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I flip to the next key after the dragon, which looks like… bubbles, maybe?
Mei doesn’t need me to ask the question swimming in my head. “Drowned.”
The next key looks like a stylized thunder, and I have an inkling as to what that means. “Electrocuted.”
As I thought. The knot in my throat grows thicker. Next key. It’s a plain loop with some decorative collars beneath it. I twist it this and that way, waiting for it to take a shape I can recognize…
“Hung.”
A noose.
I drop the key like it burned me. I’m holding twenty-nine lives in my hands. Twenty-nine deaths, rather. As if this game wasn’t morbid enough as it is. I rake my fingers through my hair, letting my fingernails scrape my scalp.
Mei reaches a hand forward, but halts before she can touch me. “Are you… you okay?”
I force myself to take a deep breath in. Am I? On one hand, it’s not encouraging to realize that’s the fate awaiting me, if I fail this challenge. When I wondered if my death would be painless… well, I guess I’ve got my answer. But on the other, this is a step forward. It’s a piece of the puzzle falling into place, even if a morbid one, and it puts me closer to the solution.
Pushing down the knot in my throat with a loud gulp, I gather the trinkets back into the box. Mei watches me with wide eyes. “Esme?”
“I’m fine,” I say. It’s only half a lie. “Kind of. I’m as fine as I can be, but I need to keep going. I need to talk to Teizel.”
chapter 25
the shapes of regret
teizel
I’m laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, when Esme barges in. I drag myself to a sitting position and raise an eyebrow.
“I’m beginning to think you spend time here more so to see me than to try and solve the riddle.” I say that to get a rise out of her — I would do well to remember I’m to stay away, if I don’t want to fall victim to another witch.
She nails me with a glare. “Don’t even go there. I hate you just as much as always. I’m only in your presence because I have to be, and I have something to show you.”
I sweep my arm across the room, inviting her in. She steps past the threshold, taking a look around. I didn’t particularly care to redecorate the house when we took it over — as with any other place we’ve been to before, our stay is limited to a few months. The only thing I carry with me through every living arrangement are books. This house came pre-furnished with a stocked library, so my personal collection ended up here, taking up each of the shelves above my desk, filling the drawers of my nightstand, piled against the floor-length mirror.
Esme evaluates the room, probably looking for space to sit, but available surfaces are limited to the floor — and not that much of it — or the bed. With an audible swallow, she comes to sit beside me on the king mattress that dominates the center of the room. I scoot closer to the edge, both to give her space and to keep myself from getting sucked into her scent and doing something I’ll regret.
She’s my challenger. She’s a witch. They’re reasons enough for me to keep a distance. If only my lust would get the memo…
“Go on,” I urge her when she doesn’t speak.
She puts the jewelry box she’d been holding onto on the bed between us and flips the lid open, fishing out the set of keys. “Twenty-nine keys, one for each challenger.”
It’s not a question, so I don’t answer. She proceeds to hold individual keys up. The dragon. The bubbles. The lighting. The noose.
“It would seem there’s a point to be made somewhere, and yet you’re not making it,” I say.
She nails me with a glare. “Getting there.” She fishes the locket out of the box next, and tries the dragon key with it. As it always has, the key slides in, but when Esme tries to twist it, it resists with a jarring, grinding sound that makes the hair on my neck stand to attention.
Twenty-nine people who tried to solve the puzzle, twenty-nine people who failed, twenty-nine deaths I carry on my conscience… if you can call it that. The reminder is most unwelcome.
“Get there faster,” I groan.
Her face scrunches. “This bothers you, does it not?”
“What is the point of that question?”
“Just answer it.”
