I had just finished putting her to bed—it was morning now, but she hadn’t slept much either in the last few days, and she looked exhausted. Julian wasn’t really looking any better, so I had given him strict instructions to do the same. After moaning that I was treating him like a kid, mid-yawn he had closed his eyes and a moment later had started snoring.
Jenney came into the living room with yet another pile of fresh laundry.
“Thanks, Jenney.” I smiled. “Are the kids downstairs?”
“Yes—they’re in one of the old abandoned rooms, complaining that they don’t have ‘Internet’…does that mean anything to you?”
I laughed. “Yeah.”
“Well…” She shrugged, and dumped the laundry down on one of the less cluttered sofas. “I’m going to get them something to eat. Do you want anything?”
“Maybe later.”
She was halfway to the door when she turned around and gave me a reassuring smile.
“Ruby, Ash is going to be fine. You know how stubborn he is—he’s not going to let this chance slip away from him.”
I groaned. “It’s his stubbornness that worries me. He won’t give up—and that means that he’s going to try to outdo himself in the trials to prove his worth, and if the kingship trials were anything to go by, it’s going to be dangerous.”
“He’s lived in Hellswan all his life—he knows danger. And he knows how to survive. You’re just going to worry yourself sick if you keep thinking about it.”
“I know.” I sighed. “I’m trying to keep busy but…anyway, they’ll be back soon, right?”
“Right,” Jenney confirmed. “I’ll see you later. Stay calm.”
I nodded, leaning back against the sofa. I could stay calm. Jenney left and I looked over at the windows. Dawn had long passed and now the morning sun was shining as brightly as it ever did in Nevertide, which wasn’t much. The peace was kind of unnerving. The apocalyptic signs were over, and apart from Benedict coming to take another stone, it felt like we were on pause, waiting for the entity to come—waiting for the destruction of Hellswan and all the other kingdoms to commence.
I shifted on the sofa, trying to get comfortable, and heard the crumple of paper in the pocket of my robe.
The letter.
I reached inside and pulled it out. I stared down at the handwritten scrawl of my name, thinking how strange it was to be looking at a dead man’s penmanship. I turned it over, about to open it, when the main door swung open.
Hazel stood in the doorway, her arms wrapped around her, but this time she was dressed properly, and her eyes no longer looked as wild and unhinged as I’d seen them earlier.
“Oh, Hazel, thank God! Are you okay?” I shoved the letter back inside my robe and hurried over to her. Before I could get close, she held her arm out, warning me back.
“Wait! Ruby, I need you to…hang back, okay?” she replied in a wobbly, scratchy voice. “There’s something I need to tell you, and it’s not good…and I just need some space while I try to get it out.”
“Okay,” I replied slowly, not having the faintest idea what was going on. I’d never seen Hazel like this. She could be a little dramatic sometimes, but this wasn’t like that—something had clearly scared the living daylights out of her, but other than Benedict, I couldn’t really imagine what that was.
She was silent, watching me take a few steps back.
“The suspense is killing me,” I said, trying to lighten the mood, but clearly not doing a very good job of it.
“I’m sorry. It’s difficult…” She twisted her fingers around one another as she stood there, like she was waiting for a firing squad. “I got… kind of intimate with Tejus last night…and now…” She swallowed hard. “N-Now I’m a sentry.”
“What?” I burst out, half wanting to laugh.
“Yeah…a sentry. Turns out, the powers are transferable.” She gulped.
“Hazel, you’re not a sentry—of course you’re not. That’s…impossible! What makes you think that?”
Had my friend gone completely mad?
“The fact that I started to syphon off Tejus was the first clue.” She smiled weakly.
What the heck…
“Okay. You need to explain—from the beginning.”
Hazel nodded, but remained standing where she was, eyeing me nervously.
“And you’re starting to freak me out, so can you please come and sit down?” I gestured to the sofas, going to perch on the end of one myself—it kind of felt like my legs weren’t going to hold me up much longer.