Page 169 of The Amber Sunburst

EUDOXIA

Blood sticks to every part of Eudoxia’s body and every inch of her soul. It’s easy to ignore, though. Because nothing rings louder than the sirens in her head.

Arete! they cry as she and Zeno pass Arc Three.

Help her! they scream as she sprints through Arc Two.

Save her! they bellow as the Academy comes into view.

She prepares herself for battle. She will kill whoever has taken her sister. Their blood will mingle with Kleitos’ on her shoes, and she will revel as it spills from them.

The hedges are less than a mile off, and even with her eyes blurring in anger, she can see the intimidating Main Building towering over the lawn.

“Do you hear that?” Zeno says somewhere behind her, but she doesn’t care. “Eudoxia,” Zeno yells. She can’t let him distract her from her murderous fog.

At least, not until she comes face to chest with someone running in the opposite direction. She stumbles backwards and Zeno catches her right before she can tumble down the stairs. Her blurred vision smooths out slightly.

“Lazarus?” she asks without thinking.

“Xia!” a little voice yells, and Eudoxia falls back into her own mind. Arete scrambles down from Lazarus’ shoulder and jumps into her arms and, oh, thank the Forms. Her baby sister, back where she belongs.

“I’m so sorry, Arete. I’m so sorry. I love you, I love you,” she chants, gripping Arete so close she’s nearly suffocating both of them.

“I love you, too, Xia,” Arete whispers, burying her face in Eudoxia’s shoulder. “I wasn’t scared. I knew you’d find me.”

Tears are on her cheeks before she notices she’s crying. “I’ll always find you, my little bird. Always.”

She holds Arete in silence and tunes in to the end of Lazarus’ explanation to Zeno. “—and then I had no choice but to set off the alarms,” he sighs, his face gaunt and exhausted.

It takes a moment to register what he’s said, and another to hear it—the Academy alarms are blaring painfully loud and, Forms, it’s a wonder she hasn’t noticed that yet.

“Why are we just waiting here?” she barks, like she hasn’t been standing, non-verbal, for the past several minutes. “Let’s go!”

Zeno smiles at her, takes Arete gently from her arms, and winks. “Yes, ma’am.”

She barely has time to roll her eyes before they’re running.

Ophelia is not hard to spot. Especially when she caws like an overgrown, dying crow from above them on the staircase to get their attention.

When Eudoxia turns around, she fully intends to shoot Ophelia a scolding look, but she feels her face pull into a smile at the sight of her best friend bounding down the stairs like a newborn faun. Ophelia’s grin is visible even from halfway up the stairs.

“Well, hello there,” Ophelia wheezes with her hands on her knees.

Eudoxia laughs in greeting.

She can’t help but think this plan is really going to work. She hopes she isn’t getting ahead of herself.

55

ALEXANDER

Kallias hasn’t spoken for their entire walk through the escape tunnels. Alexander is cracking jokes and making stupid comments to get something out of him, but Kallias just keeps on, step after step.

Eventually, Alexander can’t take it anymore.

“Are you okay?” he asks, point-blank.

Kallias walks faster.