Ember stretched and yawned, awakening slowly. C’Tan had plagued her dreams all night long. First she had been scarred and without any hair, but then she was beautiful, in a terrifying way, with long golden locks and eyes as cold as a midwinter freeze.
For once, C’Tan hadn’t done anything in her dreams. She’d just watched, as if she could see Ember from wherever she was. It was haunting, the way she’d looked at her and examined her, as if the woman were actually two people battling for control. The scarred and terrifying woman was angry and hated Ember. It radiated off her in waves that were nearly palpable. The blonde woman was softer, even with the cold eyes, and seemed to want something from Ember she could never provide. All in all, it had not been a restful night, despite the comfortable bed and warm blankets.
Ember sat up and swung her legs over the side, her feet barely brushing the cool, crystalline floor. She looked around her, the colored bands of magestone shining with their own inner light. It was a wonder no one had found this place sooner. It wasn’t far off the paths that were already beaten through the mountain. A few feet in this direction would have made the transparent room visible to the pathway.
Obviously someone had been protecting it for all these years. People knew it was here—they just didn’t know where. Even Ezeker had spoken of it. It was like a whispered secret, something everybody knew but nobody believed, and yet here she was, waking up surrounded by the very crystal that formed the keystones to the net of magic.
Ember yawned again, smacking her lips together, and became very aware of just how badly she needed to brush her teeth—and bathe. She had definitely surpassed the “Overly ripe” category and now ran toward just plain stinky, despite her bath the day before. The frequent shape shifting and battling with the Shadow Weaver had made another bath not just appealing, but absolutely necessary.
Once again, Mahal was nowhere to be found. Ember didn’t dare try the public baths. There were too many people who would recognize her, and she was sure there were a lot of people looking for her with questions she couldn’t answer. She ran her hand through her tangled hair and sighed. She couldn’t hide forever. Eventually, she would face the fact that she had stolen a prisoner and he had escaped. She would deal with DeMunth and Ezeker and Aldarin and everyone else, including the students who kept staring at her.
A small glow of relief started in her stomach. At least now she knew she wasn’t useless. She had a teacher, even if his teaching did consist of putting her in dangerous situations more often than not. She still had no idea how she was supposed to heal a world, but now she knew it wasn’t hopeless.
With that thought, Ember made up her mind. She would hide long enough to bathe and make herself look decent, but she would face whatever consequences were necessary today. There was no point in putting it off, and with DeMunth as upset as she’d seen him at the prison, she could only imagine how upset her mother must be with her disappearance.
Ember put her hands on her face and molded it to look like someone different. Lily’s face came to mind, and she was suddenly curious about the girl. What had made her so untrusting of others? Of course it had something to do with being raised by Rahdnee and having C’Tan for a mother, but what had they done to her exactly? What kind of pain had they put her through?
Without consciously realizing what she was doing, Ember made herself look like her roommate, the girl she now knew was family. When she realized what she had done, she almost changed her face to that she’d worn the night before and lost in the constant switching between human and wolf, but then thought better of it. Lily was one of those people others avoided for some reason, which is just what Ember wanted. Why not leave it the way it was?
That settled, Ember kept Lily’s face and moved through the stone again. She found the pathway that led to the portals and eventually the baths. There were a few people swimming in the large pool, but not enough for Ember to be worried, though she did pause for a moment when she realized she had no soap or toothbrush. She talked to the bath girl and managed to finagle a toothbrush, toothpowder, and some soap, along with a change of clothes.
Once free of the nameless bath girl, Ember undressed, tossing her ruined clothing into the chute that evidently led to the wash and repair room, then she slid into the warm water and sank below the surface. The water was invigorating. She swam a couple of lengths, going from cool edges to overly hot near the falls, but she didn’t care. She needed a moment to not think, not feel anything emotionally, and moving her body had always been therapeutic that way. After a while, she stopped swimming long enough to climb the stone steps to the falls and wash her hair. It took two rounds of washing and rinsing before she felt clean again and leaped from the ledge into the water.
When she surfaced, there was a woman next to her. Startled, Ember turned and began to swim away, but the woman grabbed her ankle and pulled her back. Ember’s head went under the water, and she came up spluttering. She was about to yell at the woman when she realized who it was.
Brendae. Ember froze as she recognized the guard who’d been following her. The woman grabbed her arm, leaned in close, and spoke quietly in Ember’s ear, the same words she’d heard earlier the day Markis sent his thoughts to Lily. “I know who you are,” Brendae whispered. Ember’s heart banged against her chest. Could the woman see through the shifting features, like Aldarin and DeMunth could? That thought was quickly dispelled with her next words. “I knew you were his daughter, and after last night, it became rather obvious, don’t you think?”
The guard’s smile was scary—the bared teeth of a predator. “Your father wants to marry me, see. All these years of working and being together, and he finally wants to tie the knot. You won’t be able to get away with these games of yours once I’m in charge.” She squeezed Ember’s arm hard. “Why do you keep the girl from us? You know what the Mistress wants. We’re supposed to be a team, and yet you shut us out of your practice rooms and now hide her away. Where is the girl, Lily?” She shook Ember with that question, and took a moment for Ember to get past the fear and found words to answer.
“I don’t know, Brendae. I haven’t seen her since she ran away from you at the dining hall yesterday. She disappeared, just like you two did from guarding the door.” Brendae looked slightly guilty at that, then stood taller.
“You know as well as I do that the Mistress called us away. Our discussions with her always leave me in a somewhat pained state, especially when she is angry, and she was very, very angry—all because of you. How can we convert the girl to our side if we don’t get a chance to be with her? Are you trying to keep her to yourself and get all the glory?”
Ember went with it as best she could. “Why would I do that? Do you really think I want C’Tan’s attention on me?” She snorted. “Far from it. If I can find the girl, you’ll get your chance. She seems to have hidden somewhere. Are you sure you haven’t given something away? You know she’s terrified of you.”
Brendae snarled. “And well she should be.”
“Not if you’re trying to gain her trust,” Ember said. “Try being a little nicer. And smile a bit. I promise, your face won’t split.” She patted Brendae on the cheek and pulled free of her grasp. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a wolfchild to find.” Ember moved away from Brendae and hoped she wouldn’t grab her again. It was terrifying turning her back on a woman she very well knew to be her enemy, but to keep up the appearance of being Lily, she had no choice. It was the kind of thing Lily would do.
Ember swam to the edge of the pool, gathered up her towel and clothes, and headed to the dressing room. She dried off as best she could, braiding her hair and tying the end off with a leather cord someone had left in the room before her, hoping the whole time that Brendae wouldn’t follow her.
She pulled on her underthings, slipped on the dull gray robe, and stepped out of the room. She headed for the door, passing several girls on their way to the bathing pools who stopped, their eyes following her as she walked by. It wasn’t until most of the room had stopped and looked at her oddly that Ember realized her gray robe had turned pristine white. She sighed.
One of the girls ran over to the doorway and beckoned to someone, probably a guard, and pointed in Ember’s direction just as a voice shouted from the pools. “Hey!” Ember didn’t have to turn and look. She knew it was Brendae.
She wasn’t going to let anything come of that. She ran straight at the granite wall of the bathing room and hit it like a diver doing a belly flop in the water. She’d forgotten that granite was more solid than the crystal structure. There was a moment of pain, much like that of hitting the water stomach first, but she quickly recovered and moved on, though much more slowly than through the more refined crystal. Silence gathered around her. Here there was no one to watch her, no guards to run from. She didn’t know of anyone else who could walk through stone—certainly none of the guards. They didn’t have magic.
She waded through the rock like it was mud and eventually reached out with a magical hook and grasped the crystalline sphere once again. She popped through the wall and threw herself on the bed, grateful she’d gotten her bath, and she still had her toothbrush and powder with her. She took a moment to change her face back to her own and sighed with relief. It always felt strange to be someone else, like squeezing into clothes two sizes too small.
Ember looked around for some water, but found none. She growled in frustration, then tucked the toothbrush and toothpaste in the pockets of her robe and determined to use them later.
Mahal was still gone and Ember’s stomach was beginning to growl. Had he decided to leave her to her own devices? To let her face consequences alone? She certainly hoped not. She lay back on the bed and rested her eyes, trying to plan how she would handle this if Mahal did not return.
She hadn’t even gotten past the image of showing up in Ezeker’s office to explain what happened when an abrasive, bell-like tone resonated throughout the chamber. Ember sat up, cringing at the discordance it created clear to her bones. She was just starting to relax and wonder what in the world the sound was when it struck again. And again. And again. Faster and faster, the strikes came until she could stand it no longer. She slapped her hands over her ears, but still felt the vibrations like a ripple from foot to head.
Curiosity got the best of her and she stepped through the nearest wall, making her way in the direction of the noise. Not directly toward it, but in the general direction. When she knew she was close, she circled around the stone and came out of the wall about thirty feet down the pathway from where a shining man struck chunks of rock from the wall with his sword.
Even buried in stone, Demunth had found her again.