Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Bright and early on morning number five, I stepped out onto Camelot Courtyard to spot Max in front of his room. When he caught sight of me, he walked straight to Vivian’s room.
Confusion twisted my stomach.
And to make matters worse, Morgan stepped out of her room and witnessed my masochistic staring contest.
The sympathy written on her face when she looked at me, compared to the disgust aimed at Max, hit like a fist to the ribs.
Everything was getting harder and harder to handle.
When I got to Endurance training, I didn’t want to talk about it, and Landon expertly veiled his surprise and concern over how focused I was during our session.
I wanted to be offended by the surprise, but who was I kidding? It was obvious I had something on my mind and planned to avoid it.
Thankfully, he gave me space to process.
His trust that I would come to him when I was ready gave me the space to breathe and clear my head. It was exactly what I needed and pulled me out of my funk.
In return, I let him beat me around the lake, stopping to use my rescue inhaler before I needed it.
He sent me off to my next training with a meaningful kiss goodbye, and I tried not to cry over how good it felt to be truly seen.
In my next session with Peter, as I stared at the Queen chess piece on the board in front of me, doubt gnawed at me.
With what Max had thrown in my face and my realizations before I’d veered off my path to fall down a cliff, I reached one inevitable conclusion. If I wanted to turn things around, I needed the spot at the center of the wheel.
I needed to win and become Queen.
My only priority had to be solving the clues, which meant putting Max, Vivian, and anyone else who got in the way out of my mind completely.
As my train of thought spiraled toward full distraction, Peter quizzed me on my knowledge of the rules. “Do you remember what these guys are called?”
He touched a phallic-shaped piece.
“Bishops. They sit beside the King and Queen.”
The right and left hands of the King, protecting him in different ways.
Peter smiled. “Yes, and they move diagonally. Not side to side or in a straight line like the Queen.”
My lips quirked. “They cross the board in X patterns.”
He chuckled. “Yes. Good job, Quinn.”
When he smiled warmly, it still threw me for a bit of a loop. But, like Izzy had said, he and Vivian were as different as night and day. Two sides of the same coin.
Just like my Knights.
Despite sharing the same black hair and ice-blue eyes, Peter was friendly as we engaged during each lesson. The opposite of my every interaction with her—cold and bitchy.
Maybe the same could be said for her and me.
Vivian had been my biggest threat when I’d first arrived. She’d proven that the night she tried to drown me in the lake, but she’d quickly lost her place as enemy number one.
There were larger opponents forcing both our hands and controlling our movements. I’d questioned her motivations and intentions ever since Kingston had.
Were we fighting the same battle?
Peter pulled me from my thoughts. “You’re lost in your head again. What’s up?”
“I’m trying to remember the Knights’ movement.”
“They move to the nearest space not on the same rank, file, or diagonal as their current space. And—”
Shaking my head, I put a hand up. “Every time you explain them, you lose me.”
Brow furrowing, his mouth twisted as he thought through a better explanation. His blue eyes lit up, and he made an L-shape with his thumb and forefinger. “Like this.”
I shot him a look. “You can’t call me a loser before the game ends, Peter.” Staring pointedly at his completely innocent hand gesture, I couldn’t help but tease him.
He’d made it his personal mission to make me a fan of the game, ever since I told him about my dad. I had no idea why he cared, but it was sweet.
Glancing at me and then his fingers, he laughed before putting his hand down. “How about this? Two spaces forward or backward and one to the side. Or vice versa.”
I nodded, blocking out whatever he’d just said because now that he’d made that hand gesture, I wouldn’t forget their movements. “Got it.”
He beamed. “Last but not least.” He pointed to the two pieces that looked like castles. “Rooks. They can move forward and back or from side to side. Never diagonally. And they move when castling, but we’ll get to that.”
“Good idea.”
I was already overwhelmed.
But despite myself, I enjoyed a game of chess for the first time in my life.
Maybe there was reason to have faith, hope, even in the most hopeless situations.
After my Strategy session with Peter, I went to Sublimation and painted swirls of blue, red, and purple. When I stepped back to admire my handiwork, the beautiful X patterns on the walls made me giggle.
“How are you today, Quinn?” Dax asked from the kitchen, where an opaque but clear tarp separated him and the splatters of paint flying off my brush. “You seem in better spirits.”
“I’m pretty good.” I shrugged, dropping my brush into the bucket of water and wiping my hands on my coveralls.
I brushed over the side pockets in my leggings, touching the flashlight Morty had given me on my right and the pocketknife on my left.
“I made some progress on the Scavenger Hunt, so I’m not riddled with anxiety over falling completely behind. ”
“That’s great, Quinn.”
As he came out from his protective area, I dragged my coveralls down and tied the sleeves around my waist. Pulling out the flashlight, I held it up for Dax to see.
“What’s it for?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” I clicked it on. “I think it’s a black light, though.”
He studied it. “Interesting.”
While he launched into details on our next lesson, I got distracted by the plastic tarp behind him. The makeshift shield protecting the kitchen from paint had something on it. Something illuminated by my flashlight.
“Can you get the light?”
He stopped talking and followed my gaze. With a smile on his face, he went and turned off the light in the living room.
My eyes widened.
Scrawled across the tarp, I found a code. I shook my head as I read the numbers.
“0-1-2-3. Seriously?”
Dax laughed. “Guess you didn’t try that one, huh?”
Rolling my eyes, I swung around to face him with a smile. “No. I assumed with all the cryptic bullshit this place loves, it’d be a bit more complicated than that.”
He grinned, clapping a hand on my shoulder.
“Sometimes, the most obvious things hide in plain sight.”
Keyed up after my discovery in Sublimation, I had little patience for Ben.
I made it fifteen minutes through my hour with him for Elements training before he suggested we go to his room for a quick make-out sesh and made me want to stab him.
Surprise, surprise.
Fingers clenched around my knife, I stormed off, eager to use my time on the Scavenger Hunt instead. As I passed by Max’s training center, I peeked inside but didn’t see him.
Apparently, my sessions weren’t the only ones he avoided.
I still believed the clues dealt with our journey at Camelot Court, which meant he probably had a clue for me, even if it wasn’t the one I needed right away, so I’d have to suck it up and ask this afternoon.
Before that, I needed to get into that lockbox.
I ducked into my bedroom, where I’d left it for safekeeping, and pulled it out from beneath my pillow. I wasn’t sure who I expected to come after it, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
Quickly adjusting the tiles, I spun them to the factory default setting.
When the lock clicked and the lid popped open, an exultant cry leaving my lips at the sight of my next clue.
Under shredded bits of paper, a magnifying glass rested atop an old photograph.
Smudges of white obscured the image, but it appeared to be a group photo. I’d spent so much time staring at the Maiden Introduction photos, I recognized the lineup. Without a frame, I didn’t know the year it was taken, and I’d need a way to remove the smudges safely.
Just to be sure, I clicked my flashlight on and scanned the inside of the lockbox and the photo. I also ran the magnifying glass over everything before tucking all the items inside.
I hopped off the bed and left the room, planning to visit Miss Alice in the kitchens while I killed some time. She might be able to help me remove the smudges.
Miss Alice greeted me when I walked in, and I took up residence on a stool while she cooked. “Do you know how to get smudges off an old photograph? I want to clean it without ruining the image underneath.”
She stirred whatever heavenly dish she made in the pot while glancing at me over her shoulder. “Do you know what the smudges are from?”
“No idea.”
Cradling the wooden spoon in the dish on the stove, she paused her cooking to inspect the problem herself. She wiped her hands on her apron and took the photo. With the nail of her pinky finger, she scraped off a tiny piece of one smudge mark. She sniffed and licked it before wrinkling her nose.
“This is paint.”
“It is?” I took the photo as she handed it back to me. “So, that should be pretty easy to remove, right?”
“It depends what type of paint was used, but WD-40, rubbing alcohol, or paint thinner could do the trick. You’ll want to test a small spot, using a cotton ball or cotton-tipped applicator.
I have some with the rubbing alcohol in the laundry room.
” She eyed the pot on the stove and removed her apron.
“Give this a few turns for me while I fetch it.”
After setting her apron on the kitchen island, she disappeared through a side door.
I picked up the wooden spoon and held it over the giant pot before peering at the contents. Broth bubbled at the surface, so I stirred it a few times gently before replacing the spoon on its dish and stepping back.
Elaine caught me before I got back to my seat.
She arched a brow at where I stood by the stove, and her lips curved in a cruel smile. “Getting a jump start on your future position, Quinn?”