Chibi learned it from Sean at breakfast:
Today is the feast day of Damasus —
the patron saint of archaeologists and treasure-hunters.
Chibi froze mid–cocoa sip.
“Treasure hunters??
That means it’s my day.”
And of course, half a minute later
he was already in the attic —
dust, old beams, winter light,
the perfect stage for a discovery
no one was supposed to make.
Under a broken box of sugar stars
he found a brittle parchment roll
tied with a dark blue thread.
No cobwebs, no dust —
as if someone had left it there yesterday.
He unrolled it.
The ink was black as chimney soot,
the handwriting strange
and somehow too familiar.
“On the eleventh day, the shadow tests you.
It falls not where you walk —
but where you fear to go.”
Chibi grinned.
“Pff. Cute. A poem.”
He started to roll it up again…
…until he realized
that his shadow wasn’t standing
where it should be.
It was off to the side.
Slightly behind him.
And just a little
too tall.
Chibi swallowed.
“Okay, um… funny. Very funny.”
The shadow moved.
Not much.
Just a twitch —
but not in his rhythm.
Chibi stumbled backward,
the scroll falling from his hands,
his heartbeat turning faster than his thoughts.
“M-Mara?”
She appeared in the doorway,
barefoot, glittering dress,
hair messy the way it always is
when she hasn’t quite woken up yet.
“Chibi? Why are you screaming like a vacuum cleaner that swallowed fire?”
He pointed at the floor with a shaking hand.
But when Mara looked…
the shadow was normal again.
Completely normal.
Just Chibi.
Not larger, not shifted,
not strange.
Mara walked over, took his hand,
and his shadow settled neatly at his feet
like a guilty cat pretending innocence.
“Sometimes,” she said,
“shadows are just shadows.
And sometimes they need someone
to remind them where they belong.”
Chibi let out a long breath.
Slow.
Steady.
Then he picked the scroll back up
and managed a shaky grin.
“You know, Mara?”
“What?”
“Treasure-hunting is exhausting today.”
Mara nodded.
“Well… good thing you’re not doing it alone.”
Outside, the wind tugged gently at the roof tiles.
Not angry.
Not warning.
Just…
as if admitting
that today, the shadow had found someone
who wouldn’t fear it.