Chapter 11
Islept like the dead.
No dreams, no tossing, no waking up in the middle of the night like I was sure I would when I lay on that bed. Just pure, heavy, dreamless sleep that pulled me under the moment my head touched the pillow and didn't let go until sunlight fell on my face.
When I opened my eyes, it took me a full three seconds to remember where I was.
The ceiling was too high. The bed was too soft. The air smelled of dust and something faintly sweet beneath it, like the ghost of flowers. Roses specifically.
But then it all came back. The tunnels and the fence and the palace. The floor caving underneath us that Mimi thought was the palace’s doing.
The hallway with the twelve doors. Twelve, not nine.
Twelve rooms for twelve Hands of the Turning Trials.
And the same question loomed right there over my head—what happened to the other three?
The thought weighed heavy on my mind when I slipped off the bed and began to inspect the room without really knowing what I was doing.
I opened the drawers on the nightstands—empty—and the wardrobe—empty—and the bathroom—empty.
Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust, but the room still felt… lived in.
Lastly, I went to the window, opened one, and breathed in the fresh air, looked out at the trees and the pointy tips of the fence bars beyond—and at March, whose eyes were on me.
Everything came to a halt, including my heart.
March was there, head sticking out another window possibly twenty feet away from me.
No smile on his face, no expression in his eyes that I noticed, just his hair that glistened red under the fresh sunlight.
Every curl was perfectly defined. His skin glowed, and his eyes were more red than brown.
I saw it clearly, even though we were a good distance away.
I knew all the shades of rust that made him.
“Good morning,” he said, and I more read the words on his lips than heard them.
I was certain that I meant to say good morning back, but when my mouth opened, the words that came out of me were, “I know you.”
Because I did.
March watched me like he was both surprised and…sad at my words, which meant he heard them.
Instinct took over and my mouth opened again to say sorry, to say I didn’t mean it, to say I’m being silly—of course I don’t know you!
But before I could make a single sound, there was a knock on the door.
It was like I was suddenly possessed by someone else. I pulled myself back into the room without explanation, and I didn’t give myself a second to hesitate before I went and pulled the door open.
Mimi stood in front of me with a smile on her face, which then turned to a flinch when she looked down at me.
“You haven’t bathed.”
Bathed.
Holy Hour, there was a tub in the bathroom—and she looked squeaky clean.
Her skin, her hair, even her clothes. Which then reminded me of the way we’d fallen when the floor caved.
“I didn’t…remember to, to be honest.” Bathing had been the last thing on my mind. I hadn’t even thought to look in the mirror.
“That’s okay. Just go dust off your hair and wash your face—I’ll wait.”
Outside in the hallway, a few of the others were walking out of their rooms, most clean. Clearly bathed.
I really should have remembered to bathe.
Then March’s door opened and he stepped outside. His hair was a little wet, and his face clean, but his clothes still had dust on them a little bit.
“Where are we going?” I asked—both him and Mimi, though he was farther away.
“To look for the proof, of course,” the Club girl said.
“Has anybody remembered?” March asked, and I held onto the handle of the door tightly…
“Nope. Not a thing.” Mimi said this with a grin.
A silent sigh escaped me. “I’ll just be a minute.”
I took a little longer than one minute, but I leaned over the basin and rinsed my hair as well as I could with cold water, cleaned my face, then dusted off my clothes with wet hands.
I used one of the towels to clean the leather of my mother’s coat, too, and by the time I was outside in the hallway again, I looked semi-decent.
And wet—but most of the others were the same.
Except Anika, Levana and Mimi, who’d thought to bathe last night, before going to bed.
“You guys,” said Seth as we gathered at the mouth of the hallway. “Nobody has found us.”
“Which is a bit strange, considering they saw us,” I said in wonder.
“And they were going to alert the queens,” said Mimi.
Shivers erupted down my arms. I chased them away with my hands, casually stepping closer to where March stood a little farther to my left.
“But nobody’s here, so…” Russ shrugged, and he didn’t seem concerned in the least. Most didn’t, and none looked like they wanted to leave, either. “Breakfast? I’m starving.”
Well, I wasn’t starving but I could definitely use some water right now.
“I say we first try to find the proof,” Anika said.
“But if we do find food along the way, we’ll eat it,” said Seth.
“Wait—how will we know how to find the proof?” Cook.
“And what if the Timekeepers find us again?” Erith.
“We need a plan of action if that happens,” I said.
“And we need to know what to say if we do get caught and questioned.” March.
A tick of silence as we all looked at one another.
“We tell the truth, don’t we? Timekeepers kidnapped us and brought us here against our will to search for proof,” said Levana.
“Except that’s not the truth, is it? We were given an option.” Seth.
“We decided to come here on our own,” I reminded her.
Levana flinched. “But we can still blame them.”
“No,” March said. “If someone catches us, we’ll say we woke up here and we have no idea how. Someone attacked us, kidnapped us, and then we just woke up here.”
We thought about it for a second. That did sound good enough.
“It’s pretty close to the truth,” Mimi said. “I agree. This notebook is proof that whoever messed with us and our memories is here somewhere, and we shouldn’t trust them.” She patted the pocket of her jacket.
“Guys, nobody is going to find us.” Russ rolled his eyes slowly to make sure we all saw.
“The floor caved in all on its own last night. We slept here, all of us, and nobody came to even check—you’d think they’d check the bedrooms, wouldn’t you?
They’re not stupid. They would have checked here first.”
And he was absolutely right, they would have.
“That they didn’t means…they couldn’t,” said Erith in wonder.
“Which means we’re going to be just fine—so long as we find some food,” Russ concluded with a nod.
“But how are we going to find anything here?” said Anika. “This place is enormous and we have no idea where anything is.”
Except… “We sort of do,” I said. “Seth found this place on the first try last night.” And it was clear to see that these were our rooms, if we’d ever lived in this place. This was where we slept. Our bodies knew it perfectly well.
“Twelve doors,” March whispered.
“For twelve Hands.” I looked at all the doors we’d left open, and the three that were still closed—two on the right, and one on the left.
For a second there, I could have sworn I heard an echo of a voice—of laughter. Calls and shouts.
“Did they…did they die?” Mimi whispered so low I barely heard her.
“But nobody dies in the Turning Trials. They’re…they’re safe. They’re just games,” said Cook.
He didn’t really sound like he believed his own words any more than we did.
“Come on, let’s go. Let’s try to find food,” Russ insisted.
“And proof.” Levana.
“Yes. And proof.”
So off we went, around the corner and down the hallway together, feeling stranger and stranger, but also more at ease.
Such a strange state to be in—part of me was expecting to be found any second, to hear those footsteps, hear the voices—don’t move!
—and the other part was just perfectly calm, certain that we were safe, that nobody was coming.
It had been so silly of us, now that I thought about it, to just go to those rooms and sleep the whole night. It was after ten in the morning, and the Timekeeper woman would have had plenty of time to apprehend all of us individually if she’d found us.
She hadn’t, though. Even if we’d been careless, nobody had found us. Nobody would—whether because of the palace or some other reason.
Yes, a part of me genuinely believed that, even if it didn’t make sense.
We came upon a glass wall that made up most of a wide hallway as we went, and through it we could see the tower of the Great Clock if we leaned down a bit.
It was massive, especially in daylight, so much bigger than I remembered.
Just the idea that it existed, that it was the reason why our realm existed, too, brought goose bumps all over my forearms.
Cook was leading the way without word. He took us to the other side of the hallway, turned left at a small junction, then went through a set of double doors so polished the wood glistened.
In the next hallway, he stopped in front of another set—wider, made of white wood with silver handles and silver streaks on the smooth surface.
Not sure why I held my breath while he pushed them both open at the same time, and…
The room beyond was wide and bright, with tall windows on one side letting in the morning sun.
A single long table in the middle, set for thirteen.
Thirteen chairs, thirteen place settings—plates, cups, silverware—all of it covered in a fine layer of dust. As if someone had set this table months ago and simply never came back to clear it.
“The eating hall,” Cook whispered, like he himself was surprised to find it there.
“Thirteen places,” March said.
“Why thirteen?” Levana wondered. “Who was the other Heart?” She turned and looked at him, the question darkening her eyes.
“Who was the other Club?” Mimi wondered next.
“And who was the other Spade?” said Cook, his eyes on me.
Nobody had an answer.