Characters · Cristal Rush

The Girl of the Blue Lantern

Hana

“Sorry, Mom. It's too late for that.”

AgeSeventeen… or so she thinks

OriginNew Lumen, the last house on the mountain street

WeaponHer mother's old pick, with a notch in its head

AppearsPrologue

Personality

Stubborn, brave, and with more heart than common sense. She grew up alone, so she learned to ask for nothing and give everything. She offers food to anyone who threatens her, laughs when she's scared, and always strikes the same spot until the rock gives way.

Their story

Her mother went down into the mine when Hana was seven and never came back. She remembers nothing from before that morning: not a face, not a birthday. For ten years she washed crystals in the courtyards of House Aria and watched the mine from her window every night. She never gets sick, she's never cold, and she hums a lullaby nobody taught her.

Reveal their secret (novel spoiler)

She is the princess of Lower Lumen, the key to the Door. She slept for a hundred years inside the crystal heart of the Core. Her heart and the mountain's beat to the same rhythm, and the list on floor 40 is written in her own handwriting.

The Archer Who Never Stops Talking

Freya

“Arrows don't grow on trees. …Shh.”

AgeNineteen

OriginDaughter of a mine cartographer

WeaponA longbow and her brother's arrows, marked with an I

AppearsChapter I

Personality

Optimistic, loud, witty, and a little greedy, or so it seems. She talks nonstop, tells bad jokes at the worst moments, and never misses a shot. Her secret, she says, is what her father taught her: don't aim at the target, aim at what's behind it.

Their story

Four years ago she went down with Ivar, her twin brother, to finish their father's maps. One morning in the Fungal Forest, Ivar was gone: only his bow and his boots remained. Ever since, she has paid the House Aria buyers to set aside every crystal with silver veins, the same color as her brother's hair.

Reveal their secret (novel spoiler)

She talks so she won't hear the silence, because in the silence the mine hums and it sounds to her like Ivar's voice. On the other side of the Door she finds him alive, carrying stones for the First Miner, with a black sun on his chest. Ivar doesn't recognize her.

The Savage Veteran

Tyr

“If you cry during training, we'll talk about it afterward.”

AgeAbout fifty winters

OriginThe fjords of the north

WeaponWar axe and fists

AppearsChapter III

Personality

Serious, gruff, lethal, and secretly tender. He trains Hana by yelling at her, scorns anything that isn't hard work, and quotes a grandmother who, according to him, killed a bear with a spoon. He sleeps little and watches a lot.

Their story

He was the leader of the Pack, twelve northern mercenaries dressed in wolf pelts, the best band ever to cross the sea. The Crystal Guild hired them to kill the Coral Kraken. One moonless night, the Kraken took them all. Tyr wears twelve fangs around his neck, one for each lost brother and sister.

Reveal their secret (novel spoiler)

He wasn't late. Sigrun, the youngest, warned him not to cross at night, and he didn't listen. When the Kraken attacked, fear froze him in the boat and he couldn't move a finger while she screamed his name. That's why he's terrified of water.

The Finishing Blade

Vidar

“If you hear footsteps, it's me. If you hear nothing… also me.”

AgeTwenty-nine

OriginAn orphan from a valley convent, raised by the Soundless

WeaponA long, thin blade, and boots that make no sound

AppearsChapter IV

Personality

Reserved as the night, precise, and almost humorless, except for a very dry streak. He speaks little and never lies. When nobody offers him anything he doesn't know what to do, and when somebody does, he doesn't either.

Their story

He was raised by the most expensive guild of assassins in the valley, descended from the old guard of the kings below. In ten years he hasn't failed a single contract. He was offered a fortune for Hana's head, sealed with a black sun. He said no, because he wanted to know why anyone would pay so much for a crystal washer.

Reveal their secret (novel spoiler)

Ten years ago he entered the house of the blue lantern at night with orders to kill a seven-year-old girl. He heard her humming in her sleep a lullaby someone had sung to him as a child, and he couldn't do it. He was also the one who slid the letter under Hana's door.

The Capricious Treasurer

Aria Valmont

“Ten percent, darling. And the pretty crystals are mine.”

AgeOne doesn't ask a lady

OriginLower Lumen

WeaponA little leather notebook and an unerring eye for gold

AppearsChapter V

Personality

Stubborn, stingy, charming, and a leading light of the gem market. She haggles in the middle of a cave-in, calls everyone "darling" and "partner," and charges ten percent of everything. In secret, she slips coins into Freya's bag and mends Tyr's clothes while he sleeps.

Their story

Hana finds her trapped in a block of crystal in the Stellar Abyss, weeping. She has the same face as the portrait of the founder of House Aria, which has hung in the jeweler's hall for over a hundred years. She claims it's her great-great-grandmother. She counts numbers nonstop, to the rhythm of the mountain.

Reveal their secret (novel spoiler)

She is the founder, in person. She was royal treasurer and Queen Lyra's best friend. When her little sister, Elin, turned to crystal, she heard a voice on the other side of the rock promising that everything lost is found on the other side. She tried to open the Door, and Lyra sealed her in that crystal. Hers was the voice calling Hana from the depths.

Mother of the Lost

Sister Frigg

“Coming all the way down to The Abyss with no coat. No food. With those dark circles.”

AgeShe looks forty; her almanac says otherwise

OriginThe chapel of Lower Lumen

WeaponSacred staff, almanac, and hymns

AppearsChapter VIII

Personality

Scolding, protective, and warm, with plenty of bread and a hug for everyone. She can't stand anyone going cold or hungry. She sings so that The Abyss will let the lost go free, and she always goes a little off-key at the end.

Their story

For years she has kept a chapel in The Abyss, guiding those who get lost back up, and the names of all of them are written on its walls. Her almanac holds thirty-six thousand four hundred and ninety-eight tally marks, one for each day. As long as she sings, she says, time waits for her.

Reveal their secret (novel spoiler)

She is the novice from the Night of the Song and Hana's godmother. She has sung for a hundred years without growing old. She goes off-key on the last note because Lyra always took it up instead of down, and she never learned to sing it right. She finally does, before the Door, and loses her voice.

The Last Queen

Lyra

“Hana… I told you not to come down.”

AgeA hundred years in the Core

OriginThe palace of Lower Lumen

WeaponA pick with a notch in its iron head

AppearsChapter X

Personality

Firm, stubborn, and able to make the decisions no one else would make. She loves with an intensity that makes her unfair. She always sang the last note of the lullaby going up, because she said a child should never fall asleep sad.

Their story

She was the last queen of Lumen, a descendant of King Haldor, the one who dug too deep. On the Night of the Song she went down into the mine with her daughter by the hand and never came back. Her name is engraved on a throne of black crystal, in the center of a city no one remembers.

Reveal their secret (novel spoiler)

She sealed her best friend in a crystal and gave her daughter to the mountain as its key. She sang to the Door for a hundred years. Ten years ago she took Hana out of the heart, erased all her memories but one morning, and watched over her through the blue lantern. She also paid the assassin she knew would fail.

Discover their whole story

A novel in 16 chapters and two interludes, with an ending that isn’t over yet.

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