Jansen!
Scrambling, I spun around on the spot to find Jansen had somehow fallen to the floor. “What the hell!” I yelled.
“Isn’t it obvious, genius?” Ferrum called out, “He’s unconscious, which means he won’t get past that gate.”
Ferrum’s goons laughed. “You carried him for nothing,” Marv snorted, the laughter continuing.
“What are you waiting for?” Felice asked, stretching one of her hands toward me. She was being bathed by that brilliant blue light. “Come over here and finish this.”
“What about the others?” I asked.
“What others?”
“The other prospects! They’re gonna get stuck in here.”
“So?” Ferrum said, “They’re weak if they can’t finish this trial, and if they can’t finish the trial, they don’t deserve to make it into the Order. You don’t deserve to make it in either, but I guess everyone gets lucky.”
“Please, with a face like that you’ll never get lucky in your life.”
Felice had to stifle her laugh to stop it from spilling out of her, as did Dirk. Ferrum elbowed his minion in the gut. “You’d better watch it,” he said, “I’ve killed people for less.”
“Have you? Why don’t you take your hand out of that orb and kill me now?” I asked.
“He can’t,” Felice said, “We’ve finished the trial, which means we can’t let go of this thing. We’re done.”
“But I’m not…”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m gonna go back in and get the others.”
“Are you stupid?”
“Yes, she is,” Ferrum said, “I don’t know why you’re resisting this. Let her go back inside and kill herself if she wants. We won, that’s all that matters.”
“Listen, you little shit-for-brains,” Felice growled, “If I want you to speak, I’ll tell you. Otherwise you’d better keep your lips shut before I decide to rearrange your teeth.”
Ferrum’s expression hardened. He clearly didn’t like being spoken to that way, but for now at least it seemed like he’d run out of things to say.
“I’m going back in,” I said, “There’s still a few minutes left before this trial is over.”
“You mean there’s only a few minutes left. You’ll die!”
“I have to do something, Felice. This isn’t right and you know it.”
Felice hung her head and shook it. She was done talking, too. Taking a deep breath, I turned around and went to walk toward the opening I’d come through. I couldn’t see the wall of light anymore, it was like it had disappeared. Jansen lay unconscious just beyond the threshold.
I dashed toward him, but thick, ropy vines shot up from the ground, halting my approach. They stretched along the entrance, creating a latticework of knots and tangles I had no way of getting through. Between the gaps I could see Jansen still lying on the floor, not moving, completely unaware that his life was about to end.
I screamed for him, but the vines closed around the small gap I was yelling through, and then I lost sight of Jansen altogether.
“Seline, look!” Felice yelled.
I spun around and followed the trail of her finger. A small group of three prospects emerged from another opening. One of them, though conscious, was being carried by the other two. I ran over to them and they stopped in front of me. “What happened to you?” I asked.
“Soldiers or something,” one of them said, “Tons of them, they came with swords and spears. One of them got him… he needs medical help.”
The prospect these two were carrying had a bloody tear in his stomach, though the blood was difficult to see against his black jumpsuit.
“Did you see anyone else out there?”
“No. We… we were a group of seven. We met inside the labyrinth. We’re all that’s left, now.”
“Wait, so, they’re dead?”
My question was met with silence. Four prospects from this group alone, dead. One other, Elroy, who had taken flight, also dead. That was five. Five dead prospects out of a group of twenty. As I stood there, making these mental calculations, more prospects started reaching the center of the labyrinth. Many of them looked hurt, others were simply exhausted.
Shutting my eyes, I ran toward the blue orb at the center of the labyrinth and stuck my hand inside, ensuring my position in the top five.
The other prospects, having seen me rush to the finish line, did the same. They rushed to the middle, each of them touching the blue light when they were able to. I kept my eyes open for any more people who were still to arrive, but no one was coming.
The ball of blue light suddenly, and without warning, expanded, flooding the center of the labyrinth with light. I shut my eyes against it on instinct, my entire orientation seemed to flip, and when I opened my eyes again, we were in the gymnasium, right where we had started.
Only now there were fourteen of us instead of twenty; the five confirmed dead, and the man I’d left behind.
The prospects waited in stunned silence, each of us staring at the other, contemplating what had just happened. Ferrum was about to open his mouth, but a boom of sound and flash of light cut him off before he could speak. A second later, in came Aaryn, hurrying through a tear in the world accompanied by two young men in prospect uniforms with gold trims—Lias among them.
Together they rushed toward the wounded prospect, they picked him up between them, and carried him out of the gymnasium, opening the door just as Draven made his way inside.
Draven let the wounded prospect through, then marched into the gymnasium, his black coat flowing behind him, raw magic radiating from him like heat from an open oven. I could feel it as he passed me, his power; something had stirred him, something wasn’t right. All I could think about, though, were those six dead prospects.
Six.
“Aaryn, I need to speak with you,” Draven said, ignoring the prospects.
“I need to speak with you also,” she replied, “In private.”
Draven nodded, then he turned to face the fourteen of us that were left. He took a deep breath and puffed his chest. “Congratulations,” he said, “You have all completed the first part of your silver finals. The five of you that reached the orb first shall receive a bonus that will aid you in your next trial, the rest of you will have a harder time competing. Dismissed.”
Ferrum, his boyfriends, and the rest of the silver prospects began filing out of the gymnasium. Felice had started to move, but when she realized I wasn’t behind her, she stopped to look at me. “No,” she said.
I nodded, my eyes fixed on Draven. “Yes,” I said.
“Please, Seline. You’ll get disqualified, and then… fuck knows what’ll happen next.”
“I don’t care.”
Draven had been speaking with Aaryn in a hushed voice, but when he noticed I hadn’t left the room yet, he turned his attention fully to me. “Is there something you want?” he asked.
I swallowed hard and licked my lips. “How… dare you,” I said.
Draven frowned. Some of the prospects that hadn’t reached the gymnasium door turned around when they heard my voice. “What did you say?” he asked.
“Six prospects…” I said, “Six. You let six prospects die down there, six people who had spent a long time in this place, living, and learning, and training to win back their chance to live the life they lost… now they’re dead, and for what?”
“They all knew the risks. You knew the risks.”
“I didn’t ask to be brought here. Did they?”
The Obsidian Order’s High Marshall turned his black eyes on the other prospects still hovering by the door. He snarled at them, “Leave,” and they all left, including Felice.
When they were all gone, Draven advanced on me at the speed of thought, grabbing me by the bicep and rushing all the way across the gymnasium with me in his grip. We flew through the door to Aaryn’s office, which opened as if by magic moments before we reached it, and then he pinn
ed me against a wall.
“You will not disrespect me like that in front of the prospects again,” Draven growled, “Do you understand?”
“I trusted your word,” I yelled, “I trusted you!”
His hand uncurled from around my arm, and I cradled it despite not wanting to display weakness around him. I could’ve drawn my dagger and run it through his chest if I’d wanted to, and maybe if I was lucky, I’d have succeeded in skewering him like a piece of meat.
It was entirely possible he’d kill me before I even managed to complete the fantasy I was cooking up in my mind, so I decided against even trying it. Instead, I rubbed my throat and made sure he hadn’t crushed my windpipe.
“That was not supposed to happen,” Draven said, his expression going from I’m going to kill you, to, I’m almost sorry. Almost.
It took me a moment to gather the will—and ability—to speak. I hadn’t been expecting what he’d just said; I’d been expecting more of a fight, more of the I’m right and you’re wrong narrative he was fond of sticking to. “What wasn’t supposed to happen?” I asked.
He turned his eyes on me. “The labyrinth… is alive. The whole thing is one big magical entity, ancient and powerful. For years we have been running trials within it, countless prospects have gone through it and survived. Some have died, yes, but only the stupid ones like that idiot Elroy.”
“I guess he did have it coming…” I shook my head. “But Draven, six prospects are dead on your watch. You told me as long as you were here, no one would die within the Black Fortress’ walls. Their blood is on your hands now.”
“Five.”
“Five?”
His eyes softened. “We were never going to seal the labyrinth and leave prospects inside. We have never done that. That is something we say to encourage them to do their best, to bring out their survival instincts.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “Wait, so you’re saying—”
“He’s in the infirmary.”
“Jansen’s alive… thank the Gods! I wanted to go back for him, but the labyrinth wouldn’t let me.”
“And you’d have lost your place at the top if you had.”
“A life is more important than this competition, Draven.”
“This isn’t only a competition, Seline.” He shook his head and shut his eyes, then took a deep breath. “He was brought back here with the rest of you. Every prospect was going to be returned here whether they made it to the center or not.”
“Even the… dead?”
Draven nodded. “I know you think I am responsible for causing their deaths, and I am, but you must understand in all these years of running these trials, this has been the highest number of prospects we have lost in a single day. Something went wrong inside the labyrinth today, and I plan on mounting a full investigation to find out what and why.”
I didn’t know what to say. I swallowed hard. “What… what happens now?”
Draven looked at me, his expression hardening again. “The trials must continue,” he said, “Tomorrow, you and the other prospects will complete the silver finals as normal.”
“As normal? You just told me nothing about what happened today was normal. Shouldn’t you complete your investigation first?”
“I am not discussing this with you. You asked me a question, and I have offered you the courtesy of answering it, just as I have offered you the courtesy of an explanation when none is due. You are a prospect, still. You follow our orders when we give them, you question nothing.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“No?”
“No. I’m not some mindless drone that’s just gonna follow your instructions without asking questions. If I was like that, your Order would’ve had no time or patience for me and I’d just have been killed, because that’s what you do, or used to do, I don’t know anymore. Instead I’m here, fighting for my life against massive balls of fire, massive fucking minotaurs, and guys with massive balls for brains.”
I wanted to add present company included, but I bit my tongue.
Draven didn’t say anything for a time, choosing instead to remain silent and watch me from where he stood. We were standing so close together and the room was so quiet, I could almost hear his heart beating inside of his chest. His magic was powerful, it fell away from him like invisible fire, giving off a kind of strange heat that made my body tingle. I found my eyes drawn to his full lips, and I wondered for one, fleeting, mad moment, what they tasted like.
I licked my lips again, my breath catching in my throat, when Draven spoke. “You are right,” he said, “I do not want drones. I want soldiers.”
I rolled my eyes. “Really? I’m not sure you’ve mentioned that before.”
Draven frowned. “Go back to your room,” he said, “Aaryn and I need to speak. Tomorrow your trial will continue as normal. You will face a series of tests around the fortress alone, the prospects with the highest scores will be admitted into the gold tier; the five with the lowest…”
“But—”
“—as normal,” he insisted.
I decided to drop the issue and walk past him without pressing the issue further. I found Felice waiting for me outside, chewing on one of her nails. She pulled her thumb out of her mouth when she saw me and pushed herself away from the wall she’d been leaning on. “There you are,” she said, “I was starting to think you’d be the next person bound for the infirmary.”
I shrugged. “It’ll take more than Draven to put me in there. Why are you waiting around?”
“I wanted to know if you were still alive. What the hell happened? You guys bang in there or something?”
I started walking, and Felice fell into step. I sighed. “Draven was pretty rattled by something… I probably shouldn’t say anything, but since you have about as many friends around here as I have and I know you’re not gonna go telling anyone, I guess it’s fine if I spilled it.”
“Oh, please do spill it. Is something going on?”
“I think so, and I think it has something to do with the labyrinth. Draven said there shouldn’t have been so many deaths down there. Oh, he also said they never planned on locking anyone in. The guy I helped get out is in the infirmary.”
“Well, that’s something.”
“Yeah, but five other people still died down there, and Draven seemed to think that wasn’t right. I don’t know. Something’s definitely going around here, but I don’t know more than that.”
“Theories?”
“None yet. I need to have a little time to think about it, though whatever I think up will probably be totally off base.”
I remembered, then, something Rey had said while we were facing off with Clarence, the minotaur. I’d brushed it off at first, but now that I’d spoken to Draven, Rey’s comment about how Clarence seemed grouchier than usual seemed to go hand in hand. Maybe it was nothing, but maybe there was a link between those two.
Felice nodded. “Alright, well, now that I know you’re alive, I’m gonna go take a shower and get something to eat. Maybe I’ll see you in the galley in a bit?”
“Yeah,” I said, brushing my hair behind my ear, “I need to go to my room first. I have a new roommate I should probably check in with.”
“You got one too?”
“Happened before the trial… she’s interesting.”
“Interesting?”
“She can… sketch the past.”
“What?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know how she does it. Maybe it’s bullshit, or maybe she remembers her dreams more clearly than the rest of us do, but she showed me some of her pictures and stuff started happening to me. Like, I started recognizing things. I think I saw the place where I used to live.”
“Maybe I should check them out, too.”
“Maybe you should… anyway, go, I’ll catch up with you later. You can tell me about your new roommate.”
Felice shrugged, then she turned away from me and went up the stairs to the next level, wher
e her dormitory was. “There’s not much to tell,” she called out, “He totally wants to bang me, though.”
Smiling, I kept going, heading over to my dorm with Draven’s words playing in my mind. I was used to seeing him in scary mode, but when we’d talked earlier, he seemed more worried than scary. Was something really going on? Was he being completely honest with me about what he knew?
By the time I reached the door to my dorm, I was starting to feel the exhaustion settling in. Physical, emotional, and magical exhaustion from the trial, and mental exhaustion from having to process everything Aaryn had told me before the trial. I would be lying if I said her story hadn’t been playing on my mind while I’d been down there, but the trial itself seemed to have formed a bulwark against the brunt of the shock.
Now that the excitement was over, I found myself pressing my back against the cold stone wall outside of my room and sliding down to the floor. I buried my face in my hands, then ran my fingers through my hair. I hadn’t noticed until now, but I was shaking, and tears were welling up inside my eyes. It wasn’t that I could almost hear the distant sounds of roaring flames and screaming Aevians that was making my heart hurt, but the thought that I knew I had a mother, and siblings, and I had no idea what had happened to them.
Had they been home when the floating city of Dawn was destroyed? Had they somehow escaped the attack? If so, where were they? I hoped they were safe somewhere, wherever they were, but pervasive thoughts kept infecting my mind. What if they were caught as they tried to flee? What if they were worried about me and trying to find me? What if they’d fallen through a rift themselves and they were now walking around on earth with no idea of who I was, or even who they were?
I ran the back of my hand across my cheeks to wipe the tears away and sniffed hard before removing my hands from my face. Sitting across from me, with his ears low and his tail swishing, was Rey.
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