Chapter 58
Mikel’s face is purple. The veins in his throat bulge. But he wheezes, eyes fluttering open.
At least he’s alive.
Cindel walks past him without so much as a glance to get to the split box. Raising her shirt over her nose, she pries open his box the rest of the way. Much of the smoke is gone, and from within she produces a small, purple token.
“On to the next!” she declares triumphantly. The rest of her group follow her away even though she’s the only one with the token.
Just one from Cindel’s pack looks back at Mikel on the ground, still clutching his shirt over his chest. The girl ultimately leaves him behind.
I’m not surprised. Even though I don’t like the guy, I go to Mikel.
He looks at me, confused but scared. “I just want to see if I can help,” I say, loosening the laces of his jerkin.
He breathes a bit easier and wheezes thanks.
He’ll probably survive. The swelling is already going down.
But it looks like it’s going to be an awful next couple of hours for him.
I turn back to the puzzle boxes on the shelf as other initiates struggle to force them open now that they have confirmation tokens are inside. This is certainly not the way this was intended to be solved. Artificers don’t build their creations only to have them smashed to bits.
I stare at the box in my hand, then back at the shelf. There must be some clue here. Some pattern.
A bead of sweat rolls down the back of my neck at the relentless thunk-thunk-thunk of the hand moving on the clock above. What I thought would be a comforting way to check on time is now a distraction.
Think, Isola, think. What would your father do?
My father was the master artificer. He could sense Etherlight better than any. He’d make a sigil.
Is that it? Could the lines form a sigil if arranged correctly? No, it’s against the law to allow a sigil to be seen. But there could be a sigil hidden on the insides of the boxes, since they’re hollow. And if the lines match up in a certain way, that sigil is completed.
I rush over to the table, grabbing the remnants of the empty box Mikel left behind. No one stops me. They all must think it’s useless. When I glance inside, I see etchings, just as I suspected.
Triumph surges through me, and I look back to the shelves—all the boxes and their different-colored lines. There’s some pattern to it, I’m sure. But I’m not going to waste time on it.
Moving off to the side, I set one box on the ground and then grab another.
I place the other box around the first, lining up each of the sides.
Nothing. I grab another, flipping it three ways until there’s a spark of Etherlight between the edges.
The sides don’t seem to line up perfectly—one box has yellow lines, one blue.
But it doesn’t matter. I know it’s right. I can feel it.
I repeat the process with a third box, then a fourth; the fifth has another spark of Etherlight, and the box pops open harmlessly.
Others take note as I retrieve the purple token. But my focus is on the clock above. Twenty minutes gone. I can get the other two in ten.
I grab another yellow-lined box to start. Then a blue one. But the blue one doesn’t work this time. It’s a red one that sparks Etherlight. I’m sure there’s a pattern here, but figuring it out will be up to the other supplicants.
By the time the clock chimes that we are halfway, I’m back at the center, three tokens in hand. But neither Sipha nor Lucan are here.
Lucan has nearly scaled his wall. He’s two thirds of the way up. I can’t see past the haze of the pit to find out what Saipha is doing.
Before I can decide which of them to help, Cindel and her cronies catch my attention once more.
The inquisitors on either side of the door gesture for the others to stand back.
I can see some heated words flying between them and Cindel, but I can’t hear what they are.
Cindel just shrugs and approaches the doors, inserting the three tokens into the slots.
The massive doors at the far end of the stadium open just a crack, enough for one person.
Daylight on the other side is so blinding that I can’t make out what’s there.
But distant cheers reach my ears, and I imagine all our families right on the other side, waiting for us to emerge.
To see us safe and sound after three torturous weeks.
Cindel crosses into the light that’s so bright it feels like the Font.
The doors close behind her, and her cronies stare at one another like bees at a loss for what to do without their queen.
That’s what you get for throwing your lot in with someone like her, I think bitterly. The three of us will be going together.
When I turn back to Lucan, I find him nearly at the top. That’ll get one token, but we need two more. I can help.
Running over, I scan the tables of various artificer and renewer tools lined up in front of the ropes pinned before the wall.
Lucan chose to climb, but other supplicants had the right of it and made winches—a skill I also possess.
There are other supplicants here struggling with the different materials, trying to make heads or tails of them.
My hands fly over the gears, springs, and metal with confidence.
I slot the rope into the core of my finished device and grab onto the handles, cranking myself quickly up the wall. I even beat Lucan to the top. Some artificers line the top of the cliff face, each holding a basket of green tokens. The woman closest to me hands me one.
“You can use one of these to rappel down.” She motions to a pile of simple, V-shaped devices as she takes my winch.
“See you soon!” I say, and I think I catch a grin before I turn and use the tool to glide back down the rope.
I descend so rapidly, I end up stumbling forward as I reach the ground.
I push up from the packed earth of the stadium, relieved to be uninjured, and sprint back to the tables.
I suspect the artificers hadn’t intended for me to use the V-shaped rappelling device they sent me down with, but I use it anyway.
It’s an exceptional base to work from. I just need to make a few adjustments so it can be cranked manually.
I have another winch in minutes, and I’m ascending at the same time Lucan is speeding down. Our eyes meet for only a second.
“Welcome back.” The woman hands me another token, takes my winch, and gives me another tool to glide down the rope.
Lucan is waiting for me when my feet hit the ground. He grabs my biceps, pulling me up and helping to steady me.
“I thought I was doing this one?” he says, more confused than accusatory or upset.
“You were. You just went about it in the slowest way possible, and I already finished mine.” I show him the three purple tokens and two green.
“Have I told you today you’re brilliant?” His smile is nearly as bright as the daylight behind the doors.
The sight of it even draws a quirk of my lips. “No.”
“Don’t let me ever forget to again.”
For a second, everything seems hopeful. Until we see Saipha emerging from the pit.
“I got it.” Saipha holds up the blue token triumphantly. Her whole body shakes slightly. “It was confusing, and awful, and hard, but I got it.”
“You got one…” I try to mask the disappointment and confusion in my voice. She did her best.
“I… Yes. Isn’t that what we needed?”
“Saipha, we needed three—we each need three, one from each challenge.” I fumble over my words, despair crashing on me with every tick of the clock.
She opens her mouth, staring at the token in her shaking palm. I can see her lips tugging down. The knot forming between her brows that might turn into sobs. “I thought— I thought— I misunderstood, Isola. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I swallow hard and place one purple token and one green token in her hand.
Then hand the other purple token to Lucan.
He shares a hard look with me, and a slight nod that reassures me what I’m about to do is all right.
We both know she’s feeling the worst among us.
He and I can endure one more challenge to get through the doors, should it come to that.
Leaving the blue token in Saipha’s hand, I close her fingers around all three. Her eyes widen as realization dawns on her.
“Take these to the door and go through,” I command.
“What? What about both of you? There’s less than ten minutes.”
“We’re going to go get our own blue tokens,” I say with more confidence than I feel.
“No… No. Just come with me.” Saipha is clearly on the verge of panic. “We can all—”
“We can’t, Saipha.” I gesture to the door as another supplicant goes through. Saipha sees the inquisitors step forward to ensure it’s only one. She’s in a worse state than I thought to have missed this. “You need to go.”
“If anyone should have this, it’s you. Take it, Isola. I already know how to navigate that place. I can do it faster.” Saipha tries to thrust her blue token upon me. I refuse to accept it.
“You’re not in any condition to go back there.” My voice drops to a hush. “You want me to look good, don’t you? I can’t take charity from someone else as Valor Reborn.”
“Of course I want you to impress them.” She’s aghast I’d even suggest otherwise. Her mouth opens and closes multiple times. “But if you would look bad taking this token, then I would certainly look bad taking two from you.”
“Just do it,” I snap. The clock overhead continues to tick. “We’re running out of time.”
I try to move around her. She stops me.
“Whatever is behind the door, don’t make me face it alone,” she begs, clutching onto me. “We were alone in those cages. I—I can’t be alone again. You said you would stay with me. You promised to never leave my side.”
“The outside world is there, Saipha,” I say gently. “It’s Vinguard. It’s home. It’s your sisters and parents and good food and a warm bed.”
Her eyes well with unshed tears. “I don’t believe it.”
“I saw Cindel go through. I saw the other side.”
“It’s a trick. It has to be.” She clutches tighter to me. “Come with me.”
“I have to get a token, and I need to know you’re safe to focus on doing it. I will be right behind you through the door, I swear it.” I grip her hand. Then I pull myself from her grasp.
“Isola, please.” She trembles like a leaf.
I’ve never seen her look this scared before.
Something in her broke these past three weeks, something that I don’t think I can fix, but as soon as we’re out of this I’m going to try.
Her eyes are wide, tears welling in them.
“I can’t… I can’t do it without you. Don’t leave me alone. I—I’ll wait until you have yours.”
What if it takes me too long? What if I don’t get one? I don’t trust her to go through on her own in this state. I need to see her go through to know she did. I can’t risk her facing whatever “final challenge” the vicar has for not getting through the doors.
“You’re stronger than this. It’s just a door, Saipha. Go through the door.”
“What if I’m not? Isola, you promised me—”
“I need to know you’re safe,” I say.
“You promised me you wouldn’t leave my side,” she says weakly.
“Leave, Saipha!” I snap, harsher than I wanted. She leans away, trembling like a leaf. A single tear falls. I reach out and grab her hand, saying gently, “I will be right behind you, I swear.” Then I release her.
But…as I start to turn to leave—to put my back to her and walk away—something catches my eyes, and I freeze.
She continues to tremble. She’s in a terrible state with multiple scrapes and wounds, ripped clothing, and dirt in her soaked hair. An abnormal amount of sweat covers her body, soaking through the fabric of her shirt. But her eyes are what catch my attention…
Her eyes are normally green. But they’re an unnatural shade of blue now. Her circular pupils narrow to slits.
Vicar Darius’s voice slithers through my mind, asking a question from our training months and months ago. What part of a dragon cursed changes first?
My throat is dry as I stare at my best friend.
The eyes.