Vereluna has many walls.

Some walls can be seen, some unseen.

What becomes of a city, when its walls show cracks?

Maya slammed through the front door. The mid-morning sun pressed against her shoulders. A nest of nerves and sweat, breath sharp, cutting like glass in her throat.

Her satchel tumbled to the floor, ritual supplies spilling out. She didn’t even stop to collect them. As quickly as she had come, she was gone.

MJ rushed after her, calling out from the doorstep. Her voice boomed, half-joking, half-genuinely freaked out:

“Hey, Maya! What’s the hurry? Is there a fire?”

Maya froze halfway to the road. Her shoulders hunched, sweat trickling down her temples. 

“What? No. No fires,” she finally managed, wrangling her breath under control. “Just came from the south ward. Just have lots of stuff to do.”

MJ stationed herself in Maya’s path, arms crossed, side-eye sharp and unflinching.

“Stuff to do huh? Must be really important. You’ve been darting around like a squirrel for a couple of days now. Ever since I saw you with what’s her name.”

“Ariel,” Maya said, too fast.

MJ nodded, side-eye sharp as a knife. “Late for a date or something? And are you wearing perfume?”

“WHAT?!” The heat from Maya’s face flared, hot just like her voice. 

“First of all, you KNOW I don’t date or do anything like that. And second, perfume? Really?”

Her thumb traced the outlines of her bracelet, nerves curling tight.

Do I seriously smell like I’m wearing perfume? No way, I don’t even wear that stuff. And the nerve of her to think I’m dating someone. Me! MJ, you know me better than that. This conversation needs to end already.

“Hey, I’m not the one smelling like I rolled around in a patch of wildflowers.” MJ shot back, her side-eye gaze cutting deeper.

“Look, I’m just saying, if you’re breaking the mold for this person—”

“I’m not!”

Maya clenched her jaw, biting down on her cheeks.

“My point is, whatever is going on, if I’m noticing you acting strange, the clan will too. Please tell me nothing is going on that’ll get you in trouble.” MJ’s leg shook from her foot tapping. Sharp huffs escaped her lips.

“MJ, listen to me,” Maya muttered, placing her hands on MJ’s shoulders. “I’m not the type to have romantic anything with anyone. Ariel is just a friend. There’s nothing going on between us, and there’s nothing to worry about that’ll get me in trouble. Okay?”

“I’m finding it so hard to believe you.” MJ sighed deeply. “You know I had to give you shit for all this grief you’re causing me.”

“Please don’t.” Maya replied, one hand cradling her forehead. “I’ve had my fill of headaches for two lifetimes since those Chaneques in the forest. I don’t need one from you.”

“Fine. Promise me then that you’ll tell me if and when there is something.” MJ jeered. Her voice rang sarcastic but concerned.

Maya locked eyes with MJ, leaning closer. “MJ, you’re the only person I ever tell anything to.”

“Must I demand a blood oath?”

“No. You absolutely don’t need to demand that. I promise.” Maya said calmly before releasing her grip of MJ’s shoulders.

MJ stood by the edge of the road, arms folded, frowning at the trail Maya just blazed. Wildflowers, worry, and something she couldn’t name lingered in the air. 

She hesitated for a moment, tipped her hat, then followed after Maya; soft-footed, stubborn, unwilling to let her out of her sight.

***

Ariel collapsed into her seat, exhaustion crowding out every thought. Meetings with museum management never changed. The same empty promises, same thinly veiled threats, same impatient fingers itching for profits. 

If they spent half as much energy working as they did talking…

Her desk had become fortress-like, walls of dusty books had grown these past few days. The forest encounter; almost a week old, but still a sharp memory. No progress. Unsolved. Just layers of speculation. 

And now…another puzzle.

Ariel flipped to a fresh page in her notebook, jotting notes:

Tall, copper-toned Nahua woman: always nearby, impossible to ignore. Strength obvious, awkwardness equally so. A presence that disrupts the usual rhythm of things; sometimes clumsy, often unpredictable in her actions, and yet…not unwelcome.

Ariel paused over the line. Unwelcome? Or not unwelcome? She couldn’t decide if Maya’s orbit was comforting or just becoming familiar. She pined over the thought instead of scribbling it down.

The library doors groaned open. These past few afternoons, that sound meant only one thing. Maya.

Ariel twitched from the sudden noise. Maya cut across the aisle, seeming more restless than usual.

“Hey,” Maya muttered. “Sorry. Just needed somewhere that wasn’t…full.”

Ariel gave a quick nod, shutting her notebook. She waited for Maya to settle, but Maya paced back and forth, shifting her weight, fidgeting with her bracelet.

After a moment, Maya hovered over Ariel’s desk, noticeably calmer, but still restless. Her words finally came out—soft and shaky.

“Weird question...do I…umm…smell like wildflowers to you?”

Ariel blinked, caught off guard. For a moment she wondered if Maya was joking. But Maya wasn’t smiling, her eyes seemed wary and anxious.

“Wildflowers?”

Maya nodded, not meeting her eyes.

Ariel leaned in, just enough to take Maya seriously. She inhaled deliberately, careful not to overdo it.

“No. Sweat. Old dusty books.” She paused, thoughtful, exaggerating another sniff. “Maybe a trace of resin? Candle wax, perhaps. Not wildflowers.”

Her eyes flicked back up, searching Maya’s face for clues. Maya didn’t smile, but her shoulders dropped slightly, a glimmer of relief shone in her eyes.

“What made you think you smelled like wildflowers?” Ariel asked.

Maya shook her head, thumbs firmly on her bracelet. “Nothing. Just something MJ said. She’s probably imagining things or just teasing me.”

“Your cousin?” Ariel shook her own head, puzzled and a little amused. “You two have a funny way of communicating.”

Perhaps it’s a frequency the two of them share. Something Ariel couldn’t hear. Perhaps a wavelength forged from shared history. Ariel’s voice softened as she returned to her notepad.

“If I begin to smell wildflowers, I’ll let you know. You’ll be the first to hear.”

Maya gave a faint smile that didn’t quite hide her anxiety, nor how tightly she gripped her bracelet. Ariel made a mental note: Odd questions but expects honest answers. Worth watching. Observe, never assume.

The afternoon ticked away unnoticed; amber sunlight drifted through the library’s windows. 

Specks of dust swirled in the hush. At some point, the street’s noise changed, a softer rhythm. Like the city itself held its breath.

It was Maya who broke the silence, standing in the doorway, face still unreadable.

“Up for a walk?” she asked.

The late afternoon changed everything. The sky was a burnt orange, the trees cast long shadows across Vereluna’s streets. Maya’s footsteps crunched softly beside Ariel as they made their way toward the edge of town.

For a while, they walked in silence, comfortable for a minute, then less so. Finally, Maya spoke.

“So…you never really said what brought you here. To Vereluna.” Her tone was careful, awkward but curious.

Ariel paused, measuring her answers, mindful of not giving a full lecture. “I got tired of places with certain expectations, places that didn’t fit. I don’t live for anyone’s expectations but mine. Maybe I was never going to fit those places anyway.”

She watched Maya’s reaction, wary of offering too much.

“Big city?” Maya asked.

“Big enough.” Ariel forced an awkward smile. “You?”

Maya’s answer was slower, more somber. “Always been here. Same with my family, as far back as our stories can remember. I don’t know much else other than here.” Her eyes stayed glued to the horizon.

Silence settled again, except this time Ariel felt the weight behind it. The tension in Maya’s jaw was palpable.

“What’s your favorite part about Vereluna, then? If you had to pick.”

A faint laugh escaped Maya’s lips, her awkwardness melting.

“That I can’t tell you. It’s a secret. But…my second favorite…there’s a moment, just before sundown, when the lake is still. Everything’s quiet. No voices, no eyes. Like there’s nothing else but the now.”

Ariel made a mental note of her answer; she’d have to visit that spot someday.

They found themselves at the southern end of the town, near a large cacti patch. Sunset was close. The horizon turned purple at the edges. A rush of heat and cold swept through the air. Ariel suddenly shivered.

“You okay?” Maya asked, noticing her pause.

“Yeah. Just…cold, I think.”

The world seemed to tilt. The temperature dropped harder. Ariel’s vision blurred. She caught odd movement, like the ground itself shifted.

Then she saw them.

Two shapes bled their way into town. Their large, crocodile-sized, iguana-shaped bodies, armored in obsidian scales. Tongues of fire darted from wide, hungry mouths.

The air around Ariel fizzed, her skin crawled, as if melting off her bones.

“Maya…” Ariel’s voice thinned.

She reached for Maya’s arm and nearly collapsed. Every muscle ached, the very heat from her blood felt stolen away.

Her vision blurred furiously as her strength waned. She was dizzy, barely upright, her limbs going limp.

Maya tensed, her entire posture shifting. Defensive. Territorial. Predatory.

“Cuetzpalin,” she hissed, voice so low Ariel barely heard it.

Another figure stormed from the shadows. Footsteps pounded so hard the ground shook. The figure shoved its way between Maya and the monsters.

“MJ! What are you doing here?” Maya boomed.

“Do we really have time for this?!” MJ snapped back. “Cuetzpalin are inside—"

Their voices tangled, but the images blurred. Ariel tried to move, but her muscles didn’t respond. Her consciousness flickered like a dying lamp. She suddenly felt weightless. The sensation of arms, Maya’s, strong and desperate, scooping her up.

“Go! Just go!”

She heard MJ bark before the world dissolved…

To silver, violet…

To perfect dark.