Within These Wicked Walls(54)

The silence between us was so thick I wanted to drown in it.

“You’re not staying here past tonight.” Jember waved the board at me, and I took it without question. “Work.”



* * *



I worked deep into the night, graduating from the chalkboard to wood, etching so many versions of the amulet I almost never wanted to look at wood again. And every time, Jember would tell me to start again.

Pride and arrogance were faults. Knowing your ability wasn’t. I was good at amulets. Really good. And I had an excellent amulet to study. It had never taken me three days to master an amulet. Ever.

There was a reason Jember was denying me silver, and it had less to do with my work and more to do with payback.

“I’m ready for silver now.”

“No, you’re not,” he murmured, dozing on his back.

“You didn’t even look at this one. I’m ready.”

He opened his eyes to look. Long enough to humor me, but not nearly long enough to see if there were any imperfections. “Start over.”

I felt my heart pick up painfully. “I’ve done it a dozen times.”

“And it still isn’t right?” The question was sarcastically rhetorical, and it made my face hot. “Hm. Okay.”

“You’re not being fair, Jember. You’re the one who wants me out of here by the morning, but you’re not even trying to help me.” I thrust my wooden amulet into his face to make him look at it. “It looks exactly like yours. I’m ready for silver and you know it.”

He snatched the amulet but kept his glare on me. “Who cares if it looks like mine? Does it feel like mine? The slightest imperfection makes a difference.”

“You haven’t even looked at it.”

Finally, he looked at it, his eyes shifting, reading it, soaking it in. And then he snapped it in half and threw it through the doorway into the next room.

“Why did you do that?”

“Don’t lose your temper with me, girl—”

“It was flawless and you know it.”

“You want to get back to that castle so badly you’re willing to risk your life with poor preparation. Why? What’s there waiting for you?”

I looked away so he couldn’t see my blush. My heart … that’s what was waiting there. Held by a boy with hopeful eyes. But all I said was, “A patronage.”

“Not if you’re dead.” He took his amulet from the bed and shut it into the drawer. “You’re going to get your silver. But first I want you to make a copy of your amulet.”

I paused. “Mine?”

“From memory. You wear it every day, you must know how it feels by now.”

True. It was like a second skin to me. I could feel it from inside the drawer, although the strokes mingled with Jember’s. I took a heavy breath in an attempt to calm myself and then snatched up another piece of wood from the other room.

As complex as it was, it took only an hour to replicate mine. When I held it out to him, he looked at it briefly, unimpressed.

“Now construct mine,” he said.

I didn’t complain this time. Actions spoke louder than words, after all. But, as I worked, I suddenly realized that he was right. I couldn’t quite define every stroke in my mind. Some of them were looped, and I couldn’t quite figure out which way. Some had tiny nicks on one side that the others didn’t. Jember was my mentor, the best of his generation. But I hated to admit he was right.

If I couldn’t even construct his amulet while the strokes were mingled in the air with my amulet’s, how was I supposed to seal the hyena while all the chaos of the Waking was going on around me?

I paused and shook the strokes out of my head.

Try again, Andi.

By the time I’d copied his amulet, thread wraps and all, Jember was sleeping soundly. How long had it been? It had to have been nearly morning.

I widened my eyes and paced a little, fighting to keep myself awake now that my mind wasn’t occupied.

Meanwhile, Jember was asleep …

I looked at the drawer, chewing on my lip. I stretched my neck and back, then carefully opened it and took Saba’s letter out.

I still love you, it said, in small, rushed print, and excitement sprinted my heart. Can we forget everything and just spend my last days here together?

I stared at the words for a moment. Last days here? She meant … when she vanished along with the Evil Eye. The thought of it left needles in my stomach, but Jember shifted and I was forced to quickly put the letter away.

I touched his shoulder to wake him gently and held the amulet in front of his face. He took it from me, while I did some more stretches.

“Looking at my physical amulet was hindering you from sensing the strokes,” I heard him say.

I turned to him just as he held the thin wood over the candle by the bed.

“It was perfect,” I said, “admit it, old man.”

“I admit nothing.” He let the wood burn a little before dropping it in the dirt, and my eyes lit up as he nodded his head at our shelf of amulet supplies. “Go get your silver.”





CHAPTER 22


Jember refused to come with me to Thorne Manor, so I had to spend a good chunk of the morning bribing anyone who would listen to take me anywhere close. This merchant was at least a little more generous than the last—I only had to walk a mile this time. But even more disappointing, Jember hadn’t given me a letter to bring back to Saba. Part of me hoped she wouldn’t ask about it.