Lilith's Arc

Chapter 2 of 40

Lilith followed Selene up the broken stairs, past shelves that held their books whole. She expected the lessons to begin. Instead the moon goddess turned at the top and studied her with tired blue eyes. "You ask for magic that outlives death," Selene said. "I do not give such things for wanting. Show me you will pay what it costs. Bring me proof of your devotion." "What proof?" Lilith asked. "Something that matches the gift." Selene folded her thin arms. "I have guarded these shelves for centuries. I will not spend that knowledge on a stranger's promise." Lilith's chest tightened. She had gold in her temple. She had pearls, coral crowns, the songs that calmed storms. None of it matched magic that refused to end. She turned in the still water, searching the drowned hall for anything to offer. The pixie darted near her face, its blue glow steady. Then she understood. The pixie had lived in her garden for years. It had led her here, through the cold dark, to this very door. It carried a small, patient magic of its own, the kind that never seemed to fade. It was the one thing she owned that Selene could not simply take from a shelf. Lilith held out her open hand. The pixie landed on her palm, warm and trusting. Her throat closed. "This one found you," Lilith said. "It has stayed near me since my children were small. Its light does not die. I give it to you, to keep you company in a place everyone forgot." Selene went very still. She reached out one worn finger. The pixie hopped onto it and glowed brighter, as if it had chosen her. "You give me a living thing," Selene said softly. "Not gold. Not a song you can sing again tomorrow." She cupped the pixie against her tattered dress. "You cannot get this back. You understand that?" "I understand." Lilith's voice shook. The pixie had guided her for years. Now it would stay in the dark with the moon goddess, and her garden would hold one less light. Selene watched the glow settle against her chest. For the first time her old face softened. "Then you are willing to lose what you love to keep it. Good. That is the whole of the magic you seek." She drifted toward the shelves and pulled down a sealed book. Its pages did not crumble. "Sit," Selene said. "We begin tonight." Lilith sank to the flooded floor. She had paid the first price, and it had cost more than any pearl. The pixie glowed on Selene's chest, no longer hers. But the book was open now, and the lessons had begun.