OBSCURA
city in shades
ys bleeding smoke into a sky split by lightning. Beneath it all, hidden among a crooked row of butch
lled it the H
ed, its gates chained with rusted iron etched in runes. Children threw rocks at its windows. Drunks crossed the street to avoid its st
relith need
could see the sealed door, the iron-knuckled knocker shaped like a rook's skull. But her eyes were on the third-floor wi
Elias's crypt pulsed
mo
and with a twist of her gloved fingers, the la
museum of dus
drifted like snow. A child's doll sat propped on a rocking chair, its eyes replace
ting o
er face. Vireli
d ash eyes, lips parted
oss
e room and tou
still
creaked b
what stood in the doorway
her hair and blood on her cheeks. Her eyes were stitched shut with silve
t be here," t
and broken, the other deep and ras
ower her blades.
tched eyes cri
is
ho gave yo
attled. The mirrors inside the do
for it," Virel
s," the gir
the room
en froze into place. The floor cracked. Shadows poured upward. The gi
e sobbed. "The Ho
from the easel. Beneath the canvas, wri
dri
He lives in every
ewhere deeper in the hous
rl was
e the
and sprinted t
on infinitely, a tunnel of black feathers and mirrors. Each mirror showed a different v
ometimes stone, sometimes bone,
ng chas
itte
aw
ath came fast and hard. The room was circular, walls covered i
her
mask. The statu
re raised, holdi
e was d
tched with gold fil
d with sil
her hand touched the mask, a th
Take it.
per louder t
. He wants th
he door exp
of stitched shadows, its face an amalgam of a hund
e white mask and pr
gh
a
ori
voice. A fire. Screams. The m
th
od in s
e. The house was gon
dar
ght. A room. Circula
e centre,
upi
n in re
-blank p
ck, Virelit
an," she
long time. You brought
nsed.
to you. The first fa
de. "I'm not pla
inch. "You a
ors bega
choices. Different sins. One killed. One s
"Every mask is a life
choose
ite mask into th
ered. Light con
she
ouse of Rooks. Alone. The r
is gone. The
ed obsidian mi
ed on it i
irst truth. Now co
ro
ed into