29. Sapphire

Sapphire

Riven, Ghost, and his three remaining knights lead the way to the final trial. The fourth knight—the one he told the story to—had to head back to the palace after getting stranded on the other side of the ravine.

We arrive at the start of the forest just in time for sunset. The bare trees loom ahead, sharp icicles hanging like fangs, each branch twisted and glistening in the cold winter air.

“This is your final trial,” Riven says. “Make it to the silver tree, and you’ll find your way home.”

I take a steadying breath, my eyes scanning the darkening forest. The icicles hanging from the branches make the trees feel like a vast, glittering maze designed to trap any fool daring enough to enter it.

That’s what I was when I got lost on the night of the meteor shower. A fool, ignorant of what I am, and of the truth of the world around me.

But I’m not ignorant anymore. I know I have magic. And while I’m not exactly practiced at using it, at least I’m prepared to call on it whenever the time comes.

“We’ll give you a fifteen-minute head start,” Riven continues. “Then, we follow.”

“Like some sick game of hide and seek?” I ask.

“Hiding will make this boringly easy for us,” he says, and the knights fan out behind him, weapons ready, their expressions as cold and unforgiving as the harsh winter air. “And I don’t have the patience to stand around watching you stare out into the woods. So, the trial begins now.”

Zoey grabs my arm and tugs, nearly pulling my shoulder out of its socket.

“Let’s go,” she hisses, and without a second to spare, we sprint into the forest, ducking under low branches and weaving around icy trunks.

The world blurs around me, every sound amplified in the tense silence, overloading my every thought.

“Where are we going?” I ask, barely managing to avoid getting smacked in the head by a branch.

She glances over her shoulder, as if she thinks the knights might already be able to hear us. “The silver tree,” she says. “But not straight there. The knights will assume we’re going straight there, which will make us too easy to find.”

“We also won’t be going straight there because I have no idea where we are, let alone where the silver tree is,” I say, taking an occasional glance over my shoulder as we continue to run.

There’s no sign of Riven and the knights.

Yet.

We continue to run, and I hold onto my magic, using it to push us forward like I’ve done a few times before. Our feet are touching the ground so lightly that I’m unsure we’re leaving a trail.

“Then we’ll go in random directions,” Zoey says, and my magic pulls under my skin as we dart through the forest, changing direction every few minutes, doubling back and zigzagging when we can.

Zoey’s breathing is heavy, but she doesn’t complain. She just tightens her grip on my arm and matches my pace, helped by my magic propelling us forward.

“Left,” she manages between breaths, and we veer left, dodging a twisted tree.

Has it been fifteen minutes yet?

I have no idea. All I know is that we have to keep going—get as far away as possible before we can’t go any further. Then, once we’re somewhere they hopefully won’t be able to find us, we can take a break to strategize the best way to the silver tree .

We’re still going strong when the air shifts, colder and thicker, pressing in around us in a way that makes us slow to a stop.

Something’s wrong.

“Do you feel that?” Zoey’s eyes dart around, searching for whatever’s out there.

I nod, my heart pounding with a new kind of fear.

Is it the hunt? Have they closed in on us already?

I don’t know. Because it’s quiet.

Too quiet.

Then, a scream tears through the night.

It’s shrill and piercing, like a blade scraping against my bones. Quickly, it spirals into a wail. I clutch my head, staggering and falling to my knees as the scream burrows its gnarled fingers deep into the recesses of my mind.

Zoey also collapses, clutching her head, her face twisted in agony.

“Sapphire,” she chokes out, and I can barely hear her over the scream. “What is that?”

“I don’t know.” I shake, closing my eyes as the pain seeps into every cell, every nerve, freezing me from the inside out.

I can’t move, let alone run. All I can do is curl into a ball on the ground, barely able to see through the haze clouding my vision.

We’re going to be sitting ducks for the hunt. Not just because we stopped moving, but also because Riven and his knights will surely hear the screaming as well. It’ll lead them straight to us.

Focus, I think, searching for any idea for how to get out of this agony. How have I used my magic so far? The ice boots, making Zoey’s shower explode, splashing Riven and Ghost at the stream, swimming in the lake?—

There.

That’s it.

In the lake, with the water in my ears, everything was muted. Dulled.

Maybe I can somehow use water to plug my ears?

Desperate for anything that might help, I reach for my magic and take a deep breath, prying my hand from one of my ears.

It’s so agonizing that I nearly cover it again.

But I grit my teeth and force my way through it. The faster I do this, the faster I can find relief, and then the faster I can get us out of here.

So, I scoop up a handful of snow, using my magic to melt it.

The screaming’s tearing my mind apart. But I cling to the image of water filling my ears, drowning out the sound, pushing through the pain as I press the snow to one ear and will the water to move inside it.

It follows my command, and quickly, I do the same thing to my other ear .

The piercing scream dulls to a muffled, distant echo.

Relief rushes through me.

It worked. I can think again.

With no time to waste, I crawl over to Zoey.

She’s curled up with her hands pressed to her ears, crying, her cheeks streaked with tears.

“Zoey,” I say, even though there’s no chance she can hear me. “Hold still. I’m going to block it out.”

She doesn’t respond. She just whimpers, her eyes squeezed shut, her nails digging into her scalp.

I gather another handful of snow, melt it, and pry one of her hands away from her ears, guiding it inside with my magic like I did with mine.

Her breathing slows, the lines of pain on her face softening.

I do the same with her other ear.

She stills, then opens her eyes, blinking up at me in disbelief.

But she’s not looking at me.

She’s gazing out over my shoulder in total fear.

I turn slowly, heart hammering as I watch an eerie, spectral woman glide through the trees toward us.

She looks like something pulled from the depths of a nightmare. Her face is ghastly, her eyes hollow, her mouth stretched wide in a scream. The sound isn’t debilitating like before, but it’s still clawing at the edges of my mind, getting louder as she moves closer .

Zoey reaches into one of her pockets, pulls out one of the sharp rocks I gathered last night, and throws it at the woman’s throat hard enough to crush her windpipe.

The screaming comes to an abrupt stop.

The woman’s hands go to her throat, and she lets out a strangled, gasping sound. Like she’s trying to breathe, but failing.

Then, like a candle snuffed out, she vanishes.

For a few seconds, we just sit there, frozen, the silence so heavy it’s suffocating. I’m breathing hard, my heart racing from both the relief and the adrenaline. I hadn’t even realized how tightly I’d been clutching Zoey’s arm until she pulls it free.

“What was that?” She stares at the space where the screaming woman was, using her palm like a suction to try getting the water out of her ears.

“I have no idea.” I glance around, relieved when nothing else emerges from behind the trees. “But we can’t stay here. We have to go. Now.”

Not leaving room for argument, I grab her hand, pull her up, and we continue our sprint through the forest.

We have to get as far as we can.

And then… well, we’ll deal with whatever happens next when it comes to it.