Gates of Thread and Stone(63)

I told myself to stop being foolish and focus on running my bath. Now wasn’t the time to indulge in fantasies.

The privacy of my own washroom was such a novelty that after I cleaned up, I soaked in the tub until my fingers wrinkled. Avan was gone when I emerged from the washroom an hour later.

I changed into another of the identical uniforms in my closet, and dropped the used one and the towel into the hatchway outside the washroom door.

We had a crude version of that in the Labyrinth, but I didn’t use it. You were never quite sure you’d get your things back clean, or whether they’d be returned at all.

I picked up Avan, who apparently had left to wash up too. When he saw me waiting out in the hall, he blushed and stepped past me. I stared at his back as we made our way toward the stairs and wondered if he’d been thinking about me in the bath, too. And now I was blushing again.

Stop it. We are here to look for Reev, I reminded myself.

Avan’s research hadn’t turned up anything useful, but the matches had ended, so there was a chance we might find Reev alone. I had no idea what sentinels did in their free time, if they had any.

“By the way,” I said, going down the stairs a couple of steps ahead of him so I wouldn’t have to see his reaction, “I turned over the manhole cover.”

“What?” His hand grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop. Pulling me off to the side, he lowered his voice. “What were you thinking? We don’t even know where Reev is or if he’ll cooperate—”

A tinge of that annoyance returned, and I thrust his hand away. “You might not believe in him, but I do. Reev will come around once I talk to him.”

Avan raked his fingers through his hair, his jaw clenching and unclenching. He didn’t look at me as he turned and started back up the stairs.

I watched him go, both angry and guilty at once. There was no point fighting over what was done, so I pushed away from the wall and continued my search for Reev.

An hour later, with no luck, I was near the prep room when the cadets began filing downstairs for dinner. With a sigh of disappointment, I joined them.

Avan was already at the table with his tray, and aside from a brief glance, he didn’t acknowledge me. My lips pinched.

Dinner consisted of the same portions and selections as this morning. Other than half a roll of bread, I’d had nothing for lunch, and my stomach was growling its displeasure. Grene and Tariza joined us a moment later.

“Nothing broken, then?” I asked as Tariza dropped his tray on the table with a clatter.

“Solid as a rock.” He tapped his knuckles against his ribs.

“The scores went up in the common room,” Grene said, taking a seat with the usual bounciness that made me think she wore springs on her feet. Weirdly enough, I was beginning to like her cheerfulness. “We’re in the top ten!”

Great. Now I also felt bad that we were going to abandon them tomorrow. They had invested their futures in the Tournament, and they genuinely wanted to become sentinels. But if they were mahjo, then we would be doing them a favor. Winning would gain them nothing but a collar.

“My parents are going to be so happy,” Tariza said. “Their request to visit was denied, so I’ll have to send them a missive. I don’t know how they would have gotten here anyway. They don’t own a Gray.”


Grene nodded sympathetically. “I’ve been to the North District once. It was so primitive. The Kahl says resources are limited, and essential renovations are done on a district-to-district basis; but when I become a sentinel, I’m going to change that.” She flipped her hair and tilted her nose. Her challenging tone made me wonder if she was used to defending that particular goal.

Her good intentions surprised me. I had figured most people joined the Academy to improve their own status, not to help those around them. The Watchmen in the Alley had certainly proven that.

“That’s admirable,” Avan said, and Grene beamed, her shoulders relaxing. I was the only one who heard what he’d left unspoken: admirable but naive. And completely useless.

As we ate, I looked around the cafeteria and the rows of cadets. How many of these kids thought like Grene? How many joined with the hope of changing Ninurta, only to end up slaves to it? My eyes connected with a pair of green ones. I paused. They belonged to a boy with short brown hair and dark skin. He glanced at me and Avan surreptitiously to keep his teammates from noticing.

I realized I knew him. The last time I had seen him was a year ago, down by a bend in the river where he and his friends hung out. I didn’t see many kids there anymore, not since he disappeared.

It seemed he recognized us as well.

Ninu must have kidnapped him for the Tournament. I wondered how much the boy knew about the sentinels and what he was—about the collar that awaited him.

His teammates chattered around him, but he remained silent, watching me and Avan.

He thought we’d been kidnapped, too.

What did they have over him to keep him here? Credits? I had talked to him a handful of times, but he didn’t seem the sort to care about that. If anything, I’d guess they threatened his family. Would it be worth it to try and get him out?

Drek. I couldn’t afford even to think it. I was here for Reev. There was nothing I could do for anyone else. I tried to ignore the boy’s searching looks. I clenched my teeth and hoped the ache in my jaw would overpower the one in my stomach.