Flickers of Flame

by Madeline Freeman

  “Where do you want to meet?” Thor asked.

  Chapter Twenty

  I had assumed getting our hands on the Blades would the hardest part of the plan, but as the four of us stole across the rain-soaked and oddly still quad toward the building where the swords would be, there was no one to stop us or ask us what we were doing.

  Before we left the dorm, I swung by my room—telling the others I needed to take one of the pain pills Nurse Nichols had given me. And while that wasn’t a lie, I also took a few seconds to call Liza and let her know the situation. She didn’t like it, but she agreed to let me do things my way.

  Clio opened the door to a tall, circular building beyond the science and mathematics academy that she identified as the reliquary. I’d never given the structure much thought since none of my classes were in it. I assumed it had fallen out of use like the old gym out by the field where they held the tryouts for the field mission. It seemed a lifetime had passed since that day. So much had changed.

  Inside, the room was bathed in warm jewel tones from the weak light streaming in through the tall, thin stained-glass windows spaced at even intervals along the walls. A slender metal staircase started off to the right and wound its way up overhead.

  “So this is where they keep the Blades?” I asked, staring up at the high ceiling overhead.

  Clio nodded, leading the way to the stairs. “The Blades will be in the room up top.”

  Thor and Bridger were at her heels, but it took me a few seconds before I could kick myself into motion. The dull metallic thud of feet on stairs echoed throughout the chamber as we climbed. Between each set of windows was a painting. I passed several before something clicked in my mind. These weren’t just any paintings, they were depictions of battles fought by Blade Keepers over the centuries. My skin prickled. I was part of their legacy now. I still wasn’t sure what it meant, but in this place the weight of that responsibility bore down on me.

  We were halfway up when a thought struck me. “How do we know they’re even here? Things have been hectic since we got back. Do you really think putting weapons away has been high on the priority list?”

  Bridger tossed a half grin over his shoulder. “Our Blades didn’t come back in the truck. Once the fight was over, Colonel Zagar touched each one to send them back here directly.”

  His assurance took the edge off my worry. If we were going to meet Derek within the time frame he set, we couldn’t be running around searching for the swords.

  Clio reached a heavy wooden door at the top of the stairs and pulled it open. All five Blades stood on their pedestals, each giving off a faint silvery glow.

  “Everybody grab your sword,” Thor said, crouching on the floor and unzipping the olive green duffel he’d retrieved from his room. “I’ll work on getting Nate’s in here. Keep your fingers crossed it doesn’t cut through the bag before we get to the truck.”

  Clio and Bridger picked up their swords and placed them on their backs. The Blades flickered into their strange near-invisibility where I sometimes though I could discern the outline of their weapons. When I took the grip of my sword in my hand, the same surge of power from earlier coursed though me.

  After grabbing his own weapon, Thor crossed to Nate’s. He gripped the top of the pedestal, but the stand didn’t move.

  Bridger took a half step forward. “Um. You need a little help there, buddy?”

  Thor frowned. “I can’t pull the stand off.”

  Bridger surged forward, attempting to displace Thor at the pedestal. “Does it twist or something?”

  “Back off,” Thor insisted. “I’ve got this.”

  Clio sighed as the two jostled for a better position. “Boys…”

  As they argued, Bridger’s elbow knocked into the Blade’s grip, nudging the sword off its holder. With the next breath, time seemed to slow. I saw as the tip tilted toward the floor, to the exact spot where Thor’s foot was planted. This was no dull, earth-forged training sword. This powerful relic could slice straight through Thor’s boot and foot easily.

  My body was in motion before my brain caught up with what was happening. Before the Aura Blade had tumbled more than a few inches, I cleared the distance to the pedestal and wrapped my fingers around the grip, staying the weapon’s downward progress.

  The room fell silent. I stared at Nate’s Blade, waiting for it to sublimate and return to its stand, but nothing happened. An odd vibration coursed through my palm—strong, but not unpleasant.

  Clio took a step closer, staring at me with amazement. “How are you doing that?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know.” Unlike the first time I picked up my Blade, no color flashed across the metal. But the shimmering silver pulsed with the same energy the other weapons displayed when their owners held them.

  “You shouldn’t be able to hold that,” Bridger said, his eyes wide. “Believe me, I’ve tried before.”

  Clio’s eyebrows hiked upward. “You have?”

  Bridger lifted a shoulder. “I got bored not long after I came to the academy and I made my way here. I was curious, so I tried to pick up your Blade—and Nate’s. But they both disappeared and ended up back in their places.”

  I stared at the weapon, still expecting it to disappear. “Maybe it’s because… I’m a girl?”

  Bridger snorted, but Clio shrugged. I held the Blade out to her, and she took hold of it. The sword didn’t react. But once I removed my hand, it took only seconds for the Aura Blade to flicker and disappear before popping up back on its stand.

  Bridger’s face puckered with confusion. “Okay, so the girl theory’s out. Eden, try to pick it up again.”

  Self-consciousness washed over me as I reached once more for the grip. Biting my lower lip, I wrapped my fingers around it and lifted it from its stand. Counted to ten. Still, the Blade remained.

  “I don’t understand how this is possible,” Clio breathed. “The only one who can handle a Blade is its Keeper.

  “I’m not super concerned with the how or the why right now,” Thor said, kicking his duffel to the side of the room. “Can you put that one on your back too? Like criss-crossing your Blade?”

  Although the move was awkward with my left hand, I swung the Aura Blade into place. I released it, fully prepared for it to crash to the ground below. To my surprise, it stuck in place.

  A rare smile spread across Thor’s face. “Nice. All right. Now that that’s sorted, let’s get out of here.”

  I held my breath as we exited the room, half expecting for an alarm to sound. But the building remained silent as we stole through it and out the door.

  Every time I crossed the quad today, it had been empty—so when I stepped onto the sidewalk, the sight of other cadets took me off guard. What time was it, even?

  Thor, who led the group, kept his head down as he made his way up the sidewalk toward Kalmin Hall. I followed suit, hoping that by pretending I was invisible, I could render myself so.

  But before we passed the fountain, someone yelled Clio’s name.

  “Don’t stop,” Bridger warned—but it was too late.

  As one, the group slowed with Clio. She turned to the speaker, whose golden brown hair and glowing smile were immediately identifiable. Maisie Moran strode purposefully toward us, notebook in hand as she began asking questions about the mission. Apparently despite the rest of the school having been in classes all day, rumors had flown about the reason for the chancellor’s visit and the injuries sustained by some cadets.

  Through a strained smile, Clio attempted to answer Maisie’s questions as vaguely as she could. But the longer we stood in place the more students gathered around—all hungry for a bit of gossip.

  I wanted to scream at them all to go away. We needed to leave and to make our way to the meeting place Derek had set. Didn’t these people understand there were more important things at stake here than being left out of the loop?

  An unexpected voice cut above the chatter. “What’s going on here?”

>   Shonda approached, her usually confident gait hindered by a limp. The nurses had cut the right half of her pants off at the thigh, and a thick dressing circled her leg. A bandage covered the gash on her right cheek, and a bruise bloomed around her left eye.

  Silence fell over the crowd—which had grown to about thirty people. All attention fixed on Shonda as she made her way toward the group. “If you want to know what happened during the field experience, you should probably ask someone who actually fought—not the people who got to stand in the eye of the storm while the rest of us put our lives on the line.”

  I gaped. Had Shonda hit her head? I was standing by her side when the fighting began. But when she locked her eyes on mine, there was a fierce purposefulness that almost took my breath away.

  Her gaze flicked to the spot above my right shoulder as she shooed us with her hand. “Why don’t you all run along? Let a real soldier tell the story.”

  She was covering for us. I don’t know how, but Shonda must have realized that the four of us were up to something. Could she see my Blade? No one else had asked about them, but the way her eyes moved made me wonder.

  As much as I had disliked Shonda from almost the instant I met her, in this moment, I was thankful for her haughty demeanor and the way she could command attention. The tangle of students immediately forgot the four Keepers as Shonda began holding court.

  We didn’t run into anyone else as we made our way around Kalmin Hall. The front stairs were empty, and I held tight to the hope that they would remain so as we scurried across the circle drive toward the narrow road that led to the front gate.

  Well, Clio, Thor, and Bridger scurried. I limped and bit back the grunts and groans that accompanied each hasty step.

  “I can’t keep up this pace,” I admitted once we were far enough along the gently bending path that Kalmin Hall was no longer visible.

  “Stars and spears! I’m so sorry.” Clio rushed to my side and pulled my arm around her shoulder. “Lean on me.”

  I couldn’t deny I needed the help, but accepting it from Clio made my heart twinge. She shouldn’t be so nice to me. I should have been strong enough to end things with Nate as soon as I found out he was engaged, but I let myself believe that the arrangement was as undesired for her as it was for him. Now, I wasn’t sure that was the case.

  But this wasn’t the time to hash things out. First, we needed to save Nate.

  I wasn’t sure whether the pain meds Nurse Nichols gave me were finally kicking in or if I was just getting used to the constant pain in my leg and throbbing around my chest, but most of my discomfort subsided to a subtle ache by the time we made it to the packed-earth lot hidden among the trees. Four small motorized carts were parked beneath a metal-roofed carport on the right side. A tan pickup truck sat in the back corner. And the truck we’d taken on the mission was straight ahead of us.

  Thor made his way to the driver’s side as Clio helped me hobble to the passenger door. It took two tries to pull myself into the cab, but once I was there, I slid onto the long bench seat. Clio slipped in next to me, and Bridger crammed onto the remaining space and slam the door shut as Thor took his spot behind the wheel. He pulled something from his back pockets and handed a black baseball cap to each of us before tipping the visor down.

  “It’s not sunny,” I noted.

  “I know that,” Thor grumbled dismissively, twisting in his seat and sliding his fingers along the seat. “They’re not here.”

  “I thought you said the keys would be in here,” Clio said, her voice tight.

  “They should be,” Thor insisted. “They always keep keys to academy vehicles tucked up in the visor.”

  “How do you know that?” Bridger asked.

  Thor’s face scrunched. “Charlie told me,” he said as if it should be obvious.

  “Follow up question,” Bridger said. “Who’s Charlie?”

  “The groundskeeper,” Clio answered, but her attention was on Thor. “If they keys aren’t here, where are they?”

  He shrugged. “Still with the driver, I assume.”

  Resolve solidified inside me. “Well, then. I guess it’s time to go find that driver.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “How do we even know the driver’s still on campus?” Bridger asked as he helped me out of the truck. “Don’t you think the guardsmen would’ve taken off already?”

  “The keys still have to be somewhere around here,” I insisted.

  “Not if the driver accidentally took them with him,” Clio said.

  Thor joined up with us on the passenger side. “I doubt the driver is off campus. He’s one of the academy guards.”

  Clio’s nose wrinkled. “How do you know he’s a campus guard?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “I’ve seen him around. Haven’t you? I think his name is Ruiz?”

  The name sparked a memory. “Ruiz? Are you sure?”

  Thor’s eyebrows drew together. “Yeah. Tall guy. Dark hair, and he keeps it buzzed short. Fernando Ruiz.”

  Bridger shook his head. “How do you know everyone’s name? It’s so weird.”

  “You’re weird,” Thor shot back. “And I know people’s names because I pay attention. Believe it or not, some people don’t waste all their observational energy looking for reflective surfaces so they can check their hair.”

  “Boys,” Clio said, a hint of warning in her voice.

  “It looks dumb, by the way,” Thor muttered, prompting Bridger’s hands to fly to the top of his head to caress the tresses that the earlier downpour had flattened.

  “Okay, so let’s say Ruiz is still here on campus,” Clio said. “How are we supposed to find him?”

  Thor lifted his chin. “That might be a good place to start.”

  I followed his gaze to a small shed to the right of the entrance that I hadn’t noticed it when we first came in. This time, Bridger came to my aid as we crossed the lot.

  “Are we sure we need a key?” he asked as he helped me hobble along. “Is there a way to make it start without one?”

  I shook my head before he finished speaking. Although I had spent little time inside vehicles when I was growing up, Marco knew a lot about them and had imparted his knowledge onto me. “Older vehicles, yeah. But something newer like this has too many integrated systems. It won’t start without the key.”

  Clio made it to the door first and twisted the handle. I sighed with relief as it spun in her hand and she led the way inside.

  The structure was smaller than the one we’d hidden in during our Weapons and Stealth exercise, but windows on all four sides staved off the sensation of claustrophobia. Clipboards hung from hooks, and a map of Blakethorne covered by various splotches of color dominated the largest expanse of wall.

  “I’ve got… a monthly schedule,” Clio said, peering at the papers on the nearest clipboard. “Fernando Ruiz… He’s not on duty right now.”

  Bridger wiped a hand down his face. “Great. He’s probably either at the barracks or in town blowing off steam. I wouldn’t blame him after today.”

  “No, wait,” Thor said, leaning over Clio’s shoulder. “They originally had him scheduled to be off this afternoon, but looks like he switched with… Simmons and now he’s got tomorrow night off.”

  I squinted at the paper. “Let me guess: someone named Byers is also off tomorrow night.”

  Thor’s finger zipped down the page. “Delisa Byers. Yeah.” He glanced over his shoulder. “How’d you know that?”

  I lifted a shoulder. “You’re not the only one who notices things.”

  The corner of his mouth twitched upward.

  “Okay, that’s all great,” Bridger said, “but we need to know where Ruiz is now.”

  “Is there a clipboard with daily assignments?” I suggested, turning to read the one nearest to me.

  “Got it,” Clio called triumphantly. “Today’s schedule… Right now, Ruiz should be… green?”

  Bridger sucked his teeth. “That’s not very helpful.�
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  “Unless it is.” I pointed at the map on the wall. One of the colored zones was green.

  “That’s not far from here,” Bridger said, perking up. “What’s our play? Do we split up? We can cover more ground that way.”

  I gestured to my leg. “I won’t be quick or quiet.”

  “And what are we going to do when we find him?” Clio added. “Ask him nicely? He’ll call us in. We’ll never get out of here.”

  “What’s the alternative?” Bridger asked.

  “We knock him out.” Thor’s suggestion was matter-of fact. “Once he’s unconscious, we take the key and get out of here.”

  “And how do you propose we knock him out?” Bridger demanded. “Choke-hold until he’s unconscious? Hit him over the head with a tree branch? He’s not an enemy combatant. We’re on the same side.”

  “I was thinking something more like this.” Thor pulled a handkerchief out of the front pocket of his uniform. Laying it flat on his palm, he used his free hand to unfold the edges until he revealed the object inside.

  My heart stuttered in my chest. “Tranq dart.”

  “Yep,” he said, nodding. “It was on the forest floor near your hand when I found you. But unlike the one that was sticking out of your chest, this one still seems to have something in it.”

  I nodded. “I pulled it out of Nate’s neck, but there was already enough in him to knock him out.”

  “Then this should be enough to put Ruiz under.”

  “How are you going to fire it?” I asked. “You didn’t find a tranq gun, too, did you?”

  Clio squeezed his upper arm. “Have you ever seen this guy play darts?

  “So that’s our plan?” I scoffed. “Thor sneaks off into the forest and tries to hit a moving target with a dart not meant for throwing?”

  “Unless you’ve got a better idea,” Thor said. “If not, this is the only plan we’ve got.”

  “Do it,” Clio said.

  “And do it fast,” I added. “I’m not sure how patient our kidnappers will be if we’re late.”