The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves #1)(65)

“It’s getting closer!” shouted Laila.

Enrique’s head shot up. The fireball moved closer and closer, and directly in its path: Laila.

She had hoisted herself just far enough onto the piece of rock so she wouldn’t fall, but she was stuck.

“We’ve got the code!” said Enrique. “Hold on!”

When the pedestal with the levers came closer, Enrique nodded at Zofia.

“On my count, we leap,” he said. “One, two, three—”

He jumped. For a moment, everything was weightless. The ground fell away, and a mouth of darkness opened beneath him. He strained, reaching forward, his breath gathered in a tight knot until his fingers hit the rocky ledge. Zofia stumbled beside him. Wrenching himself upright, he grabbed her by the arm. Zofia clung to him as the ground pulled back from their feet, plunging into the icy river below.

“Is this a bad time to mention I only know the Fibonacci sequence up until the number twenty-one?”

“I’ve got the pattern,” said Zofia. “I don’t need anything else. Start on the far left.”

On each of the thirteen levers was a row for three numbers. He felt around the top of the lever for the small toggles, letting him push the numbers into view. For the first:

0 0 0



Then on the second:

0 0 1

0 0 1

0 0 2



On and on—three, five, eight, thirteen—until he hit the eighth lever, spinning the toggles atop it until the numbers read: 021.

In the distance, Laila screamed. The ball of fire behind her roared livid as the dawn. She turned her face from the heat.

“Wait!” called Zofia.

Tears streamed down her face as her pale hands darted down the levers.

“Thirty-four, fifty-five, eighty-nine, one hundred forty-four,” she said. “Two hundred thirty-three!”

Immediately, the ground lurched to a stop. Zofia stumbled, nearly falling over the edge until Enrique caught her. The ball of fire halted. Slowly, it moved backward, heat leeching from the room. Laila had scrambled to another rock once it got close enough. Around them, the floor stitched back together. Grinding sounds of rock and steel whined until the floor was, once more, whole.

Zofia’s heartbeat thumped wildly against his chest. He could feel her skin, feverish and damp, through his linen tunic. The moment stillness returned to the atrium, she sprang from him, running to check on Laila. Enrique slid onto the floor, rubbing his temples.

When he looked up, both girls were staring down at him.

Laila grinned widely. “My hero.”

She kissed him on the cheek, and Enrique beamed. He wasn’t quite like the heroes he’d dreamed of becoming. He hadn’t saved a country from oppression or rescued anyone on his white horse … but he still felt rather impressive. He turned to Zofia, about to congratulate her, when she crossed her arms over her chest.

“I’m not going to kiss you like Laila did.”

Black ash streaked Zofia’s arms and the tops of her cheekbones. It made her eyes look like blue fire, her hair a wisp of candlelight. The farthest thing from his mind was her mouth on his, but when she said it, he couldn’t help but look at her lips. They were red as candy. Abruptly, Enrique pinched the bridge of his nose. He must have hit his head because the strangest thoughts kept darting through it.

“I was only going to say that we make a good team, phoenix.”

A corner of her mouth quirked up. “I know.”

And that was true. Her math, his history. They were, he thought, a bit like an equation where the sum was greater than its parts.

Ahead of them, the tunnel had been plunged into semidarkness. Still, he caught the glint of an amber door, the true entrance to House Kore’s library. It was a bit of a walk, but adrenaline raced through him, staving off any twinge of sore muscles and aching bones.

“What was the code for the pedestal?” asked Laila.

Zofia cleared her throat. “Zero, one, one, two—”

“It was the Fibonacci sequence,” cut in Enrique.

If Zofia got started on numbers, they’d be here all day.

“Praise Fibonacci,” said Laila, pressing her palms together.

“Well, Fibonacci can have some credit, but not all. He was brilliant, of course. But did you know—”

Zofia groaned. Enrique ignored her.

“—the Fibonacci sequence itself appears as early as the sixth century in Sanskrit treatises by the Hindu scholar Pingala. Isn’t that fascinating?”

Laila made a face. “So who do we thank?”

“Me, naturally.”

The tunnel drew to a close, and the three of them stood before the amber entrance to the library. By now, the adrenaline coursing through his veins had faded. Exhaustion crept into the edges of him.

Enrique braced himself for what lay on the other side of the door. The Horus Eye. As Zofia reached for the doorknob, Enrique wondered if it was possible for time itself to pause and expand, as if it were a vast pupil dilating to let in the light. Because he felt as if he could sense each second passing against his skin. As if every dream of his hung low and ripe as fruit for the plucking. If Marcelo Ponce and the rest of the Ilustrados group could see him now, then maybe they’d see him as more than a clever mestizo boy, but a hero in the making. Like Dr. Rizal. Like someone who illuminated the dark.