I didn't go home that night. 

My mind was racing, going through the evening's discoveries over and over again. Eishen clearly did not recognize the runes and magic circles they found in the factory; they would surely go to their mother to ask if she knew more. 

Though, they would likely wait until the morning. Eishen had never looked at me the way they had after they had healed my arm. They had always been nervous, that wasn't it. I had seen them when they were afraid they had gone too far, or that someone they loved got hurt. 

But it wasn't often that I had seen them afraid of something infront of them. 

Afraid of me. 

I gave them some time to walk away from me, waiting until I could no longer hear their footsteps echo through the canals and over the bridges. Another minute, two, three. I sighed then, slipped the mask back over my eyes and stood, brushing the dirt off of my coat. 

The knife still had blood on it. I had spoken the truth - I had no idea if I had killed the man who had shot Eishen. 

Eishen... they had looked at me like I was someone they did not recognize. Had I truly crossed a line? My task was to protect them. My friend, my sibling, one of the most powerful shadehands of Leylen. That man had shot them. 

Was vengeance not the natural sequel to hurt? 

Had I gone too far? Had I, too, hurt Eishen, in a way that could not be healed by magic? 

The thoughts swirled in my mind, over and over again, as I walked back to the factory, the tails of my coat whipping in the wind. It did not take long for me to reach the window we had escaped through. The inside of the building was far darker than I had realized without Eishen's light; it was difficult to see if the man who attacked us was still on the floor. 

In the distance, the clock struck two in the morning. The factory whirred, clicked, and made a horrible amount of noise before lights flickered on, making me squint in surprise. The lights were far overhead in the factory, and were far larger than I ever could have imagined. I looked into the streets; one by one, streets lit up, cutting through the night. 

Another test? Probably. 

I peered into the factory. The man laid on the floor, unmoving. 

A part of me understood what I had done; he was simply trying to protect a secret, after all. But I could not stand by as he tried to kill us. As he tried to kill Eishen. 

I stepped back into the factory, and quickly made my way back to the central room we had found, simply stepping over the man. For good measure, I checked his pulse, only to confirm what I had suspected. I sighed and opened the door to the central room. 

A copy of the Shadow Opus was on a small table in the corner. A quick flip through it confirmed what I had suspected - it was full of notes, traditional passages crossed out and replaced with notes I did not recognize. I slipped it under my coat, and deftly made my way back out of the factory and through the streets of Leylen. Once the factory was out of view and I was certain that nobody was following me, I slowed down, turning to make my way through streets I knew like the back of my hand. 

I did not quite expect to find myself on the road to the apartment Lucien and Elizabeth shared. Knowing Lucien, he'd still be awake at this hour, charting the stars, planets and whatever means of other things that could be seen in the night sky. He, too, was a shadehand. Was I ready to tell him about what we had found in the factory? Or to tell Elizabeth that her cousin had gotten shot? 

No, not quite yet. Still, I needed a shadehand's opinon on the notes in the Opus. 

I was careful not to stay quiet enough as I climbed the ladder to their rooftop, all while making enough noise to not startle Lucien. As I had suspected, he was on his rooftop, a small telescope set up and pointed to the sky next to where he sat, taking notes using a few floating lights he had likely summoned. He had always looked effortlessly charming when working on his passions. 

Lucien was chosen to be the one apprentice of a renowned astronomer. As he was aging, the old man taught Lucien everything he knew, and, even away from his apprenticeship, Lucien spent most evenings studying what his mentor had explained that week. Elizabeth, Eishen and I had spent many evenings on the rooftop with Lucien as he worked; it had become a place we escaped from the woes of the city. 

"Fancy seeing you here," Lucien muttered as I reached the top of the ladder. "Eishen stayed home? Are they okay?" 

"They're fine. Do the lights not get in the way of seeing the stars?" 

Lucien sighed and rubbed his face. "A little, yeah. Makes the stars seem more dim. Since they tested them when we were having drinks, they turn on every night at two. It's been making me go to sleep earlier, not that Elizabeth minds that detail." 

I chuckled - the pair had been in love for as long as they could remember, in a way that resembled the closest of friendships. They let each other delve into their passions, encouraged them through it, even if it did not entirely fit each other's lifestyle. "I'm sure of it. I suppose she is still with the shadehands and the covened, figuring out the issues with the lights?" 

"Yeah, it's just me tonight. Though I was going to get to sleep soon." Lucien closed his notebook, took a sip of mead and finally looked at me, his piercing blue eyes studying me. "Why are you here? Is that blood on your shirt?" 

"I found something, and I would like your opinion before showing it to Eishen and their mother." I pulled the Opus from my coat and handed it to Lucien. 

"The Opus?" 

"Look inside." 

Lucien seemed unsure about what I was talking about, but opened the tome anyway, brow immediately furrowing as he looked at the pages. 

"These notes are nonsense." 

"That's what I thought, but I cannot really read your runes so I wasn't entirely sure. I found this amongst other books, and wanted to show Eishen, but I didn't want to worry their mother with everything happening," I lied. 

"Hmm," Lucien drew a light closer to the pages. "There seems to be patterns in the runes, at least. Maybe a secret script? Elizabeth is better at this than I am, she loves puzzles and piecing things together. I could keep this and show her later?" 

A part of me, deep, twisting, wanted to refuse. I wanted to keep an eye on the book, to be there if and when someone figured it out. 

"Okay. If you promise to tell me about the findings first. The Kerrs are stressed enough with the lights as is." 

"You think this has to do with the lights?" 

I shrugged. "Maybe. Or, maybe I just think that the timing of finding this while they are testing these lights to be quite the coincidence." 

Lucien looked at my sleeve. "And the blood?" 

"Nothing but an argument in a bar and broken glass, I'm alright." 

"You get too caught up in things that scare you, Theo. Are you going to be okay with this? If something happens to Eishen?" 

Lucien could read anybody like an open book. Still, I kept my grin easy and my stance calm. 

"Nothing will happen to them. I'll see you soon, have a good night."