Shapes and figures formed within the shadowy wisps, the vague outline of Blackwood’s forest slowly coalescing. There were bodies materializing in the vision too. A group of six. Their forms were clear, especially those who lingered at the back of the group,but there was somebody standing near the front…a face Irene would recognize anywhere.
Irene couldn’t contain the gasp that sprang out of her.
The telescope toppled out of her hands. Her knees buckled beneath her.
She drew in strangled breaths as she tried to swallow back the panic, to push away the disbelief contorting her insides, and forced her eyes to meet Silas’s sobering gaze. The Headmaster of Blackwood Academy was staring at her with an intensity that Irene had never seen before.
“Is that—” She swallowed, shaking her head. “Is thather?” She couldn’t even bring herself to say her name out loud. Not when she wasn’t certain.
Silas picked up the telescope from the floor, placing it back inside the skull.
“I believe so, but…” His voice trailed off as the skull slowly closed around the telescope, its splintered cracks mending. “We have to be certain. We have to check.”
Irene’s heart sank in her chest.
No.
“You…” Irene cleared her throat. “You want me to check. You want me to go see if it’s her…don’t you?”
Silas nodded. “You and the other Council candidates will enter the forest and confirm her identity, as well as the others within her group.” Silas stepped closer, towering over Irene. “Ms.Bamford…you should know…this is your final test. Your last chance to show me that you belong here.”
This is it.
Despite the silence blanketing the space between them, Irene knew. It was something in the way Silas was staring at her. Something in the dark vortex of his gaze. If Irene agreed to go into theforest, if she swallowed the panic and terror rising up her throat…then she would be chosen.
She would join the Council.
“What if we’re right?” Irene whispered, voice wavering. “I mean…what if itisher?”
Silas hesitated. Around him, the air seemed to crackle with electricity, charged with a power Irene could barely fathom. But she wanted to. She wanted to reach out and rip it out of his chest. To seize it for herself.
“If itisher…” Silas whispered, a solemnness reverberating in his voice, “…then you must do what needs to be done.”
31
Olivier
“What do you meanit’s empty?” Catherine’s voice was a lethal blade, trembling with rage.
“I mean…” Dina gestured to the vacant tomb with a defeated wave. “There’s nothing in here. No body. No soul. Nothing. Just…this.” She raised the piece of parchment toward the torchlight.
It was a drawing. The face etched upon the parchment was nothing more than a boy, perhaps only slightly older than Olivier. A sharp, angular face. Impressively blue eyes. Lips pulled into a sullen scowl. It was signed with one letter…V.
“That isn’t possible.” Catherine gaped, eyes darting between the group. “We followed the clues. We found the keys.” She joined Dina, staring down at the empty tomb with panic burning in her eyes. “This can’t be right.”
“Therehasto be something else,” Olivier agreed, striding up next to her. He searched, frantic. “Maybe—maybe there’s another riddle. Something we aren’t seeing. The drawing! Maybe the drawing is a clue!”
“Guys.” Masika’s voice echoed behind them. “He’s not here.”
Olivier snatched the drawing from Dina’s hand. There had to be something they were missing. Something hidden in the tomb.
“Look! Maybe that’s a clue! Maybe—”
“Olivier.”
Masika’s voice wobbled with every word. “He’s. Not. Here.”
Each word was a punch in Olivier’s stomach. He stared at Catherine, searching for another explanation, forsomething. But, to his horror, he watched the denial and panic on her face slowly melt into complete and utter defeat.
