Beth Wonders's Arc

Chapter 20 of 29

The tree was safe past the ice, but half of Beth's power was still not hers. Her star shard sat in the floating tower, held by the starry worm. She had traded her broken mirror for storage. The worm would return the shard only when she named a price it liked. Until then, her magic stayed split. She could not finish her world with half a self. She wiped the warm bowl the void chef had left and stood. "I'm done waiting," she said. "I want my shard back." Elijah looked up from the mirror. "He'll pick the price. Not you." "Then I'll offer something he can't refuse." She wasn't sure that was true. Her wings twitched. Crowds and demands wore her thin, and this creature was one long demand with legs. The tower stood tall and black, its runes glowing pink and blue against the smooth stone. The worm coiled at its base, star-eyes bright, its body a slice of night sky. It hummed when it saw her. Somewhere near, a red iris blinked open on tiny bat wings, watching. She ignored it. She had no coin the worm would touch. Coin meant nothing to it. "I know what you eat," Beth said. "Flavors. Every flavor the cosmos ever made." The worm tipped its head. "You've tasted them all. You're hunting the ones you can't name." The worm went still. Its eyes flared. "I built a world," Beth said. "Half of it is sealed behind ice now. Nobody has ever tasted the magic of a place that's half-dead and still growing. Not you. Not anyone." She held out her hand. Frost from the sealed door still clung to her skin, mixed with the raw star magic of her living tree. "One taste. That's my price. Give me my shard." The worm leaned in. Its dark body brushed her palm. It drew the flavor off her skin, slow, tasting the cold and the light together. It made a low sound she had never heard from it. Surprise. It had found something new. It uncoiled and opened the striped mouth of stars at the tower's base. Her shard floated out, small and bright. It settled into her chest. Warmth spread through her wings. Her power pulled back together, whole for the first time in weeks. "Deal," she breathed. But the worm did not close its mouth. Its eyes stayed on her, hungry now. It had tasted her half-dead world once. It wanted more. It hummed a question, and she understood: it would come to her cathedral. It would want to taste the whole thing. Beth backed away, shard glowing under her ribs. She had her power back. She had also just shown a cosmic thing exactly where her unfinished world lived, and taught it to crave the flavor of the place she meant to hide inside forever.