the crowns hollows

chapter six

Kael followed Lyric.

He didn't know where they were going.

He didn't know if he could trust her.

And he definitely didn't know why the thing beneath the city had called his name.

But he knew one thing.

He couldn't go home.

Not yet.

The image of his father's empty bedroom kept returning to him.

The blood on the floor.

The open window.

The words written beneath the photograph.

THEY FOUND ME.

Kael ran through the rain beside Lyric.

She moved quickly but never seemed rushed.

She knew where she was going.

That bothered him almost as much as the creature beneath the ruins.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere they can't see us."

"Who is they?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"You said I was being hunted."

"I said you were already being hunted."

"There's a difference?"

"A very important one."

Kael looked at her.

"You're going to explain."

"Eventually."

"Now."

Lyric glanced at him.

"If we survive the next ten minutes."

"That's not reassuring."

"It wasn't supposed to be."

They turned into a narrow alley.

Lyric stopped beside an abandoned tailor shop.

The front windows were boarded.

The sign above the door had fallen years ago.

Kael looked at the building.

"Here?"

Lyric pulled a small silver key from beneath her coat.

"There are wards."

"On this place?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because someone wanted to make sure nobody found it."

She inserted the key into the lock.

There was no keyhole.

Kael stared.

Lyric turned the key anyway.

Something clicked inside the wall.

The door opened.

"After you."

Kael looked at her.

"You first."

A small smile appeared.

"Trust issues?"

"Experience."

"Fair."

Lyric entered.

Kael followed.

The door shut behind them.

The darkness swallowed the sound of the rain.

Then the world changed.

The inside of the building was much larger than it should have been.

Kael looked around.

The shop outside couldn't possibly contain this room.

Bookshelves covered the walls.

Maps hung from the ceiling.

Old weapons rested behind glass.

Dozens of candles burned without wicks.

Their flames floated above small metal bowls.

There were no windows.

No doors besides the one they had entered through.

The air smelled like dust, old paper and something faintly metallic.

Lyric removed her coat.

Underneath, she wore a black fitted shirt and a long dark skirt reinforced with leather at the sides.

Everything about her was practical.

Elegant.

Controlled.

She walked toward a table covered in books.

Kael remained near the door.

Lyric looked at him.

"You can stop guarding the exit."

"No."

"You're safe."

"I've heard that before."

"From your father?"

"From everyone."

She studied him.

Then nodded.

"Good."

Kael frowned.

"Good?"

"People who trust too easily don't survive long."

She walked to the table.

"Come here."

Kael didn't move.

Lyric sighed.

"You're exhausting."

"So I've been told."

She smiled faintly.

"Come here anyway."

Kael approached.

Lyric picked up a small black stone.

Kael froze.

It looked almost identical to the one his father had kept in the chest.

"Where did you get that?"

"I found it."

"Where?"

"The eastern ruins."

Kael stared at it.

"You've been there."

"Many times."

"Why?"

"Because my family has been studying them for generations."

Kael's expression hardened.

"Your family knows what they are."

"Some of them."

"Who?"

"My mother."

"And your father?"

Lyric's expression changed.

"My father is dead."

Kael immediately regretted asking.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

She set the stone down.

"He died knowing exactly what he was looking for."

"What was he looking for?"

Lyric looked at Kael.

"Something that shouldn't exist."

She opened an old book.

The pages were yellow and brittle.

Most of the writing was in an ancient language.

But several pages had been translated.

Lyric turned the book toward him.

There was a drawing.

Kael stared.

It depicted a massive black shape beneath a city.

Not a creature.

Not exactly.

It looked like roots.

Bones.

Wings.

And something resembling a human body buried inside it.

Around the image were dozens of symbols.

Kael felt his skin crawl.

"What is that?"

"We don't know."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only honest one."

Lyric pointed to the drawing.

"Ancient scholars called it the Hollow."

"The Hollow?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"That's where the stories disagree."

She turned a page.

"This says it's a creature."

Another page.

"This says it's a place."

Another.

"This one says it's a god."

Kael frowned.

"And what do you believe?"

Lyric closed the book.

"I think they're all wrong."

"Then what is it?"

She looked at him.

"I think it's a process."

Kael stared.

"A process?"

"Something that changes."

"Changes what?"

"Everything."

She leaned against the table.

"The oldest records describe beings called the Firstborn."

Kael remembered Halden.

"They created magic?"

"Maybe."

"Or humans stole it."

"Maybe."

"That's a lot of maybes."

Lyric nodded.

"Because nobody knows the truth."

She tapped the black stone.

"But everyone agrees on one thing."

Kael waited.

"The Firstborn were not human."

Lyric walked toward another shelf.

She removed a thin book bound in dark leather.

"This is where things get interesting."

She opened it.

The first page contained a drawing of a human body.

Except the body was covered in strange lines.

Some resembled veins.

Others looked like roots.

A black mass occupied the chest.

Kael stared.

"What is that?"

"The soul."

Kael looked at her.

"The soul?"

"That's what the ancient texts called it."

"That's not what a soul looks like."

"How do you know?"

Kael had no answer.

Lyric pointed to the image.

"Modern magic assumes the soul is an energy source."

She flipped a page.

"Ancient magic described it differently."

Another page.

"The soul is an adaptive structure."

Kael frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"It means your soul changes based on what you experience."

"Everyone's does."

"Not like this."

Lyric pointed to the illustration.

"Trauma."

A black line appeared.

"Magic."

Another.

"Death."

Another.

"Fear."

Another.

"Exposure to certain artifacts."

The lines connected.

"The soul adapts."

Kael looked at the picture.

"What happens if it adapts too much?"

Lyric was quiet.

Then:

"You become something else."

Kael felt cold.

"Like a monster?"

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

She closed the book.

"Some people develop abilities."

"Magic?"

"Something beyond magic."

Kael's eyes narrowed.

"And the creatures?"

Lyric nodded.

"Some of them were people once."

Silence filled the room.

Kael looked at his hands.

The black mark beneath his sleeve suddenly felt heavier.

"What happened to them?"

"They adapted until there was nothing human left."

Kael pulled his sleeve back.

The mark was visible.

Lyric stared at it.

She didn't speak.

Kael waited.

Finally she walked closer.

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long has it been there?"

"Yesterday."

Her eyes widened slightly.

"That fast?"

Kael nodded.

Lyric reached toward his wrist.

She stopped before touching him.

"May I?"

Kael hesitated.

Then nodded.

Her fingers lightly touched the mark.

The moment she did, Kael's entire body went rigid.

A wave of cold rushed through him.

Not outside.

Inside.

His vision blurred.

For a second, he wasn't in the room.

He was somewhere else.

Somewhere dark.

Something enormous moved in the distance.

He couldn't see its body.

Only pieces.

A hand.

Too many fingers.

A face that wasn't a face.

Eyes opening where there shouldn't have been eyes.

Then something turned toward him.

Kael felt it notice him.

And something inside his chest answered.

He ripped his arm away.

The vision vanished.

Kael staggered backward.

Lyric looked horrified.

"What did you see?"

Kael breathed heavily.

"I don't know."

"Tell me."

"A thing."

"What kind?"

"I couldn't see it."

Lyric's voice became quiet.

"Did it see you?"

Kael looked at her.

"Yes."

She closed her eyes.

"That's bad."

"You think?"

"No."

She looked at him.

"I mean really bad."

Kael sat down.

Lyric brought him a glass of water.

He drank it.

His hands were still shaking.

"What is happening to me?"

Lyric sat across from him.

"I don't know."

Kael stared at her.

"Don't."

"What?"

"Don't give me that again."

She sighed.

"All right."

She folded her hands.

"I have a theory."

"Tell me."

"The thing beneath the city isn't trying to kill you."

Kael stared.

"It isn't?"

"No."

"Then what does it want?"

Lyric looked directly into his eyes.

"It wants to become you."

Kael said nothing.

The room seemed colder.

"What?"

"The Hollow adapts."

"Like the soul."

"Exactly."

"Then why me?"

"I don't know."

"Why now?"

"I don't know."

Kael stood abruptly.

"You're not helping."

"I know."

He turned away.

Lyric continued.

"But I know something else."

Kael stopped.

"The black stone your father kept..."

She pointed toward the object on the table.

"...isn't a stone."

Kael slowly looked back.

"What is it?"

Lyric's expression was grim.

"It's a piece of something."

"Something?"

"Something much larger."

"How much larger?"

Lyric hesitated.

"We don't know."

Kael stared at the black object.

"Your father found one?"

"My father found three."

Kael's stomach dropped.

"Three?"

"One disappeared."

"Where?"

Lyric looked at him.

"We think your father took it."

Kael's heart stopped.

"My father?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because he believed the pieces were connected."

"Connected to what?"

Lyric turned the page of the old book.

There was a symbol.

A crown.

Not a royal crown.

Something distorted.

Its points curved inward.

Almost like claws.

Kael recognized it immediately.

The symbol had been scratched into the old photograph.

He stepped closer.

"That."

Lyric nodded.

"The Hollow Crown."

Kael whispered the name.

"What is it?"

Lyric looked at the symbol.

"No one knows."

"Then why call it a crown?"

"Because that's what the ancient texts call it."

She looked at him.

"And because every record says the same thing."

"What?"

Lyric's voice became barely audible.

"When the Crown is completed..."

She paused.

"...something will wake."

Kael stared at the symbol.

"What?"

Lyric didn't answer.

Instead, she looked toward the ceiling.

A faint vibration passed through the building.

Kael felt it.

The candles flickered.

Dust drifted from the shelves.

Then the sound came.

Far away.

Very faint.

Bong.

Kael looked at Lyric.

Her face had gone pale.

"Again."

Bong.

The floor trembled.

Kael stood.

"What is that?"

Lyric moved toward the door.

"The bells."

"What bells?"

"The ones beneath the city."

A third sound came.

Bong.

This time, the black stone on the table cracked.

A thin line appeared across its surface.

Kael stepped backward.

Something black seeped from the c***k.

Not smoke.

Not liquid.

Something between the two.

It rose slowly.

Lyric drew a silver blade from beneath her coat.

"Stay behind me."

Kael stared at the thing.

It twisted in the air.

Then stopped.

For a moment, it seemed to look at him.

Kael felt the same presence from beneath the earth.

Ancient.

Alien.

Hungry.

But there was something else.

Recognition.

The black substance moved toward him.

Lyric raised her blade.

"Don't."

The thing stopped.

Kael's breathing slowed.

He didn't understand why.

But somehow...

he wasn't afraid.

The substance touched his shadow.

And disappeared.

Kael stared at the floor.

Nothing happened.

Then the mark on his wrist changed.

A second line appeared.

It traveled from his wrist toward his elbow.

Kael grabbed his arm.

Pain erupted through his body.

He fell to one knee.

Lyric dropped beside him.

"Kael!"

He screamed.

The pain lasted only seconds.

Then stopped.

Kael looked at his arm.

The mark had changed.

It now resembled a branching root.

Lyric stared at it.

"What?"

She looked terrified.

Kael swallowed.

"What happened?"

Lyric shook her head.

"I've never seen that happen before."

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Then what am I?"

Lyric looked at him for a long time.

"I don't know."

She looked toward the sealed door.

"But I think we're about to find out."

A sound came from outside.

Footsteps.

Several people.

Lyric immediately extinguished the candles.

Darkness filled the room.

Kael whispered:

"Who?"

"Not the Wardens."

"How do you know?"

"Because the Wardens don't walk that quietly."

The footsteps stopped outside.

Kael heard breathing.

One person.

Then another.

Then several more.

Lyric moved silently toward the hidden entrance.

She motioned for Kael to follow.

He did.

They stepped into a narrow passage behind the bookshelves.

Lyric pulled a lever.

The shelves closed.

Darkness swallowed them.

They stood shoulder to shoulder.

Kael could hear her breathing.

The footsteps entered the room.

Someone spoke.

"Search it."

A man's voice.

Cold.

Professional.

Kael's hand went to his knife.

Lyric caught his wrist.

She shook her head.

Not yet.

Another voice spoke.

"He's been here."

"How do you know?"

"The mark."

Kael's blood went cold.

They knew.

A third voice spoke.

"Find the boy."

Lyric's eyes met Kael's.

She mouthed:

Don't move.

The men searched the room.

Books fell.

Drawers opened.

The old black stone was taken.

Kael watched through a narrow c***k.

One of the men wore a dark uniform.

Not the Wardens.

The symbol on his collar was unfamiliar.

A crown.

But unlike the symbol in Lyric's book, this one had been crossed through with a single vertical line.

The man holding the black stone looked toward the hidden passage.

Kael stopped breathing.

The man smiled.

"I know you're here."

Lyric's hand tightened around Kael's wrist.

The mark beneath his skin began to glow.

Kael felt something awaken inside him.

Not rage.

Not fear.

Something else.

Something instinctive.

His fingers tightened.

His nails suddenly felt too long.

His teeth ached.

For one terrifying instant, Kael felt his bones shift.

He looked down.

The shadows around his fingers were moving.

Not his fingers.

The shadows.

They stretched across the floor like black tendrils.

Kael forced himself to breathe.

He remembered the shadow from the street.

The thing that wasn't shaped like him.

Lyric noticed.

Her eyes widened.

She whispered:

"Don't let it take control."

Kael stared at his hand.

"What happens if it does?"

Lyric looked toward the men.

Then back at him.

"I don't know."

A pause.

"But I don't think you'll like what comes back."

The men began moving toward the hidden wall.

Lyric raised her silver blade.

Kael slowly stood.

The shadows around his feet gathered.

For the first time in his life, Kael didn't feel powerless.

He felt dangerous.

And somewhere deep inside him...

something smiled.