Flynae wakes to raised voices on the floor beneath her bedroom.

“What do you mean, you’re keeping both girls?” Senice seethes.

Flynae hugs her twin sister, Sekara, even tighter, her grip reflecting the growing unease in her body.

The girls had fallen asleep in the same bed in their shared bedroom the night before, holding each other until their tears subsided enough for them to drift off. They’re mirror images in every way except that Sekara does not have the royal traits: her hair is jet black, her eyes golden yellow.

“What’s going on?” Sekara whines, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Shh,” Flynae softly responds.

A floor beneath them, Senice argues with his stepbrother Eksar. The girls’ keen ears allow them to hear every word, every intonation as if they were in the room with the adults.

“You heard me,” Eksar’s stony response slows Flynae’s heartbeat, and both girls recoil at the hatred in it.

As soon as she’d been old enough to detect the nuances of emotions in the aroma of others, Flynae had never missed a moment of Eksar’s contempt for Father and Senice. The reason for it always escaped her understanding though.

“I can understand Sekara, but why Flynae?” Senice lowers his voice, possibly to sound more calming and reasonable or in hope that the girls won’t hear. “You care nothing for her.”

Flynae gasps and holds her breath, waiting for the response. She’d always wondered about this. Eksar continually dotes over Sekara, taking her places, buying her things. Never has he shown her the same affection and shrugs off any she tries to show him. The truth now spoken aloud hurts.

“Oh, I care for her.” Eksar’s words hold an undercurrent of maliciousness that sends a cold shiver down Flynae’s spine. Sekara turns to cling to her sister. “I care that she is raised appropriately for her purpose in this life.”

“Her purpose? What is your meaning.” The disquiet in Senice’s voice is unmistakable.

The meaning and impact of Senice’s initial question washes over Flynae with a smothering effect. Keeping both girls. She lost Father yesterday. Is she losing Senice and her brother, Fennec, today?

At least she’ll still have her twin. She hugs Sekara even tighter.

“Eksar?” A slight waiver in her uncle’s question indicates an internal struggle to maintain composure. “What have you done? Tell me you didn’t have a hand in Issiah’s death.”

Even in the absence of a verbal response, a gloating energy drifts through the floorboards. The tension between the two adult males permeates the house.

Suddenly, Flynae’s heart races with fear for Senice. Issiah had taught her that one member of the royal family, the Monarch, would always be the strongest Kaliah in the galaxy. For the last four millennia, her father ruled their people as the Monarch.

The royal responsibility and corresponding potency would not pass from brother to brother as it always goes to the next generation. Senice would never be in charge. Nor could he protect her from Eksar if required.

While stronger than her or Fennec because of his years, Senice’s gifts lie in growing and preparing plants for medicine and compiling wisdom. He doesn’t possess the strength to be a skilled fighter. If Eksar so chose, he could overwhelm and destroy Senice.

The silent tension from below builds to a great pressure. Air bursts in and out of Flynge’s lungs in gasps. Her body tightens, bracing for a blow. A thud reverberates up the side of the house, causing the twins to shriek.

Extricating herself from her sister’s grasp, Flynae leaps from the bed and races down the stairs. Her heart pounding in her ears drowns out everything else. As Kaliah hardly make a noise when they walk or run, Flynae senses rather than hears Sekara follow her.

Senice stands straightening his clothes, but an indentation in the wall behind him betrays an altercation.

The two males glare at each other. Flynae is all too aware that their dominant lifesword hands are tense, ready to reach for their weapons if the other flinches.

“Stop!” she screams, her hands in tight little fists like she’s holding on to the last shreds of sanity. The pleasant world she’s known has twisted into a nightmare like nothing she ever felt possible. Father is supposed to be here, keeping things safe. What other horrors might be possible in this new cruel galaxy where mortals wield such power?

The adults turn to stare at the girls.

Flynae runs to Senice and grips his leg. “I can’t lose you, too.”

Senice kneels and hugs her head to his chest, his heart beats a frantic pace that matches her own, betraying his fear. “Don’t make me leave her,” he implores Eksar.

“The reek of pitifulness from the two of you annoys me. Begone, Senice. You may see her at the funeral in two days.”

Flynae twists to observe Eksar and finds no compassion in his eyes, only a chilling hardness. His aroma smells of something dank and rotting, an emotion for which she has no word yet. For the second time in just as many days, her stomach knots within her with fright.

“Now.” Eksar’s arm points a straight line to the door, his face impassive.

Senice stiffens.

Flynae doesn’t know if he means to comply or to fight, but she determines to preempt any action that might get him hurt.

“Please,” she whispers, “Go. I’ll be fine.” She releases him and steps back, showing him she can be strong. Father always spoke of the strength and pride that flows through their veins as a royal-blooded.

Senice places his hands on the sides of her head. She lowers her chin, and he kisses her forehead.

“I will see you soon.” He sighs with a heavy heart.

The weight of it presses on her small form, crushing her. Instead of bending, she straightens, gathers her courage, and nods. If he senses how fearful she is right now, he’ll never leave. As a royal daughter, she must suppress and hide her weaknesses.

With great reluctance, Senice stands and withdraws from the house. When the door shuts after him, Flynae pulls her eyes from it and steels herself to face Eksar. The ancient male looms over her, his arms crossed, his head cocked. A harsh and triumphant leer widens his lips as he meets her eyes.

Flynae resolves to ever be her father’s daughter and conceal any fear. With her head held high, she makes her way to her bedroom, Sekara close behind.

The twins return to the bed and wrap their arms around each other. Flynae’s body hums with a nervous restlessness. Why does Eksar want her here when he’s never been affectionate or even cordial toward her? She can’t remember him treating her as anything more than an annoyance.

Sekara smells of concern and sorrow but exudes no fear. This makes Flynae wonder if she should be scared. But then she remembers that Senice had been afraid. Confusion adds to the impossible mountain of emotions.

As the day creeps by, Flynae longs for the peace of sleep but remains caught up in inner turmoil.

They’re sitting on Sekara’s bed, arms locked around the other when Eksar suddenly enters with a box. Alarmed by his presence, Flynae jerks. His eyes narrow and burn red with angry disapproval at the sight of them. Without a word, he crosses the room and sets the box on Flynae’s bed. One by one, he yanks open her dresser drawers, scoops up the contents, and tosses them into the box.

At a barely audible level, Flynae asks, “What are you doing?”

Though there’s no way he didn’t hear her, he doesn’t deign to respond. When her dresser is empty, Eksar takes the box and storms out. Flynae and Sekara exchange anxious glances and cling to each other even tighter.

The passing hours wear away at their mourning vigilance. Eventually, the girls lay down and fall into an uneasy slumber. They awake to Eksar calling them down for dinner. The light in the room is dim as the sun nears the horizon. The twins yawn and stretch in unison before rushing to the dining room.

Three plates are set at the table. The trio sit down to a traditional Kaliah dinner of raw meat and uncooked vegetables. What would normally be delicious chokes Flynae like a mouthful of ash.

Dinner passes without a single word. At some point during the meal, Flynae realizes she’s never been around Eksar without another adult present. The thought makes her squirm in her seat.

From across the table, Eksar’s oppressive gaze bores into her, making her wish she could vanish. Even Sekara is unwilling to break the heavy silence. After suffering through a few unappetizing bites, Flynae picks at her food. Grief and trepidation twist her stomach into painful knots. Sekara doesn’t consume much more than her twin.

Eksar’s appetite isn’t affected. He finishes and pushes his chair back. “Go put your plates away.”

Grateful to be released, the girls rush to obey. Side by side, they run to the stairs to retreat to their room.

Eksar blocks Flynae’s path. “Not so fast.”

With a quivering lip, she lifts her eyes to meet his in question. A shiver runs through her.

“Follow me,” he says to Flynae. “Sekara, head upstairs and get ready for bed.”

The girls gape at each other until Eksar starts walking. Seeing no other choice, Flynae shuffles after him. He leads her down into the basement. The normally safe space presses in on her, constricting her chest and lungs in an unyielding grip. Somehow, this part of the house feels less alive than the rest. At the far end of the underground floor, Eksar opens a door and slides to the side.

“In,” he commands, leaving no leeway for question.

Flynae steps forward into a plain room with cement walls containing a bed, dresser, and small closet. Eksar must have been preparing this all afternoon.

“You have ten minutes to be in bed.” Without further words or fanfare, he leaves.

She’s alone.

The basement is cold, but the energy around her is warmer without his presence. From a drawer, she finds some of her night clothes to change into. Flynae pads across the hall to the bathroom to wash her face and bare feet for bed. Before going back, she needs to pee. She lowers her pants and sits down.

And hears someone exhale.

With a cry, Flynae jumps up and pulls her pants back on.

“Who’s there?”

No one responds.

Flynae spins around. The washroom doesn’t offer any places for someone to hide, but she the sense of an adult male human nearby is too much to ignore. “Hello?”

“That can’t be real,” the man answers, his deep voice coming from right next to her, sounding as if he’s speaking to himself rather than to her.

Flynae gasps and hugs herself.

“Probably hallucinations brought on by guilt,” the man continues in the same calm voice. “Stop indulging distractions. Breathe, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four.”

Wide-eyed, Flynae does one more visual sweep of the small space but can’t find anything to explain what she’s hearing. Unable to shake the unnerving sense that someone else is with her, she heads back without emptying her bladder.

She’s barely back in the bedroom when all the lights downstairs go off at once. The sudden blackness overwhelms her, and she clamps her hands over her mouth to stifle a scream.

Kaliah’s night vision is the same as a cat’s; they can’t see anything if there’s no light. The complete darkness terrifies her.

Flynae launches herself on the bed. She draws her legs to her chest and pulls the covers to her chin. Her body trembles with a terror worse than any cold.

Don’t cry; don’t cry. The more she repeats it the less she’s able to restrain herself. Hot tears roll down her cheeks as she sobs.

“What the fuck?” the male voice says loudly and clearly.

She has a sense of someone nearby sitting up.

The speech startles Flynae. Her crying abruptly halts as she tries to listen for the origin. Swiveling her head side to side in the darkness, she’s unable to find the source. Nothing else is in the room with her unless it has no need to breathe or no life energy of its own.

And she had heard him breathe.

Flynae extends her hearing out beyond the confines of the small space. She discerns a nearby neighbor taking a shower and the many beating hearts of an earthworm on the other side of the concrete wall. But nothing she can sense indicates where the voice came from.

Did I imagine it? she wonders.

For the next hour, she’s on high alert, listening. Gradually, fatigue takes over and she falls into a restless sleep.

***

Feeling like an intruder in the only home she’s ever known, Flynae tiptoes upstairs the following morning. At the top, she detects Eksar’s presence to the left in the direction of Issiah’s study. To her right, she feels Sekara in the kitchen.

Barely willing to breathe, Flynae slinks toward her twin.

Sekara’s face lights up upon seeing her sister. Heart in her throat, Flynae brings a finger to her lips. Sekara nods as her eyes dart behind her twin and back.

“Where have you been?” Sekara whispers, throwing her arms around Flynae.

“He made me sleep in the basement.” Remembering how she’d been without any light all night makes her shiver.

“Was it awful?”

Unable to find words, Flynae nods.

Sekara grips her tighter. “It was awful for me, too. I was so lonely without you.”

Flynae takes a shuddering breath. “We’re together now.” She glances behind her toward the menacing being in the study. “How about we go outside?”

“Good idea.” The raven-haired girl picks up a bowl of fruit from the table. “We can take this. Uncle Eksar cut these this morning. I think he already ate.”

With a great longing, Flynae gazes upward. “I want my book, but I’m afraid of making him angry if he catches me upstairs.”

“I’ll do it. Here,” Sekara passes the fruit to her sister, “meet me out back in the tree house.”

“Be careful.” Flynae watches her sister trot off before sneaking out the back door. Once it’s closed between her and Eksar, she rushes for the safety of the playhouse.

The Let family might be one of the wealthiest on the planet, but no one would know that by looking at them or their home. Their house sits at the end of a cul-de-sac in an upper middle-class neighborhood. The only thing that makes them stand out from those around them is the expanse of bare land and forest behind the dwelling.

The twin’s tree house is located within the treeline several hundred feet from the house. Flynae dashes out to it now. She sets the fruit on a small platform attached to a pulley system. After climbing up and inside, she pulls the bowl up. She catches her breath and keeps watch for Sekara.

To her relief, no one follows her.

Sometimes the neighborhood children would come over and want to play with the twins. Father instructed them to be polite to humans but limit their time with them. Most of all, it was forbidden to become emotionally attached to one.

For complicated reasons that he would explain as they got older, the girls were taught that Kaliah should know how to co-exist with humans while never actually being a part of their society. They needed to be able to blend in, hence the reason Issiah was raising them among humans.

Flynae knew Uncle Senice disagreed with Father on some things concerning humans. When she asked him about it, Senice told her they would respect Issiah’s judgments until she was old enough to make her own decisions.

Her curiosity about humans often returns, as it does now, when she gazes out at all the nearby houses containing the mysterious and off-limits beings.

A flash of movement draws her attention to her backyard. Sekara races out to her carrying a tote bag clutched to her chest.

Flynae lowers the platform and hauls up the overflowing bag of books while Sekara climbs.

“I didn’t know which ones you wanted, so I brought as many as I could carry.” Sekara closes the hatch behind her and plops down.

“You are amazing.” Flynae hugs her sister before seeing what’s in the tote.

The girls each choose a book, lying side by side close enough that their elbows often bump, and quietly read.

Flynae finds her attention split between the story before her and the energy radiating from the house. Anger and frustration permeate the local area. The words on the page often blur as fear responses from the last forty-eight hours return with real-time intensity.

During one of these relivings, Sekara touches her arm. “Hey, you okay?”

Flynae jumps and gasps for air to calm her racing heart. ”Yeah. Just. forgot where I was for a moment.”

The strained, somber expression on Sekara’s face reveals that she’s struggling too. Preferring distraction over conversation, Flynae turns back to the words on the page before her. Getting lost in the book’s fantasy world proves more difficult than ever before. The characters celebrate a small victory while her heart is crushed and broken.

How will she ever be happy again?

“Girls! Dinner!”

Though Eksar’s voice comes from the other side of the yard, Flynae clamps a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream. His unpredictable actions are made even more unnerving by Senice’s accusation of involvement in Father’s death. What other familiar things are potentially unsafe? Why did Father leave her when she needs him more than ever?

Sekara closes her book with the same reluctance and aura of trepidation as her twin. “We don’t want to make him angry. We should hurry.”

Flynae nods and follows her sister out of the tree. A heaviness in her limbs makes every step back to the house a struggle. The girls wash their hands and sit down at the table.

Without looking up, Flynae feels Eksar’s eyes boring holes in her. Her stomach drops and she wishes the floor would open and swallow her. The dreary solitude of the basement would be preferred over this.

Not wanting him to know how much he’s disturbing her, Flynae painfully tries not to fidget in her seat. Creepy little prickles like the legs of thousands of insects crawl across her skin.

She takes a bite of food. It’s as tasteless as it had been the day before. Each swallow is like a dense rock sliding down her throat to land with a heavy thud in her stomach.

Eksar consumes his meal with a methodical rhythm. Every thirty seconds, he cuts another bite and chews it thoroughly. During that time, his menacing gaze hardly looks at anything but her. In contrast to his calm, almost stoney demeanor, his rage and disgust build.

I don’t want to be here. Just let me go to my room. Flynae holds back the words she doesn’t dare speak and wipes her sweaty palms on her skirt.

After a painful half hour, Eksar is finally done eating. He pushes back from the table and stands. A wave of animosity sucks all the air from the room.

Sekara gasps.

Unable to look, Flynae lowers her head. Her shoulders lift. Something awful is coming that she’s helpless to stop.

Eksar crosses the room in four long strides and grabs Flynae by her hair. Instinctually her hands fly up to hold onto his arms and take some pressure off the searing agony in her scalp. He drags her from the room.

The sharp pain in her head holds most of her attention. Her hip and legs bang down first one step and then another. A small cry escapes her lips. The dull pain in her lower half becomes a burning sensation as he drags her across the cold cement basement floor.

Finally, he comes to a halt in the middle of her room and releases her. With one hand, she applies pressure to her head. The other hugs her knees to her chest. As fear and pain envelop her, Flynae fights back the sobs not wanting to give him the satisfaction. Still, little hitching noises escape her.

And once more, she’s alone.

Except she’s not alone.

Flynae is aware of another presence sensing her. As she focuses on this new being, her breath catches in her throat. The pain and discomfort in her body lessen with the distraction. This sensation of noticing someone noticing her is novel, but she relaxes as the foreign presence doesn’t seem hostile.

Keeping her breaths smooth and quiet, Flynae endeavors to listen for any indication of what or where this new entity is. No one is in the room with her yet something is as aware of her as she is of it. Goosebumps cover her arms and legs.

Is it a ghost? she wonders. No.

Strangely, she can feel the blood running through the being’s veins as if she were outside herself in someone else’s body. It’s heartbeat thumps in her head. Though no one is visible nearby, she hears a breath deeply inhaled and then exhaled loud and clear.

Are you okay? The voice isn’t audible, but she can hear it as clearly as if it were standing next to her. Or rather, as if it were standing in her.

The overhead lights go off.

Flynae whimpers and closes her eyes, preferring the darkness she controls over the one she can’t. She crawls in the direction of the bed and climbs on it. Fumbling about blindly, she fights with the covers until she can pull them over her head, using them as a shield against the dark void.

The loss of one of her senses increases her feeling of vulnerability. Sweat breaks out over her body. Her heart hammers a beat similar to a drum. The other presence is almost forgotten in the overwhelming blackness

I don’t like this.

Just breathe, the voice says soothingly. Deep even breaths. Let the air out slowly. He models one for her before continuing. The dark itself can’t hurt you. Take a moment to listen. Do you hear anything?

The male voice is the same one from the night before. The calmness and gentle compassion in it surprises and soothes her. Though it belongs to a stranger, she finds herself enjoying the rich, deep, controlled sound.

Her mind conjures a figure to go with it; someone tall with dark hair and a solid build. While the form is vague in her mind, she still gets enough of a sense of it to know he is too tall and muscular to be a Kaliah. Even the strongest of Kaliah are deceivingly slender; no one who didn’t know what they were would ever guess their strength by looking at them.

Now that her body is calmer and quieter, Flynae reaches out through her elf-like ears to listen. There’s little to hear though.

What do you feel in the energy around you? he asks.

Flynae knows enough about humans to know it is unusual for one to be asking her about energy. Issiah taught her that all Kaliah and only a handful of humans are sensitive to the energy around them. Not only can they use it as a sixth sense, but they can also manipulate it in certain ways as well. Senice and Issiah have trained her in energy control since she was old enough to learn to walk. She taps into this sense now to see what life forms might be around her.

There is nothing. She’s alone.

In all the basement, she can find no other living energy except for some too small to be anything except insects. When she tries to connect to Sekara in the house two floors above her, she finds her energy can’t extend further than the basement ceiling, which is strange. Never has she encountered such a limit before.

There is nothing nearby, she replies.

Then there’s nothing near to hurt you.

These words comfort her. Flynae relaxes back into her bed and sets her head on her pillow.

Who are you?

He inhales and catches his breath on the exhale as if changing his mind. Then he sighs and contemplates another answer to her question. Why don’t you call me Kovad?

Kovad. Even his name is beautiful and reassuring to her. It sounds like a name a kind person would have. Kovad. Why are you in my head, Kovad?

For a moment, she wonders if the darkness has driven her insane as she now talks to a voice in her head. But his essence is tangible, convincing her that he is real.

I don’t know. I’ve been wondering the same thing myself. A vision too brief for her to translate flashes across his mind as if he just had a thought and pushed it away. It holds a painful quality, something he doesn’t want her to see. His thoughts return to his breathing.

Well. I don’t mind. I like you. Flynae appreciates the pleasant company in the stifling aloneness of the basement.

After another focused breath he thinks, I don’t deserve that.

Flynae realizes the thought wasn’t directed as a response to her. A heavy melancholy simmers beneath it.

Are you sad?

No, I’m not sad. He refocuses on controlling his breathing. Just. Disappointed. Two more thoughts that aren’t directed at her come to his mind. Angry, betrayed. He lets out his breath and clears his mind again.

His deep breathing prompts her to take a few of her own, relaxing her further. She yawns and realizes she’s exhausted. Every minute since her father’s death has been difficult.

Why don’t you go to sleep now? His suggestion comes more from a place of kindness than of annoyance.

What is the breathing thing you are doing?

Meditating.

May I meditate with you? Until I fall asleep?

Sure.