The Aurora Borealis Keeps Its Lament novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Edge of the Sky

On my fourth night at the Branch, the alarm bell rang in the middle of dinner.

Everyone stood up at once, and the cook dropped a ladle.

"Aurora watch," Paloma said, already reaching for her coat. "That's what the bell means. Come on, come on."

Eleven of us poured out of the mess hall and across the yard to the ice flat behind the station.

It was minus twenty-six.

My eyelashes froze together when I blinked.

Then someone said, "There," and I looked up.

A pale green line had opened across the north, thin as a thread.

It brightened while I watched, thickened, and began to move.

It rolled over the sky in long folds, green at the bottom and violet at the top, and a streak of red crept in along the edge.

Paloma grabbed my arm and said nothing at all.

I had seen photographs of the aurora in Iker's office for four years.

He had never let me hang one in the hall.

I understood why.

No picture could hold this.

Around us the crew had gone quiet.

Then I saw where Iker stood.

He was at the far end of the flat, away from the others, with Sabina close at his shoulder.

His face was lifted, but not to the middle of the sky.

It was tilted to one side.

Sabina spoke in a low, steady voice that carried across the ice.

"It's coming up from the north, Iker. The green is brightest now, almost straight over the observatory. The violet is above it. There's a ripple going west."

← Chapter 3 · All chapters · Chapter 5 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend