Half of Ruby

Chapter 23

Bong! Bong! Bong!

Ember groaned, stirring to her side. The sheets shifted with her as her eyes fluttered open. 

Bong! Bong! 

"Leave me alone," she groaned, raising one hand from the warm security of the sheets in an attempt to ward off the sound. Coldness stung against her skin, and she stuffed her arm back into her blankets, shivering. 

Bong! Bong! 

Ember groaned again. She blinked her eyelids open, frowning at how heavy and dry they felt. 

The church clock across the street fell silent, its weathered black hands pointing to seven in the morning. Heavy gray clouds blanketed the sky, like dirty clumps of wool, casting swollen, puffy shadows over the streets. 

She closed her eyes and sank back into the blankets. 

I don't want to get up. I don't want to face everyone. I don't want to face Ronan—

Ronan. She pried her eyes open again, fingers strangling the sheets as she turned towards her nightstand. 

He wasn't there. 

Ember blinked. Her chair still occupied the place next to the nightstand, angled towards the little table. But nobody occupied it, leaving it strangely empty, almost expectant. 

He went back to his own room. 

Ember sighed, ducking back into her sheets. 

But...was that disappointment?  

Last night. He'd stroked her hair and told her to trust him and she'd...agreed. 

"All right." 

And...she hadn't been lying. 

A shiver ran through Ember's body as she stared up at the gauzy white canopy. 

I trust him. 

How was that possible? How had she not been lying? 

I trust him. I trust Ronan. I trust a human.  

You are not a real witch, Ember. 

Janeka. Janus. Their last words to her. 

Ember froze, fingers as pale as the sheets they grasped. 

You are not a real witch. 

You are not a real witch. 

Not a real witch. 

A lump swelled up in her throat as her eyes strayed to the nightstand. They landed upon a small silver locket. 

Flame's locket. 

"No," she said. 

Her voice rang through the room, raspy and worn, as though battered one too many times by reality. No.  

Nobody responded. 

Ember's fingers closed around the locket and she picked it up, little silver chains dragging along the white wood as she gathered the necklace into her hands. The charm, about twice the size of her fingernail, bore a carving in the shape of a fire. 

Ember turned it over, inspecting it. A small hinge held the locket closed. Curious, she slipped her thumbnail under the top of the charm. The hinge squeaked as she pried it open.  

Black velvet lined the interior. Ember frowned, turning the locket over. 

It was empty.

What, had she expected to find something within the charm? A note of forgiveness, perhaps? Ember's ears burned with shame as she set closed the locket and set it back onto the nightstand.