genuine laugh, the first in weeks. "You're still a few short if you want to pray to all eight bastards."
"Kael!" Tracing the wall, Els rushed behind Kael. She rested her forehead against his back, fingers digging into his shoulders—as if he were the only light that could brighten this nightmare. "Kill the monster."
Kael opened his mouth to explain that Tonio wasn't a monster, just... Tonio. But the rat-man himself beat him to it.
"Tonio not monster. Tonio... Tonio!" Tonio's dark nails dug into the blankets, and his lips pursed over his squarish teeth. "Bad friend. Bad girl!"
"It talks!"
For three heartbeats, only Kael's laugh echoed in the room. Then, Els slapped his back. "What are you laughing at? Do something instead of blaspheming the gods!"
"Let the bastards smite me if they're offended." The sting seared Kael's back, yet he laughed for a while longer before he patted her head. "Wouldn't a monster have killed us in our sleep? Relax Els. Tonio looks weird for reasons I'll tell you later, but he's a friend."
"Ah?!" Els' answer was to cup his cheeks and press her forehead against his. "No fever. It cursed your mind."
Before the misunderstanding grew beyond his control, Kael grabbed her hands. He gazed into her constricted green eyes, his smile fading. "I know you're terrified after what happened yesterday, and you have every right to be. But we can't discuss matters, matters of life, death, and your future, if you don't calm down."
Els fixed Kael for a moment, then shifted to Tonio, who grumbled about having his sleep disturbed as he folded the blankets.
She pulled back and took a deep breath that folded the corners of her eyes the way they always had when she tried to recall events.
"Yesterday's... blurry. There were thugs who..." Her voice died in her throat. When she spoke again, she ignored that sentence with a grimace. "A hairy man came, then I saw you. You killed the thugs. You carried me back home... thank you. But—"
"Tonio's the one who heard you when I searched for a place to spend the night." Kael interrupted her with a thumb pointed toward the rat-man. "I didn't expect to run into you, and honestly... I would have preferred not to if it meant you being safe. What did Garrick's men want from you? No, wait. We have much to discuss."
He gently guided her to a rock around the table, took the one opposite her, and gestured for Tonio to sit beside him. From the burlap bag, he pulled out three canteens of fresh water and loaves of bread mottled with green patches. Once he noticed them, he scratched his head, but still pushed them in front of everyone.
"Sewers," he shrugged. "Damp gets everywhere."
"I've eaten worse." Els didn't hesitate. She sliced everyone's bread with her small kitchen knife and poured the water into junk mugs.
But Tonio spread his palms. "Where rat meat?"
Els' eyes widened. "You're a big rat, but you eat rats?"
"Not rat. Human. Rat meat good. Dog meat better."
The answer came so naturally that both Kael and Els frowned at him, rebuttals forming without ever leaving their tongues.
"You're making it worse. Just stop talking, Tonio." Kael rubbed the mold off a slice of bread before munching it.
Tonio flung his bread in front of Els. "Kael traitor. Wounded. Eat." He left the table to sit in a corner of the room with his canteen.
Els leaned forward, a hand covering her mouth. "Does he have coal in his mind and a bunch of miners trying to get it out?"
"He's stupid, yes, but he's not bad," Kael sighed. "Back to what matters."
Kael opened his mouth to finally ask about Garrick's men, but Tonio's voice drifted from the corner. "...not even sorry."
Kael closed his mouth and put his head in his hands. "Quit laughing and tell me, Els."
"He's too funny! I didn't think I'd get to laugh today. Ahhh." Els wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. Her brows tensed, and she massaged them. "It all started the day you left. Dad... I found him where you sit after the festival. Unmoving. Gone. I-I can't understand. He taught me about survival with Aunt Nessa, I mean your mom, but he left me alone. Illness shouldn't have taken him, but he gave up, Kael."
"I noticed... Sorry. Arthur was a good man."
"He left me. For what? Pride? Because he felt I couldn't feed us both? I would have preferred to starve." Els covered her tears.
Kael gave her time to recover, and she continued in a quivering voice.
"I watched our neighbors throw him down the pit. On the same day, Garrick's men knocked. Dad paid for this shack in full, but they demanded inheritance fees. I asked everywhere. Everyone told me it was a thing. They want seven silver crowns. Seven entire silver crowns! In a month! They're madmen, and Garrick's even madder. But do you know the worst? Garrick doesn't even know about me. His mongrels do the job while he drains our blood. W-What can I do?"
Silence strangled the room until Kael sighed. "Inheritance fees... That's why we moved into your house. It's old, overpriced to perniciousness."
"Perniciousness... I don't even know that word. But yeah, it's disgustingly unfair. They'll look for the two you killed. Even if they don't, they'll take the house... I have no hope, Kael."
"I'll help you pay, but three weeks..." He grimaced. The promise of two silver crowns almost had him killed. Seven... The number squeezed his chest.
"Then what? I cry over my dad's bed in this rotten ruin? You were right when you fled after Aunt Nessa died. And that's what I want to do. Sewers or Veston, I don't care. Just take me with you."
Kael swallowed the refusal when Els gripped his forearm. Tears trailed down her face, the same ones he shed when his mom died. At least, she watched the neighbors carry Arthur to the burial pit. He hadn't even done that. It hurt too much. And his endurance turned his memories of her bitterly cold.
It took him five seconds to sigh, and five more to change the subject. She'd understand on her own.
"Listen, Els. There are things you don't know. Things we both thought were bedtime stories. They exist."
He pulled her basket and took out the ripped patch of her dress. "That's yours, right?" With his other hand, he pushed her broken teeth. "These too."
"..." Els covered her mouth and lifted her dress. No missing teeth. No holes. Then, she remembered her broken arm, the shadows, the sensation of friendship... and her vow. "W-What happened to me? Wait! I did what you told me. Know who you are and the truth you believe in. You knew!"
Kael nodded slowly. "You anchored the truth of Eternal Night. And you paid for it. Something from your mind. My endurance took the warmth of Mom's memories. It made me survive, so I don't know if I should complain. More people than you'd think have them. But let's start with you. Only you can find out what you lost and how to use it. I'll tell you what I know to help you answer."
Els shivered throughout the dense explanation. He told her what he had explained to Giovanni and Riccardo. Only this time, he added that a violent anchor break could turn her into an anchor-ghast. The part about Tonio and his brothers softened Els' gaze on the rat-man—no, the abused man turned monster by Garrick's experiments.
After half an hour, she bit her lip. "So that's how you survived when I found you in that alley, why you didn't freeze in the cold, and how you recovered in just a week. Ash and Tovin, these two bastards, deserve what you did to them. I persist... as your mom taught us."
Kael nodded. "I suspected your father knew about truths. That was one reason I left."
"He didn't know," Els answered with the certainty of a girl whose father held no secrets from her. "That's a lot... But I know you're right. I felt it."
"Do you know how you healed, what you anchored the truth to?"
"Healed? It wasn't healing. I had to fight back before he... but I was... broken. So I remembered how I was on the avenue minutes ago. The next moment, I became as I was in that memory. Light is temporary, but darkness remembers is the core of my truth... I don't know about the rest."
Els shook her head, her shoulders slumped. But Kael shot to his feet, his hands pressed on the table. Not healing. She returned to how she was. That truth was the real deal, on par with his endurance or even better, since it ignored physical condition.
Did it have a time limit? Could she...
His eyes slipped to the sulking Tonio.
Could she use that power on him?
They had to dig deeper. Together. "About what you wanted before." He grinned. "Still want to tag along?"