Zane's Arc

Chapter 7 of 8

The chamber went quiet after Maya spoke the name. Her arm lay still, the cracks black and cold. Their parents held her close. Zane wanted to feel safe. He could not. The witch had told him a name costs everything you are. Maya had paid nothing yet. Something still waited to collect. He rose and unbarred the door. "Where are you going?" his father asked. "To find out the price," Zane said. "Before it finds us." He pushed through the wall of red roses and ran back toward the cave. The moon hung pale now, its red gone. He knew only one man who understood the cost of names. The cave mouth glowed with green marks. Malachar stood inside, thin and still, his eyes burning like coals. He did not look surprised. "The name held," he said. "She's chained the god." "What does it take from her?" Zane demanded. "You said it costs everything you are." Malachar tilted his head. "Not her. The one who spoke first pays. But she didn't speak first." His eyes narrowed. "You did. In the trade. You gave the wolf and took the name into your mouth to carry it home." Zane's chest went tight. He remembered. He had learned the name in this cave, held it, spoken it once to teach Maya the sounds. "Then it's me." "The price is memory," Malachar said. "The god takes what you love. It will pull one bond from you, root and all. You'll forget you ever had it." He stepped closer. "Choose. Or the god chooses." A white rabbit darted across the cave floor and vanished into the dark. Zane barely saw it. He thought of Maya, of his parents kneeling around her. He thought of the family he had wanted his whole life, finally within reach. "How do I choose?" Zane asked. "Name what you'll give up," Malachar said. "Say it here, and the god takes only that. Say nothing, and it takes the strongest bond you have." Zane understood then. The strongest bond was Maya. His whole life, people kept their distance. She never had. If he stayed silent, the god would take her from his memory. He would forget his own sister on the night they finally stood together. He would not give her up. He searched for something else, some love he could name and lose. There was nothing else. He had been alone too long. Maya and his parents were all he had. Then he found it. The wolf. The creature that had chosen him in the cold. He had already lost it to the trade. He loved it still. "The wolf," Zane said. "Take the wolf I remember. Take the nights in the oak." Malachar smiled. "Done." Something cold slid out of Zane's mind. He stood in the cave and could not remember why he had come alone. He turned toward home, toward Maya, and the reason was already gone.