Page 135 of The Amber Sunburst

He doesn’t even look surprised, just tired. “Lazarus, you didn’t.”

“They’re gonna catch me.”

“Not if it works,” Kallias says, gesturing to the ring. He’s gotten easier to read recently, because Lazarus can see the genuine curiosity on his face.

Lazarus slips on the ring, expecting to feel some kind of energy or power or even literal invisibility.

Instead, the dullness of reality settles over him. The ring is just a ring. Of course it is. How could it be anything else?

Lazarus doesn’t move, and Kallias sighs. “You have to go to your room or something. Anywhere that doesn’t directly implicate you.”

Kallias offering support is surprising, but Lazarus is deaf to it. He can’t outrun his stupidity. And maybe this is the solution to his problems. He’s never considered lighting a match and melting his own wings.

Kallias covers his face with his hands and then runs them through his hair. He shakes his head at himself before turning and kicking Lazarus in the stomach.

“What the Forms, Kallias!”

“Get up. We’re going to give you an alibi.”

Kallias’ eyes are more imploring than angry, and it’s becoming clear that he doesn’t plan to leave the tunnels without Lazarus.

At this point, he can’t bring himself to care why. To wonder whether anything people think about Kallias was ever true in the first place. He pushes off of the floor and jumps to his feet, then he and Kallias run.

Kallias stops when they get to a door—Lazarus assumes it’s Alexander and Zeno’s—and knocks twice. It’s very calm for the urgent situation they’re in, but apparently it does the trick, because seconds later Alexander swings the door open. He’s already smiling like he knows who’s there.

Then the smile fades into confusion when he notices Lazarus next to him.

“Can we come in?” Kallias asks.

“We’ve got people over,” Alexander responds, less like a rejection and more like a warning.

His eyes dart to Lazarus, then back to Kallias. Kallias lifts a brow, tapping on the doorframe in what looks like a nervous tic. Alexander shakes his head almost imperceptibly.

Oh, they’ve learned to read each other’s thoughts. The way they’re joined at the hip, Lazarus is surprised it took them this long.

“We don’t mind,” Kallias says and, finally, Alexander pulls the door all the way open. Inside are Eudoxos, Zeno, and a girl in Priestess garb whom Lazarus hasn’t met before all sitting on the floor.

He opens his mouth to introduce himself, but nothing comes out. He would laugh at himself if he had the energy for it. It’s a true testament to his lack of charm that even now, in ultimate panic, Lazarus can still get flustered by a pretty girl. Though she’s more than pretty, really. Golden eyes, brown skin, and a sweet freckle on her right cheek. She’s uncannily beautiful.

Zeno frowns, and the three of them stand. “What’s happening? You okay, Laz?” he asks, which pulls Lazarus’ attention away from the ethereal girl and back to the fact that he cannot breathe.

He leans against the door and clutches his chest and Zeno rushes over. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

He opens his hand and shows the ring.

“I did something stupid,” he exhales between hiccupy breaths.

Kallias jumps to sit on Alexander’s bed and explains. “He needs an alibi. So he’s been here since dinner, right?”

Alexander nods, and shoots Lazarus a pitying smile, then hops up to join Kallias.

But then Zeno shakes his head and Lazarus’ heart drops.

“That’s only going to work for so long,” Zeno says. “They’re not going to trust my word forever. And then they’ll think he took it for us.”

Lazarus’ eyes widen when he remembers, for the hundredth time, they’re leaving.

And he’s either going to die here or go with them. The instinct that keeps him from drowning, from jumping, from turning himself in—it’s too strong not to play every card in his hand.