Here's the next installment of our Metallum Nocturne story. If you need to catch up on any of the previous episodes, click here.
Episode Fifty-Two
The fallout from the trial and the subsequent articles in the Invictus Times left Annette Block's mayoral campaign scrambling. She went from briefly flirting with being the front-runner to having to defend her parenting when news of Mara's first year in the Halls were revealed which included half-naked pictures at parties, and text messages with Mark that suggested she'd gotten the drugs from her parents' stash. Claire thought the whole affair was gross, but given how Annette was trying to manipulate her for the benefit of her campaign, she decided it was a proper comeuppance when her poll numbers were cut in half, leaving her outside of the upcoming primary.
The mood in Metallum Nocturne had changed considerably. Mark was nowhere to be seen while rumors of him leaving in the middle of the night after a meeting with Patron Canterbury had spread like wildfire. Whenever she was out in the halls, her fellow students were congratulatory about the trial. Some apologized for believing the news, while others conveniently explained they'd suspected Mark all along.
Claire didn't feel as excited as everyone expected her to be, but they didn't know she was in the same boat as Mark. She'd thought about swinging by the Patron's office to see if she was still kicked out of the Hall after the trial, but since the outcome had nothing to do with her decision to continue the night metal project despite his refusal, she assumed the decision still stood.
She spent her time confirming the final steps of the night metal ring, which she was planning on finishing after the rest of the Hall was gone for the summer. Preparing the bath of metal for the pour was the hardest part, given that each individual reagent had to be added separately, in order, and under specific conditions. The temperatures, or enchantments, weren't the same for each, which meant she'd be performing some tricky mid-melt modifications. The process would be like performing a one-person symphony. Claire spent her time practicing the spells and working through the steps in her mind until she had them down perfectly.
In the rare times she wasn't buried in her work, she traded messages with Elle, who was equally busy. The series of articles about Claire and then Mara and Mark had given her lead reporter status at the Invictus Times. Both the Herald of the Halls and a top national paper had offered her jobs, but Elle had declined given the freedom that her current employer was giving her.
Claire was at her desk, memorizing the phase change stabilizing spell when she grew warm suddenly. Heat rose up from inside. Sweat broke across her body, leaving her drenched. She chugged a bottle of water, hoping to quench the heat, but it did little. Claire grabbed her shower kit and hurried to the bathrooms, ignoring well-wishers along the way. She threw herself through a set of curtains, stripping down and turning the dials to cold until her temperature equalized. She leaned against the tile wall with both hands, letting the chilly water cascade across her back and down her thighs.
The sensation of hot and cold left her delirious. Claire swayed on her feet until she opened her eyes to find herself back in Umbra in the middle of Nocturna's chambers. The sound of water hitting the tile echoed in her ears, so she decided she wasn't really in realm of shadows, but a mental projection.
Nocturna hovered above her, suspended on ribbons of shadow in a cathedral dedicated to the Night Mother. Her glistening black body was faintly woman shaped. A tendril undulated forward until it hung before her forehead like a trained viper waiting for the command to strike.
"YOU DEFIED ME!"
The thunderous voice rattled Claire's head. She fought through the voluminous sound.
"I gave you what you wanted. To taste flesh."
"You wanted the woman."
"Despise her? Yes, but not enough to kill. That's not how it works in our realm. I can't just kill people if I want."
"Claire tasted flesh!"
Images of the men dying to her knife appeared in her mind.
"Yeah, I know, but that was different. I was defending myself. They would have killed me otherwise. You can't just kill people without consequence."
"Consequence," said the Night Mother as if she were tasting the word.
"You want to experience our world through me, I see that now, but you can't do it on your terms."
Nocturna's shadowy web bulged forward until she was in Claire's face.
"You defy?"
"I survive." She turned her head to see Adolphus lurking in the corner. "Look, you can drag me back here and turn me into him, but you won't get to see our world. That's why you sent your night metal through to our realm. You wanted this to happen, to infect us, to drag us back and turn us into your puppets. But I'm not dancing to your strings. If I'm stuck with you, you'll have to play by my rules, or you'll have to spend another half century trying to find someone to do your bidding."
"Rules?" asked Nocturna, turning her head oddly.
"Yes, rules. Things you can or cannot do, or face the consequences. Like I got to taste flesh of those bad men because I was defending myself, but I couldn't kill Annette without going to jail."
Nocturna shifted backwards, returning to the center of her shadow web.
"I want to taste flesh."
"I can't just kill people for you. That's not how it works."
"I WANT TO TASTE FLESH!"
Claire huddled against the hurricane volumes until the Night Mother had stilled.
"You are me," said Nocturna. "You taste flesh for me. Not Annette, but other flesh. Bad flesh. I taste."
She started to refuse until she understood what the Night Mother was suggesting.
"You want me to kill bad people? You taste flesh that way?"
Nocturna extended a long finger. "Or you return like Adolphus. Taste flesh for the Night Mother. Live long. I protect you."
"But I—"
Before the words left her lips, Claire found herself back in the shower, no longer burning up, but freezing under the cold spray. She quickly adjusted the dials, shivering under the onslaught until the temperature had modulated. Claire leaned against the tile as she contemplated the Night Mother's demand. Unless she wanted to get dragged back to Umbra, it seemed there was no escaping the demands.
“I gave you want you wanted. To taste flesh.”
This sentence should read:
“I gave you what you wanted. To taste flesh.”
Thank you! All fixed 🙂