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Forty-Three
REESE
“This one just doesn’t feel right,” said Hayden, holding up a carved grey runestones. “For some reason, it doesn’t seem to fit.”
Our eyes dropped downward, looking intentionally away from the cryptogram we’d been trying to solve for far too long. It was one of our little puzzle tricks, averting our eyes. It helped us think more clearly, while giving us a fresh perspective when wedideventually go back to looking at it.
“Where’d we get that one?” asked Devin.
“The basement,” said Brooke.
“No,” I disagreed. “The yellow ones were from the basement. The red ones were from the watch tower, the blue ones from the chapel, the white ones from the garden…”
We’d spent most of the day here in Austria, at the most breathtaking castle just north of Vienna. They had us racing through every chamber, every tower, every turret. Running ourselves ragged to find a series of carved runestones, both inside and out.
Even now our hearts were pounding. The sweat was still pouring off us, even through we’d stopped running more than an hour ago. It was Brooke who’d found the translation key, beneath a fountain in the lower bailey. It enabled us to pair actual letters with the different rune symbols, and eventually solve the cryptogram that would finish this leg of the race.
“The chapel stones weren’t blue, they were green,” said Devin. “At least, I think they were.”
“Wait,” said Brooke. “How many of each color do we have?”
We counted colors quickly, flipping them back over. We had half the cryptogram figured out already, but we needed to see the painted backs.
“Five,” Hayden confirmed. “Five of each color… except blue.” He glanced up. “We only have four of blue.”
“But one grey,” I pointed out. “And it’s ouronlygrey, which is weird. Almost like…”
“Like we made a mistake,” Brooke said flatly.
A bell went off and a cheer went up, just outside. It was a familiar sound because it was thegoldenbell, being rung by yet another victorious team down in the castle courtyard.
“Fuck…” Devin swore, looking out through one of the triangular-shaped windows. “The fighter pilots finished.”
Noah’s distinctive voice floated up to us over the cheering crowd. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but like every other time it sounded overblown and theatrical.
“We’ve gotta get down there,” Hayden cried desperately. “We have to finish! The only teams left in the castle are us and—”
“We know, we know!” Brooke cried. “The Ninjas.”
I saw her fingers plunge desperately into her hair. She pinned it back with both hands, then let it fall over her face for the hundredth time.
“Grey’s not a color…” she murmured abruptly.
“What?”
“All of the other stones are colored! The grey onehasno color, because it’s wrong.”
I tilted my head and looked at Devin. He stared back at me hopefully.
“Where’d we get this one!?” Brooke practically shouted. “Where’d we pick it up?”
In her clenched fist, she shook the odd grey runestone.
“C’mon… THINK!”
“The library.”
The words materialized in my mind before spilling out of my mouth. But I was still sure of them. Iknew.
