Chapter 26
Talisa
Inside the dome at Station Fourteen, our puzzle awaited.
A young sapling, no taller than my forearm, stood precariously balanced on the narrow rim of a shallow stone basin.
The tree looked as if it were close to death, its gray-green leaves hanging limp from drooping twigs.
The naked mass of clay soil around its roots was bone-dry and cracked into geometric plates.
It looked ready to crumble away at the slightest breath.
On the opposite side of the basin stood a sealed fountain. It was a simple spout mounted on a slender column, and plugged with a glowing blue Water rune.
Above the puzzle, hovering at eye level, glowing script appeared:
Revive the sapling through synchronized elemental support without touching it or the fountain, or toppling it from its position.
Elio made a small, choked sound beside me.
“Well,” he said. “A multi-element puzzle. That’s going to be fun.”
“It can’t be harder than Mundise’s four-element lockbox,” I replied with more confidence than I actually felt.
I studied the dying sapling. Its trunk was broomstick-slender, and its leaves had the dull, papery look of something that had been without water for too long. One of its branches had already snapped and hung by a thread of bark, swinging gently in some unfelt breeze.
The basin’s dry, polished stone bottom reflected glimmers from the dome of protective wards overhead.
“We’ll need Wood and Water spells, I think,” I said. “And maybe Earth, since there’s no pot to hold the roots.”
Elio nodded. His jaw was set, his amber eyes fixed on the sealed fountain with the intensity of someone mapping its every curve and joint. “I can unseal the fountain. The trick will be to control the flow afterwards.”
“And I can heal the sapling once you’ve watered it,” I said. “But if we miscalculate—”
“The tree tips into the basin, and we’re eliminated.” He ran a hand through his flowing chestnut hair. “All we have to do is avoid knocking it over while we water and revive it. Simple.”
“Simple,” I agreed.
Fear of failing squeezed my chest like a too-tight bodice. It was hard to breathe.
Around us, the other teams were taking their positions.
Elio’s hand found mine again. His palm was slick with sweat. “We can do this.”
The starting bell rang.
My world narrowed to the dying sapling, the sealed fountain, the seconds and minutes ticking away above our heads, and the terrible, perfect silence of a crowd waiting for us to fail.
“Wood spell first,” Elio said, low and urgent. “You need to bring it back to life—”
“No, Water,” I cut in. “The soil’s too dry. If I channel a reviving spell into that sapling without moisture, the magic will burn it from the inside out.”
We stared at each other across the narrow space between us.
“How about if I open the fountain just enough to get a trickle going?” Elio sounded as if he were bargaining for the best price on a length of cloth in a marketplace.
“I’ll catch the water and guide it to the roots.
The moment the soil softens, you channel Earth magic to stabilize it, then start a healing spell. We do it in stages. Slow and steady.”
“Slow and steady,” I repeated, and glanced up. The clock above us told me we’d already wasted thirty precious seconds.
We took our positions. Elio moved to the fountain side of the basin. I positioned myself opposite him, facing the dying sapling with my hands raised. I still felt like I couldn’t draw a full breath.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded.
He began chanting a Water spell, a blue shimmer gathering around his fingertips before a thread of his magic stretched toward the rune sealing the fountain’s spout.
I’d seen him work dozens of spells in Mundise’s classes, but never with the focused intensity he brought to it now.
All trace of his usual effortless charm had been replaced by an expression of deep concentration.
The sealing rune glowed white, then grew fuzzy around the edges. Elio held the spell steady, pouring a trickle of magic into the rune with the patience of someone threading a needle.
The rune vanished with a sound like a sigh. Elio started a new spell, this one for water-shaping. For one perfect moment, a thin stream of clear water emerged from the fountain’s spout, arcing in a gentle curve toward the thirsty sapling.
Then something shifted. Elio’s magic pulsed, and the stream suddenly became a furious, pressurized jet. He managed to divert it away from the sapling, but the water hit the basin’s surface with enough force to send a wave splashing over the rim that almost toppled the little tree.
“Elio!” I shouted. “Too much—”
“I know!” His voice was tight with strain. His hands were shaking, blue magic flaring and sputtering as he fought to throttle the flow. “I can’t—it’s fighting me—”
The fountain wasn’t just running. It was raging. Water poured from the spout in a torrent thick as my wrist, hitting the basin with a sound like continuous thunder. The basin’s water level rose rapidly, sloshing against its stone sides.
I had to do something. Now.
“Elio!” I called. “Split the water streams!”
He was already trying. While still channeling a spell that vainly worked to restrain the fountain’s overwhelming flow, he raised his other hand and sketched a quick, complicated gesture in the air.
The jet of water wavered, and a thin secondary stream broke away from the main flow, arcing through the air toward the sapling’s base.
I let out a breath of relief. Good. That was exactly what we needed for the second part of the puzzle.
I reached for the stream of Water with a shaping spell of my own, trying to guide and disperse it so that it would sprinkle and seep into the soil around the roots.
I miscalculated. Too late, I realized that the fountain’s flow had been magically enhanced, and the spell controlling it overwhelmed my delicate working.
The thin jet of water hit the cracked earth surrounding the roots with a force that made me gasp. Mud and pebbles spattered everywhere, showering my face and academic gown with muck. Water pooled on the fountain’s rim in a widening, silty puddle.
Over the rush of the water, I heard laughter rising from the crowd.
Then, to my horror, the sapling lurched and listed sharply to one side, hanging precariously over the water now pooled in the basin.
“Vesta preserve us!” Elio exclaimed.
The clock read 5:00. Halfway through our time.
We had five minutes to undo the damage we’d just done and solve a puzzle that was currently trying to drown itself.
“New plan,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “Can you shut off the fountain while I stabilize the sapling and try to wick the excess water out of the soil?”
He nodded, jaw set, and turned back to the fountain.
I felt the shift in the elemental balance as he poured more power into controlling the flow. The jet arched and lowered, moving away from the vulnerable sapling. The thundering rush of flowing water into the basin softened.
I turned my attention back to the sapling.
First, I invoked an Earth spell and channeled it into the soil itself, trying to bind the mud and create some structure. The spell sank into the dirty tangle of roots, and for a moment, I felt it take—the soil firming, the sapling slowly rising back up and settling firmly onto the basin’s rim.
Then an alarm went off.
Not sound this time, but water exploding into miniature waterspouts from the basin. Meanwhile, bursts of crimson light flashed in violent pulses overhead, painting the dome’s interior the color of fresh blood.
I flinched. My concentration fractured. The stabilizing Earth spell I’d been channeling dissipated.
Runnels of muddy water bled from the sapling’s root ball, and the slender trunk listed further.
“Talisa!” Elio shouted. “It’s falling over!”
“I know!” My voice cracked. I could feel the spell slipping away from me as the power I’d channeled effortlessly all my life slowed to a trickle.
What’s happening? I’ve never lost control of a spell like this before! Sweat ran down my temples and into my eyes.
The remaining time on the clock now read 3:41.
If we couldn’t control our runaway fountain and keep our sad little tree from tipping over and falling into the water, then we’d be eliminated. And I’d lose any chance at winning the prize money that would save me from being expelled.
Panic swept through me. I channeled harder. But the magic slipped away from my frantic summons, retreating from my grasp as if I were trying to clutch handfuls of water from the river.
The sapling shuddered. Leaves tore free and spun wildly through the air.
Across from me, Elio was shouting something I couldn’t hear over the alarm. His face was contorted with effort, the blue magic around his hands pulsing in frantic rhythm as he fought to choke off the fountain’s relentless flow.
The sapling swayed as mud and water dripped into the basin below.
The fear that had been building steadily all morning tightened its grip on me.
I knew this would happen! That I’d ruin everything.
I was going to let Elio down. And my sisters. Because I suddenly couldn’t control my magic… or work spells I’d used dozens of times before.
The seconds were ticking by too fast, much too fast, and I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but watch as all my hopes collapsed in slow motion toward the dark water of the basin.