Rowena opened her eyes suddenly after a series of strange dreams that escaped from the corners of her consciousness. There was that strange fog, she knew, but everything else seemed to float away just as she tried to grasp it.

Her body felt… strange. There was no other way to put it. Something felt different.

Suddenly, a familiar face appeared in her peripheral vision.

“She’s awake!” Kieran shouted, and then shoved his face an inch from hers before muttering softly, “Oh, no.”

“Nice to see you, too,” Rowena grumbled as she fought her way up to her elbows, pushing Kieran back.

“No, I just mean–” Kieran sighed and sat back. “We match.”

He made a meaningful gesture with his hand, pointing from his eyes to hers.

“Oh, no,” Rowena echoed him, and leapt out of bed to find the small round hand mirror she kept on her desk. After shuffling through a few papers, she found it, and peered closely at her reflection. The highly polished piece of metal wasn’t the clearest mirror she’d ever seen, but it should be able to reveal what she needed to know– and as she looked, it confirmed her fears.

Instead of her soft brown eyes, strange orange-red ones peered back at her from the tarnished depths. They almost seemed to glow from within.

In an instant, she felt weak and nauseated, and her knees buckled. Kieran jumped up from the bed and grabbed her around the shoulders, guiding her back to the bed before sitting back down on it next to her.

“Well, I think they’re quite attractive,” he sniffed.

“Then why did you say ‘oh no’?”

“I knew you’d be bothered by them.”

She leaned back and sighed, clutching the blankets underneath her. “I can’t tell if I feel strange because of the Class Selection or if I’m injured. What happened?”

“You made that insane leap for the Heartstone and fell off of it immediately. Honestly, I thought we were too late and you didn’t grab it in time and had just banged yourself up for nothing,” Kieran was starting to explain when the door swung open and Mattie and Sorel barged in.

“You’re okay!” Mattie exclaimed happily, and Sorel grinned broadly.

That’s when Rowena noticed that it was a room full of orange-red irises that looked at her in concern and relief. Apparently, Mattie and Sorel had also procured the strange eyes.

“I think you’re going to have to tell me the whole story,” she said, though she wanted nothing more than more sleep.

“Well, Sorel and I got to the square just before midnight,” Mattie explained, and took a seat in the chair that was placed next to Rowena’s bed. Her coppery orange hair was a nearly perfect match for the eyes, Rowena noted. It did look rather lovely on her. “We were– we were going to try to explain things to Timo, tell him how Kieran had woken, and there’s never been a single case of a person dying from the Heartstone– oh no, I’m so sorry–”

She paused and looked down, flushed and ashamed. The memories of Tommie welled up in Rowena for the first time since she’d awoken, and her gut clenched.

Sorel inserted quietly, “At least, no one who has died during the Class Selection process.”

Mattie nodded, swallowed, then continued. “Right. So, we thought he would be open to us making a case to at least try, and then you came running up like the hounds of the underworld were chasing you! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you run,” she added, looking down her nose at Rowena skeptically.

“It’s not my preference,” Rowena acknowledged.

“Anyway, when you fell, Timo leapt up to go and help you. I don’t think he would have let us touch the Heartstone after that, but, well…” Mattie shrugged.

“We did it anyway,” Sorel said, a self-satisfied grin on her face.

“Was I the only one who got knocked out?” Rowena asked, feeling a little disheartened.

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“No, we were, too. But we woke up yesterday. Just in time for the funeral,” Mattie replied, biting her lip. She shuffled a little closer to Sorel.

“What? How long have I been asleep?” Rowena couldn’t believe it. “I missed Tommie’s funeral?”

Mattie nodded her head several times in rapid succession as Kieran reached out and grabbed Rowena’s arm and explained. “We just didn’t know if you’d wake anytime soon, and, well… your father had agreed on that time and everyone was expecting it. But it was Calla who insisted we bury Tommie. I think she was worried Tomas would change his mind if we didn’t.”

Rowena felt the hollow space inside of her, first made when her mother died that had steadily enlarged over the preceding horrible week, open up even further. “You did the right thing.”

Kieran and Mattie looked uneasy, but Sorel leaned forward and touched Rowena’s shoulder. “We were all there.”

Their eyes locked and suddenly Rowena’s filled with tears that began overflowing down her cheeks. She nodded wordlessly, then looked around at the rest of them. At least Tommie hadn’t been alone when he was buried.

“Ro!” Calla’s voice cried out in relief from the hallway, and Sorel and Mattie shuffled outside to let her in.

A flustered Calla ran into the room and collapsed into the chair that Mattie had vacated. She looked a little gaunt and disheveled, hair thrown back into a messy bun. She wore only a simple work dress, and it looked like she hadn’t changed it in a few days.

“Ro, thank the gods. I didn’t know– I was so worried. It was my fault that you did such a stupid thing. I should never have said those horrible things,” Calla’s voice tumbled out in a rush, as though she’d been rehearsing everything she’d wanted to say for the last two days and was worried she wouldn’t be able to get it out quickly enough.

“It’s alright, Calla.”

“I just didn’t know what to do, what with… with Tommie and Father and—”

“It’s alright.” Rowena said firmly. She didn’t want Calla to blame herself, but she also didn’t want to discuss the subject any further. “Where is Father, anyway?”

Calla sucked in her lips and looked disconcerted.

“Is he still in the back room?” Drinking? Rowena thought, but didn’t want to say it in front of the rest of them, even though she knew they all had to know. Calla would know what she meant.

Kieran began to frown, which made Rowena start to feel a little suspicious.

Calla shook her head. “No. He stopped that after you– after you were knocked unconscious. Showed up to the funeral sober and in a suit,” she added ruefully, frowning a little bit.

“I guess we should tell him I’m awake. Surely he’ll want to know his eldest daughter, at least, survived her encounter with the Heartstone.” The thought didn’t give Rowena any pleasure. The only thing that would be worse, in her opinion, than her father abandoning her and Calla when Tommie died would be for him to pretend like it had never happened.

“We might want to give him some time,” Kieran said slowly, fiddling with her blankets and once again refusing to make eye contact.

“What? What are you talking about?” Rowena snapped. She could tell that they were hiding something from her. “Stop fussing, it’s annoying. And aren’t there any chairs you can sit on instead of my bed?”

Kieran stilled his hands, but kept his gaze away and said nothing.

“Father will– he’ll come ‘round, I’m sure of it,” Calla said. She leaned forward and took Rowena’s hands in her own.

“What are you not telling me?” Rowena felt she could almost cry from frustration. She was here, she was alive, but everyone was acting so strange. She knew her eyes were a little creepy, but Kieran, Sorel, and Mattie all had them, too!

“Uh… it’s more about what you’re not telling us,” Kieran said, and as he raised his eyes to hers she saw burning curiosity in them.

“Why did you do it?” Calla suddenly asked, eagerness in her voice. She, too, had a strange look on her face. Curiosity, eagerness… and a little awe?

Behind her, Sorel and Mattie had crowded into the doorway. They, too, were staring at Rowena guiltily, as though they were trying not to.

“Do what?” Rowena said in complete exasperation.

Calla bit her lip. Without a word, she turned Rowena’s left wrist over. She hadn’t noticed that it had been fitted with a rough wrap. With a jerk, Calla pulled it down so that her first Sigil, her Main Class, was revealed.

Oh.

“Oh, that,” Rowena said as she stared at the Sigil, fresh and dark on her skin.

“I figured you’d go with a… a Ranger or a Soldier or something,” Kieran finally said to break the silence that had ensued.

“That’s what I would have done,” Calla said, but she still stared at the Sigil with an intense curiosity.

I guess I have some explaining to do. To them, and to myself.

Her memories of her experience with the Heartstone came crashing back as she tried to piece together just what had possessed her. It had been her choice, she knew that, but now in the cold, hard light of day– without a mysterious fog and complicated, visceral scenarios of different lives clouding her judgment– she couldn’t believe she’d made this choice.

There, emblazoned on her wrist for all the world to see, was her Class. A Class that, once selected, could never be changed.

Rogue.

And the Subclass? She pulled the wrap down further. There it was, in all its mysterious glory.

Secretseeker.