Chapter 35 #2
He glared at my hand until I removed it.
“You can’t be serious.” I searched his gaze, finding no trace of humor.
“Those are the rules, little princess. You’re clever, but—surprise, surprise—you’re as reactive as my baby bro when it comes to protecting what’s yours.”
I glared, biting my tongue to keep from proving his point.
“Don’t worry. You’ll figure it out right on schedule.” He winked, then gave another half-hearted shrug. “Or you’ll die. Makes no difference to me, really. I tried.”
Storming off, Morty left me standing there gaping after him. But my shock was unwarranted. He’d proven he would do something exactly like that. Treat it like a game. Like it didn’t matter. Or use it to achieve his own end.
Just like Max had warned me.
I ran my hands through my hair, trying not to pull it out in frustration, and replayed his words in my head. He’d been an ass while helping me before, leaving me clues, layering something into his words like before, but I couldn’t see it.
Giving up, I exhaled my frustration and decided to search the party for Gia or the other guys. I needed to find one of them before I went to the tunnels.
But a familiar voice called out from the darkness.
“He gave you the answer.”
I turned around to find Vivian, coming out of the shadows. “Were you there this whole time?”
She scrutinized me where I stood, ice-blue eyes flicking over my body as I approached her.
“So, what if I was?” Her gaze jumped from me to the party nervously. “Beats being in there.”
“Then you heard him tell me where the clues lead. Why are you still here?”
Her lips pursed, and her body stiffened. “You don’t know anything about me, Quinn. You do realize that, right?”
I narrowed my gaze as she withdrew into herself. “Okay, so you’re saying you don’t want to win The Quest?”
“I didn’t say that.” She glanced around sharply, searching for anyone who might overhear.
We stood so far from the party, it hardly seemed necessary.
“Look, I’m just telling you he gave you the answers.”
“Answers?”
“The schedule?” When I stared blankly at her, she rolled her eyes, shifted uncomfortably, and stepped away from me. “Whatever. You’ll see.”
As she stepped forward, moonlight illuminated her face.
“Vivian…” I reached out, but she jumped away from me like my touch threatened to burn. My eyes stayed locked on her face, on the stitched cut running across her forehead. “What—?”
“You did me a favor.” She straightened her spine. “So, I helped you, and we’re even now.”
Before I spoke, before I processed what had happened to her, she walked back to the party. Head down and shoulders hunched inward, as I pieced together what she’d done.
That day after Sparring. Josh, walking toward her while she held her head in her hands. I’d wanted to scream, but she’d distracted me, by losing control and breaking the mirror.
Every time I saw her after, she’d shielded her face. Facing away from me. Her hair covering it in Camelot Courtyard. And the sweatband she’d worn during the Obstacle Course.
She’d hidden it.
The need to find out what made her bang her head so forcefully into the glass almost had me chasing after her.
But whatever had happened, if it wasn’t a trick or a game, girl talk wouldn’t help Vivian. It wouldn’t help any of us.
I raced back to the party, planning to make one final loop before I went to the tunnels.
Ready to end this for good.
Thirty minutes later, I stood outside, staring at the front of the Round Tableau. Alone.
I scanned the training schedule I’d grabbed from my room, along with my lighter and the map of Camelot Court.Using the black light hadn’t revealed anything else, but I thought it best to bring everything. I’d tucked the lockbox into my crossbody next to my inhaler and secured it to my back.
As I stared at the entrance to where my journey began, wind swept my hair into my face. I turned into it to pull my hair back, securing the flyaway strands into a hasty ponytail.
When I looked up, the lemon tree Landon and I stood beneath, the one I’d climbed to escape Brutus, stared back at me. I raced toward it, remembering my dad’s old trick for making invisible ink appear.
Just a dash of lemon and a lighter. That’s all you need.
My dad’s voice filtered through my head as I plucked a lemon off the tree, and I paused to stare out over the lake.
After circling the party twice, I sent Gia and the guys a message. I wished I’d found one of them before racing here, but I’d grabbed a golf cart from the garage and sped over before I lost my nerve.
Despite what she’d said, Vivian could be here. One of the other girls could’ve figured out the clue, too.
I couldn’t risk waiting.
Returning to the Round Tableau, I took a deep breath.
And I climbed the steps.
As I entered, memories of Ben hit sharply.
My heartbeat raced and sweat slicked my palms as I walked through the threshold he’d dragged me over. Remembering how I’d gone limp. Stopped fighting. Fawned.
Desperate to get away.
My chest heaved as I forced myself to breathe.
“He’s dead.” The words echoed in the empty foyer, and I said them again. “He’s dead.”
At a table off to the side, I pulled out the map and other clues I hadn’t used the lemon juice and lighter on.
Using my nails to dig into the lemon rind, I pierced it and peeled it back. I pulled up the edge of my shirt, squeezed the lemon juice onto it, and used the wet fabric to dab the schedule, the map, cypher, riddle, and diary pages.
I pulled out my trusty lighter and clicked it on, holding it up to the pages and waiting to see if anything happened.
Nothing appeared on the riddle, so I pushed it aside. Then the diary pages, and finally the cypher.
Holding the flame beneath the map, my journey came full circle as I stared at the paper.
Swirling lines appeared on the map, matching the symbol in the back of the journal. They appeared slowly, and looked like letters, but I couldn’t recognize the word.
In tiny script, one word appeared on the map by a small spot set deep in the woods. I remembered the word from Arthurian lore, where King Arthur returned the sword.
“Dozmary.”
The final resting place of Excalibur.
Morty had mentioned Dozmary Cavern, and Landon had told me about the tunnels on my first day here.
That had to be where the tunnels led.
I just needed to find my way to them.
Scanning the map, I searched for a starting point along the symbol, but I couldn’t tell where it ended or began. But I remembered my first night here, so I gathered my clues, keeping the map clutched tightly in my hand, and pulled out my inhaler to use before zipping up my bag.
“Good girl,” I whispered to myself, since Landon wasn’t here to do it for me.
On shaking legs, I walked deeper into the Round Tableau and headed to the pathways I had taken the first night to the Maiden’s dressing room.
As I walked, I kept my ears peeled for any sign I’d been followed, and I traced my path on the map. I needed to find a place that branched off in a different direction.
When I reached a fork in the path that led to the dressing room, a memory of running through this area that day with Ben resurfaced. Right before Morty found me, I reached where the floor sloped and tunnels went underground.
Standing before it, my heart raced in my chest.
I pulled my cell phone out of the pocket of my leggings. One bar of cell service, so I stepped back until I had enough to call.
“Gia, I know I sent a message, but I had to call you, too. I found it. The entrance to the tunnels, and I’m going in now. I love you. Tell the guys—” A noise came from behind me. “I’ll see you on the other side.”
Switching on the flashlight, I walked forward.
At the first fork, I remembered what Vivian had said and realized in my excitement over Dozmary Cavern that I’d forgotten to check the schedule.
ESSESSSESS. The tunnels forked in different directions, so it could be a code for left and right, or the pattern.
I tried to trace out the path with my finger, but nothing lined up with where I needed to go.
Reaching into my crossbody for my lighter, I pulled it out and clicked it on before realizing I hadn’t applied the lemon juice. I squeezed out whatever I could from the corner of my shirt, and I tried the lighter again.
RLLRLLLRLL appeared on the paper.
I blew out a breath of relief, tucking the lighter and schedule in my free pocket. As I walked, Vivian’s words nagged at the back of my brain. Answers.
She said Morty had given me the answers.
If I missed a hidden clue, I could take the wrong path. I paused and leaned against the tunnel wall, catching my breath as I thought through what Morty had said.
I pulled out the schedule and lighter again, examining the list of training sessions closer and thinking about my lessons, wondering if I’d missed something.
And considering the lead I’d lose if I turned around.
What I’d heard on my call with Gia could’ve been another girl heading for the tunnels. Vivian could’ve lied about Morty giving me the answers to lead me into a trap.
But that didn’t sit right.
It felt like reacting defensively to the girl who’d held my head under water, when she’d thought I’d swept in to take what she’d been so clearly groomed for. It felt like ignoring everything I’d seen from her since the second challenge. The way she’d responded to certain things I’d said.
The way she’d panicked in the bathroom of the cabin.
The way she’d freaked out at my accusation over Max.
And the way she’d said she’d helped me because I’d done her a favor. I’d helped her through her panic, sure, but letting me win The Quest because of a pep talk felt like a stretch.
Something else was going on with her, and without knowing her reasons for helping me, I just had to decide if I believed her or not. If I wanted to spend more time searching for the second answer Morty gave me or take a leap of faith and trust her.
It surprised no one more than me when I clicked the lighter back on, but too had changed since The Quest began.
Then it hit me.
What Morty had said after he’d shown up unexpectedly. About going back to the beginning. One moment that changed everything I thought I’d known about Camelot Court.
Whether he’d meant Vivian’s attack, the truth about being The King’s Maiden, or Landon saying no, it didn’t matter.
Each moment lined up with what he’d said during my first Elements lesson with Ben. And what he’d said tonight.
If I went forward without piecing together an extra turn, I’d take the obvious path—the one Desi must’ve confirmed with Merle last year—but there was a second one.
If there was an extra S, an extra left turn…
I dabbed my shirt on the spot next to Elements. Then I clicked the lighter on and held it beneath the schedule.
My mouth dropped open as the word appeared.
Elements of Surprise.
With nothing but faith in my gut, I took off down the tunnel.