The City of Locked Doors by Keegan & Tristen Kozinski

Author:Keegan & Tristen Kozinski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CROOKED HOUSE PUBLISHING
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

~ Black ground surrounded him and everything, the fallen leaves, the bracken, the trees, even the stones shone with a metallic sheen. Only the thin rays of sunlight poking through the trees brought any color to his stygian environs.

A footstep scraped on the ground, drawing his gaze about as Alighieri stepped into view. “Wow… Did you do this?”

Noir just looked at him, knowing he didn’t have to answer for Alighieri to recognize the truth.

“I love what you’ve done with the place, it’s very … uniform.”

Noir slumped forward, bending his lanky frame over the steel butterfly and crushing it against his chest as if that would stifle this curse.

Alighieri sat beside him. “Hey now, don’t be like that.” He bumped Noir’s shoulder with his own. “We’ve been through this before.”

“You should leave. Pretend this never happened; we can’t let Mother and Father think you’re a part of this. They’ll realize you’re a witch too.”

Alighieri shifted so they leaned back against one another, his strange, bleached hair mingling with Noir’s own brown locks. “We won’t tell them, then. We’ll keep this a secret, like we keep mine, until we can prove ourselves worthy of life.”

“How? This isn’t like yours, this affects everything!” The shadows around them throbbed at his voice. “I can’t hide it! I can’t control it. If they find out–”

“You can learn to control it, just like I did.” Alighieri reached around Noir and gently touched the butterfly. He exhaled, his breath a cold breeze on Noir’s ear, and the butterfly pulsed. White flowed out from his fingertips, bleaching first the butterfly then Noir’s leggings, the ground, the leaves, the bracken, the trees, and the stones. Everything in front of Noir turned an exquisite white as the dead animals trembled back to life. Alighieri inhaled a warm breath, full of life, and leaned back against Noir. They sat there for a while, Noir staring at the white forest while Alighieri observed the black.

Noir let his head drop back, resting it against Alighieri’s. “I can’t let you do that. It’s too dangerous–”

“Enough, we will get through this. We always do.” ~

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