Dahlia Falz's Arc

Chapter 7 of 7

Night came. Dahlia broke the seal on the stairwell and led her sisters to the top step. Cold air rose from below. She lifted a hand and made a small flame. It guttered and died in the dark. She tried again. The light barely reached the third stair. Below that lay nothing she could see. Cynder growled. Luna's ears flattened. The way down was pitch black, and Dahlia would not lead her sisters into a dark she could not read. "We cannot fight what we cannot see," Luna said. "One misstep and we fall." Dahlia stared into the black mouth of the stairs. Solaris raised her palms. Golden light spread from them, but it thinned to nothing a few feet down, like water soaking into sand. "This dark eats light," Solaris said flatly. "Mine will not hold there." Dahlia's chest tightened. She had strength now, and her sisters at her back, and still she could not take the first step. Then heat washed over the stairwell. A gust rolled through the front of the manor. Wings the color of hot coals swept in and folded. A man stood among them, red and orange hair, yellow eyes, scales bright as embers along his arms. "Draco," Dahlia said. Her half brother. He had come looking for her once and arrived too late. He had never forgiven himself. He did not smile now. "Word said you were at the old ridge," he said. "I came. I did not tell our father." His eyes went to the black stair. "You need light." "Nothing holds down there," Dahlia said. Draco stepped past her. He breathed in, and his chest glowed. Fire poured from his hands, not thrown but held, a steady blaze cupped in his palms. He walked down the first stair. The dark pushed at the flame and failed. The light held. It spilled across old stone steps, damp walls, a landing far below. "Dragon fire does not go out," he said. "Not for this." Dahlia let out a breath she had held too long. She could see the way down now. Every step. She drew her own smaller flame and followed him, and the black gave way before them. They reached the landing. The fire lit a low chamber cut from rock. In the center stood a stone door, sealed and carved with marks Dahlia did not know. No guardian waited. Only the door. "This is what they came for," Luna said. "Behind that." Draco held his fire high. The marks on the door caught the light and seemed to shift. Cynder reached out and touched the stone. She pulled her hand back fast. "It's warm," she said. "Something breathes on the other side." Dahlia stared at the sealed door. The dark was beaten. But whatever the hooded ones wanted lay one wall away, and it was awake.