A Nameless Dark

Chapter 8

Samuel grunted as a large fist slammed into his ribcage. His own strike was parried aside so easily he may as well have been swatting at flies in the air. Thaddeus slipped another straight punch from Samuel, thrusting an open hand up into the young man's face, then spinning aside to effect a brutal takedown powered mostly by Samuel's own momentum and guided by Thaddeus's hands on his head. Samuel hit the ground hard, remembering to slap the mat with his hand in order to absorb some of the impact. It still looked like it hurt.

I watched the exchange from the side of the training area near the glowing, ice covered wall of the Glacial Hall. Looking up, I could see the bottom floor of Esther's office high above me. There was a slight darkening of the ice floor behind the massive frozen desk where Esther sat, still angry after our meeting ended badly a short time ago. Aaron had continued pushing for Esther's help in contacting the Seven Families, and Esther refused, insisting that it was not the Families' fight anymore. They'd given up their chance to defend the world from this threat. That responsibility now belonged to the Steel Tower.

Eventually, Aaron had stormed out, trailing a cloud of seething frustration in his wake.

I clenched and unclenched my fist at my side, still feeling some of the same anger toward Aaron that Esther did, though for different reasons. We'd finally begun to find some answers, and Aaron had shut it down.

I'd wanted to punch him.

My brother, sister, and I had just met our Grandmother for the first time, and there was so much that we needed to ask her, so many pieces of our shadowed past that she could help bring into the light. We had just begun to learn the truth about who we are and what we were meant to do with our power. Esther's chilling words about Nameless Dark had struck a chord inside me, like a rope pulled at the front gate of some mysterious house, a bell tolling deep in the interior. We only needed to open the gate and step inside to find the answers hidden within walls of stone and silence. But Aaron seemed determined to rip that opportunity away from us, to keep us on the outside out of fear of what we might learn.

It was always fear that held us down.

Fear had kept us in the dark. It had held us chained to a fiction that rendered us ineffective in our mission and damaged our view of our family and of the world. Fear was our enemy as much as monsters in the dark, and I refused to live by its rules anymore. Aaron might give in to fear and Samuel to rage, but I would no longer allow myself to be controlled. I would find a way to free my family from that fate.

After the abrupt end of our meeting, Esther had stayed, sitting stoic and angry behind her iconic desk, while Thaddeus showed the rest of us to the cafeteria. Lara, Samuel, and I had eaten in silence, devouring our first real food in thirty-six hours. All of us were numb from the shock of emotional trauma and over-information.

After our meal, Lara wandered off in search of a comfortable place to rest and Thaddeus invited Samuel to a sparring session on the training floor. I'd trailed along behind my brother, cradling my wounded shoulder, lost in my own thoughts.

Watching from the sidelines now, it was clear that Samuel was outmatched. Thaddeus was taking it easy on him, but the discrepancy of skill and experience was painfully obvious. My brother was not at all used to losing in physical confrontations, but despite his gifts, he was just a high school jock and small-town brawler. He'd never taken a swing at anyone who was truly skilled at fighting. Thaddeus moved like he was born for combat, each move quick and confident, with zero wasted motion. At times he barely seemed to move at all, and yet my brother would find himself sprawling on the mat with his arm in a joint lock or Thaddeus's boot on his chest.

I observed their contest for a time, then grew bored and allowed my mind to wander. It was a struggle not to jump when I noticed a presence beside me. I turned to find Esther standing next to me, watching the sparring match with pursed lips and hands at her back. Her dark suit still looked freshly pressed and her shock of silver hair was fierce as the fire in her sharp, green eyes.