30. Zeno
ZENO
“Dude, are you okay?” Zeno asks Alexander, who’s still moping in bed at seven twenty.
“Huh? Yeah, whatever, I’m fine.”
“Did something happen last night? Between you and Kallias?”
Alexander sighs. “I guess, yeah. I just hope nothing’s different today.”
“You make a move?”
That gets Alexander to sit up straight, his hair still floppy without his usual preening.
“On Kallias?”
Zeno tries not to smile. Does Alexander really think they don’t see how useless he is around that boy?
“No, nothing like that,” Alexander says, rubbing his eyes. “I just pushed too hard and he’s,” Alexander sighs again with a shrug, “secretive, you know?”
Then he whispers, “I’m never going to be able to help him.”
Zeno’s heart aches. “Some people won’t let you help. It’s not your job to make them.”
He knows he’s a hypocrite—he does the exact same thing with Eudoxia—but he rarely sees Alexander so distressed. Zeno just wants to fix it.
“I know, I just lo— I like him. A lot. And I want him to be okay.”
Oh, Forms, Alexander is in deeper than he thought.
He was going to say ‘love’. And Zeno knows what love can do to a person.
Except this is Kallias they’re talking about. It doesn’t matter how much they all care for him. People like that don’t know how to be loved. That’s what makes them dangerous.
“He will be. Whatever trouble you think he’s in here, he’ll be out of it soon. We all will.”
Alexander nods once, clearly unconvinced, then breathes out explosively and nods again more emphatically. “Okay. Let’s try to make it for breakfast.”
Zeno laughs. “Breakfast? Dude, we’d be lucky to make class on time.”
“Shit, sorry, let’s go.” Alexander hops up off his bed and rifles through his clothes. “Though missing a few minutes of history wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”
The smile Alexander shoots him is close enough to normal that Zeno thinks he’ll be back to himself in no time.
The air in the Library is tense. Not for any one reason, Zeno thinks. More like a plethora of unresolved questions and conflicts.
Alexander and Kallias shoot concerned glances at each other when they think no one is looking.
Eudoxia and Ophelia are silently frustrated with each other because Eudoxia thinks Ophelia forgave Arete too fast and Ophelia thinks Eudoxia needs to forgive her quicker.
And then, of course, him and Eudoxia after their… whatever happened in the training room a couple weeks ago. He hasn’t dared mention his feelings for her, but it’s starting to feel like they’re just dancing around each other.
On top of that, they still have absolutely no idea how in the Forms they’re going to get out of here.
So, yeah. A lot of tension.
Zeno is not one for tension just as he is not one for confrontation, so after an hour of working in silence, he is overwhelmed by the urge to break it.
“So—”
“I’m a genius!” Eudoxia interrupts.
Alexander and Ophelia laugh, but Zeno just smiles fondly. Because yes, yes she is.
Eudoxia keeps scribbling in her notebook like she didn’t put everyone on the edge of their seats, and eventually Kallias drawls, “Pray tell.”
Eudoxia looks up and then does a double take. “Oh, did I say that out loud?”
Ophelia barks another laugh and Eudoxia rolls her eyes.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Xia, your idea?” Alexander prompts.
“Well, I was thinking about our question of opportunity. When would we be outside the Academy with everyone too distracted to notice us straying farther? And when no one would expect us to be trying to get out rather than stay in?”
Kallias’ breath hitches on the other side of the table like he knows what she means and can’t believe he didn’t think of it sooner. Everybody else waits for Eudoxia to say more.
“The third Trial.”
A cacophony—objections, questions, fears—springs from all seats of the circular table except his own.
He just stares in awe at Eudoxia as she explains her idea further.
The Trials always take place outside the Academy grounds, and if they can find a way to sneak out undetected, the audience and Guardians would be focused on the other Auxiliaries.
They wouldn’t notice their absence for a long while.
It’s not a great solution—it presents one hundred new challenges and unanswered questions—but it’s the only one they’ve found so far. And Xia was the one to finally think of it. His Xia.
“Alright, everyone shut up,” Alexander yells, and, surprisingly, the whole table listens. “As much as this feels crazy and reckless and unnecessarily stupid—”
“Hey!” Eudoxia protests, but Alexander talks over her, standing up from his seat.
“It’s our best chance.”
Silence settles over the room.
“What are our first steps?” Alexander says, leaning on the back of Kallias’ chair.
“We should probably learn what the Trial is,” Zeno offers, and Alexander claps once, then runs to find the chalkboard hidden away in the stacks.
“What the Trial is,” he says as he writes it out on the board. He has the handwriting of someone who had calligraphy training. Now that Zeno thinks about it, he probably did.
“The Priestesses plan it, right, Ophelia? Could you figure it out?” Eudoxia asks.
Ophelia shakes her head. “The Sun Priestesses are only assigned specific tasks. Not even the Mothers know what the Trial is.”
“What about the Priestesses of All Forms?” Kallias tilts his head.
“What are the Priestesses of All—” Zeno and Eudoxia start.
“How do you even know about that?” Ophelia says over them.
Kallias ignores all three of them. “They plan the Trials in conjunction with the Educator, right?”
“They do, but I don’t even know where they are, let alone how to get any plans from them. They could be on the other side of the city for Forms sa—” she stops herself with a gasp. “The plumbing.”
“What?” Zeno asks.
“There’s a flushing system to transport our amber stones to the Priestesses of All Forms. If I follow the plumbing I think I could find them. I’ll just need to create a diversion or ask someone to stand in for me. Maybe Are—” she stops short. “A younger Priestess can help. Give me a week.”
“Okay, awesome,” Alexander shouts. “What else?”
Ophelia jumps up. “What’s the security for the Trials? Are they monitored?”
Alexander points at her with his chalk and says, “Good question.” He turns to the board, sounding out, “Security,” as he writes it down.
“My dad can help with that,” Zeno blurts before realizing the company he’s in.
“I knew he was your dad!” Alexander shouts, delighted. He grabs Kallias’ shoulders and says again, “I knew Bios was Zeno’s dad. I called it from a mile away.”
Kallias rolls his eyes, though a tiny smile betrays him. “All of the Academy knows that, ding-dong. They look exactly the same.”
“We don’t look that similar,” Zeno protests.
“Yeah, you do,” Alexander says.
“You look like twins,” Ophelia adds.
“I knew you were his son before I even got to the Academy,” Eudoxia brags.
He looks to Kallias, who gives him a pitying shrug.
“So, you’ll go talk to your dad, Zeno,” Alexander summarizes. “Actually, what if I come with you? We can pretend it’s for research or something.”
“I’ll check with him to see when he’s free,” Zeno replies. “Now what else do we have to do?”
“We still need to figure out where we are geographically,” Kallias says.
Alexander ruffles Kallias’ hair. “Right, a map. Thanks, gorgeous.”
“I’ve been waiting for the right time,” Kallias continues. “It should come soon, I think.”
“Don’t rush it,” Zeno butts in, because he has no doubt this mysterious plan is dangerous and fragile. Nobody wants to see Kallias punished because of the group’s impatience.
“Understood,” Kallias says, though he doesn’t look convinced.
Alexander starts to say something, pinning Kallias with a worried stare, but Eudoxia interrupts him.
“Someone should warn Lazarus about Kleitos.”
Alexander takes Eudoxia’s addition as a cue to amp up his energy, but not without one last glance at Kallias. “Good idea. If Lazarus thinks Kleitos is a threat—”
“He might take out the beady-eyed bastard before he can become a problem for us,” Ophelia finishes. She looks ready to enact vengeance herself.
“Violence looks good on you,” Alexander says with a wink, and Ophelia sticks her tongue out at him.
“Oh, and in terms of actually leaving the island,” Kallias says.
“Yeah, the two of us were talking,” Alexander continues for him, “and we secured a boat in Arc Eight’s port. So we just need to get there from the Trial.”
Alexander and Kallias share a look, and Zeno has the distinct feeling that there’s something they aren’t saying.
“We all know our next steps?” Eudoxia asks, standing.
When everyone nods, she says, “Good. Then let’s focus on getting all of this—” she points to Alexander’s beautifully formatted board “—done.”
“Let’s do it,” Ophelia agrees, and it hits Zeno that they have a plan. And thank the Forms for that.