Hall of Shadows [The Celestial Chronicles #2]

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Hall of Shadows ( Part I )

"This happy happy love

Is sieged with crying sorrows

crushed beneath and above

Between to-days and morrows;

A little paradise

Held in the world's vice."

- Edwin Muir, "In Love for so Long"

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Song of the chapter: Rescue Me by Eurielle ( Please do play it! ;D)

Media: IT'S FRIGGING CASPER ( and ah no, it's not my artwork )

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Chapter Twenty-Four: The Hall of Shadows (Part I)

Home.

It sounded strange in her mind, yet it was so sweet and warm. Ever since Havoc Haven, home was no more. The Hall of Games was a pit swarming with evil plot and secrets. The Hall of Spirits was a chasm, always threatening to expose her.

Home was a place where she could be herself; no more running, no more hiding.

Jasper was right. Even in the skeleton of the Hall of Shadows, she could still claim it as her home. It was her rightful place. The blood of the ancients ran though her, the call of the shadows was only for her and her kind. She was a Walker, and the Oracles can never strip that identity from her.

"Jasper," she said. "I'm sorry that I made you spill your memories, I-"

He shook his head. "All those emotions are bound to come out, sooner or later."

His warm hand rested on her forehead. She shivered at his touch.

"Your fever is gone. Get some rest. We set out at dawn."

When Jasper had left the tent, Cady curled up and traced invisible lines in the air. She wrote his name over and over again, committing the image of him into memory, carving the stories he had told her into her mind.

Cady wasn't sure if she could ever let go. Jasper, the boy whom she thought to be sculpted from ice, sprung from the light to help her when she sunk into darkness. He had been her anchor, she realized, her anchor in the face of danger in the Hall of Spirits.

"Still thinking about him?" Zoroth's voice crawled out from the depths of her mind. It seemed weaker, the deep thrum of his voice.

She didn't answer him, for he already knew the answer.

"It's alright to think about him. I give you my permission."

Cady snorted. "I don't need your permission."

Zoroth's reply was dripping with smugness. "So you are thinking about him."

Her hands found the blanket and drew it over her, ignoring the little stabs of pain that came with her motions.

"Screw you, Zoroth."

*****

"Tell me if it hurts, okay?" Jasper's breath was hot against her ear. She nodded, both hands clinging onto the saddle tightly.

Jasper had managed to get her onto his saddle by carrying her bridal style and using a large rock as a make-shift stair. He now sat behind her, one hand on her waist and the other, clutching the rein.