Chapter 34
T he sun had barely broken the horizon when we gathered by the academy gates to take the port to the location where the trial would take place.
The world was gray and dreary, echoing my mood because the dream with Serath lingered like a storm cloud overhead.
Dread lurked deep in my belly, worming its way around and leaving me slightly nauseated.
I needed this day done. I needed a victory.
Touron and the twins had been up to send us off, Touron with breakfast sandwiches and Palia and Ginia with huge mugs of coffee and words of encouragement and confidence, so despite the pit in my belly, I was more than ready to get this trial over with so I could get my ass into graynite territory.
The port to our location was set into the stone wall beside the main gates of the academy, and a middle-aged man stood beside it, dressed in a woollen coat and a beanie hat.
He had the kind of face that smiled easily and eyes that spoke of wisdom and kindness.
He didn’t shy away from meeting our eyes.
“My name’s Doran,” he said, offering us a warm smile. “I’m with port management. We’re a small team responsible for managing and testing the ports for council members.”
“You’re not a witch, though,” Curi said. “What are you?”
“Witches aren’t the only beings able to create portals, although they do it with innate talent which, admittedly, is enviable…” He shrugged. “I don’t have that kind of skill, but I can create stable portals given enough time.”
“That did not answer his question,” Derek said.
“No, I suppose not. I’m magi, or part magi.”
The mageri could mostly be found in the domed city, but I’d heard a few lived out here in the rims. “So you created this port?”
“I did. It’s sound. You’ll be met by your test master on the other side.”
“I’ll be waiting for you back at the tower when you’re done,” Orix said.
I looked across at him in surprise. “You’re not coming?”
“The elite trials are a closed event, Cameron. I’ve already taken them.”
And forgotten what they entail, which meant that whoever was testing us also had the skill to make us forget.
“I’ll go first,” Levi said.
Not that it mattered, because if this was a trap, there was no way for him to come back and tell us. Ports were usually one way.
Curi went next, followed by Shar, then I stepped forward with Derek in tow.
The blue light swallowed me and tipped me out onto wooden floors. I stumbled, but Derek steadied me.
We were in a small room with gray walls and a door leading off it. Two windows looked out onto a vast expanse of barren land. There was no furniture. Nothing to make it stand out except the woman with the sleek bob standing by the door.
“Mother?” Levi looked stunned. “What are you doing here?”
But it was obvious to me. “She’s the test master.”
“You didn’t know?” Curi looked suspicious.
“No, he didn’t,” Adaline said. “And when you’re done, none of you will remember this.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Sharniza said.
Neither did I, but if it got us closer to our goal, then so be it. “What is this place? Where are we?”
“A secure location,” she said. “Part of an estate owned by the five bloodlines. I believe it’s a safe house, a bunker maybe, although none of that has ever been confirmed.
What I do know is that only the heads of the elite bloodlines know of its existence, which is why, bearing in mind the recent attacks, it was chosen as the location for your test today. ”
The test would take place here? “I thought we needed an orb to get to the test site.”
She smiled thinly. “In a manner of speaking.” She drew an orb from her cloak and raised it in the air. “Best of luck.” She dropped it, and smoke filled my vision.
The smoke cleared, and I was alone in the room, but the windows were gone. The door that Adaline had been standing beside was now open, a dark aperture that dared me to enter.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
Great. Okay. Through the door it was, then.
Darkness swallowed me and spat me out into a space that felt like it had no end. No walls, no ceiling, the edges of the world shrouded in shadow, leaving me feeling small and exposed in the silvery light that illuminated the space around me.
“Hello? Is anybody there?” My voice echoed back at me, the cadence off, almost mocking. “Hello?” Once again, the echo came back sounding wrong, and the hairs on my arms stood to attention because that was no echo. “Show yourself!”
A figure emerged from the darkness, tall and regal, golden hair pinned up in a messy bun, gray eyes glittering where they caught the silvery light, and a jolt of recognition shot through me followed by unease, because the figure was me. Or a copy of me.
She tipped her head slightly to the side to study me, and her lip curled. “You’re a pathetic thing, aren’t you? We’ll have to fix that if you’re going to pass this trial.”
“She’s not pathetic.” Another figure hurried out of the darkness. “You leave her alone.” It was me again, but a softer version, hair unbound and flowing gently down my back. She looked over at me with a shy smile. “Hi.”
My gaze bounced between them. “What the fuck is going on?”