“Until the end of the trials.” I sighed deeply. “I guess the outcome will decide our fate—again.”
“I’m sick of these trials,” Hazel replied with venom. “I hope Ash becomes emperor and we can go home—I miss my e-reader and TV, and movies.”
“Well, I don’t miss Hell Raker,” Benedict muttered. “I doubt I’ll ever play anything with the word ‘hell’ in it again.”
“I second that,” Julian said.
Hazel and I chuckled.
What did I miss the most? My parents, obviously, more than anything. But we all missed our parents—it was just that no one wanted to bring it up.
“Earth’s sun.” I rolled my eyes at the stupidity of my own answer, but it was true. “It’s so orange and peachy here—I miss plain bright sunlight the most, when it shines down on Sun Beach.”
“I know what you mean,” Hazel mused. “Nothing ever seems to be bright enough here.”
“We’ll get home,” I exhaled. “We will. I know it.”
I believed that Ash could win these trials, and then figure out a way to get us back to Earth. At least, I felt that he would try his hardest to do so.
“He’s a good guy, huh?” Hazel asked.
“Yeah, he’s a good guy,” I replied, avoiding making eye contact with my friend. Ash was great, but beyond that I didn’t want to get into any details—especially not with the boys here. I still didn’t really know how I felt about him. It was confusing, to say the least.
“Shall we sleep here tonight?” Benedict asked, punching a pillow to get himself comfy.
“Yeah, I think so,” I replied and Hazel nodded sleepily. I didn’t think any of us wanted to go our separate ways, even if we would still be in the same living quarters. We’d had enough of being apart.
I took a quick shower and then rejoined the others. We all drifted off, but I kept my eyes open a little bit longer, waiting to see if Ash would come back. There was no sign of him, and eventually my eyelids grew too heavy and I had to surrender to drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
Benedict
I was relieved that we’d all agreed to sleep in the same room again. Partly I’d suggested it because I wanted to be near Hazel—I sure as heck wasn’t going to let her out of my sight anytime soon, and I wouldn’t allow her anywhere near Tejus or Jenus again. But there was also another reason, one I didn’t want to share.
The night that Julian and I had found that weird corridor, I had dreamt of it afterward. The same sense of indescribable horror had followed me into my sleep, and I’d woken up the morning of the trial covered in a cold sweat.
I faked some light snoring, guessing that Ruby was staying awake in the hope that Ash would return soon. When she eventually drifted off, I sat up to wait for him. Anything was better than falling asleep.
But no one returned, not even the servants.
The room started to grow cold as the fires died down, and I drew a blanket around me, watching my breath come out like smoke as it condensed in the icy air.
I must have dropped off at some point, because the next moment I was standing back in the corridor, a fist clenched around my thudding heart as I was beckoned by the hypnotic lights ahead of me, twinkling and dancing in the gloom.
The eyes were watching me again. I couldn’t see anything but the stones and the dirt floor, but I could feel it. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I didn’t want to take another step toward the lights… But it was like I was no longer in control of my body. My feet kept moving, one in front of the other, while the eyes watched me, and the lights grew closer and closer.
The humming started.
Run back!
I had started to pant with fear, the sound echoing around in the empty corridor, becoming louder. It didn’t even sound like me anymore, but more like a terrified animal. I wanted the noise to stop. More than anything else in the world, I wanted that noise to stop.
Run back!
I screamed soundlessly at myself, trying to make my body do what my mind commanded, but it wasn’t listening. I kept getting closer to the stones, and the bottom stone started to wriggle and shake out of its socket.
My throat went dry and my legs felt as heavy as concrete as I stared at the stone, watching it eject itself and fall to the floor with a heavy clump. It glowed brightly, a luminous, eerie green.
It rolled toward my shoe, stopping in exactly the same place it had before.
Don’t pick it up, please don’t pick it up!
I watched, sick with fear, as my hand reached out—ghostly in the light of the flickering wall—and I bent down toward the stone. Inch by inch, my trembling fingers moved closer to their goal.
NO!
I woke.
A bell tolled in the distance, loudly, solemnly.
Had it woken me? I looked around. I was no longer on the sofa, but in Hazel’s room, with my hand in the pocket of her sentry uniform pants that she’d worn to the trial.
What the hell am I doing?
I’d never sleepwalked before, and I certainly didn’t understand what I’d been doing trying to rifle through my sister’s belongings. Hastily, I removed my hand.
Just in time. The bell tolls were loud enough that the others were waking up.
“What’s that?” Hazel groaned, then sharply, “Benedict?”
“I’m here.” I quickly made my way back to the sofa. “The bells woke me. I needed the bathroom.”
“Oh.” She exhaled with relief and leaned back on her pillow. “What is that noise?”
“Jeez,” Ruby moaned. “It’s still the middle of the night!” she exclaimed, looking out of the window. “Did Ash come back yet?”
None of us knew.
“I’ll check the rooms,” I said, walking to the bedrooms that none of us had claimed yet. I wanted to get away—my heart was still thudding loudly in my chest, and once again my shirt was drenched with sweat. I cursed the day Julian and I had found that damn corridor. I never wanted to see that stone again.
The rooms were empty.
“He hasn’t come back yet,” I called back. “Sorry, Ruby.”
“I’m sure he’s fine.” She smiled tightly. She wasn’t fooling anyone.
The bell continued to ring, and eventually Julian, who could probably sleep through a tornado, woke up too.
“What’s that noise?” he asked.
“I don’t know why they’re ringing so late.” I shrugged.
“No.” Julian frowned. “Not that noise. Listen…”
We all remained motionless, trying to listen to the sound Julian could hear. Eventually, I did. It was the sound of footsteps, coming from a distance. They got closer and closer till they were pounding along the hallway toward our room. Whoever was making them was in a hurry.
Ruby jumped up from the sofa. “Ash?”
I heard the distinct sound of his low, rumbling voice, arguing with the guards to be allowed entrance into the room. He was bellowing angrily, but I couldn’t make out the words. He definitely sounded agitated though, and it put us all on edge.
Sleep was forgotten as we all got up from the sofas and stood grouped together, waiting for Ash to enter the room.
He burst through, his face ghostly white, and slammed the doors behind him. He looked worse than he had after the trials, and the most frightened I’d ever seen him. This did not bode well.
“Look,” he burst out, moving toward us, panting and sweaty from his run across the castle, “others will be here shortly to tell you, but the emperor… he’s dead.”
He looked as wild-eyed and confused as we all did.
“What… what do you mean, he’s dead?” Ruby stammered, wrapping her arms around herself as she digested the news.
“I mean just that,” replied Ash, his voice barely above a whisper, “and they don’t know who did it—not yet.”
Ruby blanched.
I didn’t understand this—I was sure that Ash told us he’d only poisoned him enough to knock him out for a few days,
not to actually kill the guy.
Total silence descended over the room. Hazel looked shocked, but confused at our reactions. I imagined she thought the emperor’s death was a good thing. And it was. If you didn’t factor in that Ash was the one responsible… and we would be charged as his accomplices if anyone ever found out.
I knew I could never tell a soul what Ash had done—and that would have been absolutely fine were we not in a dimension filled to the brim with mind-readers!
How long would it be before someone discovered the truth? It would take a siphon or two from a sentry to me, Ruby or Julian and we’d be found out. I was hugely grateful that Hazel didn’t know a thing—as she was Tejus’s favored battery-pack, we wouldn’t have a hope in hell.
I suddenly felt angry with Ash. I knew that he’d done the deed to distract Jenus and get us out of the cellar, but he should have been more careful. I also doubted that his motivations were entirely due to our rescue—he would have gained a lot in the trials without the emperor present.
“So,” I said, breaking the silence, “what is going to happen to us now?”
I looked around the room.
Grim, miserable and clueless faces stared back at me.
Clearly, no one knew.
Hazel
I couldn’t help but be suspicious of Ash—the blood-drained face, the perspiration on his forehead and the way he looked wildly around the room, as if at any moment guards were going to come and seize him.
They were all the hallmarks of a guilty man.
I looked at Ruby. She and Ash both exchanged a look, Ruby appearing as panicked as he did.
It wasn’t like I cared that the emperor was dead. If anything, it was a good thing. But if Ash was in any way involved, and had dragged Ruby into the deception, and Benedict and Julian as well, then I would be beyond furious. It wouldn’t take the sentries long to realize what had happened, and then… well, the consequences didn’t bear thinking about.
“I need to go. I’ll get back down to the kitchens—see if I can’t find out more,” Ash announced. “Someone’s bound to know something.”
Ruby nodded, and I could see she was torn as to whether to go with him or remain with us.
I put a hand on her arm. “We need to stay together, Ruby.”
She nodded, gulping. “Of course. Be careful—and good luck, Ash.”
He gave us all a curt wave, barely glancing at Ruby again as he left the room via a small side door by one of the empty bedrooms.
I raised my eyebrow at Ruby, my question obvious.
“I’m worried for him, Hazel,” she replied, avoiding answering me. “All the champions are going to look suspicious now—especially someone from the kitchen staff.”
Okay.
Maybe I was overreacting. Although I wasn’t entirely convinced. I was going to ask her outright if she knew anything about the poisoning, but at that moment the guards opened the main doors once again and Tejus swept in.
When I’d last seen him, he’d looked like a convict being dragged away to trial. That was no longer the case. Tejus was dressed in the black robes of the court, and the air of authority I associated with him had been reinstated—he was back to the imperious and intimidating Tejus I knew well.
“Apologies for disturbing you at this late hour.” He addressed me alone, his dark eyes boring into mine. “No doubt you’ll all be delighted to know that I have been reinstated as a candidate to compete in the trials,” he deadpanned, now addressing the wider group. Benedict gave a soft groan.
“It was a decision that the chief ministers made on the death of my father,” Tejus continued stiffly. “The remaining trials will now be accelerated in order to choose a new king, which will then be followed by the trials to choose a new emperor. It will happen as swiftly as possible—”
“When?” Benedict asked.
“I do not know exactly,” Tejus replied curtly, “but certain royal families of the surrounding kingdoms within the empire are ordering them to begin immediately, without waiting for the Hellswan kingdom to choose its new ruler to compete.”
“Well, Ash should simply be chosen,” Benedict argued. “He won the first trial today—why not just have him? Everyone likes him, no one likes—”
“Benedict!” I interrupted sharply. The last thing I needed was my brother on trial for treason. “Calm down. Ash will get his chance to compete in the rest of the trials to gain the throne.”
“Oh, yeah—’cause the trials are always really fair,” Benedict replied sarcastically.
“Tejus was the one who stopped the disk today,” Julian muttered. “Give him a chance, Benedict.”
I shot a grateful smile Julian’s way. Benedict huffed and went to sit down on the sofa with his arms crossed in front of him.
“And let me guess,” Benedict continued, glaring balefully at Tejus, “you’ll need Hazel for that, won’t you?”
“I need to speak to Hazel, yes,” Tejus replied, “in private.”
“No!” Benedict jumped up again from the sofa. “I’m sick of you using her. I don’t want her to be anywhere near you and your crappy family, and I don’t want you to use her to siphon off energy. Can’t you see she looks terrible?”
“That was Jenus, not I,” Tejus snapped back. I could see that he was positively irritated with Benedict for the first time since Benedict had started answering back.
“Hey.” I grabbed Benedict by both arms and forced him to look at me. “I’m okay. I can do this. We’re going to be okay—I promise you that.”
“They keep hurting you! You’re not safe with him—you need to stick with us!” Benedict implored me. I could see tears starting to well up in the corners of his eyes, and I drew him into a hug.
“Hey, we’re Shadians, remember?” I whispered into his ear. “We’re tough. Tejus doesn’t hurt me—he’s right, it’s Jenus who’s the threat. I know that Tejus will set us free if he wins.”
“I don’t trust him.” Benedict angrily wiped away his tears.
“Trust me,” I replied fervently. “That’s all you need to do.”
He sighed. He knew he was beaten on this.
I felt for the first time that a small divide was starting to appear—Team Ash and Team Tejus. It wasn’t the way I wanted it to be—it wasn’t the way any of us wanted it to be—but it didn’t look like we had a choice. And I firmly believed, as did Ruby, that we were better off hedging our bets. We had no way of knowing what the outcome would be if any of the other kingdoms rose to imperial power. At least this way we had more control over the outcome.
“Okay,” Benedict whispered eventually. “Will we see you later?”
“Yes. I’m going to talk to Tejus, and then I’ll be back.” I gave him one last hug and then turned to Tejus. He beckoned me out of the room, and I followed.
As we passed the doorway, I expected the guards to kick up a fuss about me leaving, but they only watched Tejus carefully. It confirmed my suspicions that they were there to protect us, not to hold us prisoner. How times had changed. Apparently, almost overnight, we humans had become a valued public resource.
Great, I thought ruefully. But at least it would keep us safe… well, safer.
As we walked along the corridor Tejus turned and murmured to me, “Don’t say a word until I tell you. We can’t talk freely here.”
I nodded, and hurried to keep pace with him. The darkened castle was starting to give me the creeps even more than usual.
We walked in the direction of his living quarters, constantly in the shadow of the moonlight, and sometimes it was so dark all I had to guide me were the sounds of Tejus’s footsteps and the whip of his cloak as it caught in the drafts of the castle.
We approached the stairwell that led to his living quarters, which I assumed was where we were heading. But when we reached his floor, instead of alighting on the hallway, Tejus carried on up the stairs.
I kept following, my lungs aching from the exertion, as it grew colder and colder. It crossed my mind t
hat I would be seeing where my attempted kidnapper had escaped from—whoever it was had fled this way when they’d heard the guards approaching.
Eventually we ascended to a high parapet that looked out across the castle grounds and for miles into the distance. The whole of Nevertide surrounded us, and I held onto the stone merlons that formed the top of the wall—I felt almost dizzy so high up, and didn’t dare look directly down.
The moonlight shone, casting a silvery glow that transformed the bleakness of Nevertide into something almost ethereally beautiful. The other kingdoms were marked by imposing-looking castles, their structures just as impenetrable as this one, and I wondered if each of those castles endured as much drama as this one. Somehow, I doubted it.
I glanced over at Tejus. He too was looking out at the landscape, his eyes fixed on one castle in particular. The furthest away, one he’d pointed out to me in the past. I couldn’t remember whom it belonged to, but his expression as he gazed on it was grim and determined.
“Can we talk now?” I asked hesitantly. The cold air was whipping at my face and body, and I drew my arms closer around me, wishing that I’d taken one of the sofa blankets.
“We can,” he replied. “Duck down behind the wall—the wind won’t be as strong there.”
I did as I was instructed, and sat down on the thin wooden rail that was built into the circumference of the parapet.
“What’s going on?” I asked, knowing that I hadn’t heard the full story yet.
Tejus sighed. “The emperor didn’t die tonight. He passed away earlier today. It was the reason that we witnessed such mayhem—the ministers didn’t know what to do when the trial went wrong, unsure whether they should stop it or not, no longer knowing where their orders were coming from.”
“Did they know before they left for the trial then?” I asked. I couldn’t believe that it hadn’t been stopped or delayed—surely the death of an emperor would warrant such a thing?
“They did. They were due to announce it after the completion of the trial. Most were sure that Jenus would win. But of course, after I stopped the disk, and Jenus and I fought, they wanted to address the issue between my brother and me before they officially declared his death. It made the ministers very uneasy to think that a royal wouldn’t be in charge of Hellswan Kingdom.”