“Gia! The boulder will crush you,” Royston yelled from an alcove in the side of the mountain.
The net fell away and the boulder rocked back and forth.
I sprinted for Royston. My foot caught on a raised rock, and I fell to my hands and knees, the sword knocked out of my hand. Royston caught my arm and dragged me out of the way. He held me against him in the alcove as the boulder flew past.
“Thank you,” I said.
He didn’t move.
“Are you okay?” I asked when he hadn’t let me go.
“You scared the life out of me.” He released my arm. “Please be more careful.”
It was sweet that Royston worried about me. “I will.”
I picked up the sword and changed it to its original rod form.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s keep going.”
The trail grew steeper the farther up we went. I could barely climb with the freezing wind whipping around my body. My fingers froze against rocks as I grasped them to pull myself up. I glanced behind us and instantly wished I hadn’t—it was a long way down. One slip of the foot and I’d roll all the way to the bottom.
We finally reached a landing. Royston climbed up first and reached a hand out to me, and when I caught it, he pulled me up the rest of the way. In front of us was a gorge and no bridge to cross it.
“Now what?” My arms were weak and my legs wobbly. We had come all so far and there wasn’t a bridge. There wasn’t a way across the gorge. It was like my soul imploded within my body at my disappointment.
Royston pointed his finger at something across the gorge from us. “See there. It’s a drawbridge.”
In a rock by the edge of the gorge was a handprint. There wasn’t a Chiave shaped like a hand. I ran the list of the Chiavi still left through my mind—crown, badge, hourglass, and scroll.
None of them matched the imprint in the rock.
What is it? I bit at my lip. There was a tiny lump from where the cut was still healing. My mouth was dry. Every single muscle in my body ached from climbing.
“Can I have the canteen?” I asked, reaching a hand out to Royston. He removed the strap from his shoulder and passed it to me, and I unscrewed the top. Royston kicked rocks around as he hunted for clues.
My eyes ran over the drawbridge as I took a big swig of the cold, sweet water. I gave the canteen back to Royston, and our hands touched. His hand.
I looked back at the handprint on the boulder.
Of course. The scroll.
It had Royston’s name on it. I opened my jacket again and placed my fingers to the scroll. The Chiave easily pulled from my skin.
“It’s you,” I said. “Your hand goes in the print.”
He surveyed the gorge. “How do we get over there?”
“There must be one on this side.”
We checked the boulders on either side of us and found it.
I handed him the scroll. “I guess you just place your hand in the print.”
Royston bent and pressed his palm into the etching. The drawbridge lowered, banging hard against the edge. He handed me the scroll and, before leaving, I changed it into a rod.
The bridge shook and swayed as we crossed it to the other side. There was less of a slope on this part of the pathway, and it felt good to walk on flat ground. I could totally sleep on one of the large boulders, and I wouldn’t even care if I froze. But I had to push on.
After nearly twenty minutes of hiking, Royston asked, “Why do you suppose there were two handprints?”
Why were there two? A thought came to me. Shit. “Maybe to raise the drawbridge again.” Dread settled in my stomach. I glanced behind me. It would slow us down if we went back and would cost us forty minutes. Twenty to get there, twenty to return where we were now. But only Bastien and his guards knew we’d jumped into this book. It would be okay to leave the bridge down. I returned my focus to the path in front of me. We ended up at a steaming waterfall. It was so hot I could feel the heat as we approached it.
We searched for another etching for nearly ten minutes. Finally, I paused and stretched my back. “Where could it be?”
“This is maddening,” he said. “Why not just put it where we can find it easily?”
I shielded my eyes from the sun with my hand, searching the sides of the mountain. My gaze traveled over the top of the waterfall, and then down. On the other side of the dropping stream, against the rock wall, was an outline of a crown.
“Found it. You wear the crown and pass through the waterfall,” I said.
“How can you be certain?”
“I’m getting the hang of this, I guess.”
He gave me a doubtful look.
“The crown. When I got it, the spirit told me the wearer would be invisible. I thought it was just in the gateways, but it’s for this.”
Royston shot me an uncertain look. “I refuse. The water will burn my skin.”
“I don’t think it will.”
He shook his head at me.
“Come on,” I said with a sigh. “We’re almost there. It looks like there’s a cave on the other side of that waterfall.”
He studied the steaming water clapping down on the rocks. “Very well. Hand over the crown.”
I removed it from my side and gave it to him.
“How will you pass?” he asked, placing the crown on his head.
“I don’t know.” That was a good question. “The keeper of the Chiave said it wouldn’t shield the wearer for that long. So I’m assuming, if I follow you, I could get caught in the water.”
Royston scratched his hair under the crown. “Hop on my back.”
“What if it just keeps the water from burning you and not me because I’m not wearing it?”
“I suppose it is the chance we must take,” he said, removing his coat. “Put this on top of yours and cover your head.”
“Great.” I took the coat from him and put it on.
He laughed at the sight of me, then turned and bent over for me to hop on his back. “You are a bear.”
“I’m glad you’re amused.” I jumped on and he grabbed my thighs, hiking me up higher.
He placed the crown on his head.
As he neared the pool surrounding the waterfall, the water level lowered, exposing a raised beam. Royston adjusted his balance and stepped on it. As we neared the waterfall, the water stopped falling. He wobbled a little, and I gripped his shoulders tighter.
“Be careful.”
“I am,” he grunted.
Foot after foot landed on the narrow beam. It rocked under Royston’s weight, and I held my breath. Something snapped, and the beam started to drop. Royston darted for the other side, and I clung to his neck.
“You’re choking me,” he grunted.
I loosened my hold, bouncing on his back until we reached the other side. “We made it!” My heart pounded fast and furious. I took several breaths, trying to calm down.
He lowered me to the ground, took off the crown, and handed it to me.
We glanced back at the waterfall at the same time.
“We broke it,” he said. “It has stopped falling.”