“Hazel—come,” Tejus commanded from the doorway.
You’re really pushing your luck, Mister.
My first instinct was to shoot him the finger, but I got a hold of myself and smiled as sweetly as I could, my eyes flashing in a warning. I would not be spoken to like a dog—or a child.
I rolled my eyes at Ruby as I departed. For the first time since we’d arrived at Nevertide, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d really drawn the short straw when it came to being paired with our champions.
Benedict
I scrunched up my nose in revulsion. Jenney and I had pushed open a wooden door in the storage quarters and been hit with the strong odor of something similar to vinegar—but much, much worse.
“Pickles,” Jenney noted in disgust, prying open a cork top on one of the clay jars.
“Well, he wouldn’t be in here,” I replied, covering my mouth with my sleeve. We’d been searching for Julian for a couple of hours now, and I was running out of hope. It didn’t make sense to me that Julian would be in the castle—with the absence of Jenus the idea of kidnapping was kind of ruled out, which meant that he’d either gone off in search of the Nevertide borders by himself, or…
Don’t.
My gut clenched in agitation.
I couldn’t forget the picture of Yelena on the ground in front of me, my arms raised up over her—doing something. Something that was unspeakably wrong, that gave me a vague queasy, sick feeling. What if I’d done something to Julian while I was sleepwalking? I had so many blackouts, time going missing completely. I’d woken up in odd places around the castle, and then in the weird Viking graveyard where Queen Trina had thankfully rescued me and taken me back.
“Let’s get out of here.” Jenney started to back away toward the door and, gratefully, I followed her out.
“What’s with the food here anyway?” I asked trying to ignore my morbid thoughts. “Why is it so gross?”
Jenney pursed her lips. “Oh, thanks!” she replied tartly.
Oops.
Belatedly I remembered that she worked in the kitchens. She hit me playfully on the shoulder. “Idiot.”
“Sorry,” I replied meekly.
“Sentries aren’t too fussy about food—especially not the ministers and higher-ranking officials. They get most of their energy from minds – each other’s, before we discovered humans—not food.” She shrugged. “Why would they care about it?” Jenney looked up and down the hallway. “We’ve checked all these rooms. I think we should go and look around the emperor’s room—at least Julian knows that area better.”
I nodded, but kept quiet about the flaw in our logic: why would Julian be so close to us—the emperor’s rooms weren’t far from our living quarters—and not say anything?
“Let’s go,” I mumbled, happy to at least get out of the dank storage rooms. Other than the vinegar room, everything around here smelt musty and damp, reminding me of the cellar that Jenus had locked us in after we’d been set free by Tejus.
Jenney led me up some stone steps to the main area of the castle, decorated with the familiar tapestries, skeleton vulture heads and aged red carpet. I trudged wearily after her, feeling the effects of my lack of sleep over the last few weeks on top of tonight, but refusing to even think about what I’d been doing instead.
“Do you think Julian would have gone off on his own—tried to get out of Hellswan?” Jenney asked as we walked along a silent corridor.
“No,” I replied instantly. It wasn’t completely true. I’d been wondering the same thing, but I knew Julian, and though Nevertide was driving us a little bit crazy, I didn’t want to think that he’d done something so…reckless.
“He wouldn’t,” I continued, more to reassure myself than Jenney, “he wouldn’t leave us, not even to get help. He knows how dangerous it is out there.”
“So did you,” Jenney pointed out, “and you still went out with all the kids on one of your Hell Raver missions.”
“Hell Raker,” I corrected automatically. “We didn’t know about the beasts then—or whatever those creatures were.” I shuddered. I could still recall their howls perfectly. It wasn’t something I ever wanted to hear again.
I groaned inwardly.
Yelena was coming toward us from the far end of the hallway, her pale face glowing in the light of the torches. She waved at us uncertainly.
“What are you doing up?” I asked. Judging by the sliver of light I’d seen far off in the distance at the last window we’d passed, it was nearing dawn. She hadn’t been invited to the coronation, so she should have been sleeping under guard in the human quarters.
“I heard Julian was missing,” she replied breathlessly. “I’ve come to help you guys look!”
Great.
“I think we’ve got everything covered. You should really just go back to bed.”
“Benedict,” Jenney warned. “Let Yelena help—the more eyes the better.”
“Whatever,” I replied. Privately I thought we’d do a lot better without her badgering us.
Yelena crossed her arms, her bright blue eyes assessing me with irritation. “I don’t know why you have to be so mean. I’m offering to help look for your friend.”
“I’m not being mean.” I mimicked her petulant tone. “I just don’t want anything slowing us down—like you’re doing now.”
“You’re both slowing us down,” Jenney interrupted. “Just behave.”
I glared at Yelena. She was already causing trouble. I huffed and walked on, following Jenney.
As we neared the emperor’s chamber, the hallways started to look more familiar. Jenney turned a corner a few yards after the doorway to the emperor’s room, and I came to a halt. She was walking down the dead-end corridor, the one with the small closet door which led to the glowing stones. No way was I going down there. I took a step backward.
“What’s up?” Jenney asked, noticing my reluctance.
“Nothing.” I gulped. “This is just a dead end—let’s go.”
“Ah-ha!” she replied. “That’s where you’re wrong…”
She walked over to the closet and swung the wooden door open. I stared, transfixed, into the gaping blackness of the small passageway.
“This is a hidden passage. I discovered it years ago. One of the kitchen boys told me that it’s rumored to lead to the different kingdoms!” she continued excitedly.
“Have you ever been down it?” Yelena asked, practically sticking her head in the passageway to get a better look.
“I’ve tried, but I’ve never gotten that far. It seems to go on forever, so I’ve always just given up. I think it gets smaller too—but if Julian discovered it, maybe he tried to get out this way…maybe he got stuck?” Jenney speculated.
I was having difficulty breathing, and Jenney’s words were fading in and out of my consciousness. The blackness of the passage seemed to loom ahead of me, growing bigger and bigger the more I stared into its depths.
“I think we’re wasting our time—he wouldn’t go down there.” I tried to make my words sound as convincing as possible, but my throat felt dry and croaky, and both girls were ignoring me, still peering down into the darkness.
“Benedict, don’t be silly. It’s actually quite likely. This place isn’t far from our quarters. If Julian had seen this, he would have gone down it for sure,” Yelena corrected me.
“He wouldn’t because we’ve already been down there—and there’s nothing!” I burst out.
“What? When?” Jenney asked. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“Because there’s nothing down there,” I replied defensively, avoiding her inquisitive stare. “Why would Julian go down there again if he already knew that?”
“I still think we should look,” Yelena replied stubbornly.
No, don’t!
“So do I,” agreed Jenney. “Are you going to come?”
They both looked at me, and I shook my head.
“There’s no point,” I replied, trying to sound dismissi
ve, but I could hear the slight tremor in my voice. Jenney looked at me warily, but didn’t say anything.
“Suit yourself.” Yelena shrugged, bending down to enter the passage.
I wanted to shout out—to stop them. But my voice was stuck in my throat, and what would I say anyway? Queen Trina had told me to keep the stones a secret, to let them guide me. They were supposed to be a good thing, but they didn’t feel that way. I hoped that the borders I’d felt down there were still in place, and that the girls wouldn’t be able to find any more than Julian had when we’d been down there the first time—just miles and miles of empty passageway.
Jenney disappeared through the entrance, and I collapsed against the opposite wall. Sweat beaded at my temples, but my body felt cold all over. There was something dark looming in that place. I just didn’t know what it was. And I didn’t want to know.
Why don’t you join them, Benedict?
The whisper came floating from the passageway toward me. The voice was silky soft, almost as if it was caressing the air around me—persuading, trying to draw me in.
“I don’t want to,” I whispered back to the empty hallway, shuffling back against the wall so my knees were up against my chest.
But the stones…they’re so powerful.
The whisper came again, its tone knowing and mocking—creeping inside my skull, urging me to rise from my cowering position on the floor. I clutched my knees more tightly toward me, thumping the side of my head with my fist.
Go away! I thought in desperation.
Why do you defy me, Benedict?
I moaned softly. I thought if I heard anymore I would start to lose my mind. My breath was coming in short gasps, and my vision had started to go blurry. I was having a panic attack. I crawled onto all fours, breathing deeply, trying to calm myself and shut off the voice.
“What are you doing?” Yelena exclaimed, reappearing at the doorway to the passage.
“Um…I was exercising,” I blustered as relief coursed through me. My heartbeat started to slow down, and I rose from my ridiculous position on the floor. “Did you not find anything?” I asked.
“No.” She sighed, moving past the entrance so Jenney could also get out. “We had to turn back—there’s nothing for miles and miles.”
Jenney nodded. “Though I could have sworn I felt something like a barrier there—like there was something blocking our path. Did you get that?” she asked me.
“Yeah, maybe,” I replied. “The ministers might have put it there to stop people from getting into the castle without them knowing.”
“Good point. Then that means the stories might be true. I bet it does lead to the other kingdoms, maybe even out of Nevertide,” Jenney speculated.
I couldn’t share her enthusiasm. Whatever was down there didn’t want me getting out of Nevertide, I knew that much. It just wanted me to take power from the stones—but why I didn’t know, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to find out. The one that Hazel had given me—green and glowing with a seemingly never-ending source of energy—weighed heavily in my pocket. I kept it on me for safekeeping, but I avoided touching it as much as possible, hoping that if I didn’t ‘activate’ it, then the whispering voices wouldn’t know that I had it until the day I could finally be rid of it for good.
“Shall we find the others?” Jenney asked, sounding a bit fed up.
“Yeah, and I think I need a nap.”
Yelena scoffed. “You’re such a wimp, Benedict.”
If she had been a boy, I would have thumped her.
Hazel
I sat next to Tejus in a large, high-ceilinged chamber that I’d never been in before. I counted nineteen ministers all seated around us, whispering and muttering as they always did, waiting for Tejus to begin the meeting.
The interior was lavish, with high windows that let in the early-morning light, framed by long, cascading curtains that reached to the stone floor. Rather than the tapestries that I was used to seeing, seven large oil paintings hung about the room, each depicting stern men, all looking strangely similar to Tejus. The one that hung at the far end of the room, behind the ornate throne at the top of the table, was a large picture of the dead emperor, Tejus’s father. He looked as cold and forbidding as I remembered him - like Tejus in so many ways. I recalled the conversation we’d had at the beginning of the evening—how I’d tried to tell Tejus that he had a choice, that he didn’t have to follow in his father’s footsteps. Had I been wrong? Perhaps it was the only life that Tejus knew, the only one he wanted to pursue, or was capable of living.
I looked at him now, his profile as stark and unforgiving as his father’s. As soon as we’d entered the room he’d ordered a servant to fetch me a plate of bread and cheese, but since then he hadn’t so much as looked in my direction.
He looked up suddenly, turning toward the door as another man entered. This man looked vaguely familiar to me—I thought I’d seen him in the hallways of the castle a few times, and on the night Tejus had been summoned to the sick emperor. Unlike the rest of the ministers, this man wore maroon-red robes, with a vicious-looking sword in a scabbard at his waist. I guessed he was roughly the same age as Tejus, with similarly distinguished features—a classic Roman nose and the austere jawline—but this man’s eyes seemed brighter, and the corners of his mouth betrayed laughter lines that Tejus lacked.
“Commander Varga.” Tejus rose and nodded as the man approached us.
“Your Highness,” he replied, bowing low. I saw a small twitch of amusement flicker through Tejus’s face, but it vanished in an instant.
“This is Hazel Achilles.” Tejus gestured to me and I smiled faintly as I met the commander’s gaze, drawing back my chair to stand.
“This is Commander Varga,” Tejus informed me. “If I can permit any spare guards we have to look for your missing friend, they will be under Commander Varga’s charge.”
“Thank you.” I nodded at the man, not really knowing what else to say. He was looking at me with curiosity, and I wondered why I was arousing such interest. Perhaps there hadn’t been a great deal of humans permitted into this chamber—it was clearly a room allocated for kingdom administration, so perhaps my presence was odd in itself.
“Don’t thank me yet,” he replied. “My men may still be needed elsewhere.” I must have looked downcast, because he smiled at me, his entire face transformed. “Many go missing in Nevertide, don’t worry. He shouldn't be too hard to find.”
He turned on his heel, bowing once again to Tejus before taking a seat at the table. I wondered if the two of them were friends. It was the first time that Tejus had ever bothered to introduce me to someone in Hellswan, and they certainly seemed at ease with one another—well, as much as I’d ever seen two sentries at ease with one another. The formalities among the ministers and royalty were completely bizarre to me. I’d never experienced such a stuffy, uptight set of people in my life.
What about last night?
The thought came unbidden into my head. I looked intently down at the table, not wanting Tejus to catch my furious blush. Last night…that had been different. Tejus had been different. It was difficult now to compare the cold man who stood next to me with the Tejus who’d held me in his arms, taking my breath from me with every kiss and touch.
“Sit down,” Tejus addressed me, interrupting my erratic thoughts. “We need to begin.”
A silence settled over the room, the conversations between the ministers petering out as they all turned to Tejus. I wondered why he wasn’t sitting on the throne, but perhaps it was reserved for the emperor only—evidence of more stuffy customs.
“Ministers, thank you for your time.” Tejus leaned back in his chair, his voice low and unhurried. I couldn’t detect even a flicker of nervousness in his countenance, though this must have been the first time he would be addressing them as King of Hellswan. “I’ve called you here to discuss the borders. Now that the trials are over, and relative normalcy has returned to Nevertide, I command that they all be
reopened so that we may dispose of our human charges.”
Dispose of our human charges?
Wow.
If I needed any further confirmation that the kiss we’d shared had been nothing more than a goodbye, then his statement to the ministers was absolute proof. I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach, and I could do nothing but stare up at him, taken aback by his audacity.
“Is that wise, your highness?” One of the ministers spoke up in a shrill voice. “We have no emperor yet. We have successfully opened the Hellswan borders, but I do believe that if we open the outer borders we leave ourselves susceptible to threat!”
Tejus sighed in a bored manner before addressing the minister. “Qentos, there hasn’t been an outside threat to Nevertide in over a century. There is no risk.”
“But—but without the kingdoms aligned under one emperor…” the minister stuttered.
“Enough. This is mad speculation. The humans need to leave—they are many in number, and wasting my resources. Already one is missing,” Tejus replied curtly.
I didn’t want to hear more. I was desperate to leave the room, to cry away my stupid crush in private, but I had to hear the resolution to the borders – the fact that the Hellswan borders were open was news to me, and it meant that Julian could have gone further than we first suspected if there was nothing stopping him from leaving the kingdom. More than ever, I needed to know if the king would allow us guards to assist in the search for Julian.
“Your highness.” Another minister spoke up, his eyes sweeping over me. “Let us discuss this matter in private. There is more that concerns us—a great deal more. But it is not for the ears of your”—he waved his hand in my direction—“human.”
Tejus eyed him, cold dislike seeping across his face.
“Watch your tongue,” he replied, each word like a shard of glass hurtling toward the minister. He turned his attention to the rest of the table. “We will discuss this in private, then. But I assure you, before the sun sets tomorrow, I will have your assistance with the lifting of the borders, whether you will it or not.”
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