Spin the Dawn(83)

One step after another, we walked steadily forward—until I could make out the statues crouched by its door. Statues of the god of thieves, I surmised. Sunlight piercing the mist touched his eyes, making them glow as if from within.

Maia. Maia, you’re here.

I froze. I would recognize that voice anywhere.

Maia, breakfast is ready. Won’t you come join us? Have a taste.

Against my will, I sniffed. The fragrant aroma of chicken porridge, with fried dough, wafted invisibly through the air. That smell was so taunting…so real.

I couldn’t move. My legs were leaden.

“What’s wrong?” Edan shook my hand, pulling me forward. “Don’t stop walking.”

I stumbled after him. “That was my mother’s voice.”

“It wasn’t. Remember what I told you.”

“It sounded so much like her.”

Edan shook me again. “It wasn’t her.” His voice was stern.

Maia! You’ve found us.

I felt the blood drain from my face. “Finlei,” I whispered.

I started to turn, but Edan grabbed my shoulders. “Don’t look back. Promise me, Maia. You need to ignore them.”

I stared at him blankly. “Do you hear them?” I whispered.

Edan caught my hand. “Maia,” he said harshly, urgently, “they’re not the ghosts of your family. They’re trying to trick you. Be strong.”

I pursed my lips. My palm was sweaty against his, and I tried to pull my hand away but Edan wouldn’t let go. I am strong, I thought. I’ve always been strong.

Maia, Maia, my girl, my mother’s voice rang out. Don’t listen to him. He’s lying.

Maia. Sendo spoke now. Come to us.

Over and over, they called out to me. Mama and Finlei and Sendo. Why are you ignoring us, Maia? Dear sister. Speak to us. Come to us.

How I yearned to run to them! But Edan wouldn’t let go of my hand, and I remembered his warnings about ghosts.

“Don’t let go,” I whispered to him, “not until you have to.”

Edan nodded. He looked so tired, so withered. What was eating away at him here? What hadn’t he told me?

We walked on, climbing over fallen debris. Salt was strong in the air, salt and dust and little else. Gone was that smell of Mama’s chicken porridge.

Edan shook my arm. “Maia,” he pressed, “tell me about your brothers.”

He was trying to distract me from the ghosts. I swallowed, picturing my brothers. My real brothers. It hurt so much to think of them. “Finlei…Finlei was the leader. The brave one.” My voice shook. “Sendo was the dreamer.” Edan squeezed my hand, encouraging me to go on. “Keton was the trickster, the funny one…but not so much after he got back from the war.”

“And you?”

“The obedient one.”

“No,” Edan said. “You’re the strong one.”

The strong one. The one who held the seams of my family together.

I inhaled, hoping that would be enough.

All too soon, we arrived at the gate of the Thief’s Tower. The air was hollow, deathly still.

“I’ll wait for you here,” Edan said, lighting a candle and passing it to me. The flame flickered, even though there was no wind.

“What do I do?”

“It’s the ninth day of the ninth month,” Edan said. “The sun sits high in the sky, waiting for the moon to rise. Once a year, the two are reunited for a precious moment, linked by a bridge of starlight.” He opened his palm, revealing the third walnut. “When the bridge collapses, the stars will bleed dust from the sky, and some will fall into the well at the top of the tower. Collect what you can.”

Edan caught my sleeve just as I started through the gate. A wild look haunted his eyes, and his skin was so ashen I worried he might collapse.

“Only seek the blood of stars,” he rasped. “Do not be tempted by anything else.”

“Edan.” My eyes widened with concern. “Are you all right?”

“I will be,” he whispered. “Once you come back to me.” He pressed a gentle kiss on my cheek. “You are strong.” He managed a smile, but it was merely a turning up of his lips. “Go. Find the stars.”

I climbed the stairs to the base of the tower. My steps echoed into the night, the loneliest sound I had ever heard. There was no door, so I simply walked inside, into a round, empty room, open to the sky. I felt like I was inside a spool of thread; there were no windows, and the walls around me had no edges or corners.

Where were the stairs up to the top? The room seemed to stretch the deeper I went inside. Its stillness reminded me of a temple, but there were no deities to worship. No incense, no offerings to the gods. And I no longer felt alone.

No, I heard voices. Voices humming…from within the walls.

My blood turned to ice. I recognized Sendo’s voice. He was singing. There once was a girl in blue. Her hair blacker than the night.

“Sendo,” I whispered. I strode quickly now, almost running.

She fell in love with the ocean, this girl in blue.

I stopped. Turned.

There, atop a stairway, stood my brother.

“No,” I whispered. “You’re not real.”

Remember how we sat on the pier, Maia? And I told you stories about fairies and ghosts?