37. Chapter 36
Whatever Ezra’s brother had done to her cleared later that day, but she hadn’t been able to shake the encounter for the last two weeks. She still couldn’t remember why she had gone to the dean’s office. Rhea had to fill her in when she asked about the missing woman from the party.
Ezra also hadn’t been his usual self. There were barely any arrogant jokes or attempts at shameless flirting despite him staring at her like she was the only one in the room, and she could only count on one hand how many times she’d seen his dimples. Was it sad that she missed them?
He searched her apartment high and low when he came back, insisting his brother had planted a listening device inside, like what happened to him.
They found nothing, thankfully. She didn’t press him for details, despite being curious as hell.
After all, his brother may have something to do with what was happening if he used his magic on her to get her to leave.
His family was clearly a delicate subject, and while she couldn’t understand completely, she knew keeping the pain locked deep inside was easier than facing it sometimes.
She hoped he’d open up about it more, but he surprised her with how much he had already told her.
Growing up like that…well, it couldn’t be easy dealing with the aftermath.
Whatever pain he was holding on to, she couldn’t help but want to be by his side through it.
“Hey,” Ivy said, reaching out for his hand as they climbed the steps to their exam room on the third floor. “You’re still alright to go through with today’s plan?”
“Yeah,” he said, watching other students pass by. “I get that I’ve been out of sorts the past couple of weeks. It’s not important. What’s important is that we find what we’re looking for.”
“You know you can talk to me if you want to, right?”
His lips twitched into a half smile and he squeezed her hand once. “You’re sweet, snapdragon. But you don’t need to worry about me. I promise.”
She returned the gesture, but faltered a moment later. She wasn’t expecting him to pour his heart out there on the steps, though she’d hoped he wouldn’t brush it off either.
“And you?”
“Uh.” She shrugged as she hauled herself up the last step. God, after four years at this school, she’d have thighs of steel. “I think so. A lot is riding on this exam, you know?”
Not only were they going to find a secret entrance, but they also weren’t sure if they would receive another page of the book with Briar gone.
When she asked Rhea about it, she’d said Briar had enchanted the pages to find Ivy through these exams. Briar insisted it was the only secure method.
Would that enchantment be broken? And if it were, how would they solve the cipher?
“Whatever we find—or don’t find—we’ll figure it out.”
“I wish I had your confidence,” she muttered with a short laugh.
They took their spots on the bench outside the room, and it wasn’t until Maeve peered at them that she realized she and Ezra were still holding hands.
She slipped her hand out of his to play with the hem of her skirt, and heat spread across her cheeks.
They all wore their normal clothes today after the letter clued them in that the exam was a collaboration between Intellect and Fates.
Maeve was positive there wouldn’t be any fighting or physical exertion with those two.
Hopefully, she was right so they could take the time to search the room rather than defend themselves.
About twenty minutes later, their door swung open, and the group leaving had varied looks of defeat on their faces. As they passed, Ivy overheard them chatting about how hard the exam was. They all rose from the bench and, one by one, entered the exam room.
The small room transformed before their eyes into a large, circular room with rich blue carpeting, dark wood-paneled walls, and a glass dome overhead. Several oak tables, desks, chairs, and bookcases were placed haphazardly around the room, with books, scrolls, and charts strewn about them.
“Kind of reminds me of Arion’s Observatory in the Intellect Courtyard,” Maeve chimed, moving toward the center of the room, which had a giant celestial globe towering over them.
The cream-colored globe had the chart of stars covering every inch, and it was held by brass rings and statues of the three cloaked figures.
It was the Fates, said to be three sisters who control the past, present, and future.
Though if the statue from their first exam was to be believed, they no longer had their powers.
“What do we need to do?” Ivy asked.
They moved closer to the center, and Liam spun the bottom of the globe gently.
With the movement, metal churned around the room.
Giant metal rings expanded out from the breaks between the wood paneling and the windows.
Now she understood why the room was such a mess, as books and papers clattered to the ground from their resting place.
The room rumbled around them as one last ring, bearing ancient numerals, crossed high above them.
Ezra stared at the ceiling as it slowly transformed into a night sky filled with stars. “Are we in a…”
“An armillary sphere!” Maeve squealed. A wide grin stretched across her face as she ran to the wall where a large crank lever had appeared. “At least a mimic of one. My guess is we have to chart a timeline of events based on the position of the stars above.”
“Hence all the books,” Ivy huffed. Something like this could take them hours to solve.
“Don’t be discouraged,” Maeve reassured. “This is one of my majors, after all. And…kind of a hyper-fixation, if I’m being honest.” She glanced at the grandfather clock close to her, but instead of having all twelve numbers on its face, it only had two.
“We have two hours,” Ezra said.
“I’ll work on this,” Maeve said confidently. She pulled at the crank lever, and the metal shifted around them. A few books and papers clattered to the floor with the jolt of movement. “If I get stuck, Liam will be my research assistant while you two search for any secret doors.”
“How many will you need to chart?” Ivy looked around the room, trying to find any hints.
“Check the numerals,” Ezra said, nearing the ring overhead. He squinted at the contraption while Ivy moved to one end.
She narrowed her focus on the metal etchings. “This side has a two. What’s the furthest on your side?”
“Uh, eight, I think,” he said, scratching the top of his head.
“I’ll take as much time solving as I can,” Maeve said, straining to pull at the lever again. Liam moved her aside, saying something to make her giggle, before tugging the lever with ease.
Ezra moved over to her, rolling up the sleeves of his sweater. “Where do you want to start?”
An hour and a half had gone by, and they still hadn’t found anything.
Maeve had already charted six of the eight events, and Ivy could tell she was getting antsy to finish in order to pass the exam.
Ivy paced back and forth between a desk and a bookcase, trying to find places they might have missed.
They even checked the floors for any secret hatches.
Her jaw—hell, her entire body—clenched. No matter what she tried, no matter what she did, it was never good enough. She would never find Briar. She would never help her parents. All she knew was failure.
“Fuck!” she cursed, her arms shooting to her sides as her hands balled into fists. As the anger inside her boiled over, she kicked the wall. Pain radiated in her toe, and tears welled as she doubled over.
“Hey, easy there, snapdragon,” Ezra hushed. He draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close. His warmth and his addictive cardamom and clove scent curled around her, easing some of the pain.
A faint breeze blew across her face. Her brows scrunched together as she peered ahead, and between panels was a small crack. She crawled forward and pressed her hands flat against it, and with one forceful push, the panel gave way to pitch-black darkness on the other side.
“Holy shit,” Ezra said.
“We did it,” Ivy laughed, all the pain leaving her body. “It’s real.”
“And you have less than thirty minutes until this room changes again, whether we finish this exam or not,” Maeve called out.
“We’ll have to be fast.” Ivy pushed herself off the floor and before she could go in, Ezra’s hand slipped into hers, pulling her attention to him.
“We need to come back,” Ezra said, his voice low, and checked his watch. “We have fifteen minutes, then we’ll come back here even if this leads us somewhere. If the room changes while we’re gone…”
“We could get lost,” she said, nodding once, trying to keep the disappointment off her face. She should’ve kicked the wall sooner. “Got it.”
They stepped inside the dark space together. It was a narrow hallway, dank and dusty, and Ivy coughed as she inhaled. She raised her hand, calling upon her magic to cast a ball of light in her palm.
“This must be the space between rooms,” Ezra said.
Nothing about the hallway was special. It was made of the same stone as the building, but far ahead of them was a set of stairs leading down. She pulled Ezra along with her, only to come to another hall similar to the one they had just been in.
“This is the second floor.” There was another staircase next to the one they came from, and she rushed down that one too. “And the first floor.”
There was another set of stairs leading farther below.
She swallowed roughly as a bead of cold sweat slid down the back of her neck. “There wasn’t a basement on the blueprint, right?”
“No,” Ezra said, his voice trembling. There was a nervous edge in his voice that made her hold his hand tighter, as if she also didn’t have a sense of dread wash over her. She moved forward, but stumbled when Ezra didn’t follow. She glanced over her shoulder to see the color drained from his face.
His eyes were wide and fixated on the stairs. Heavy, rapid breaths spilled from his lips as though there were a weight crushing his chest in.