— Reverend Manton Grady, “A Study on the Pantheon of Ageria,” page 209
The floor creaked softly under Emily’s bare feet as she walked into the kitchen.
Her hair was still damp, and her nightgown clung to her skin. She rubbed at her head with the towel lazily, trying not to seem like she was in any sort of rush.
Mina sat at the wooden table, sifting through small boxes of claws, translucent glands, and crushed bits of bone. A pot of herbs and liquid gave off an acrid odor. She was brewing monster oil, though which kind, Emily wasn’t quite sure. It didn’t smell as putrid as necrophage oil, but it also didn’t smell as bitter as insectoid oil.
Mina didn’t look up when Emily entered. “Did you remember to drain the tub this time?”
Emily sighed and gave her a half-laugh, half groan. “Yes, Mom.”
That earned a small smirk from Mina. She stirred a thin copper rod through the jar of dark green liquid. “Just making sure.”
Emily walked past her toward the cupboard, pretending to rummage for something. In truth, she was just buying time and trying to get a read on Mina’s mood. She looked tired. Thinking back on it, it had been some time since Mina had last slept. A week now, if Emily remembered correctly.
“Are you going to be brewing all night?” Emily asked, leaning on the counter and tossing the towel over her shoulder.
Mina finally glanced at her and shook her head. “Just wanted to finish brewing this batch while the monster oil’s still fresh. Bloodwrack venom turns bitter if it sits too long.”
Emily gave a slow nod, then took a deep breath and tried to sound as casual as possible. “So… you won’t be brewing all night?”
Mina’s brow furrowed slightly as she looked back down at the mix, now darkening to a murky amber. “No. Why?”
Emily shrugged, biting back the impulse to ramble. “No reason. Just wondering.”
Mina shot her a glance. “What are you really asking?”
Emily paused. “I’m just really tired,” she said, a bit more honestly. “And I was hoping it’d be quiet tonight. Wasn’t sure if you’d be making… weird noises or, well, smells.”
Mina leaned back in her chair, her hands stained faintly green, and rested her arms on the table. “Hm. Fair. I might call it early. Take a bath. Sleep in. We’ve been running ourselves ragged these last few weeks.” She stretched her neck until it cracked, sighing. “I was planning on sleeping through most of tomorrow if I can help it. Might start that early.”
Emily nodded a little too quickly. “That’s a good idea. You should rest. You always say rest is part of recovery.”
Mina narrowed her eyes faintly. “I do say that. You should take your own advice too, you know.”
“I’m trying,” Emily said, suppressing the nervous energy threatening to creep into her voice. “That’s why I took the bath. I’m all relaxed now. Ready to pass out, probably.”
Mina stared long at Emily, then simply gestured to the stairs. “Go on, then. Sleep tight.”
Emily hesitated at the base of the stairs, her hand on the banister. “You too.”
Mina didn’t look up again. “I will.”
Emily stood there for a second longer, biting her lip, then turned and headed quietly up the stairs. Each step creaked just a little, but she’d long since memorized which ones were loudest and stepped over them.
Once upstairs, she let out a quiet breath and closed her bedroom door behind her. She walked to the window and peered out at the night. Stars blinked overhead, and in the distance, Star Lake reflected the silver moonlight.
The plan was simple: wait until Mina’s bath, wait until she was asleep, then slip out. Just one night. Just a few hours.
She moved to her closet and changed into something more casual for a night out. Her heart was already drumming with anticipation and a twinge of guilt.
Emily lay in bed, waiting.
She had tried reading to pass the time by reading through the beastiary on trolls. Thick-skulled, territorial, odor-ridden brutes that hated the sun. But not all of them. Some of them were harmless, intelligent even. Their perception was riddled with misinformation, much like every other monster. It wasn’t all that exciting, though, at least compared to other bestiaries she had read. Her favorite class of monsters to learn about thus far had been insectoids. The books were filled with a bunch of creepy crawlies, but she couldn’t help but be fascinated by just how many there were. Silkfangs, for instance, were just giant spiders commonly found in deep forests and jungles. Their webs were coated with an acidic substance that could slowly melt through flesh and steel.
Most recently, she had been reading about the Chitin Dreadmoth, a rare moth-like creature that hollowed out people’s bodies to grow its own living garden of parasites. Disgusting? Absolutely. But fascinating. The parasites could then manipulate a person's physiology to generate specific nutrients for the Chitin Dreadmoth.
As time went on, though, Emily became less worried about what she was reading, and more concerned about every sound she heard, Or in her case, didn’t hear. It was unusually quiet, or maybe the house was always this quiet, and she just hadn’t noticed until now.
Specifically, she was listening for any sounds that Mina made, but Mina was a quiet woman. She could muffle her footsteps and walk like a phantom. Lucky for Emily, the hinges weren’t as quiet, and neither was the bath. A while ago, she had heard the water running, and most recently, the water draining.
Every new sound made Emily’s heart flutter.
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Finally, she heard the soft groan of metal from the hinges on Mina’s door. Then, the click of a window latch being lifted. A breeze stirred, and a few seconds later, the smell of cigarettes drifted in through her open window. The scent brought back the memory of when she first smoked in Serenity Gardens. It had burned her throat, but it did in fact help her relax. She was kind of wishing she had a cigarette right now to calm her nerves.
Mina’s bedframe groaned. Emily waited another full minute. Then another. Just to be sure.
When she was sure Mina was in bed, she quietly slipped out of her own. She was wearing her softest socks so that her footsteps were muffled, and, with her clothes already on, she didn’t have to worry about quietly changing.
She eased toward her door, one hand on the handle, the other bracing the frame to control the motion.
Creeeeeeak.
The groan of the door made her wince. Emily waited again. Ten seconds. Twenty. No response.
She was already doomed. No doubt Mina heard the door open. She knew she was awake now. Emily thought quickly, and an idea came to mind.
She eased her bedroom door open, letting the creak reverberate through the silent house. Satisfied, she padded down the hallway, passing Mina’s room with a casual gait, then descended the stairs to the washroom, making sure the steps groaned beneath her weight. She opened the washroom door and waited a minute inside. Then, she returned upstairs. Reaching her bedroom, Emily’s lips curved into a sly grin. She eased the door open and shut. Now all she needed to do was sneak past Mina’s room. She moved as she was taught, avoiding the oldest wooden boards and bypassing the creakiest steps. She kept her movements as silent as a whisper, and her breathing barely audible.
One wrong step could ruin everything.
The third and sixth steps creaked when stepped on from the center. The ninth had a warped edge. She moved along the outer edges, her steps angled just so, weight distributed carefully to avoid the telltale groan of old timber under pressure.
It was completely dark downstairs. Her eyes adjusted slowly, revealing nothing more than vague outlines and shapes.
Her heart beat in her throat. She couldn’t use magic to see. The snap of her fingers would be too loud, and Mina had a nose like a bloodhound. If Emily lit anything, she was done for.
So she walked blind.
Her fingertips brushed the wall. She let her left hand trail along it as she inched forward, using it as a guide. The air felt colder downstairs, thicker, somehow. She passed the edge of the couch. Her fingers skimmed the fabric. She pictured the room in her mind. Couch. Chair. Table. Fireplace. Rack by the door.
It was just a little further. Mina always kept a carton of cigarettes in her inner coat pocket.
Her hand found the wall again, and it glided across the surface until her fingers collided with the edge of the coat rack.
It wobbled, and Emily’s heart stopped.
She grabbed it to steady it, her body locking into place like a cat frozen mid-pounce.
Not a sound.
She exhaled through her nose.
Emily found Mina’s heavy leather coat and slowly slipped her fingers into the pockets. The outer pockets were empty. So were the inner ones.
She frowned.
No carton. No cigarettes.
She bit her lip. Where else? Mina usually kept them in her coat. Then, Emily’s stomach sank a little. The only other place Emily knew that Mina kept cigarettes was… in her room.
Her heart was beating so fast now that she was sure Mina could hear it. Hell, she could smell a lie before it was spoken. And now with that thought in her brain, her heart was beating even faster.
She couldn’t just sneak into Mina’s room, especially not when she was still in there.
But then an idea crept in. A reckless, stupid idea, but an idea nonetheless.
Emily grabbed her boots and made her way into the kitchen. The front door was too noisy, but the kitchen window hinges were quiet, thanks to Karaline’s recent handiwork in replacing them.
She gently unlatched the lock and pushed the pane open. The hinges barely made a whisper. Emily smiled, but didn’t celebrate yet. She placed her boots on the sill, climbed up, and slowly slipped through the frame. She crouched in the dewy grass for a moment, listening. There were no other sounds aside from the distant chirping of crickets and the howling wind.
Emily took her boots, closed the window, and quietly moved around the side of the house. She reached the front and stared up. Mina’s window was on the second floor, tucked between the eaves and framed by thick wooden trim.
Her heart thudded as she placed her boots on the ground beside her. Then, she placed her foot on the lower windowsill and stretched up to grab a wooden trim. She pulled herself up, slowly. Her knees pressed against the wall as she spread herself like a spider. She didn’t dare breathe too deeply. Her palms were slick with sweat.
Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall.
She reached Mina’s window and prayed Mina wasn’t waiting for her on the other side. Slowly, she lifted herself up just enough to peer inside. She had to stand on the trimmings with her toes just to keep her balance.
Moonlight filtered through the half-drawn curtains, illuminating Mina’s room in a faint silver hue. The vampire was sprawled on her bed, hair like a spilled bottle of snow cascading over a dark pillow. She wore a silk elven nightgown that shimmered in the moonlight. One arm lay over her stomach, the other draped lazily off the side of the bed.
Emily’s stomach clenched. The cigarette carton was on the dresser, across the room, opposite the bed.
Of course it was.
There was absolutely no way she was going in there. It would be like trying to sneak into a lion’s den and trying to steal its meat.
But… maybe she didn’t have to.
Emily adjusted her footing and reached inside herself. The magic stirred slowly, like a pot on a low boil. She didn’t snap her fingers, and she didn’t speak. She didn’t dare. She just summoned it, shaped it, pushed it out through her fingertips with the care of someone threading a needle through a spiderweb.
The carton of cigarettes rose just enough to lift it an inch above the dresser.
The moment it left the surface, Emily’s whole body tensed.
Mina rolled over.
Emily froze. The carton now hovered mid-air, drifting slowly toward the window. The vampire’s face turned slightly in her direction. Emily felt her pulse in her ears. Mina’s eyes were closed, but the tension in her limbs made it look like she might wake up at any moment.
Emily stared at her, unmoving. If Mina sat up, it would be over. If she sniffed the air and caught her scent, it would be over. If she opened her eyes and saw a shape in the window…
No, could Mina already smell her? Shit. How was she supposed to sneak past a vampire?
Emily forced herself to get a grip. She hadn’t woken up yet; that was the important part.
The carton moved again, inch by inch.
Mina exhaled, snoring softly.
Emily swallowed hard and forced the carton to continue its path toward the window.
Closer.
Closer.
Her fingers brushed the cardboard. She eased it into her pocket like it was made of glass.
Then she dropped down the side of the house, landing on both feet with a soft thud muffled by grass. She stood still, staring up at the window.
She did it!
The adrenaline crash hit her like a wave, her legs suddenly weak beneath her. Her whole body was trembling from the effort and the fear, but she kept her breathing slow, steady, and silent.
She took a deep breath and turned toward Cresthill. A nightbird cried out in the distance. Emily didn’t know what kind of creature made that sound, but it was sharp and lonely. The sort of sound that felt like a warning.
She walked toward it anyway.
She had her prize.
And she had proved something, not just to Mina, if she ever found out, but to herself. She was getting better. She wasn’t the clumsy, scared girl who set a barn on fire just because her powers flared. Not anymore.
She had control. She knew she did! Maybe she should stop doubting herself as much. It was clear enough that when she focused, she could get control over her magic. Though why couldn’t she get control over the earth yet?
It didn’t matter right now. It was time to go out and have some fun.
She was going to enjoy tonight.
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