CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
When my adelphia did finally return, I told them everything that had happened. The questions I d been asked, the accusations. As I d suspected, they had also been interrogated, but we d all held to our version of events.
If they were risking themselves and their places here to help me, I was at least going to tell them as much of the truth as I could.
There s something else, I told them. When I was in the city, I went into the records office and found an old book about the temple. The last page was full of entries of priestesses getting married and the temple providing them a substantial dowry.
We were all seated on our own beds and everyone looked at me in utter astonishment.
You can read? Ahyana asked.
I d been expecting this question. All women in Locris are taught to read.
Priestesses getting married? That can t be right, Io said, sounding extremely upset. I knew how important the temple and her faith were to her, and it made sense that she would be more sensitive to what I d said than the others. Abstaining from relationships and marriage is one of the fundamental vows of the goddess.
I know what I saw, I told her.
Maybe you misunderstood it, she said.
I didn t. It was very clear.
You said you didn t know how old the book was. Maybe it was from a really long time ago, Ahyana said with Suri nodding.
No, Io interjected. It can t be possible.
The attachment she felt to the goddess and the temple would make it nearly impossible for someone like her to believe me. I wished I still had the proof.
Part of me suspected that even if I could show her the book-and she could read it-she might not be swayed.
And that worried me. I don t know what happened to the book or who took it. I m guessing it was the men who attacked last night, but I don t know how they could have known about it or why they would want it.
Zalira tapped her fingers against her leg. When we returned to our room after seeing you, I did notice that everything had been thrown around. I assumed it was because of the fighting, but now that I think on it . . .
I felt bad, as if I were causing them to question everything the same way that I was. Making them more suspicious by nature.
The mystery of the book aside, I am going to try and break into the treasury tonight. I held my breath, not certain what their response would be.
You re injured, Ahyana observed.
Which is actually a perfect cover. If someone realizes that the key is gone or that the treasury was broken into, who would suspect us? Especially me?
You know as well as we do that Antiope will increase the guard, Zalira pointed out.
I nodded. I also know that everyone will be in a heightened state, expecting another attack. I think we can use it to our advantage. I have some ideas.
I thought you didn t like plans, Ahyana teased.
Tonight will be a special situation. We don t know exactly what we re walking into. At least before, with Theano s office, we d known the general layout of the building and what we might expect. We had no such information for the treasury. None of us had ever entered the building.
Io let out a long, deep sigh. Fine. We re going with you.
While I d hoped they would help, I hadn t counted on it. I should have known better.
Good. Thank you. Here s what I think we should do . . .
Zalira stayed up and kept watch while the rest of us slept. I desperately needed it and had a deep and dreamless sleep until she shook me awake.
It s time, she said.
She went around and woke the others and I strapped all my weapons on this time. I didn t ever want to find myself without them when I needed them again.
We had run over our plan multiple times throughout the day and had solidified what we would be doing. I probably should have given us more time but I felt everything closing in around me.
Like something was urging me to hurry.
When everyone was ready, we moved as a group to the front door of the dormitory. No one else in the building seemed to be awake. Ahyana had Kunguru on her shoulder and we crept stealthily outside.
The treasury was farther away than the administrative building and there would be quite a few opportunities to run into guards, including the new ones.
If I had done this alone and gotten caught, I could have easily explained that I had suffered a head injury and wasn t thinking clearly. Didn t know where I was. Lied my way out.
But with all of us? It was a massive risk.
Not to mention that it would be easier for us to be seen. I needed their help and special skill sets, but I felt guilty about it. There would be no explaining this away if we were apprehended in a group this size.
I d tried to talk them into leaving a few of us behind, but no one would listen.
The bright, full moon beamed down from a clear sky. It lit up everything, erasing the shadows we d been counting on to aid us.
We would be spotted.
Oh no, I muttered.
Give it a moment, Zalira said, looking up.
Sure enough, within a few heartbeats, the sky suddenly clouded over and blocked the moon completely. I was so grateful for her gift.
We got to the first intercept point and Zalira had a small bow and arrows that she had borrowed from the gymnasium during training today. Two guards were conversing not far from us. She raised the bow and shot wide, over their heads, so that it landed in a wooden post twenty feet away from them.
As we d hoped, the guards immediately assumed that the temple might be under attack. They drew their swords and ran toward the arrow.
Go! I said and headed in the opposite direction. Io had told us about a large row of bushes that we could hide behind while more guards rushed past us to check out the arrow.
When it was clear we rose and continued our run toward the treasury. I wished the building weren t quite so far.
At the halfway point Ahyana told Kunguru to fly. He took off into the air, and a few moments later, he began to call loudly and repeatedly, causing a commotion. We heard more raised voices, more heavy footsteps following him. We were causing confusion everywhere we went, clearing a path.
I felt so many competing emotions-I was terrified that my adelphia might have to pay for what I was doing, excited that I was finally going to get my hands on the eye, anxious about making a mistake.
All those feelings propelled me forward. I told myself that I would succeed. This somehow seemed easier than the times I d sneaked through the temple grounds before. Maybe because I d done it so many times already.
And it felt like we were being watched over, protected. As if the goddess were blessing what we were doing.
Kunguru continued to call out as we reached the treasury. Two guards stood just inside the main door. We could see the spears they held.
Io said, Let s hope this works.
She tossed a glass bottle into their midst and it shattered. The guards both immediately collapsed to the ground.
You did it! I told her. She d spent the entire day coming up with the formulation, inspired by my goose request.
Her eyes shone brightly as we ran toward the treasury. I don t know how long it will last. I was afraid of overdosing them, so I probably underdid it. We have to hurry.
I supposed some part of me assumed that if we got past the guards at the front door, we would see the vault immediately.
Instead there were three doors along each wall.
False doors, Ahyana said. Our father told us about this. The builders of the great pyramids deliberately created false doors to deceive and lead thieves away from the real door. The fake ones will lead to certain death.
Which one do we pick? Io breathed.
Suri confidently walked up to the third door on the right wall and put her hand against it. I trusted her instincts. I took the key over and fitted it into the lock. It felt a bit rusty and stuck a little but eventually it turned. Was that a good sign or a bad one? I pushed the door in and held my breath.
I d read so many stories in my grandmother s book about monsters that would lie in wait in places like this, about traps that could end our lives. A rock slab sliding out from a hidden shelf above that would crush us. A floor that would give way when pressure was applied to it, impaling us on stakes below.
I took a few tentative steps forward, holding my breath.
Nothing happened.
A few more. Still safe.
Hurry, Io reminded me.
Believing in my sister, I ventured farther into the hallway.
Stay back. Wait until I make sure it s safe, I told them. If a trap was sprung, it would happen only to me. I held my breath as I traveled the darkened length of the hall. It almost felt like the stones in the walls around me were breathing and somehow getting closer together. As if they were going to close in on me.
After a sharp turn to the left, I found myself in the vault. The room was massive, with riches piled all the way to the ceiling. I saw ornate golden breastplates, steel swords with golden and bronze hilts, gilded furniture, helmets encrusted with gems and polished to a bright sheen. Vases of all sizes covered in various precious metals.
Multiple wooden tables were absolutely laden with jewelry-earrings, necklaces, crowns, bracelets, rings, shoulder pins, brooches. Piles and piles of gold and silver coins. Loose gems scattered throughout.
There s too much. There was no way I could look through all of this. Even with all my sisters here, we had seconds, not hours.
Some part of my brain had fantasized that there would be a stone pedestal with the eye placed on a silk pillow, easy to find, waiting for me.
Suri had followed me into the vault first. I turned to her. I m looking for something called the eye of the goddess. It isn t an ordinary gem. It will have power. Like what we feel in the dirt.
She nodded.
Io came in after, followed by Zalira and Ahyana. She took one look around and gasped. No one touch anything!
Why? I asked.
Do you not smell that? Everything here has been coated in fire dragon s blood.
And?
It s poison! she said. We can t even be in this room for very long. We shouldn t be breathing it in. If I had known, I could have brought a remedy. Then she cursed in a very un-Io-like fashion.
That was bad but workable. When Suri found the eye I would make sure to use my cloak to grab it.
Suri walked the length and width of the room, back and forth. Two times. Three. She came back to me, looking defeated while shaking her head.
Bile rose in my throat, my stomach clenched, my hands started to shake.
No. It has to be here. I began looking and quickly realized that not a single gem in this room was green. Every other color of the rainbow was represented, but not green.
The eye wasn t here.
I started to feel frantic and reached for the closest gold pile, intending to dig through it.
Io grabbed my arm and jerked it away. No! Lia, we have to go. We re out of time.
Suri was with her, putting her hand against my chest. She looked me deep in the eye and shook her head.
No.
I didn t want it to be true. I had gone through so much, sacrificed everything, to come here and get the eye.
They had to push and pull me out of the vault. Zalira made sure to close the door while Ahyana was busy picking up the glass shards from Io s potion. Io went to help her, but Suri kept her hand on my right arm. I could tell that she didn t trust me to behave rationally.
The treasury guards had started to stir and we quietly ran out into the night. Kunguru was still calling and we were able to hurry back the way we d come, hiding in all the same places, unseen.
All I could think about was that I had failed. I d had my one chance and it had been for nothing. Quynh had died for nothing.
My throat burned and a sob that I couldn t let out formed in my chest. We had to stay quiet. When we got back to our room, everybody hurried to shed their cloaks and weapons, hiding them in the wardrobe.
Suri had to force me into my bed and pull a blanket over me. I felt like a child being directed by her mother. I was so devastated, so destroyed, that I couldn t act. The pain-physical, emotional, mental-overwhelmed me.
It was a good thing Suri had reacted so quickly because thirty seconds later a guard came into our room with a torch, checking on us. I held completely still, and after a few soul-destroying heartbeats, she left.
We had gotten away with it, but I was, once again, empty-handed.