Oh, crap.
“Does Ash know?” I asked.
“I don’t know—I just told Ruby, but…” He left the rest of his sentence unfinished.
“You did tell her that I didn’t use it in this trial though, right?”
“Um…no.” He looked at the floor. “I didn’t hear that bit.”
“Right.”
It was taking all my self-control not to throttle Julian right now.
“Look,” I said, trying to maintain my calm, “I get why you did it, but I found the stone by accident. I didn’t realize what it could do till later. And I never meant for it to give us a big advantage, it was more so I didn’t get so tired. It was also what saved the other sentries from the disk. Had I not had the stone, Tejus wouldn’t have stopped it in time.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
“It’s okay.” I sighed. “I’ll sort it out with Ruby. Hopefully she won’t tell Ash before I reach her.”
After Julian left, I stood stone still in the middle of the living room, with a sick, queasy feeling in my stomach. If Ruby did tell Ash, then Tejus would be disqualified.
I should hide the stone.
It couldn’t stay here—but where else would I put it? I didn’t want to put it back in the sword. That would further implicate Tejus. And I didn’t know where in the castle would be safe, too unfamiliar with anything outside of Tejus’s living quarters.
I could give it to someone—but who? It would have to be someone I trusted completely, but also who wasn’t directly involved in the trials…
There was only one person I could think of, and that was my little brother.
I hurried into the cubby hole, hoping to get it to Benedict before Tejus returned. I would tell him the whereabouts of the stone after the last trial—I was afraid if I told him about Ruby knowing, he would take the stone back immediately and not let it out of his sight.
I placed the stone in my pocket and went off to find my brother.
He was in their living quarters, dozing on the sofa just like I had been moments before. I looked around for Ruby and Ash, but I couldn’t see them anywhere.
Good.
“Benedict?’ I shook him gently. “Wake up.”
“Hazel?” He rubbed his eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“Can we go into your room?” I asked. “I want to talk to you about something.”
“Okay,” he murmured, looking at me with a small frown.
Once he’d shut the door, I sat down on the bed and beckoned for him to join me.
“I need to ask you for a favor—it’s really important,” I began. “I found a stone, a really powerful one, in Tejus’s sword. I’ve been using it to help me in the trials, but if anyone finds out, or sees it in Tejus’s possession, he’s going to get disqualified from the trials. I was hoping you could look after it for me—keep it safe?”
“A-A stone?” Benedict asked, gulping.
“Yeah.” I studied his expression, frowning. It was almost as if he was afraid. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know…” He hesitated.
“You’re the only person I trust with this,” I said, “and it’s not harmful – maybe to sentries, I don’t know – but not to us. I’ve been carrying it around for days.”
He nodded, closing his eyes for a brief second before reluctantly holding out his hand.
“Benedict.” I spoke softly, taken aback by his reaction. “You don’t have to do this. I can put the stone somewhere else in the castle—it’s okay.”
“No, it’s okay.” He gave me a weak smile. “I’ve got a feeling it’s my destiny.”
I furrowed my brows at his odd response, then chuckled and ruffled his hair.
“Weirdo.”
“I’ll take good care of it. Won’t let it out of my sight,” he replied, much more confidently than before.
“Okay, thanks,” I said, placing the stone in his hand. “And get some sleep. You look like crap.”
He nodded and after I kissed his cheek goodnight I let myself out, feeling much lighter than I had when I arrived.
Julian
I punched my pillow in a huff, trying to get into a comfortable enough position to fall asleep. I wished I had my games console or a comic to help me zone out, but I had nothing to distract me from my guilty conscience or the new kid who snored like a rhino next door.
Lying on my back, staring at the ceiling, I started trying to estimate how many days were left until the barriers were lifted and we were able to get out of here. If the trial took place tomorrow, then I guessed there would be some kind of celebration or coronation-type thing, and then once Tejus or Ash were finally in charge, it would be time to go home. It could be as little as four days, three if we were lucky.
The thought was comforting—the end was in sight at last. Mostly I couldn’t wait for my parents and the rest of GASP to get their hands on the sentry ministers and anyone else who thought kidnapping humans was a good idea. The look on Tejus’s face when he realized that we were part of a global supernatural army was going to be priceless.
Finally, I began to grow drowsy, but a rustle coming from Benedict’s bed made me look over to where my friend was sleeping.
Suddenly he sat bolt upright, shocking me so much my heart skipped a beat.
“Hell, Benedict—you scared the crap out of me!” I snapped at him.
He didn’t reply.
“Benedict?” I questioned again, feeling uneasy.
He still didn’t respond. His eyes were wide open, looking straight ahead, past me, to the wall. It was so freaky, him just sitting there, staring intently at the gray stone like he was watching something.
Still without speaking, he turned and slid out of his bed to stand in the middle of the room. I realized he was sleepwalking, but there was something about his face, half lit by the moonlight and half cast in shadow, that was making my blood run cold.
Without making a sound, he remained gazing ahead, expressionless.
I’d heard that you shouldn’t ever wake a sleepwalker, but it took everything in my power not to do so—I desperately wanted him to go back to bed or wake up, or anything normal.
“Benedict…you’re sleepwalking, wake up,” I murmured softly, hoping that I might be able to reach his consciousness and feature as a voice of authority in whatever weird dream he was having.
Instead, he moved toward the door and twisted the handle slowly. When it swung open, he stood waiting in the doorway, facing the sleeping room of kids, without moving.
Goosebumps started to rise on the back of my neck.
Stop being so weird, Benedict.
I started to shuffle toward the end of the bed reluctantly. I didn’t want to follow him, at all, but if he was going to go off somewhere in the castle then it was safer that I came with him—following at a distance.
With a sick feeling in my stomach, I watched him walk across the living room, miraculously avoiding stepping on the sleeping bodies, as if he was completely alert. Even I had trouble doing that in the dark, and ended up following him step by step so I didn’t tread on anyone.
When he got to the main door, he pushed it open. I jumped to catch it before it shut behind him, and followed him out.
Our hapless guards were fast asleep, and the hallway that led to our quarters was deserted. Benedict kept walking in the direction of the belly of the castle, never hesitating, his footing sure and determined as if he knew exactly where he was going.
I followed a couple of paces behind, hanging back when he turned a corner or approached an arch. The more I watched him, the more adamant I became that he wasn’t just mindlessly sleepwalking, but being drawn to some destination.
I wanted to know where.
I felt instinctively that there was something deeply wrong here. I just didn’t understand what it was. I could only follow my friend.
As we continued our journey, I started to notice that every so often his left hand would reach down to feel
about in his pocket… as if he was reassuring himself that something was there. I couldn’t imagine what it might be though—these were the pants he’d slept in since we’d arrived, what could he possibly be keeping in them?
We turned down one hallway, and I started to recognize where we were. This was the corridor that had let to the closed-off passage, the one that Benedict had come running out of the time we went to find Hazel. I watched as he approached the small door and stood in front of it.
No. Don’t go in there, Benedict.
It made me feel nauseous that in his sleep, Benedict would return to the place that had terrified him so completely when he’d been awake.
To my relief, he didn’t open the door. He just stood there, like a statue, as if he were listening for something that only he could hear.
A moment later, he turned and continued back the way we’d come. I exhaled slowly—perhaps this would be the end of it? Maybe it was just that the corridor haunted his dreams so much that his body felt drawn to it, even in sleep.
Tomorrow morning, I was going to have a long chat with him—no way could this continue. It was the stuff of nightmares.
We turned another corner, and I could hear footsteps up ahead.
I backed up a bit so I was hidden by the wall, and hissed at Benedict to come back. I really didn’t want him bumping into a sentry in this state, but he continued regardless, oblivious.
A plain-clothed figure entered the corridor, and as soon as it passed by a window, I exhaled with relief as the moonlight bounced off Ruby’s blonde hair.
“Benedict?” she exclaimed. “What are you…”
I was about to step forward and explain the situation to her, but instead I froze, watching as Benedict reached into his pocket and brought out a strange-looking stone. Its color was electric in the gloom and it seemed to almost pulse with energy. He held it toward Ruby, his hand outstretched as if he were trying to hand it to her.
“Benedict!” she cried out.
A split second later she slumped to the floor, her head banging sharply on the stone floor.
I was so terrified it took a moment for my body to catch up with my impulse to rush forward. I half staggered into the hallway, but before I could take another step, something sharp and cold hit the back of my head with such force that I stumbled forward, too shocked to cry out. I felt hands roughly grab me from behind, dragging me backwards with a sharp jerk that almost took my arms right out of their sockets. I tried to struggle and twist around to see my attacker, but their grip was too tight and the more I fought against them, the more my vision started to swim and I started to get dizzy.
The last thing I saw before the world faded into a dark nothing was Benedict standing in the moonlit hallway. He slowly turned toward me, staring right at me. His expression was completely blank.
Ruby
I stood next to Ash in the arena where the first disk trial had been held. It wasn’t good to be back.
The last time we were here, the sun had shone down brightly on the floor of the arena, bleaching out the sandy, yellow stone of the circular walls and the rings of bleachers that surrounded the dusty floor. Today though, it was gray—the sun had hidden behind a cloud, and off in the distance I could see thunderclouds that were almost black in appearance.
“Looks ominous, doesn’t it?” Ash commented. “How are you feeling?”
“Been better… I just don’t understand what happened,” I replied, still trying to get my head around the events of last night and this morning.
I’d been woken early by two guards peering at me with concerned expressions on their faces. When I looked around, I’d found myself lying in the middle of a hallway in the castle, completely oblivious to how I’d gotten there. The last thing I could remember was going to find Hazel. It had been late, but I’d not been able to sleep after the conversation I’d had with Julian. I wanted to hear her side of the story and talk about what was going on—to either give her a piece of my mind, or find out that it was all a huge misunderstanding. All I knew was that I’d never reached Hazel…but there was something else I was missing—something that had happened before I could find her. I just couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was.
“You probably fell,” Ash replied, lifting his fingers to the very sore bump on my forehead, which I assumed was due to the stone floor.
“Wouldn’t I remember that though?” I asked.
“Not necessarily if you were knocked out cold—it’s lucky you didn’t do any more damage to yourself, shortie. Wandering the castle at night? Never a good idea,” he warned.
“Yeah, I know.” I sighed.
The one thing I wasn’t telling Ash about the incident was how weak I felt this morning. It worried me—I felt light-headed and drowsy, like I had absolutely no energy whatsoever left in me. As I returned to the living quarters and had breakfast, I’d kept hoping that I would get back to normal, but so far it hadn’t happened.
And I was running out of time.
The trial would be starting in about an hour, and unless a vat of caffeine magically appeared before me, I was in trouble.
Unless...
I saw Hazel standing off on the sidelines with Tejus. She’d been avoiding me since we arrived and I hadn’t been in the right frame of mind to speak to her either—but enough was enough. We needed to have this out, and I needed to get my energy back.
“Give me a minute,” I said to Ash, and made my way over to where Hazel was standing.
Her face dropped as I approached, and she looked down at the ground, suddenly fixated on her sneakers.
“Can I speak to you for a moment please, Hazel?” I asked, eyeing Tejus coldly. He raised his eyebrows and then shrugged, backing off to go and stand by the arena walls, without taking his eyes off Hazel.
“Ruby,” she whispered, “I know what you’re going to say—and I’m so sorry—”
“What were you thinking?” I hissed back. “Was it that important to you that Tejus won?”
“No!” she cried, before adjusting her volume. “Sorry—no, it wasn’t that important. I didn’t understand how powerful it was till it was too late. I was only using it to replenish my energy. That’s all. I’m really, really sorry—I should have spoken to you about it earlier.”
“Damn right you should have,” I snapped back at her. “Luckily for you, I hate it when we argue, and I’ve worked out how you can make it up to me.”
“What? I’ll do anything.”
“I need the stone.”
“What?” she asked, her mouth dropping open.
“I need the stone,” I repeated slowly and firmly. “I went sleepwalking last night and hit my head on the floor. I feel like crap. Ash is relying on me—I need the stone.”
“I don’t have it,” she whispered, glancing at Tejus.
“Does he?” I glared at her.
“No! He got mad when he realized I’d been using it. He made me keep it locked up in his cubby hole—but as soon as Julian told me that he’d told you about the stone, I moved it,” she replied.
“Julian told you…?” I shook my head. “Forget it. Where did you put it?”
“I gave it to Benedict,” she replied. “I thought that would be safest—so that Tejus wouldn’t get disqualified.”
I groaned. Benedict had remained behind at the castle. I’d seen him for breakfast this morning. If only I’d known! It was too late now. I wouldn’t make it back in time for the start of the trial.
“I’m sorry,” Hazel agonized.
“Well, I’m now also mad that you’d think I’d go running to Ash and we’d get Tejus disqualified. That’s so low!” I exclaimed. “Do you really think I’d do something like that?”
Hazel shook her head. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess I just panicked.”
“Sentries!” The minister of ceremonies interrupted our argument in a loud, booming voice. “Welcome to the final installment of the kingship trials!”
The audience that had
poured in since Hazel and I started talking cheered loudly and thumped their feet on the seats.
“The trial most of you have been waiting for—the one that truly tests the mettle of a king—the warrior trial!”
Again, the crowd erupted, sounding like a rabble of incensed beasts, and I winced at the blood-hungry undertones of their cries.
“Our two remaining champions—Prince Tejus, an advocate of industrious thinking, true wisdom and integrity, and Ashbik, an honest and talented champion, both willing to work together to achieve their goals—will now be pitted, one against one, as they battle for the crown of the kingdom!”
I surreptitiously rolled my eyes at the announcement. The ministers’ obvious bias was starting to get to me. Hopefully after today, their loyalty would lie elsewhere, with Ash.
“Are you okay?” Ash turned to me.
“Yeah—I’m okay,” I muttered.
“You just look exhausted. I’m worried that I’ve been draining you too much…and today? Tejus is the best sword fighter in all of Nevertide. I’ll need you more than ever. I’m sorry, shortie. If it becomes too much— stop me. Okay?”
“Don’t worry,” I hastened to reassure him. “Take as much as you need. I’ll be fine. You need to win this, Ash.”
He nodded, and took my hand in his. I felt his thumb gently rub against my skin, making me feel warm all over. We could do this. Together.
“The rules!” the minister shouted, trying to regain the attention of the crowd. “Champions will not be able to use mind powers on one another. The test is only of physical strength…this means no syphoning off either champion, no mind manipulation between the champions, and the wounds inflicted are not to be fatal. Of course, syphoning off your chosen humans is permitted. The first sentry on his back loses the trial, and you do not, on any account, leave the red-lined perimeter of the arena.”
I looked down at the ground. Surrounding the center of the arena was a thick red circle of chalk, about the width of my palm. On the edges of the circle, red-robed watchers had positioned themselves about a meter apart.