Hector dropped to his knees, his hands flopping to his side as his lips quivered. “Mirae… I,” Hector muttered, his gaze focusing on the worn wood at the bottom of the kitchen doorframe. The words were stuck, held fast to his tongue, unwilling to budge an inch.

  Mirae stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head against his. “It happened, didn’t it?” she asked. Her tears streaked down Hector’s neck as her body shook. “He’s gone, isn’t he?”

  “Yes,” Hector forced out, the word so sour he wanted to gag.

  Mirae’s grip tightened as her sobbing increased, causing Hector to wrap his arms around her. No thought came to mind at this moment, just an empty hollow pain. Unending and sharp. He gripped her shirt and muttered, “I’m sorry.”

  It was unclear how long they spent in the doorway, but after a while, Mirae pushed off him and made her way inside. Her steps were uncertain, but she walked towards her room. Hector contemplated following, but they didn’t have the time.

  The sun was lowering in the sky, as late afternoon was setting in. They wouldn’t have much time until the Collar Gang came knocking. It would either be tonight or the next day. But either way. His home was no longer safe. He moved through the creaking house and made his way to his room. Once in, he gathered all he’d need. Clothes, tools and keepsakes—not that there was much of any of that.

  In the end, after a few minutes, he had a small pile of bags stacked next to the old crooked wooden wall. He surveyed the bags and raised his hand, focusing on the purple tooth necklace in his palm. “Now I just need to tell Mirae we have to leave and see what’s up with the stump father mentioned.”

  He lowered his hand, but as he moved towards the door, a knock came from the other side. Hector paused. “Yeah?”

  His room door squeaked open as Mirae stepped in. She’d swapped her usual short brown trunks for black leather ones and replaced her flowy white shirt with a thick brown long-sleeved tunic. Gripped tightly in her hand was the strap of her soft leather backpack. Where had she gotten all this?

  “Mirae?” Hector asked, running his eyes over her.

  “What?” she asked, combing back a strand of white hair that she hadn’t gotten into her freshly tied bun. She jerked the backpack tighter on her shoulder and wiped her still-damp cheeks. “We can’t stay here, can we? Now that Dad is dead, even if we paid them off, they wouldn’t stop coming.”

  I don’t think we can pay them off anymore if I’m being honest. Besides, I wouldn’t want to.

  Hector pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded. He needed to give her a little more credit. She didn’t even know what he’d done, and she’d already had plans. Though given the fact that she’d seen this outcome before, using her Talent, perhaps it shouldn’t surprise him. “Mirae, there is something I need to tell you. Follow me,” he said, stepping past her.

  As the two walked through the squeaking hallway, the old wood now feeling a lot more foreign, Hector filled Mirae in on what happened with his dad and what he’d done when the man had died. The blood he had spilt and the lives he had taken. He couldn’t keep this from her because their lives were about to get a lot more brutal, and she needed to know.

  Finally, the two of them arrived at the stump behind the shed, and Hector glanced at Mirae. Her head hung low as she stared at the stump. A cool breeze went by, chilling Hector’s skin as the smell of flowers tickled his nose.

  “Father wouldn’t have been happy,” Mirae said, gripping the strap of her backpack. “But I think you did the right thing…”

  “Mirae?” Hector reached out and rested a hand on his sister’s shoulder, giving it a small rub as he shook his head. This wasn’t like his kind sister, though what could he expect? The Collar Gang had terrorised the slums for years, and they’d taken their father.

  Letting out a light sigh, Mirae shook her head and gave him a tight smile. Hector brushed her cheek with a thumb and smiled back before turning to the stump. It wasn’t alright, things wouldn’t be for a long time. But the Collar Gang would bleed for what they did, he’d make sure of that.

  But first, let’s see what our father wanted us to see. If it was important enough to be his last dying words, we owe it to him to at least look. Maybe we can at least find out what happened to his body.

  Hector held his hand out towards Mirae, and the girl reached into her shirt and pulled out a purple-toothed necklace similar to his own. She placed it into his hand while Hector grabbed his own, before dropping to a knee and positioning both necklaces on the stump.

  He then got back up and waited, though he didn’t have to wait long. A moment later, the stump gave off a dull purple light. Veins of energy pulsed from where he placed the two necklaces and flowed from the top of the stump to its roots, letting out shallow whomps.

  Eventually, the floor shook beneath them, forcing them to step to the side. The shakes then gave way to a brief flash of purple where they’d just been standing as the floor fell away, turning into a set of stairs leading underground. The scent of earth plunged into Hector’s nose as his eyes went wide. Mirae held a similar look in her purple eyes.

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  Hector swallowed. The taste of excitement prickled his tongue. What had their dad been keeping from them?

  “Shall we?” he asked Mirae and gestured towards the hole. The girl nodded, and Hector took the lead. He considered picking up the necklaces, but if that was what was keeping the hole open, that could present some problems.

  Shaking his head, Hector put those thoughts to the back of his mind and stepped into the hole. The darkness he expected didn’t greet him; instead, as he stepped further, a pale blue strip of light formed on the ceiling, lighting the way to two doors at the end of the short hall.

  “Did Father build all this?” Mirae asked, stepping in, glancing around the hallway and running her fingers along the smooth stone walls.

  “I don’t think so,” he replied, coming to a stop before the doors. The whole thing appeared to be made from a thick wood, much thicker than he’d ever seen. He gave it two quick knocks, which barely elicited a thud. The thing was dense. “Yeah, I don’t even know when he’d have time to put anything like this in.” He turned his head back to Mirae, who stood a step behind him.

  His sister shrugged one shoulder and looked from him to the doors. “So, how do we go about getting inside?”

  That was a good question. The doors didn’t have a handle or key on them—perhaps it was voice-activated like he’d seen back in the movies on Earth. But then, whose voice would it need? As he turned back to the doors, and brought a finger to his chin in thought—as if understanding his intentions—an array sparked to life at his feet.

  The lines crisscrossed within a circle that grew beneath him. It pulsed a purple colour, the light of it dancing across his skin. In the next moment, the light faded, and a rumble came from the doors before it slowly slid open, scraping against the stone.

  “What did you do?” Mirae asked, looking from Hector into the room beyond.

  Hector shrugged, swallowing his saliva as his heart hammered in his chest, the vibrations travelling to his tongue. What were they getting into? Who was their father, exactly? Letting out a deep sigh, Hector stepped through the doors. The answers were in this room. It would no doubt bring more questions, but there would hopefully be more of the former.

  The room’s light shone a pale blue, much like the hallway, as it washed over their skin. It wasn’t warm like he’d expected from a candle—if anything; it was like the ones he’d seen on Earth. The room itself was empty. The only things in it were three rectangular pedestals made from stone that sat in the middle of the room.

  As they walked closer, Hector frowned. Two of the pedestals, the ones closest to them, had seeds on them, while the third was empty. He knew these couldn’t be Talent seeds—those were noticeably larger than the small objects before them.

  “What are these?” Mirae asked, stepping over. She jerked the strap tighter on her shoulder, the bag slapping against her back, and glanced at Hector. “Any ideas?”

  But before he could answer, a ping came from the middle pedestal. An instant later, a beam of light shot out from it into the air before opening up like a fan, revealing a cloud of stars and galaxies all swirling within. And in the middle of this beautiful light show stood a woman.

  Her long white hair flowed down her back like a waterfall ending just past her knees. Purple eyes stared out into nothing, as her long white dress, accented with deep purple, fluttered nonstop. “Hello, my family,” the woman said. Her eyes looked past him and Mirae.

  This is a recording?

  “I’m sorry I could not be there in person. My responsibilities have kept me busy.” Her smile tightened, and she let out a sigh. “I’m not sure how much you’ve told the children. Cain, knowing you, it’s not much. But that is fine, either way. I shall tell them what they need to know.”

  Hector’s heart lurched as he heard his father’s name. Mirae turned to him, her face markedly confused. The wheels were turning in her head. Hector nodded at her, and she went wide-eyed as she turned back to the woman. The resemblance was uncanny, in that Mirae was practically a younger version of her.

  “To you, children, I am sorry I left you when I did. I assure you, if I could have, I wouldn’t have. But if I had stayed, you would be in danger, and I could not risk that.” The woman—his mother—took a moment. “Though I have left you a gift, one that should make it so you at least have a chance to excel on this planet and…” she trailed off, closing her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Cain, but you will have to come to me with the children. They will need your guidance, and I can not leave my post, not for a while, at least. But do not worry, the elders have agreed that once my watch is over, they will leave us in peace.”

  Elders, watch, meet her? What is she talking about?

  Hector’s mother then gestured towards the two pedestals. “These seeds are the lifeblood of any Jacaranda. If you have been cultivating until now, my children, you have no doubt found it hard, especially on a planet like that, where the mana is so low. But you are not untalented, my children, just incomplete.”

  His mother shifted; her white dress billowed behind her as she combed back a strand of white hair. “These seeds will complete you. I do not know when you’ve received these, but I hope you, Cain, have not waited too long. But at the very least, I’m sure he’s given you both enough time to grasp the basics of cultivation.”

  More than enough, I would say. I’m turning eighteen soon. When was he planning on showing this to me?

  “Now, children,” his mother continued. “Take these seeds within you, bring them to your chest and will them into your soulscape. Once done, it should take a day for the moon tree to sprout. You should find it a lot easier to take in mana and grow your cores when it’s grown.” His mother then let out a heavy sigh as a tear streaked from her eye. “I have to go now, children, but I hope to see you soon. With the blood of the Clan flowing through you, it shouldn’t take you more than one hundred years to make it off this planet.” She then gave a smile before the light closed like a retracting fan, and she was gone.

  “Hector,” Mirae turned to him, her lips tight. “Who are we?”

  “I wish I knew,” he said, stepping forward and picking up the seed resting on the pedestal. He gestured for Mirae to do the same. And as she did, he sighed—he’d been wrong—coming down here had given him little to no answers and a whole bunch more questions. From what his mother had said, he and his sister were part of some kind of clan, and that clan wasn’t from the city of Middlec—it wasn’t even from this planet.

  Hector brought the seed to his chest, his thoughts a mess—Mirae did the same. He then willed it into his soulscape with a thought and, to his surprise, it sank right in. A moment later, a black symbol peeked out from the top of his shirt. Pulling the neck back, he found a round tattoo with a tree in it resting on his chest.

  What in the hell is going on?

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