I struggled to secure it tightly but finally managed to pull it out. It was grimy and covered in dirt. The parchment was aged from countless years spent in this strange room. I could see the faint outline of writing on the front. I dusted off the envelope and saw the barely discernible cursive script. It was a name. Aradia.
I didn't have the first clue who that was. I gingerly tucked the envelope into my bag. I intended to take a look at it later. At the moment, I was utterly exhausted. My clothes were crusted in dirt and though I was healed, my skin had a considerable amount of dried blood all over. It was long past time to return home. When I walked back up the stairs, the moonlight was gone. The shrine had returned to normal. The liminal world was as cold and hollow as ever, and I felt the sudden desire to go home. The cottage in the woods didn't feel like home, not really. Halewick House had been the closest thing I'd known to a home.
I pondered as I walked through the Liminal. I felt the fabric of space open up for me. It was wrapped tight around me like an embrace. The sensation was overwhelming. All of the feelings I had been repressing came flooding back. It felt like I was trapped. I was bound to the Academy without really being a part of it. I was a student, but couldn't interact with the other students. Was I destined to be an outcast?
My body exited the Liminal World with a thud as I dropped on the ground in an unfamiliar place. My muscles ached and for some reason my face was wet. It took me a few minutes to register that I was crying. Where was I?
The house was warm and filled with a familiar smell. It was something like cedarwood and ash. I was in Kairn's house.
"Esther?" His voice was like warm honey.
He embraced me and pulled me from the ground where I had dropped out of the Liminal World. I was crying too hard to even respond to him.
"What happened?" He pulled me into his lap, stroking my hair gently. I could see him straining against his god-form. There was a wild look in his eyes. Was he trying to protect me? It was nice.
"I don't know." I sobbed, trying to understand what was happening to me. There was an uneasy feeling in my body, something a couldn't pinpoint exactly. It was a feeling of wrongness. "Get Nox to send a message to Lucian." I strained to produce words that he could understand as I cried. He held me in his arms as my body grew weaker.
I spent the next few hours in and out of consciousness. I was aware that at some point Kairn had drawn a bath for me and put me in different clothes. I was wrapped up and laying somewhere soft, but my eyes were too weak to open. I hoped that Kairn was still next to me. I twitched my hand, looking for his and I found it only inches away from mine. He laced his fingers between mine as I drifted off into dreams.
I knew I was dreaming, but I could change nothing. Over and over my dreams replayed the scene with the banshee. She had scratched me and the light from the shrine had healed me. I felt pain all over my body, a deep ache that resonated in my blood.
It felt like an eternity had passed. I wasn't sure if I was awake or dreaming. I opened my eyes and saw Kairn standing over me, his form half man and half God looking down at me. His eyes were stark and vivid green. His black tattoos were swirling fast all over his skin.
"What's going on?" I croaked. Was I ill? None of this made any sense.
"Let me get Lucian and Professor Atwater. They can explain better than I can." He said. He pulled the two men into the room, from the hallway where they must have been waiting. My mind was starting to grow more lucid.
"Can you explain what's happening to me?" I said, starting to get scared. Why was my body so weak?
Lucian came over to my bedside... well it was Kairn's bed technically. He asked, "Is it ok with you if I look at your arm?"
"My arm?" I was still confused. "Sure."
He reached out and lifted my forearm. He pushed back the sleeve of the shirt I was wearing. It was one of Kairn's. It was loose and soft and it smelled like him. Then I saw the scar on my arm. It was much deeper than I remembered it being. The banshee's claw marks were reflected in the gash in my arm.
"It looks like the mark," Lucian said, staring at my arm through his glasses.
"Are you sure?" Professor Atwood asked.
"I've only seen it once, but it's pretty unmistakable." He replied.
"It was a banshee," I said, straining to get my head clear. "Only this one was different than the one I saw before. Maybe it was older." I guessed.
"If my guess is correct, it marked you, Esther," Lucian said somberly.
Kairn was seething on the other side of me. He sat next to me and held my other hand. "Then your guess is not correct." He hissed.
"What mark? What does that mean?" I asked.
Professor Atwater interceded between Lucian and Kairn. "To be honest Esther, we aren't exactly sure what it means because the magical world hasn't seen a mark like this in hundreds of years." That didn't explain why Kairn was so upset.
"She deserves to know," Lucian sighed. "She needs to be prepared, for any outcome."
Kairn squeezed my hand reassuringly, but the full force of his rage
