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By the time I reached the main hall, I was almost running. I hadn’t spotted Dom, but if he’d left with the other schools then he would not be in the building. I doubted he cared much about being penalized for leaving ahead of the delay imposed upon the Blades. Not if he was planning to violate more serious rules by hurting another cadet, a human cadet, a female.
I hoped I was wrong. If he did what I suspected he was planning, Dom would never be forgiven by Drexian society. He would be cast from the academy, cast from his clan, cast from the planet.
My gaze caught on the back of an Assassin rushing under the archway leading to their school. I fell in step but kept enough distance that I wouldn’t be noticed as the Drexian joined a small group and they made for the exit. I could only hope that following them would lead me closer to Jess. I could only say a prayer to the ancient gods that I could save her.
Chapter
Fifty-Four
Jess
Ipulled the collar of my jacket tighter around my throat as I followed my team along the gulch that ran close to the academy and led into the Gilded Peaks. The air bit at my skin, the wisps of wind snapping and snarling as it blew off the Restless Sea and barreled toward the rising mountains. Only the faintest hints of light slipped through the gray clouds that seemed to be an ever-present shroud over the Drexian homeworld and did nothing to take the edge off the ominous feel of the academy. I snuck a glance at my gloved hands, wiggling the fingers that were still stiff from rappelling down the rocks to reach the water, but I curled them into fists and kept moving.
Our team had started closer to the school, while the others had begun farther along the stream that wasn’t so much of a stream. There was no point in multiple teams all taking the same route, and since we weren’t positive what divide the riddle indicated, each team had started at a different point along the water. From maps of the mountain range, we knew that the stream forked many times, especially as it went deeper into the hills, but the first divide was not far from the maze.
“You still there, first-year?” The eldest Drexian in our group, Kannt, shot a brief look over his shoulder at me.
I wanted to ask him where else I would be, but I didn’t want to antagonize him. Even if he did radiate Drexian superiority, I needed to keep cool and be a team player. “Still here.”
He grunted, and I wondered if he wished he hadn’t gotten stuck with a human female. Maybe me still being there wasn’t the answer he hoped to hear. I ignored the doubts bubbling in my brain. It didn’t matter what the Drexians thought of me. I knew I could do anything they could. I knew I was just as smart, just as shrewd, just as capable.
Tipping my head up, I noted the sheer rock wall we’d descended so we could walk the entire length of the gulch. The bridge leading to the maze was suspended at the far end and beyond that was the mouth that spilled into the sea. Turning my attention back to the stream, I followed the carefully chosen steps of the Drexians leading the way, being careful not to veer too close to the water that rushed over smooth stones and churned in whirling eddies. It might seem like a burbling brook from above, but it was far from that once you were close.
Ahead, the water broke into two branches, with one leading to the left and one to the right. There was an island of land in the middle, and then the forks wound in different directions.
Kannt stopped, his head swiveling from one side to the other. “The water divides here but only briefly. I cannot imagine this is the divide from the verse, but the second divide could prove promising.”
I tended to agree with him, but maybe that was the trick. It seemed too easy to have the stone hidden so close to the school, but it could also be a clever strategy. Hide the prize so close that it could be easily overlooked in the quest to divine the more challenging spot.
“We should search for tracks,” I said, my voice louder than I’d intended. “Due diligence.”
Kannt released another grunt and cut his gaze to the third-year. “Take the first-year and search the left fork.”
I bit my lip, even though I was dying to remind him that I had a name. I couldn’t be too bitter, though, since I didn’t know the second-year or third-year as anything other than that. If this was intended to foster school unity, I had my doubts. The upperclassman seemed just like every older student in every school I’d ever encountered, and the last thing they wanted to do was be subjected to newbies.
The third-year didn’t bother to beckon me as he headed for the narrowest part of the stream. I followed, threading my way carefully across slick rocks that poked above the water until we were on the other side and trudging along the bank of the forked stream. He kept his head down—searching for tracks, I had to assume—and I did the same.
Leaves crunched under our feet, but I saw no indication of a track to follow. One of my feet was plunged into a puddle of mud beneath an unassuming pile of yellowed leaves, and I cursed as I pulled it out. The mud sucked the sole of my boot, reluctant to release its grip, and coating the black leather with brown sludge.
“Just fucking great,” I muttered, as some of the mud seeped through the laces and into my socks.
“Keep up,” my teammate said, without looking back “There are some broken branches up ahead. We need to see if they lead to anything.”
I stamped my muddy foot on dry ground to release some of the wet mud before I hurried ahead to catch up. The tall, surly Drexian had crossed back over the stream where it narrowed again, and had entered the forest on the other side.
My boots squelched as I jogged and jumped across the water, landing with a satisfying thud on the other side. I surveyed the ground around me, but there was nothing but dry land and faint boot prints from my fellow Assassin. My boots would make more noticeable tracks, which was not something that made me proud.
I pushed through thick foliage that hung from the trees as I entered a crowded copse close to the mountains. The diffused light from overhead vanished as I stepped farther into the forest, and my senses went on high alert. I breathed in a loamy scent that reminded me of the woods back home, but I pushed aside any lingering nostalgia. This would be a place I would hide something, so I narrowed my eyes as I hunted for tracks.
I’d slowed my pace to do a thorough search, and after walking past a few trees, I lost the trail of the third-year Assassin. The ground was covered in patchy grass but the outline of his boot prints was not there. I paused and swung my head in a circle, peering through the trees that rose high and formed a canopy of branches overhead. Where had he gone?
I cursed myself for not learning his name when we’d started, because now I couldn’t even call for him without sounding like an idiot. I strode deeper, hoping I’d catch a flash of his dark uniform, but there was nothing but foliage and the chirping of insects. When I turned again, my hair caught on a branch and tangled in the gnarled wood.
I yanked at it, releasing my hair from its clip and sending it falling over my face.
“Hello?” I finally called as I blew hair from my eyes, hoping he’d hear me.
No luck and no response. Then a thought settled over me. Was I being hazed? Was part of the battle of the schools to initiate new cadets and teach them a few lessons?
