Page 57 of Circle of Shadows
Sora crept a little farther through the food stocks, as close as possible to the galley door without being exposed. She reached into the pouch in her sleeve and confirmed that the small square of paper, folded like an envelope, was there. The kagi powder would blend into whatever it was that was bubbling on the stove.
She also checked that her pink disk of rira was easily accessible. It was the poison that Fairy had given her in case she was captured. Daemon had one on him too.
Sora stalled. Both she and Daemon were 100 percent nerves, and their gemina bond was as taut as a tightrope.
We were blessed by Luna to do this,she reminded herself.And we have trained our entire livesto protect Kichona.It didn’t make her any less nervous, but it was enough to push her forward with her plan.
One of the ryuu was tasting what was in the pot. Another was pulling trays of roasted mackerel out of the oven. The third put a vat of pickled radish on the small counter.
“I think this is done,” the one at the pot said. “Let’s ring the meal bell.”
Oh no,Sora thought. If they rang the bell, the deck would be swarming with ryuu before she could get to the pot.
She had to disable the bell. But it hung right outside the galley door, which meant she risked exposure even running to it, let alone trying to tinker with it while the ryuu were a foot away.
It was a risk she had to take.
Sora glanced at Daemon on the other side of the deck to signal what she was going to do. He shook his head andraised his arms up in confusion. Her pantomiming hadn’t made any sense.
Never mind that. She had only seconds to get this done. Sora darted to the bell.
She pressed herself flat against the wall of the galley and wrapped her fingers around the cold brass clapper dangling inside the bell. But how would she dampen it? She couldn’t yank the thing out; it was connected by a metal ring.
I might’ve acted a little hastily.
She let go of the bell for a moment and retrieved a knife from her sleeve. Then she sliced off the cuff of that sleeve and began to wrap the fabric around the brass clapper.
A spike of panic, like the prick of a cold stiletto blade, pierced her gemina bond.
At the same time, someone cleared her throat behind Sora. “What, exactly, do you think you’re doing?”
Sora jumped.
She recognized that acid-tinged voice. It was Virtuoso, the girl who’d been training the recruits.
“I’m, um, fixing the bell,” Sora said, her back still to Virtuoso.
“How interesting. I didn’t realize bells could be fixed with cotton. Or kagi powder.”
Sora whirled around and saw with horror that the little paper packet of poison had fallen out of her sleeve, probably when she grabbed her knife to cut the fabric. And now the envelope was in the hands of Virtuoso, the top flap open where white powder spilled out.
She looked up from Virtuoso’s hands. The ryuu’s face was shrouded by the heavy hood of her cloak.
She didn’t dare spare a glance past Virtuoso, to whereDaemon was, for fear of revealing him.
Run!she wished she could say. She tried her best to convey the feeling of it through their gemina bond.
Resistance pushed through the connection.
Sora pushed back.Go, go, go!She sent the urgency to him. He couldn’t stay. He couldn’t get caught too.
His sadness harpooned through their bond. But he’d made her a promise, and his intention reverberated through their connection. He would get off the ship. He would make it to shore, somehow, because he knew that otherwise, Sora’s sacrifice wouldn’t be worth it.
She saw out of the corner of her eye when he fled.
Please get away safely.
She focused on Virtuoso again. Sora dared to reach for her sword.
