THE ALTAR THAT REMEMBERED ME
1750 Words
The voice beneath the floor had barely finished saying my name when the entire building shuddered.
Kael's hand hovered beside my elbow not touching, but close enough that I could feel the heat of him through the rain cold air. Dust sifted from the ceiling and settled across my cheeks. Somewhere below us, stone scraped against stone with a slow, grinding groan.
I pressed both palms against the concrete.
I couldn't breathe.
Not because I was afraid the building would collapse.
Because something beneath it had answered me.
“Aurelia.”
The sound vibrated through my bones.
Mira's fingers closed around mine.
“Don't move.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
Another tremor rolled beneath us.
Kael turned toward the floor. His body went still, every instinct in him suddenly focused on whatever waited below.
“It's under us.”
My stomach tightened.
“You think?”
His gaze cut toward me.
“Don't be clever.”
“I use sarcasm when I'm terrified.”
His expression barely shifted.
“That makes two of us.”
The admission startled me.
Before I could decide whether he'd actually said it, the floor split.
Mira swore.
A jagged crack tore across the concrete between us. Darkness opened beneath it, and cold air rushed upward, carrying the smell of wet stone.
And blood.
I swallowed.
“You smell that?”
Kael's head snapped toward me.
“You can smell it?”
The question carried too much weight.
I ignored it.
“There is something down there.”
“There shouldn't be.”
I looked at him.
“That's becoming your favorite sentence.”
His jaw tightened, but he crouched beside the crack.
He brushed his fingers over the broken concrete.
Then his expression changed.
“There is a passage.”
My pulse jumped.
“To where?”
“I don't know.”
“Another favorite.”
His eyes lifted.
“Aurelia.”
The way he said my name stopped the sarcasm in my throat.
Not because it sounded threatening.
Because it sounded familiar.
Too familiar.
Like the voice beneath the city.
The crescent beneath my collarbone burned.
I gasped.
Kael moved instantly.
His hand stopped inches from my chest.
He didn't touch me.
He waited.
That tiny pause unsettled me more than if he'd simply grabbed me.
“May I?”
I stared at his hand, then his face.
There was no command in his expression.
Only restraint.
I nodded.
His fingers touched the fabric just below the mark.
Heat rushed through me.
The world tilted.
For one heartbeat, I saw silver.
A woman's hand.
White stone.
Moonlight spilling across someone's skin.
Then the vision vanished.
I stumbled.
Kael caught my elbow.
This time, I didn't pull away immediately.
His grip tightened just enough to steady me.
“You saw it.”
Yes.
What?
“A room.”
His eyes sharpened.
“The same one?”
I went still.
“You know about it.”
He released my arm.
“I know enough.”
“That isn't good enough.”
“I know.”
The quiet answer stole some of my anger.
Mira stepped closer.
“So we're going into the creepy hole under the city?”
Kael looked at her.
No.
Mira blinked.
“Good. Wonderful. I'm glad someone here has sense.”
“We're going down.”
Her mouth fell open.
I almost laughed.
“You're terrible at comforting people.”
Kael ignored me.
“The passage may connect to whatever woke beneath Blackhaven.”
“And your solution is to walk toward it?”
“My solution is to find out what it is before it finds you.”
The word you landed differently.
I hated that I noticed.
I hated even more that some part of me wanted to believe him.
I stepped toward the opening.
Kael moved in front of me.
“No.”
I stopped.
“You don't get to decide where I go.”
His gaze held mine.
“I know.”
“Then move.”
For several seconds, he didn't.
Then he stepped aside.
“Stay behind me.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You really struggle with the difference between advice and orders.”
“And you really struggle with staying alive.”
Mira snorted.
“I'm beginning to understand why you two are so irritating together.”
Kael glanced at her.
“We're not together.”
My cheeks warmed.
“I wasn't referring to that.”
Mira's grin widened.
“I know.”
I hated both of them.
Mostly because they'd made me forget, for three seconds, that something beneath us knew my name.
Then three slow impacts came from below.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The sound traveled through the passage.
Kael's face hardened.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Aurelia”
“You're not leaving me behind after telling me that thing knows my name.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You don't understand what you're asking.”
“Then explain it.”
Silence.
There it was again.
The wall he kept putting between us.
I stepped closer.
“You know something about me.”
“I know something about what happened five years ago.”
“And me?”
His expression tightened.
“You were there.”
My heartbeat stumbled.
“Where?”
“Here.”
I glanced around the ruined apartment.
“No. Five years ago.”
He said nothing.
I swallowed.
“What happened?”
His gaze moved toward the opening.
“Later.”
“Convenient.”
“It isn't.”
“Then tell me.”
His eyes returned to mine.
“I don't know how.”
The words were almost too quiet to hear.
For the first time, I saw beneath the control.
Grief.
Raw. Buried. Old.
It disappeared before I could reach for it.
Kael turned toward the passage.
“Stay close.”
I followed.
The stairs beneath the building were narrow and slick. Water trickled down the walls, cold against my fingertips whenever I used them for balance.
Mira stayed behind me.
Kael went first.
Every few steps, he glanced back.
Checking the passage.
Checking me.
Each time our eyes met, the silver glow beneath my collar caught in his gaze.
I told myself I noticed because he was watching for danger.
I didn't believe myself.
No light came from the surface now. Only the faint glow beneath my skin painted the stone in thin, trembling streaks.
Mira lowered her voice.
“What is this place?”
Kael didn't answer.
I touched the wall.
Symbols had been carved into the stone.
Crescents.
Circles.
Lines crossing through them like constellations.
My fingertips tingled.
The moment I touched one of the symbols, the crescent beneath my skin flared.
Kael turned sharply.
“Don't touch anything.”
I pulled my hand back.
“Bit late.”
A low hum filled the passage.
One symbol glowed.
Then another.
Then another.
Mira backed away.
“Aurelia.”
“I see it.”
“No.”
Her voice dropped.
“They're following you.”
My stomach fell.
Silver light traveled along the carvings not randomly, but deliberately.
Toward me.
It reached a massive stone door at the end of the passage.
There was no handle.
No hinge.
Only a crescent carved into its center.
Kael stopped.
His breathing changed.
“You've seen this.”
He didn't answer.
“Kael.”
“I've seen the symbol.”
“Where?”
His eyes settled on me.
“On the woman.”
The words chilled me.
The woman who disappeared.
The woman he'd failed to save.
The woman who had carried the same mark.
I stepped toward the door.
Kael caught my wrist.
“Wait.”
His touch sent warmth through my skin.
The pull returned.
Stronger this time.
My breath caught.
His eyes dropped to his fingers around my wrist.
He released me immediately.
“Sorry.”
The apology was quiet.
Real.
I looked at him.
“Thank you.”
Surprise flickered across his face.
Then the door moved.
Not outward.
Inward.
Stone groaned.
Ancient air swept over us, carrying dust, cold ash, and a faint floral scent that had no business existing beneath a dead city.
Mira muttered a curse.
Beyond the doorway was a circular chamber.
White stone covered the walls.
At the center stood an altar.
My heart stopped.
I had seen it before.
Not in a memory.
Somewhere behind memory.
Silver veins crossed the altar's surface, forming the same crescent burned beneath my skin.
Kael stepped beside me.
His face had gone pale.
“What is this?”
His voice was barely audible.
I looked at him.
“You tell me.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
For once, I believed him.
I moved toward the altar.
For reasons I didn't want to examine, I felt steadier with Kael beside me.
That wasn't trust.
Not yet.
But when the chamber seemed to hold its breath, I didn't step away from him.
Mira caught my sleeve.
“Aurelia, maybe don't.”
I stopped.
The altar pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Something inside me answered.
My palm began to burn.
I looked down.
A thin line of blood appeared across my skin.
I hadn't cut myself.
The blood gathered at my wrist, then slid toward my fingertips.
Kael stepped forward.
“Aurelia, stop.”
“I don't know how.”
One red bead fell.
It struck the altar.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Then the chamber erupted in silver light.
Mira screamed my name.
The altar cracked.
Not breaking.
Opening.
Silver fire raced through the carved symbols, climbed the walls, crossed the ceiling, and surrounded me in a circle of light.
My knees struck the stone.
The chamber seemed to inhale.
A presence moved through the light.
Not the voice beneath Blackhaven.
Something older.
Something vast.
Something that knew me.
“Aurelia.”
My breath stopped.
Kael went completely still.
Mira stared at the altar.
“What did it call you?”
I couldn't answer.
The crescent beneath my skin burned hotter.
The altar pulsed again.
A second voice rose from somewhere beneath the stone.
Closer.
Hungry.
Awake.
“At last.”
Kael grabbed my hand.
This time, I didn't pull away.
His fingers locked around mine.
His eyes met mine, and every trace of control had vanished from his face.
“Run.”
The altar split open.
Something moved beneath it.
I couldn't see what it was.
Only the curve of something pale shifting in the darkness below.
Then the darkness blinked.
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