The palace was dark. The sun had just started to rise, casting a yellow glow over the hallways but not chasing away all of the shadows. There was no unnatural light: no candles, no fireplaces. In a rush to take over the palace, they didn’t pause to light the hallways. Apparently, they had accomplished their task, according to their conversation, in less than half an hour and with only twelve people.
It seemed impossible.
Yet when I turned the corner into the main branch of the hallway, I saw that it had been done.
There must have been twenty people—guards, servants, and various others—clustered on the floor near the walls. Their dark shapes were almost disguised by the shadows that surrounded them. I darted over to one of the people. He was lying limply on his side with his arms outstretched in front of him. His eyes were closed. He looked dead. All of them looked dead, but they were still breathing and had no visible wounds. I could see the gentle rise and fall of their chests. I glanced up to scan the rest of the hallway when I saw something that turned my blood cold.
Akilah.
I could see her black braided hair. She was in front of a window, lying in a pool of white light, looking just the same as all the other people in the hallway. She curled into herself, all of her muscles tense.
I rushed over to her, inspecting the scene and trying to discern what was making her like this. As I came closer, I saw one thing that wasn’t normal. She was crying. I could see streams of tears traveling down her face, reflecting in the light like liquid silver.
That was strange on its own. Akilah never cried. She always wore a sapphire. That was the only stone she ever wore for some strange reason. I reached for the chain around her neck and pulled it out from underneath her clothing so I could see it better. The single sapphire strung on the chain slid along the necklace and into the palm of my hand. When it came into view, my eyes widened.
It was glowing.
It glowed a light that was the exact shade of the sapphire. That, in itself, was normal. Stones often glowed when the person wearing them felt an extreme version of the emotion it was supposed to block. I glanced back at the tears freely streaming down Akilah’s face. The stone wasn’t blocking her sadness.
Without thinking about what I was doing, I grasped the necklace in my hand, snapped it off her neck and threw it across the hallway; the chain skittered across the floor like a rock skipping on a lake.
Akilah revived instantly. Her eyes snapped open, and she tried to scramble to her feet, latching onto the window ledge to pull herself up. She had a desperate, pleading expression on her face.
“Whoa. Whoa. Stop.” I grabbed her shoulders and forced her back into a sitting position. “Are you okay?”
Akilah’s dazed eyes focused on my face, and she immediately brightened. “Syona!” She sighed with relief. “I’m so glad to see you here! I need to tell you something. When I—”
“Stop talking. Get down,” I ordered her. I could hear the quiet echo of footsteps approaching. Both of us pressed ourselves against the floor in the shadows just in time to witness a Tanum guard turn the corner and enter the hallway.
He looked the same as any: blue jacket trimmed with black and layered over a white shirt. He had several weapons, and his eyes were wide and alert, scanning for threats. He could be a guard from our kingdom if the colors were different. He stopped in the center of the floor and surveyed the hallway, eyeing all the shadows and the still forms of people lying on the stone. Akilah and I didn’t dare to breathe.
Another sound suddenly pierced the silence of the corridor. Light footsteps skimming over the marble floor; someone else was approaching. I tried to move as little as possible as the person came into view. It was a servant girl, like Akilah. Her short brown hair was rumpled and messy, like she had just woken up.
She eyed the Tanum guard just as he spotted her. “What’s going on? Is everything alright? I heard voices, and I thought something was wrong.”
The Tanum guard smiled and held out his hands palms up to appear non-threatening. He slowly prowled toward her. “It’s okay. Everything’s fine. We’re just doing some emergency training drills. We didn’t mean to wake people up.”
The servant tilted her head in confusion. “Why would you be doing an emergency drill in a palace that isn’t yours, and aren’t you leaving for your own kingdom today?”
The guard sighed. “You’re wearing a stone, right? Good, of course you are. You’re an Ashlon.” He flicked his fingers at the girl, and the sapphire strung on her necklace flashed brightly. She let out a gasp and dropped to the floor like a stone.
The Tanum guard paused only for a few seconds to glance at the girl lying on the floor before he continued stalking down the hallway. As he left, I could hear him mumbling. “Sheesh. That excuse worked with the other servant girls.”
“Is that what happened to you?” I whispered to Akilah.
“Yeah, but it was with a different guard.” She pressed her hands against the sides of her head. “Oh, my head is splitting open. When he flicked his fingers at me, the stone started glowing and I felt so, so sad, sadder than I’ve ever felt in my entire life.” She shuddered violently. “I felt so hopeless that I didn’t want to do anything anymore. I collapsed against the wall, and then you found me.”
“Aren’t the stones supposed to make you not feel that emotion?”
“Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Do you know why this is happening?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. If I had more information, I could draw better conclusions, but right now, I have nothing.” I waved my hand at the scene before us. “Besides what we just saw.”
“Do you want to find other Ashlons? We can try and figure out why this is happening along the way.”
“Yes.” I took her hand, and she let me pull her off of the floor.
We continued to sprint down the hallways, searching for anyone alert. I inferred that the stones were causing this, but we couldn’t find anyone else who was conscious. There wasn’t a single person in the palace who wasn’t wearing at least one stone.
Why is this happening? my brain sang repeatedly. Okay. Review the facts. Break it down. That’s what you’re good at. They were able to take down the guards and capture the palace with only a dozen men because they exploited the stones, which is probably the most efficient way possible. Everyone wears the stones, and the Tanum guards are somehow using an extra ability to control the emotions of each wearer. That means they knew that the stones could do that, which is an ability that nobody else knows about.
How long have they known about the stones? How long have they been planning this?
The possibilities were disturbing.
As we turned into another corridor, the two of us spotted something at the same time, another guard from Tanum, pacing along the edge of the very end of the hallway.
“There’s another one. What do you think we should do?” Akilah asked.
I frantically looked around, searching for a hiding spot. My gaze fell upon a door a few yards from us. It could have been a small guest room or a supply closet, but I didn’t care. It was a way out.
Akilah spied it at the same time. She threw open the door and gestured with her head for me to get inside. I didn’t need any encouragement. I leaped into the shadows beyond the door, and Akilah rushed in after me, shutting the door and plunging both of us into darkness.
I pressed my fingers against the wooden walls. This was indeed a supply closet. I didn’t know what it held, but it was a place to go. I continued running my hands over the textured wood, relying on my sense of touch instead of sight.
I only did that for a few seconds until my fingers brushed against something warm and soft. Skin. Another human being who definitely wasn’t Akilah. I would have screamed, or at least yelped loudly, if the person hadn’t spoken first. “I’m sorry. This closet is already occupied. You might want to find another hiding place.”
I swiveled my head in the cramped space. “Gerrand?”
“The one and only. How is everybody?”
“Gerrand!” I angled myself to face him. “Are you okay? Is everything okay?” I traced my fingers down his arm until I found his hands, and I squeezed them hard.
“I’m good. Besides being in a small closet with two other people, I’m good.”
An immature, impulsive part of me realized I was in a cramped closet with a boy, but I smashed the thoughts immediately. I had other things to worry about. “Do you know what’s happening?”
His voice had a hint of sadness in it. “Well, I wanted to hear your opinion first.”
“For goodness’ sake. Does everyone think I know everything?”
“You are the person most likely to have figured out something miles before everyone else,” Akilah commented from her side of the closet near the door.
“Sorry. I don’t know. I wish I did, but I don’t. Only a few theories. Sorry.”
“Well, great. If Syona doesn’t know, then we’re really in trouble.” Gerrand said with exasperation.
“Stop it.” I snapped my fingers to get his attention. “You’re smart too. Figure it out. Walk us through what happened.”
“I was patrolling with everyone else, and then one of the guards from Tanum came into our sight and did something with his hands. Immediately after that, everyone around me just collapsed. Nothing unusual happened to me, but I did the smart thing and dropped to the floor with them. Then, he left. After he was out of sight, I got up and—”
“Hid in a closet? Really?” Akilah asked with disbelief.
“Yes. Cut me some slack, okay? Do I have to remind you that you two did the same thing? The best theory I can come up with so far is that it has something to do with the stones since I was wearing non-enchanted ones. That’s the only difference between me and everyone else.”
“Yes, I think so too. Somehow there’s another setting or some property of the stones that inflates people’s emotions to the point where they’re incapacitated. I don’t know how that came to be or how Raymon found out, but that knowledge was really useful for this attack.”
“Wait. Attack?” Akilah whispered. “Attack? This isn’t an attack, is it?
“They killed my father and my uncle,” I said, my voice almost breaking. “So, yes, it’s an attack.”
Akilah and Gerrand didn’t react. Though I couldn’t quite see their expressions, I assumed they were both dumbfounded. I continued before they could start speaking, “I also overheard them saying that they have my aunt, Mareena, and . . . I don’t want her to get hurt. I need to get out there and find out what their intentions are. Okay?” This time my voice really did crack. They can’t. She’s the only one I have left. She’s practically my mother. They can’t. I won’t allow it.
“Okay,” Akilah finally said. She brushed against my arm reassuringly. “Be careful.”
“Stay here,” I commanded. I love you guys. I can’t let you get hurt too. “Stay. Here.”
“Seriously? Why?” Gerrand complained.
“Because if you die, I’m going to hunt you down and kill you.”
He scoffed at me. “That doesn’t make any—”
“It’s not supposed to make sense.”
“Ha! Syona’s saying something that doesn’t make sense! When has that ever happened? You would know, Akilah.”
“Nope. Never. This is a first,” Akilah replied.
I rolled my eyes, even though the darkness obscured everyone’s vision. “Stay.” Before they could talk me out of it, I opened the closet door, darted out, and closed it again. In the illuminating light, I observed that their expressions showed disappointment, but I didn’t care. I started walking, this time toward the sound of the voices.
After a few steps, I spied something that made my heart leap out of my chest. Crevan was pacing down the hallway in the exact spot the guard had previously stood. He kept swiveling his head and inspecting the corridors, like he was searching for something, but my brain missed that piece of information as I streamed toward him. Emotions flooded over me. I could trust Crevan, even though his kingdom had betrayed us. He would help me, no matter what. I knew him.
When I came into his field of view, his eyes widened. I rushed over to him and yanked his arm, shaking it desperately as I slid to the floor. “Crevan! What’s going on? You . . .” I bit back a sob. “Your father, he—”
Crevan squeezed my shoulders. “Syona, what are you doing here?”
“What are you doing? The alliance . . . your guards killed . . . I—”
He sighed, snapping his eyes shut. He clenched my shoulders tightly, like I was a lifeline for him. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
My voice choked with emotion. “For what?”
His expression contorted, like he was trying not to cry. “I told you that my father wanted to merge the kingdoms, Syona. He’s always wanted to merge the kingdoms. We just needed to find out how. We just needed a way how.”
I was getting frantic. “What? What are you talking about?”
Crevan sighed one last time, swiveled his head to the side, and shouted as loud as he possibly could. “I found her! She’s over here!”
Nothing made sense. My perception of reality distorted, like a cracked mirror. “What? What are you doing?”
Tanum guards started pouring in from all sides, filling my entire field of view as if the kingdom had buried me alive. The pounding of their feet was the only thing I could hear. Two of them hooked onto the underside of my arms and jerked me to my feet, sending a burst of pain through my shoulders. I hardly maintained my footing and my shoes slipped on the smooth stone floor. I couldn’t fight; I was too confused. The burning intensity of my attention was focused directly on Crevan.
“Crevan! Stop!” I protested. “Why are you doing this? How are you doing this? How can you control the stones? What’s wrong with them? They don’t control people’s emotions! They only take away emotions! What did you do to them?”
Crevan shook his head with disbelief. “You don’t get it, Syona. The stones could always do that. We didn’t change them in any way. The only reason we knew about it was because we were the ones who made them in the first place. The kingdom of Tanum. We did.”