“Hey, hey, wake up!”
Caleb blinked bleary eyes, smiling before he was fully awake at the little girl who shook him, urging him on with an energetic voice. When his eyes were fully open and he saw Addie’s two-toned hair bouncing, her blue and green eyes wide and glittering with joy, he laughed.
“Don’t tell someone to wake up if they aren’t sleeping in the first place,” Chelsea said beside Caleb, but her voice and the yawn that followed betrayed the truth. She looked at Caleb, and he at her, and they both smiled.
“Come on, come on, save the lovey-dovey eyes for later!” Addie said, shaking them both. “We’re almost home!”
That got Caleb’s attention. He leaned over to look out the window of the Goodnight Express, and Chelsea joined him, while Addie squeezed between them.
Snow. That was what Caleb saw before anything else. And despite that, despite snow appearing in so many places across the world, he smiled.
Yeah. I know that snow.
It’s my snow.
It’s home.
A moment later, he saw the sprawling, hilly, densely packed landscape of Grimoire itself. Low houses and shops and other buildings were pressed so close together, rising and falling with the geography, narrow streets the thin lines that separated them.
Dotted here and there, the tallest buildings in the city, were the remains of Grimoire’s ancient watchtowers, old stone sentinels standing tall after so many centuries.
While Caleb and Addie were grinning and gazing excitedly, Chelsea spoke up with a worried tone. “There’s something wrong with the sky.”
A few moments later, Caleb was agreeing with her. The sky was dark, but not the dark of night, nor the crepuscular dimness of twilight, nor the purple hues of sunrise. It was… ashen. Cloudy, but not in the sort of way Caleb had ever seen before. These weren’t dark, dense storm clouds or thunderheads. It was like… like a veil separated earth from sky, a veil of ashen grey tones, letting sunlight eke through enough to fool a first glance into thinking it was a normal cloudy day, but a moment’s longer look…
“It’s like a partial eclipse,” Caleb said, remembering one he’d seen as a child. The darkness that had befallen the city back then hadn’t been night, or sunset, not sunrise or storm clouds. It was this strange sort of shift in the hues, tones, and light of everything, in the middle of the afternoon. It had felt like something out of a dream, an eerie feeling of being lost between day and night, between dark and light.
“The Endless Night,” Chelsea said softly.
Caleb’s eyes widened a fraction.
Of course. We all know it’s coming, it’s beginning to take shape.
But…
But I never thought of what that actually meant.
“What time is it?” Chelsea asked.
Caleb pulled out his pocket watch, still ticking along to Grimoire’s time no matter how long he went without winding or resetting it. “Quarter to three,” he said, clasping the watch closed and looking back outside. “Not nearly bright enough for this time of day.”
“There’s the sun,” Addie said, pointing. “It’s so…”
“Ashen,” Chelsea said.
Caleb was stunned. He could look directly at the sun, and his eyes didn’t sting or strain in the slightest. An ashen star, hanging high and huge in the sky, yet its light didn’t come as brilliantly, as beautifully, as it should through the darkened veil.
“We’ve gotta find everyone,” Caleb said. “I’ve been gone way too long.”
“So have we,” Chelsea said, placing a hand on Addie’s head, ruffling her hair slightly.
By the time the train came to a stop, the trio were at the doors, and they were out before the doors even finished opening all the way, leaping down onto the shoveled street. The Goodnight Express left them without a sound, but they wouldn’t have paid it any mind anyway.
They were running. Caleb picked up Addie so she could keep up with the pair, running with Enhancement Magic-fueled speed, Chelsea’s owl flying openly right at her side, despite it being broad daylight, despite the fact that anyone — even those without magic, those who didn’t know magic existed — could see them.
“Are you going to find Lorelei and Gwen?” Caleb asked, halfway to Greyson Manor already.
“I’m staying with you,” Chelsea said, shaking her head. “We don’t split up. Not for anything.”
Caleb nodded. They ran dozens of blocks without seeing a single person. Lights shone here and there from houses, but faintly, visible through cracks in curtains if at all. They took several shortcuts up and over houses, leaping across rooftops, Addie gasping in shock and delight at the amazing speed and movements.
From Grimoire’s main southern gate to Greyson Manor, two miles of winding streets, in less than a minute. Caleb paused, just for a moment, at the front door. Then he checked its locks with his Talisman.
Unlocked…?
The Manor wasn’t completely unlocked, but they had that particular pattern that showed Caleb that someone was home, that the Manor was open to other family members and their guests. So Caleb rushed inside, setting Addie down in the entrance hall, taking Chelsea’s hand in his and gripping tight.
“Mom?” he called out. “Dad? Anyone home?”
A sudden gasp came from the other room, and Caleb raced into the living room. There, just emerging from the main library, was his mother. She gazed at him with wide, stunned eyes, mouth slightly agape in shock.
Before she spoke — before either of them spoke — tears started welling up in those eyes.
“Mom,” Caleb said, voice taut. He ran to her, and she wrapped him up in the tightest, fiercest embrace.
“You…” Deirdre started, but her voice choked off after the first word, and she shook her head, burying her face in Caleb’s shoulder.
Tears spilled forth from Caleb, but he managed to say, hugging his mother as tightly as she hugged him, “I’m home, Mom.”
Deirdre broke down in tears then, and Caleb cried with her. He hadn’t realized — how had he not realized? — how long he’d been away, how much he missed his family, how much his parents must be worried over his fate. After how he’d left them…
I should have come home right away. As soon as I got back from the Edge of Time, I should have come racing home to tell everyone I was fine. I should never have put her through this.
He couldn’t speak those words, not for a long time, but when he somehow found his way to sit on the couch with his mother and opened his mouth to speak, to apologize, she placed her whole hand over his mouth and shook her head.
“Don’t you dare apologize or make excuses or anything else,” Deirdre said. “Don’t even try. You’re home. You…” She cut off again, sobbing a moment and shaking her head. “You came home. You’re alive. That’s all that matters.” She looked up at Caleb sharply. “Understood?”
Caleb nodded, laughing though tears spilled forth again. Deirdre leaned in and hugged him, stroking his hair. “Thank you,” she said softly in his ear. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Conversation went back and forth, scattered and disorganized, for quite some time. Caleb managed to tell her the general gist of what he’d been through, in quick, loosely detailed fragments. The crying managed to slow down, and then generally vanished, aside from occasional sniffles and teary eyes.
And then Caleb found himself looking around. Because in however much time he’d spent here with his mother…
“Where’s Dad?” he asked.
Deirdre chuckled, as if sharing in some private joke. “Oh, he’s…” she started. Then she shook her head. “He’s been very busy while you’ve been gone. He’s actually not here right now, but he should be back quite soon. At least, that’s what Oscar promised.”
“He’s with Grandpa?” Caleb asked.
“Yes, he’s been training under his father’s watchful eye.” Deirdre smiled proudly. “Just you wait until he gets back. Not just so you can surprise him, and we can both enjoy his reaction. But so you can see just how far he’s come.”
“Huh.” Caleb sat back, wondering about that. But if she’d said that, she wasn’t about to tell him more, so it wouldn’t do to ask more questions. He’d just have to wait until his father returned.
“There we go,” Chelsea suddenly said, softly, as if she was trying not to bother Caleb and Deirdre’s conversation. “Oh, sorry.” She waved Caleb off, sitting up straight to hold up her phone, which was plugged in and properly charging. “Finally got enough battery to use it. Um, ma’am, is it —”
“Please, don’t call me ‘ma’am’,” Deirdre said, chuckling. “Deirdre is fine, honestly. And yes, it’s perfectly fine for you to invite others over. I’d be more than happy to host a party. What better occasion could there be for one?” She clasped Caleb’s hands, beaming.
“Thank you,” Chelsea said, smiling somewhat nervously. She looked away at her phone, adding “…Deirdre,” softly, as if trying out the name for the first time. She held her phone to her ear after a moment, and after a short wait, spoke into it. “Hey, you. I’m back. And guess who I brought back with me? …Yeah, yeah, we’re at Greyson Manor. And seriously? That’s the reaction I get? Sheesh, I thought you’d be more excited. …Yeah, yeah, of course you did. You always do. Come on over, and bring Gwen! …Will’s with you guys, too? Perfect! Bring him, too. Yep, yeah, see you soon. …What? Oh, yeah, sure, be all mysterious. And here I thought you’d give me special treatment after being gone so long. Geez…” She put her phone down, rolling her eyes. “She’s all ‘I knew you’d bring him back just fine’.” A sigh, then a chuckle. “Ah, well, she’s like that. They’ll be over in a few minutes. Probably running as fast as we did. Despite how she talked, she’s excited you’re back. And apparently, they’ve got plenty to talk to us about, too.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” Deirdre said. “I’ve been helping at times, when I’m not too swamped with Council work, but Lorelei and her team have really taken the lead on this new discovery. Lorelei would make an excellent Investigator.”
“She thought about it,” Chelsea said. “But she felt she could do better in the field. Same reason why she didn’t go full Healer. Didn’t want to be cooped up in a hospital waiting for the injured to come to her.”
“What kind of discovery did they make?” Caleb asked.
“I’ll let them explain,” Deirdre said. “They deserve all the credit. Oh, hello there.” She looked down at Addie, who had just scooted in next to her and hugged her.
“Hi,” Addie said. “Is this helpful?”
Deirdre laughed, hugging the little girl back. “Very. Thank you, Addie.”
Shortly after, Lorelei, Gwen, and Will arrived. The three of them stood in the entrance hall for a few moments, staring at Caleb, emotions especially working across Lorelei and Will’s faces, a surprising turn for a pair who were usually not very expressive. It was Will who came forward first, looking Caleb up and down as if sizing him up. Then he reached up, his hand clenched in a fist, and bumped his knuckles lightly against Caleb’s forehead.
“Welcome back,” he said in his usual soft, almost monotone voice. But Caleb knew him well enough to hear the emotion in it, and he found tears stinging his eyes once more.
“Glad to be back,” he said, using laughter to fight the sudden urge to cry again.
“New hair,” Will said, tugging lightly on the streak of blue in Caleb’s bangs. “And eyes.”
“Yeah,” Caleb said, laughing some more. “I’ve, ah… been through a lot.”
Will nodded, as if satisfied, and stepped aside. Lorelei stepped forward and, after a moment’s hesitation, stepped right up to Caleb and wrapped him in a gentle embrace.
“I’m glad you’re back,” she said.
Caleb was so taken aback, by the time he thought to hug Lorelei back, she had let him go and stepped back. She smiled, cocking her head slightly to one side. “Weird. But not a bad look for you.”
Caleb chuckled. “Thanks,” he said.
“The clothes could use some work, though,” Gwen said, looking Caleb and Chelsea both up and down. “Honestly. Black really isn’t your color.”
“That’s what I told him!” Chelsea said.
“Same goes for you, though,” Gwen said. Chelsea looked slightly offended by this, but then rolled her eyes and dashed forward, pulling both Lorelei and Gwen into a tight hug.
“I missed you,” she said, laughing with a pure joy that melted Caleb’s heart.
“We missed you, too,” Lorelei said. “You missed a lot.”
“It seems we’ve both had our share of troubles,” Gwen said. “And changes.”
As if responding to that last word, there was a strange rustling in the hood of Will’s coat, and then out popped…
A Summon.
Dark, almost ultraviolet in its glow, the little purple creature perched on Will’s shoulder, and then clambered up onto his head, using his headphones as a stepping stool. He had a long fluffy tail like a squirrel’s, but a small body only about the size of Caleb’s palm, and bunny-like ears, the left one perking up while the right one was drooping crookedly.
“You, uh…” Caleb started, staring at the Summon. “You got a new friend.”
Will nodded, the Summon bobbing on his head but maintaining his balance perfectly. “You should recognize him,” he said.
Caleb stared, and stared, and then his gaze went to Will’s face, and his heart sunk.
Oh.
He recognized that slight shift in Will’s face, expectancy turning to resigned disappointment.
Oh, shoot.
“He’s, I, ah, one of your, um…” Caleb started, but then let out a dejected sigh. “Sorry. I, um… haven’t… read that far.”
“He appears in Chapter Five of Twilit Highway,” Lorelei said, coming close to Will and raising her hand, fingers outstretched. The Summon perked up, and then leapt lightly onto Lorelei’s hand, racing up her arm and nestling against her neck. She giggled softly, stroking his ears. “You really haven’t read that far?”
“Yeah, ah… which one’s that?” Caleb asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
Lorelei sighed. “The second book.”
“I’ve, uh, only read the, ah, um, you know, the…” Caleb started, but the shame was killing his eloquence.
“You’ve at least finished his first book, haven’t you?” Lorelei asked.
“Yeah, I did,” Caleb said, even as his shoulder slumped. “But, um… yeah. That was a few years ago. And I, um…”
“Never got farther,” Will said.
“What books, what books?” Addie asked.
“His books,” Lorelei said, nodding to Will with a smile. “He’s an author, you know.”
“Oh, right!” Addie said, grinning. But then she looked up at Caleb, and frowned. “You’ve only read his first book and nothing else? I thought you were his bestie!”
“I, ah, I mean, I am, I just, uh…” Caleb started, still failing to properly defend himself.
I’m… a disgrace.
“He’s a firrin,” Lorelei said, indicating the bunny-eared squirrel Summon. “His name is Trevain. And I don’t think he likes you.”
“What?” Caleb asked, looking in shock at the firrin. “Hang on, come on, little guy. Me and Will, we’re besties. You can’t dislike me like that.” He reached out his hand to let the Summon sniff his fingers, but when Trevain finally paid attention to him… he raised his nose haughtily and then clambered around Lorelei’s back to nestle against her neck on the other side. Caleb dropped his hand, sighing. “I’m sorry…”
“You should be,” Will said with a shrug. Addie nodded her agreement, much to Caleb’s chagrin. But then knuckles bumped lightly against his forehead again, and Caleb looked up. A small smile ghosted across Will’s lips. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“Me, too,” Caleb said.
The group finally did move into the living room, but Caleb had to do a double-take when they did. He raced to the windows, looking outside. “When did it get so late? Is it really that…” he started, but checking his watch, he had to do another double-take. “Hold… hold on a sec…” He backed away from the window, gaping. “It’s way too dark to be…”
“The veil goes completely dark by four-thirty these days,” Lorelei said, taking a seat by the fireplace. “And it doesn’t lighten until shortly after two. Two PM, that is.”
“You don’t even get three hours of sunlight?” Caleb and Chelsea asked in unison, gaping at Lorelei in shock.
“It gets worse every day,” Lorelei said. “At this rate… we’ll be fully dark in a month. It has fluctuated now and then, so we might have longer, or, well… we might not even have that long.”
Caleb had to take a seat, sitting next to his mother in a daze. “There’s no way…” he said softly.
“Hollow Hour’s extended, too,” Lorelei said. “It still starts at midnight, but we’re fighting Hollows until almost two AM now.”
“How’s everyone holding up?” Caleb asked.
“The Hunters are doing fine,” Lorelei said. “As bad as the fight against the Shadows and Radiance were, it’s like it prepared us for this. Hollows are almost trivial now. And the Pipers are long gone, now that their Summoners are all accounted for and either dead or imprisoned. Although… we have been seeing some other monsters. Like Hollows — as far as we can tell, they’re soulless as well — but they have different traits, slight differences that have led us to classify them differently. But we’re handling them pretty well so far, too.”
“The problems are everything outside of Hollow Hour,” Gwen said, earning nods from Deirdre, Will, and Lorelei. “People are terrified. A lot of commerce is coming to a standstill, but that was after total panic. Everyone tried to buy as much as they could, stock up on food and other things and then lock themselves in at home.”
“That’s why the streets were so empty, huh?” Chelsea asked.
“They’re like that almost all day, every day,” Gwen said.
“Along with the sky… is magic,” Deirdre said. “Put simply, it was hard enough to continue to hide the existence of magic after everything that happened with the Shadows and Radiance. But now, well… the cat’s out of the bag. Everyone in Grimoire knows about magic. It’s been… interesting for the Council, to say the least.”
“People must be freaking out,” Caleb said, leaning back and gazing at the ceiling. “And… probably feeling betrayed.”
“That’s the word,” Deirdre said. “While we’ve always protected them from the Hollows, and we protected non-magical folks from Blaise and the Radiant King’s plans as well… we also hid our true nature from them for centuries. It’s a lot to take in.”
“But the city isn’t in total panic,” Caleb said. “And people aren’t evacuating?”
“Surprisingly, no,” Deirdre said.
“The skies are like this across the entire world,” Lorelei said. “From what we can tell… and it’s hard to tell, with things the way they are… local opinion seems to be begrudgingly in the camp of ‘it’s better to be around mages than not, just in case’.”
“And let me guess,” Caleb said. “This is all not even talking about your ‘discovery,’ right?”
“Grimoire’s history is more complicated than we ever knew,” Lorelei said with a sigh. “Everything we’ve found so far… it’s exciting, but also… sobering. Honestly, there’s way too much to explain without showing you, but you shouldn’t go see it when you’ve just gotten back. We can go give you the full rundown tomorrow.”
“Well, we are supposed to rest,” Chelsea said. “Or at least try to.”
Lorelei nodded. “You’d better. For the time being, I’ll try to explain what I can. And…” her gaze went to Addie, “well, what led us to the discovery in the first place.”
And so Lorelei explained what had happened in their absence, starting with tracking down and battling Kaohlad, vanquishing him after a vicious battle that his mother and grandfather had also involved themselves in, riding in with Isla as backup in the nick of time.
“You… killed Kaohlad?” Addie asked, gazing in shock at Lorelei. At Lorelei’s nod, she sat staring a moment longer, then sat back, between Caleb and Deirdre, leaning against Caleb. “Oh,” she finished in a small voice. She slipped her arms around Caleb’s arm, resting her head against his shoulder.
Lorelei continued, talking about the wave of darkness that had nearly killed them in those tunnels under Grimoire, and the discovery that those same tunnels led up to Grimoire’s public library. After further investigation, they’d discovered a whole vast network of tunnels, tunnels different from Grimoire’s Underground, that hadn’t been used by Blaise’s team. These tunnels were much older, ruins that dated back, at first, they thought, to Grimoire’s founding.
“But we realized later they go so much farther back,” Lorelei said.
They’d discovered distinct evidence that showed the ruins beneath Grimoire — ruins that extended out to the Bay ruins and The Gate that everyone knew so well — had been here, and been ruins, by the time the Lunar Architects had arrived centuries ago.
“People once lived here, and then abandoned it?” Caleb asked. “And darkness still lives under Grimoire, even after what Delilah, Alice, and Addie did with the Relay?”
“Yeah, what was the point of that, then?” Addie asked. “We… thought we saved the day…”
“You did,” Gwen said, smiling. “That particular pit of darkness was something cultivated by Blaise, focused in that one spot, and left untouched, unpurified by a Relay, would have swiftly exploded forth to consume the entire city. You three did save the city, there’s no doubt about that.”
“There’s just more here than we ever knew,” Lorelei said. “And we’re still learning about it. It’s… different. Different from the living darkness we’ve seen anywhere else. Not that we’re experts on it, but we have a fair bit of firsthand experience. Even so… this is different. Like I said, we’re still learning. But, for the moment at least, we seem to have it contained.”
“Darkness above, and darkness below,” Chelsea said. She looked across at Caleb. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
Caleb nodded. There was no doubt about that.
Guess my original plans for when I got back home need to be delayed…
The conversation went back and forth and sideways from there. Caleb went over his entire journey in more detail, with Chelsea and Addie filling in bits here and there. But more than that, they actually got to talk. Not about the state of the city, or their journeys, or the missions and dangers ahead. Caleb, Deirdre, Addie, Chelsea, Lorelei, Will, Gwen… they got to enjoy each other’s company. They talked, and joked, and laughed. More than one time, Caleb glanced at the dark city out his window, and smiled in spite of it.
The streetlamps are still shining. Lights are glittering from so many windows.
The darkness…
…has no hold over us. Not if we don’t let it.
They moved around a lot, shifting positions and seating arrangements as the conversation shot back and forth. At some point Deirdre went to the kitchen, returning with multiple huge plates of cookies of several delicious varieties. “A gift from Shana and her friends,” she called them, and everyone was grateful for the sweet treats.
At some point, when Will was sitting next to Caleb, he nudged him, and Caleb looked at him questioningly.
“You can go ahead with it,” Will said softly, nodding towards Chelsea. Caleb blinked, looking at Will, then Chelsea, then back at Will. Will sighed. “You have plans. Go through with them.”
“You’d better,” Lorelei said, coming up suddenly behind the pair, eyeing Caleb teasingly. She nodded over to Chelsea, who was engrossed in a game with Gwen and Addie. “You know you’ve kept her waiting. Too long, if you ask me.”
“Or me,” Will said.
“Or her,” Lorelei said, chuckling. “Don’t worry about Hollows. Don’t worry about the darkness or the Night. At least for a day or two. However long it takes to ask. And if you need some help, anything, just ask. We’ve been waiting for you to ask her, too.”
“You… you guys…” Caleb started, suddenly choked up for probably the twentieth time since he’d gotten home. Wouldn’t he eventually run out of tears? “You really think so? I can just… I can go for it? Even with the sky how it is, and —”
Lorelei grinned at that. “Oh, we have an ace in the hole,” she said. “If you’re open enough to tell me your plan, I promise I can keep it a secret from her long enough. And I’ll make sure it happens exactly the way you want it to.”
“You… can?” Caleb asked.
Will nodded knowingly at Lorelei’s smile. Trevain came out from under Lorelei’s collar — the firrin seemed to spend more time with her than his Summoner — and nodded as well.
“Count on it,” Lorelei said. “So…?” She nodded towards the kitchen. “Make it quick, if you can.”
“I, but, I mean, there’s just so much —” Caleb started, but Will and Lorelei were both pulling him along already.
“It’ll spill out of you once you get started,” Lorelei said. “Plus, we can modify parts to make it better.”
And so Caleb was pulled into the kitchen, and while keeping a wary eye on Chelsea to see that she didn’t notice or suspect anything, he explained everything to Lorelei and Will, and they provided a bit of feedback. It went surprisingly quickly.
“So…” Caleb started, gazing out at the laughing Chelsea. “This is… really happening.” He could feel his heartbeat, an impossibly excited thudding in his chest. His hand went to his pocket, where a small box rested.
How long have I been holding onto this? How long have I been waiting…
He saw that Deirdre was also in the game, and she and Chelsea talked often. Chelsea had been nervous at first, talking to Deirdre, but now she smiled, they even laughed together.
Tears stung Caleb’s eyes, and he smiled.
Yeah. It’s time. Past time, but…
Even so… it’s the perfect time.
Eventually, Lorelei and Will were able to rope Gwen into the preparations as well. Gwen disappeared for a while, eventually re-emerging with a brand new outfit for Chelsea — including a dark green bolero jacket, an exact match for what Chelsea had been wearing before.
“You made it again,” Chelsea said, holding up the jacket, gazing at it in awe.
“You seemed quite attached to it,” Gwen said. “And I was quite proud of the first one. It’s a shame to have it disappear forever, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” Chelsea said, grinning. She wrapped Gwen in a tight hug, thanking her profusely.
But not long after that, the three co-conspirators left, dragging Addie with them, much to her confusion. But with assurances from Caleb — and Chelsea, mostly trusting Caleb, as confused as Addie was — the youngster went with the trio.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Chelsea asked, eyeing Caleb suspiciously.
“The plan’s in motion, now. No turning back, no postponing. Got it?”
Lorelei’s words echoed in Caleb’s mind, and he grinned. “We’re just doing something special,” he said. “Hang on, I’ve gotta change into better clothes.”
“You still have clothes at your parents’ house?” Chelsea asked.
“You know how small my apartment is and you still ask me that?” Caleb asked, laughing as he started up the stairs to his old room. “More than half my wardrobe lives here.”
“Seriously, what are you doing in such a dinky apartment?” Chelsea asked with a long-suffering sigh. “Well, I’ll get changed, too. Don’t take too long.”
“Ah, yeah, I’ll try,” Caleb said, wincing at his faint stammer. He didn’t want to give things away by being awkward or embarrassed, and he knew there was nothing to be awkward or embarrassed about.
I really can’t take long now, though. Well, better not get too wrapped up in picking out an outfit.
But as Caleb stood in his old room, staring at himself in the mirror, he hesitated.
“This is…” he started, hardly believing what he’d just realized.
When I got to Chronoshin, I got brand new clothes from Madame Chronos. And she gave me multiple sets, since I didn’t have any extra clothes aside from what I’d been wearing into the Enchanted Dominion.
And then… that’s all I wore, those outfits. Even when I came back to Grimoire, we had so much going on I practically lived out of the suitcase she gave me, barely using my apartment or anything else.
And then… I was separate from everyone for so long, and there was Gold Heart Arcade, and Chelsea helped me pick out and buy brand new clothes.
Now…
After… geez, how long has it been since Hollow Island?
I’m… finally wearing my own clothes again.
And somehow, it didn’t take him long to pick an outfit. Knowing what Chelsea was wearing made it easier, going for a more casual look than he might have otherwise, and being sure to remember the clothes Chelsea had picked out for him at Gold Heart Arcade and trying to match that style, even though he couldn’t get it quite right.
Close enough, isn’t it?
Caleb smiled, his glowing blue eyes gleaming bright at him in the mirror from behind the wide-framed glasses Alexandra had made for him. He turned to his door, just as a knock came.
“Caleb?” Chelsea asked from outside. “You’re taking forever in there. Are you alive? Did you get lost in your bedroom? I know it’s a dozen times bigger than your apartment, but you really should have a better sense of direction than that. Still, say the word and I’ll bust down the door and come save you!”
Caleb laughed, pulling the door open. “I’m ready,” he said.
“Oh,” Chelsea said, looking at him, seeming somewhat surprised. And then she smiled, a soft smile, a smile that melted Caleb’s heart. “Yeah. You are.” She pulled him close, linking arms with him, and started down the stairs. “So? Where are we going?”
“Well…” Caleb started, thinking over a million different ways he’d rehearsed teasing her or misdirecting her. But in the end… “We’re going to Roseway Park.”
Chelsea paused, ever so slightly, then continued with him. Looking aside at her, Caleb saw in her eyes a sort of recognition, but she was smiling.
This is good, though.
Heck, you knew you couldn’t hide the actual event from her. Besides, a surprise isn’t important.
What’s important is that she’s happy.
Deirdre saw the pair off, and the look in her eyes, the marvelously proud smile on her face, buoyed Caleb’s spirits.
Everything was going to be fine.
Even out here, under a veil of darkness, all would be well. There was so much time until Hollow Hour, and even without starlight or moonlight, there were so many lights throughout Grimoire. Plenty of streetlamps, and…
“They’ve put up more lights,” Chelsea said as they walked.
“Yeah,” Caleb said, having noticed the same thing at the same time. There were strings of Christmas-style white lights in all sorts of places, often wrapped around tree trunks or even around the posts of streetlamps, draped over mailboxes, running along the tops of fences, or forming a perimeter in a window. So many twinkling lights, all alive and alight in the darkness.
“Things may be changing in so many ways here,” Caleb said. “But even with the panic and fear going on… I guess this is really why people haven’t evacuated Grimoire. When darkness comes, the people here… they choose to shine a light.”
“Then it’s up to us to make sure that hope isn’t dashed,” Chelsea said. “The darkness can’t last forever.”
On they walked, making their way north, tracing steps the pair knew so well. Not just because they knew the city perfectly. More because…
They’d walked this exact route almost exactly five years ago. During the Lunar Festival, along with Will and Lorelei, but eventually…
Their friends had left them.
That was a fateful moment, too.
This one, this day, was much more so.
“Are you shaking?” Chelsea asked, giving his arm a playful squeeze.
“No,” Caleb said. “I mean, maybe shivers. From, you know, the cold.”
“Ah,” Chelsea said. “Right. Well, in that case…” She leaned in closer to him, wrapping her arm around his waist. “Better get a little cozier then, hmm?”
Caleb smiled, putting an arm around her shoulders and holding her tight as they walked. It was cold, certainly, but Caleb barely felt it. And the faint shaking Chelsea had noticed… it wasn’t nerves.
It was excitement.
“Do you remember when I brought you to meet my parents?” Chelsea asked.
Caleb nodded. “I’d never forget,” he said.
“Me neither,” Chelsea said, resting her head on his shoulder. “I especially won’t ever forget what you said to them. The promise you made them both, with me there to hear it, too.”
Caleb smiled, hugging Chelsea tighter.
And then he saw it. Roseway Park, and in its center, the Rose Fountain.
But he and Chelsea both gasped, both stood still, completely stunned.
In a perimeter around and above Rose Fountain, just encompassing the courtyard that surrounded the fountain, was a haven of beauty and light. The sky in this small space shone with thousands of brightly shining stars and a full, beautiful, silver moon. Strings of lights were carefully arranged everywhere, and there were even a dozen metal posts with hooks, and hanging from them…
Lunar Lanterns.
Something only ever brought out during the Lunar Festival, the moon-shaped paper lanterns gleamed with soft white light.
“What did you do?” Chelsea asked, and Caleb heard it in her voice before he looked at her. She was crying, and hastily wiped at her eyes. “This… it’s like… stepping back in time.”
Caleb was fighting tears himself, seeing it.
Lorelei, your “ace” is perfect.
Lorelei, Will, Gwen…
Thank you.
Caleb led Chelsea into that glistening silver haven, until they stood before the fountain. Caleb held both of Chelsea’s hands, and leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers, gazing into her eyes. She gazed back into his, their emerald hue shimmering with tears reflecting silver light.
“Chelsea,” Caleb said softly, feeling his voice catch in his throat.
“Yeah,” Chelsea said, her breath tickling his face.
Caleb chuckled softly, taking a deep breath, then letting it out. Slowly, he dropped to one knee, gazing up at Chelsea. He opened his mouth, and —
“Yes,” Chelsea said suddenly, laughing, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I didn’t —” Caleb started.
“I know,” Chelsea said, shaking her head, squeezing his hand tight. “I know. I just… couldn’t wait anymore to give you my answer.”
Caleb stared up at her, lost for words.
Chelsea laughed again. “Come on, you. It’s yes. It was always going to be yes, and it always will be. That’s not going to change in the time it takes you to ask.” She beamed brightly. “So go on, then. Ask away.”
Caleb’s heart soared. And he spoke the words he’d waited so long to say.
Under the stars and the moon, in this haven against the darkness, Caleb asked the question he’d been holding onto for so long. Chelsea gave the answer they both always knew she would give. And Caleb finally was able to take out that box, the box he’d been keeping hidden for so long, and open it up, to present her with a ring.
The Endless Night was coming. Darkness was trying its hardest to swallow all life, all love.
In the midst of that, Caleb and Chelsea made a promise to each other, a promise that shone too bright for any darkness to ever put out.