Page 61 of Katya and the Young God

Selene tilts her head at the giant stone rock ahead of them, then cranes her neck back at Katya. “Don’t run away, Kay?”

“What —"

Selene steps forward, tugs off her little climbing glove, holding her hand to the giant rock face and...flicks her hand to the side.

With an earth-shattering shriek, the stones in front split, and the very ground beneath them shudders, tossing them to the ground like they’re toys.

Pieter grabs Katya around the middle, twisting her around so a giant stone slamming down misses her by mere inches.

She scrambles to her feet, clinging to the wall of the room, but the shaking continues, dust and dirt everywhere, and —

Selene just stands, untouched, her eyes wide in childish concentration, before she slowly, ever so slowly, drops her hand.

The world stops moving when she does.

With a small smile, looking for approval and adoration, she locks eyes with Katya. “See? Now we can walk out!”

No one moves, no one even breathes, and Katya catches her mouth hanging open, staring at the child, who looks just so utterly happy. Her eyes shine, her cheeks are aglow with power, and she smiles, beaming at Katya and Pieter.

Slowly, the dust shifting down, a ray of sunlight filters in, casting a long line of light across Selene.

Selene turns to it, illuminating her brown skin, the tangles in her black hair, and her own mouth drops open in something close to wonder.

“Oh,” she whispers, catching what is probably her first glimpse of sunlight and, as they all watch, the little girl starts to tremble. “Oh.”

8

After that impressive, earth-shattering display of power, Selene sits down, hard, staring up unblinkingly at the sun.

No one dares approach, the air still but for the falling dust, just a little girl alone in a sunbeam. Wearing too-big hiking clothes and climbing gloves, with tangled hair and tiny shoulders and tears down her cheeks.

It’s Feketer who shakes himself loose first, and him taking a shaky step forward kicks Katya into gear.

She jerks loose of where Pieter is keeping her gripped tight, getting her feet out from underneath her, and, pulse hammering, half stumbles over to where Selene sits.

Shaking out her towel, Katya carefully, ever so carefully, wipes away the tears in what she hopes is a gentle way. The tears smear in all the perfect white dust, more creating a mud than doing any cleaning.

Selene leans against Katya, tilting dangerously to the side, and Katya sits down on the stone, letting Selene lean against her. “Okay, okay, I got you.” Katya runs her gloved hand over the girl’s arms, with the shock of what happened bursting through her veins. “I got you, let's wait a bit before we do anything like that again.

Her eyes are open, her eyelashes moving slightly in the sun, as she stares up at the sliver of blue sky she just revealed. Her lips part, like she’s going to say something, going to speak, but can’t. Like the very sight of the sky has stolen her words away from her.

A whisper of motion behind her, but Feketer stays many paces back, his eyes stretched wide in horror.

“What is she?” He whispers, the only sound carrying like a whip. “What is she?”

* * *

With the crackin the ground, the pathway to the surface is a lot more straightforward, all the traps and trials and obstacles smoothed over by whatever apocalyptic power that was unleashed. It only takes them three hours, where the trip before took them six.

The Magician comes across the broken remains of his Golem, but instead of showing any emotion, he merely roots around in the stone until he tucks one in his pocket.

After the second hour, Selene wavers in her steps, having not spoken since the breaking, and without even pausing in his steps, Pieter picks her up. She hides her face in the crook of his neck, clinging to him.

Pieter’s face creases with pain and discomfort after all the wailing and abuse, but he doesn’t say anything, only exchanges a significant look with Katya when the child clearly falls asleep.

No one speaks.

The shock of the power is too real.

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