47. Zeina
ZEINA
Behind the greenhouse sat an old decrepit tool shed, and Zeina wondered how she had never noticed it before as they crawled in through the broken window.
“Before they expanded the greenhouse, they kept gardening tools in here, but now no one uses it,” Lennox explained, linking his fingers to help boost Loveleena through.
Zeina was used to crawling through windows and did so easily.
Loveleena on the other hand, scraped her shoulder which left her cursing at Lennox.
The inside of the shed looked older than its exterior somehow. Dust caked the collection of broken plant pots and wooden boards that covered the floor. The smell of mildew and rust hung in the air, filling Zeina’s nose.
“Did someone die in here?” Loveleena coughed, shielding her mouth with her hand.
“Definitely. At least one person, I’d say,” Lennox said while lifting a floorboard, freeing a cloud of dust into the air.
“You’re not going to make us go down there, are you?” Loveleena said, eyebrows bunched.
“There’s a ladder. You’ll be fine.”
“Oh, a ladder. That makes everything better then.”
Zeina could sense Loveleena’s sarcasm, even though she had turned her attention outside, where she could hear growing voices.
“Students are awake now. Both of you shut up or someone will hear us.” Zeina found the ladder easily and lowered herself into the dark. She could feel the stone wall and the ground below her feet, but that was it. The darkness blanketed her vision.
Loveleena was close behind her, letting out a gag when she dropped down. Lennox followed.
“Lennox, a little li—” A torch flared to life. Lennox was a step ahead. The flame’s warmth met Zeina’s face, and she shuddered away the cold they had descended into. She could now see a stone-framed tunnel ahead, and Lennox beckoned them forward.
“How did you find this place?” Loveleena asked, her eyes tracing the stone patterns as they walked. Lennox simply shrugged.
Silently, they followed the winding tunnel, which occasionally split off in other directions.
Finally, what must have been an hour later, they came to a stop at a ladder similar to the one they had descended in the shed.
“Here,” Lennox said, setting the torch down.
Zeina looked up at the hatch in the ceiling. “Where does it lead?”
“An apartment. Ejja venos!”
Zeina didn’t understand old Jarrian, but Loveleena didn’t miss a beat. “It means let’s go,” she whispered in Zeina’s ear.
“An apartment? With people?” Zeina asked nervously.
“Abandoned.”
Zeina looked to Loveleena, who gave her a smile that said, this is going to be fine, right? She took a hold of the ladder, careful not to slide her skin along its splintered handle.
Zeina was relieved to find that the apartment was most definitely abandoned, and that Talamalu was only a few blocks away.
Each piece of furniture was covered by an old sheet, collecting dust. As if to curb its loneliness, the sound of human life floated in from the street—people talking, laughing, boots shuffling, carts clicking on stone.
Following Loveleena, Lennox joined them and closed the latch.
Lennox instructed them to walk confidently as they made their way onto the street, and if anyone spoke to them, to let him handle it.
Thankfully, they made it to Talamalu with only a few stares and sidelong glances.
Zeina wasn’t used to people noticing her.
But no matter where they went, Defenders, even student ones, attracted attention.
There was a noticeable shift in the air, too, like everyone was on edge.
The city felt darker than when Zeina had left it months ago.
A bell chimed above them as they entered the shop. Elder Thana, Lady Shadows as Loveleena called her, was nowhere to be found.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Loveleena whispered. “You’ll think this place is deserted, and that woman will pop out of nowhere and scare the life right out of you.”
Silently, Zeina broke away from them to browse the shelves, each lined with hundreds of plants and spices, the most potent ones claiming her nostrils. In the back of the shop were the teas, and Zeina scanned each one looking for Elmolda Flower.
“She really can’t tell, hey?” Lennox had moved so quietly behind her, she hadn’t heard him approach, and his voice startled her, making her jump. Of course Loveleena hadn’t uncovered her secret; no one had. Well, except Lennox.
“It’s rude to sneak up on people,” she shot back, her eyes not leaving the shelves. “And, no, most people can’t.”
“You look identical, but your personalities couldn’t be further apart.”
“Can you stop talking? I’m trying to focus.” Zeina’s eyes drilled into the scribbly text as she tried to make out the words.
“Need help? Reading, I mean.”
Zeina turned to face him, scowling.
“I know you can’t read well,” he said, noticing the embarrassment in Zeina’s face and shrugging casually, as if it were no big deal.
She turned back around. “I can read.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t read.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I said you couldn’t read well. I just asked if you wanted help”
“Go away.”
Hands raised in defeat, Lennox left her. It took her longer than she wanted to admit but eventually she found the flower, which she set softly into a satchel to secure its delicate petals. The instructions specifically said that the flower must not be compromised, or the potion wouldn’t work.
She found Lennox and Loveleena at the front, bickering.
“What are you two going on about?” Zeina asked, which she immediately regretted after getting an earful from Loveleena about Ren.
“Why are you so obsessed with him?” Lennox teased.
“I’m not obsessed with him, Lennox.” Loveleena gaped. “I just think there’s more to him than he lets on.”
Zeina thought back to the morning she sat in the courtyard watching Ren return to the castle. It was odd for him to be returning at the hour. Maybe Loveleena was right. Maybe Ren had something to hide.
“Give it a rest,” Lennox said, rolling his eyes.
A shadow emerged from the upper level of the store. “If you don’t stop bickering, I’m going to set all three of you on fire.”
“Lady Shadows,” Loveleena said under her breath, looking up and offering her biggest smile. The woman, dressed in what looked like the oldest frock and cloak known to Jarrah, descended the creaky wooden stairs toward them.
“You haven’t been back to bother me, miss Alva,” she said, her eyes sharp enough to cut stone.
“I’ve been preoccupied,” Loveleena said through her smile. “I’m at the Academy now.”
Lady Shadows ignored her entirely and turned her attention to Lennox and Zeina, her eyes lingering on Zeina a little too long.
“Twenty-five pentacles.”
“What?” Loveleena said, confused.
“The Emolda Flower.”
Zeina touched her satchel, protectively.
“Twenty-five pentacles,” Lady shadows repeated, her eyes boring into Lennox’s. After a beat, he pulled out exact change and placed it in her wrinkled, leather-like hand.
“That was weird,” Loveleena said with a scowl as they left the shop.
“I’ve heard that’s her way,” Lennox said dismissively.
Lady Shadows had said something odd before they left; Zeina turned it over in her mind the entire walk through the underground tunnel back to the Academy. It was in old Jarrian, and she could only make out a few words.
Fate. Entangled. Scraping bone.
It wasn’t what Lady Shadows had said that bothered her, exactly, or the fact that she couldn’t understand the majority of it—it was how Lennox responded.
He brushed off the old woman’s comment. But she noticed a subtle tense of his jaw.
Something only someone who had spent their entire life watching every minuscule movement people made would have noticed.
Someone whose instinct was sharp, who read people better than words.
Someone like Zeina.