He was silent as we left the building and strode across the lush grassed area of the academy, moving between the Sacred Sand arena and the common outdoor area. Lots of buildings towered around us in the dark, and I realised I knew very little about what else was in Blesswood. Probably there was nothing that interesting out there, but a small part of me decided that one sun-cycle I’d explore everything. I’d uncover the secrets of the academy, the secrets of the gods.
Aros reached out a hand and wrapped it around my shoulder, pulling me back into him, the burnt sweetness of his scent tantalising me. I hadn’t even realised that I’d moved away until then.
“Follow me and stay quiet,” he whispered. “I think the guys will just be in the shadows around the area, but I’m not completely sure.”
Almost nothing he said made sense to me, but I knew better than to question him. I recognised the look on his face. He was all business; assuming the role of Point. No time for Willa-isms. We moved closer to the shadowy buildings, heading straight for the temple—one of the buildings that I did recognise. Mostly because it was unforgettable.
The temple was a massive structure built of stone and white marble, with eleven intricately carved pillars interspaced across the front of it. Atop each of those pillars was a pretty accurately carved image of the Original Gods. Well, accurate to the few Original Gods that I had seen.
Staviti’s statue was the largest: standing proud in the centre. He was robed in the same cascading material as the other gods, but the statues didn’t show his colour. None of the other ten statues fanning out on either side of him held any colour either.
Staviti’s statue was extremely fierce—certainly fiercer than I had expected, for a man known mostly as the Creator. He was always spoken about with reverence—unless the Abcurses were talking about him—and it seemed to be the general consensus of the sol teachers at Blesswood that Staviti was kind, loving, forgiving, and everything else that was good and nice and sparkly in the world. He probably had great hair, too, but that was a little hard to tell from where I stood. I considered him for a moment more as we approached, taking in the firm line of his nose, and the furrow between his brows. It felt as though his eyes, deep-set and serious, were staring straight into mine.
Which was beyond weird.
Aros threw them all a sneer as we crossed beneath, giving me no time to survey the other statues—other than one last cursory glance toward Abil and Rau. I thought we were going to enter the temple, but he veered off to the right and led me down the side of the building. Something about this location was familiar to me, but it didn’t click until Aros opened up a set of double wooden doors hidden along the side of the temple and gestured for me to descend with him.
The dweller meeting!
It was in the common area between the stock rooms underneath the temple. Aros had led us to a secret side entrance of the temple, and now we were making our way down the rickety stairs.
About halfway down I stumbled forward, slamming my arm into the railing. With a huff, Aros snatched me up and threw me over his shoulder for the rest of the descent. I couldn’t see anything from my current position, but there were noises growing clearer. By the time we hit level ground, I was back on my feet and the noise became quite distinct.
Voices. Lots of voices.
Aros reached out and laced our fingers together, something that he had done multiple times, and like always, it twisted everything inside of me. Like the joining of our hands was so much more than just that. It was the joining of souls and energy and life.
Or maybe I was losing it. Making up fake connections. Probably this was just courtesy of my soul being held hostage by his. Still … it always felt like something more.
It was dark and dusty so far below the ground, and we would be lucky to make it through without me sneezing and alerting the gathering to our presence. Aros seemed to know where he was going though, leading me through a few dark tunnels before ducking his head to cross under some lowlying beams.
Light was visible to my right: just the flickering of red and orange against stone walls. They must have had lanterns lit.
“Been going on too long!” These words were the loudest so far, and they practically vibrated through the walls.
I thought the female tone sounded familiar; there were only so many ladies who could reach that particular decibel. It wasn’t Emmy, but it was someone I had met before, that much I knew. Lots of conversation ensued after this, but we were still too far away to make out most of it. I heard ‘gods’ and ‘sols’ mentioned multiple times, so it was pretty clear what was on their minds.
A dark shadow popped up in front of us and I let out a shriek. Luckily, Aros must have anticipated my reaction, because his hand was already wrapped around my mouth, and my yell was lost against his skin. As soon as I recognised Coen’s shadow, I relaxed, and Aros released me. Coen enclosed me in his arms before shuffling me across the floor. It took mere clicks for him to deposit me behind a huge piece of furniture. He settled in at my side.
The light was bright here, and I realised that if I peered through the shelves that towered in front of us, I could see the dweller gathering.
Holy crap. There were a lot of them there. At least fifty or so. That was a much larger number than I had expected. I turned wide, horrified eyes on Coen, whispering, “What the hell have I started?”
His face was hard, his gaze locked on the group. “Chaos, Dweller-baby, this is what the beginnings of chaos looks like.”
Damn Rau. Looked like he was about to get exactly what he wanted.
Seven
“We only have three clicks before the next Minateur rotation passes through the temple,” a girl announced—the same girl as before, except her voice was ringing with crystal-clear clarity now. “We need to decide on a course of action.”
“The Abcurse girl isn’t going to help us!” another voice shot out from the crowd. “You said you invited her, and she isn’t here!”
“I didn’t invite her,” the girl replied, drawing my eyes to the corner of the room. She was standing on a table, looking down at everyone.
It was the girl who had been kicked out of class earlier. Her bushy hair was extra bushy—probably from the humidity of being stuffed into the room with so many other bodies. Her huge, azure eyes were focussed. Determined. Stubborn. I had seen her around a few times, and it was the first time I had seen her looking anything but vulnerable and innocent. Had she been faking, all those times? Or was she faking now?
“I invited her, Evie.” Another familiar voice drew my eyes back to the crowd. “I really thought she would come, too. I guess the Abcurse brothers wouldn’t let her.”