Rising Shards

“And it is truly the rage filled manner in which he eats the muffins that makes this one of the finest moments in Haven literature…”

As Soleri droned on and on about a passage from our reading assignment, I realized I still had a crumpled ball of hard candy wrappers in my pocket. I got the candy from Amara, who had won a bunch of it in some pageant and shared her sugary winnings with everyone. I was at the edge of one of the rows, and the classroom’s garbage can was in site. I tried to throw the wrappers but missed completely.

“Aaaand no points.” Iris said as Maia imitated a buzzer sound. I slumped into my chair as laughter from the class reached my reddening ears.

“Faleur.” Soleri said. “If you’re that bad at throwing, don’t try to distract the class with it. And please don’t ever take up beam chasers, I’d like our team to do well this coming season.”

More laughs. This was officially a bad day. I told myself that I had the sleepover tomorrow to look forward to over and over, but it didn’t help.

“And Arco, Oloro. Isn’t Faleur’s failure enough without your attempt at comedy adding to it?” Soleri asked.

The rest of class was blah, but my failure in lit class hung over me like my posture as I tried to lean over my desk all day to stay out of sight.

Sleepover tomorrow, sleepover tomorrow.

“This is just not my day.” I huffed as I entered my room. Inside, Kalei, Lillia, and Oka were seated at the tiny table looking serious. Normally, them looking so grim while sitting on the ground around our goofy little table would be something to laugh at, but I had a feeling my bad day was about to get worse.

“Hey, Zates.” Kalei said.

“What’s up?” I asked. “Why are you all looking so sad? Or are you just very determined about plans for tomorrow?”

“We were just looking at our schedules and wanted to tell you before practice,” Oka said. “There’s gonna be another theater trip this weekend.”

“And beam chasers is having a training camp type deal too.” Kalei said.

 “Oh…” I said.

"We probably should have checked our calendars before planning, but that's just not our style," Kalei said.  “Sleepover’s gonna have to wait a week, that’s all.”

“We’ll make every effort to ensure it happens next week.” Lillia said.

“It’s alright, as long as we’re still doing it,” I said. I wasn’t sure why they all needed to console me about it; Kalei was the one who suggested the sleepover. Oka could read the confusion on my face.

“I just,” Oka said. “I feel bad since we were supposed to hang out this week, but then Berin wanted me for all that dumb Kilander business. And I know you said it was hard for you last time I was at camp. But I have a phone now so I can text you during this!”

Maybe I wouldn’t be such a wreck like the last time they were away for the weekend. But last time, I had the looming news that I was secretly Jeans’ mistress while she was actually dating Ovie hanging over me. This time I could just have a weekend to myself.

Right after Oka and Lillia left for theater practice, I was about to ask Kalei if she’d be OK waiting a week for the sleepover when someone knocked. Since I was standing right by it still, I opened the front door to see Caya Kilander waiting.

“Faleur. Come with me.” She said.

“Oooh, Zeta’s in troub—” Kalei started before Caya immediately intimidated her into silence with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Caya didn’t say anything on the way to her office. I hoped she wasn’t going to suspend me for technically littering. I did pick up the garbage I threw in Soleri’s class, but it was just that kind of day. Stella was waiting in Caya’s office, which did not bode well for anything. She fidgeted in her seat, strumming her fingers on the purse on her lap.

“Um…” I said.

“Please take a seat.” Caya said as she sat down at her desk.

“Stella, what’s going on here?” I asked. “You didn’t get fired, did you?”

My attempt at a joke landed very poorly. I sat down in shame.

“This isn’t about her new job, don’t worry,” Caya said. “I’ve concluded my study on the encounters you’ve had in the void and in school with the person called Arctus.”

“Arctus Kathron, y-yes.” I said.

Arctus was a boy I ran into once at school, and once in the void. He gave me really good advice while he worked in the bloodsaber cleaning room at school, and in the void I rescued him from a giant before he passed out from poison. Then when I was in the mess of Elka, he reached out to me through his bloodsaber that I picked up and said he came all the way from the void to school to look for me, and that he’d explain everything soon.

“So.” Stella said. She didn’t follow up with anything, she was just nervously saying ‘so.’

I suddenly felt like I did at an orthodontist appointment where I was getting lax on my flossing, where they brought me and Stella into a random separate office to chastise me about how bad my gums looked. That similar sinking fear and humiliation hung in the air.

“I’d like you to look this over when you get a chance, it has further details on what I’m about to talk about.” Caya said.

She handed me a paper. I could barely read the text past the bold title, which said ‘RETENTION SPRITES.’

“What’s…a retention sprite?” I asked.

“A retention sprite is similar to the visions you see in a memory trial.” Caya said. “Though they’re much more localized and in a stabilized form. Like the body you saw. They’re capable of blending into their environment, traveling great distances, holding a conversation, physical interactions, and more.”

That was it. Arctus was just an apparition. He wasn’t real.

“You’re not in any danger, it’s a common occurrence,” Caya said. “This is especially common among those with void born parents.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. My parents were void born?

“It makes sense that Arctus Kathron would be a person you would see an apparition of.” Caya said. “At least, once I told your sister my suspicions.”

“Stella…?” I asked.

“Oh.” Stella said, looking into her purse as if her answer would be in there. “So…”

Caya let Stella try to form her words. But she was so quiet for so long.

“Zeta…I…” Stella said.

For once, I was glad Caya was so scary. Because I don’t think Stella could’ve gotten out what she was gonna say next without Caya staring her down.

“Arctus Kathron…he’s…” Stella said.

Stella got her hands out of her purse and clasped it shut, finally turning to look me in the eyes.

“He’s our father.”