Aria had two goals: get home before it rained and get there without meeting other arcanes, except for Pan. Aria wouldn’t mind seeing Pan. Pan never had an awful thing to say about her.

Aria kept her head down. She moved fast. She trotted across the only main road in her village and found the safety of a deserted forest path.

Aria slowed her pace. She was finally safe. Aria glanced behind her to see the street. People continued along the sidewalk, none of them arcanes, and none of them looked in her direction. Yes, Aria made it.

The forest path lay under a thick canopy of leaves, probably enough to act as an umbrella should she need it. The path would take her all the way to the quiet cul-de-sac that she lived on. It would spit her out behind her neighbors’ house, and then, she would have a short walk on a grassy path to her parents’ house. She might get a little wet then – if it rained. Aria felt it might hold out.

Birds chirped above, and Aria wished the stroll would last. White auras filled her view, adding a soft glow to the dark woods in the shape of leaves and trunks. Once in a while, a solitary shot of yellow or blue moved between trees. The colors belonged to birds and showed simple feelings – happy, well fed, searching for food, searching for a mate.

Aria smiled as one male bird found a female. He began to sing, and as he did, his colors turned from blue to yellow. He probably didn’t know if his song would do the trick, but Aria could see that it would. The female’s colors went from a somewhat hungry orange to an interested, albeit still hungry, yellow.

Aria was so preoccupied with the sky that she was surprised to see people on the path ahead of her. Their auras stood out in the shadowed forest.

“Hey, Aria!” Uda called.

The other girls with Uda waved and shouted greetings.

Aria almost turned around, but she had to get home. She couldn’t go back.

As Aria drew close, she read the auras: red, orange, and a touch of lavender. They were in a spiteful mood, and they had plans for her.

“Oh, my Mother Tree. Aria, where’s your umbrella?” Uda pointed to the not visible sky. “It’s going to rain. You’re going to get so wet.” Uda and all her friends held umbrellas. In fact, Uda had two. “I’d let you borrow this one, but it’s for a friend who’s going to meet us here.”

Aria just nodded and tried to walk around them.

The other girls put their hands on her shoulders and held her back.

“Aria, didn’t you hear me? You can’t keep going like this. It’s going to rain all over your beautiful hair.” Uda held up one of Aria’s black curls. She let it drop from her hand with a certain disdain. “No, you’ve got to take a shortcut.” Uda pushed Aria off the path. “Take the tunnel. It’ll let you out even closer to your house. You’ll be able to see the back door and can make a run for it.”

Aria looked into the tunnel. What Uda said was true, but Aria didn’t want to take the shortcut. It was an old drainage pipe, disconnected from the new sewer system. It would let her out practically into her parents’ backyard, at the base of the hill, but Aria didn’t see it as the drier route. If it rained, drainage might flow inside and puddle on the tunnel’s floor.

Again, Aria tried to step around Uda.

Uda grabbed her arm, pinching Aria’s skin with the nails. “Get in that tunnel.”

The other girls pushed Aria off the path, down a slope, and to the mouth of the tunnel. Aria fought back half-heartedly. The harder she fought, the more their motions pulled at her hair, and Aria hated the feeling of having her hair pulled. If she just walked forward, she didn’t feel it as much.

“Go, Aria.” Uda shouted.

It seemed like Uda gave Aria the final shove inside, and it was a hard one.

Aria walked a few steps, just to escape their hands. She looked back to find a circle of girls. They blocked the way out. Their faces hid, part in shadow, part in aura. But, Aria could see their intentions in their colors. All lavender had gone. They were just red and orange, ugly shades of those colors too.

“We’re going to be here a while,” Uda said.

In other words, they were going to make sure she got into the tunnel and went deep. They might even creep along behind and try to scare Aria.

“Aria!” a distant man’s voice called. “Aria!” Footsteps pounded closer and closer.

Uda and the other girls searched the surrounding area for the man, with panic in their eyes.

Aria could wait for the man to come to her rescue, but she turned away and started into the tunnel, slow at first, but once she was out of sight, she moved fast.

Aria would let the man shame them. If she died, he would at least report what had happened, and Uda’s life would be ruined forever. Besides, Aria didn’t want to see a man right now. She couldn’t recall why.

The tunnel should have been dark, but it wasn’t. Other, less scared Scaldin used it as a cut-through to their homes. The tunnel had several exits, most of which led into wilderness. In fact, all but one branch led to wilderness. The only valid route through the tunnel was the one that would take her home. She just had to follow the aural trail, and she would have a speedy exit.

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Aria almost hoped the other girls would follow her in. She hoped they would lose their way.

Aria stepped as quietly and quickly as she could, trying to build her lead on Uda and the lackeys. She followed the streams of aura, mostly one that belonged to her strangest neighbor, a man that lived alone. Others saw him as a dangerous person, but Aria could see that he just wanted to be a hermit. He glowed blue and grey and nothing more. Something bad had happened to him. It marked him forever, and he had no one to pull him back, into brighter shades.

More auras joined his colors, and Aria could see other neighbors from her little corner of Scaldigir. They painted themselves down the tunnel floor, along the walls, and some along the ceiling, guiding her home.

Aria bet she had an incredible lead, and she hoped that Uda had finally followed her in.

Behind, Aria heard a scraping sound, and it gave her a shred of hope. If they followed, they could get lost. The only downside was that they sounded pretty close.

Aria slithered forward. She kept her pace quick.

Child…of the…Volanters, croaked a voice behind her.

Aria almost stopped. That was not Uda.

Aura reader…

Aria started to run. She could see her way, but she bet the Volanter could too. It had aura reading available to it. They both read their way through the tunnel by the light of others.

Aria’s steps echoed, making it impossible for her to hear the scrape of the Volanter.

Wait!

Aria did not wait. Though her limbs burned, and pricks of pain traveled from her hips to her toes, she ran. Her efforts were rewarded as she burst out of the tunnel into the rain.

Aria ran on the grass and climbed the hill, using her hands as well as her feet. She could see her parents’ large house on top, with its perfect lawn, lush garden, and three separate outdoor entertaining spaces. She headed for the enclosed patio attached to the walkout basement.

Aria pulled the screen door open and ducked inside. She’d gotten wet, and she needed to get dry. But, she stopped and looked through the screen. The Volanter waited at the mouth of the tunnel, just staring. Rain separated them in addition to the screen, but if the Volanter wanted, it could slither up the hill and come inside.

Its aura of white and blue suggested inaction, but Aria rushed to the back door. She found the key, hidden inside a fat bird statue. She opened the basement door and got in.

As the door closed behind her, she locked it, taking the spare key inside as well.

Aria sighed. She faced the basement room. At first, she saw only darkness. Then, colors painted her father’s play things. He had a game table, and the auras of not-present men took form and picked up their cards. They mumbled to each other, emitting the occasional soft laugh. They showed themselves in hues of blue, red, green, and yellow. Some shades of blue suggested sorrow; others suggested peace. Some shades of red suggested frustration; others suggested a bright joy. Her father’s aura took the head of the table. It noticed her and sent rivulets of pink from its aura of green. Aria waved.

Then, she trotted to the stairs. She stood before the grey passage and waited. It lit up. Each stair took on a different color and glowed. Aria climbed, step by step.

She entered the main living floor – all grey – until Aria crossed the basement threshold into the kitchen.

Her mother’s aura took form in several tall, thin figures. One pink-blue aura worked at the counter. Another took up residence by the stove. A third fluttered to the living room. They paused to wave at Aria.

Aria smiled and waved back.

She reached the next set of stairs, and again, they glowed for her. She took them up, and each time her foot met a step, the glow dulled, as if she squished it.

Aria cleared the landing, and the grey hall came alive with more auras. None belonged to her mother or father or even Aria. Instead, the colors formed the shapes of animals.

A blue and yellow bird twittered down the hall and darted into Aria’s room. A short purple deer grazed by her door. A porza rolled back and forth over her parent’s threshold, and tiny fish bounced in a rainbow of colors, headed for the bathroom.

Aria took a step into the lively hall, and the animals scattered. She didn’t let it bother her because though the animals hid, Aria had plenty of company. Flowers and trees of white sprouted from the molding and walls. They glowed and tickled Aria’s colors as she passed.

Aria stopped in the bathroom and found it dim. Grey shrouded everything, except for the fish that glowed and swam in the tub. Aria let them have their space. She grabbed a towel and watched it take on her colors.

Aria draped the now blue towel around her shoulders and gently rubbed her hair. She walked to her room. Her parents were away. Her father was probably still at work. Her mother, a former dancer, liked to visit a late show with Aria’s aunt once a month, and that was where she was now.

The auras downstairs quieted and went dim, fading the stairway from beautiful color to grey. The lights would put on a show for Aria if she went down, but she didn’t need to.

Aria was alone but safe. She had the house to herself, so she enjoyed it.

She strolled into her room and changed her dress. She dropped the sopping garment into a laundry shoot in the hall, and plumes of color fluttered up and out, like clouds.

Back in Aria’s room, flowers sprang from the floor. They held color, even though they didn’t hold sentience. Glowing green leaves swayed over her ceiling, and some of the little animals hid among the grasses, under the desk, and in the corners. Aria laid across her bed and slid over soft petals of pink and red light. She closed her eyes.

The drumbeat of rain scattered over the roof and pattered onto her window. Aria knew that all the water drained away into the tunnel, washing the Volanter and troubles clear.

The Volanter posed a clear problem, unforgettable. Aria tried to remember what the other problem was. It had to do with a man, but it wasn’t the man himself. She felt a thrum of shame and tried to tamp it down. She didn’t want that color where she slept.

Aria listened again to the rain and let it help her forget.

The doorbell rang. The animals ran under the bed, and flowers sucked into the floor and walls.

Aria opened her eyes.

Then, slowly she stood up. She walked from her room to the stairway.

Aria descended, but no light came alive beneath her footsteps. It was for the best. She didn’t want the glow to be seen through the windows. She might not see out, but others could see in. As Aria moved down, she stared at the front door. She didn’t take her eyes from it and relied on her memory to find each step.

Someone must be outside.

Aria heard the sound of a truck. It was a package delivery, and the driver had left. That meant Aria could retrieve the package.

She hurried down the stairs and opened the door. She undid the locks quick, determined to pull the object inside, before anyone saw her.

As Aria opened the door, she saw…nothing.

No grass. No trees. No road. No other houses. All beyond the front door was black. She looked down and finally saw the package. Aria knelt and reached a tentative hand outside. She touched the box. It showed aural handprints, but the rest remained naked. With both hands, she pulled it inside. It scraped against the stone stoop – the only part of the outside that remained.

Aria set the package on the entry tile. She swung the door closed and locked it.

She waited a moment on her knees. She listened hard.

Aria stood up. She concluded that darkness and silence waited beyond the door. She wasn’t supposed to stay at her parents’ house long term, but she didn’t see how she could get back to the Arcane’s complex in this kind of weather.

Oh, well.