Page 82 of Shadebound
As I was shoved by a random student flailing from the cuff zaps, I felt the pressure of something in my pocket. But not the one myfriendhad touched. But the one that had been grabbed at earlier on.
I quickly shoved my hand inside my pocket, eager to yank out whatever had been snagging at my fingers. Pain split across my skin as something sliced me open. I dragged my hand back and watched blood bead along the cuts. A folded note slipped free and drifted to the floor.
The edge of a razor blade glinted from where it had been taped inside. Cruel. Clever. Whoever set it there wanted me to bleed before I even touched the words. The thought pulled a laugh from me as I crouched to snatch the paper up, the sting in my fingers was oddly satisfying. Even with the lightning soaring through my veins.
The handwriting was heavy, the ink pressed deep into the page.
You didn’t seem to appreciate the gift I left on your pillow. Or register my notes. So I thought we could make this more entertaining.
You’ve been sleeping and I need you awake, so let’s get that brain firing.
I have cities but no houses.
I have mountains but no trees.
I have water but no fish.
What am I?
Write your answer and leave it at Death’s statue before the sun rises in two days. Or else someone close to you will die for your failure.
P.S Your sister looked so pretty as she died for me. But I don’t think you’d bleed the same way.
I didn’t feel the pain in my fingers. The floor beneath me might as well not have existed. Nothing registered—not the press of bodies, not the static charge still buzzing through the air. My heart just slammed into my ribs.
He was here.
He’dbeenhere.
The note went into my pocket, and my gaze snapped up as I twisted around. The canteen was still full of students being punished. Shouting bounced off the stone walls. Someone hit the ground nearby with a grunt. I barely noticed. Barely cared.
Faces blurred past as I scanned the chaos. Snarls. Sparks. Mouths open in pained cries. I didn’t know what I was looking for. Something off. Eyes that lingered too long. A presence that didn’t belong.
Was he watching me? Waiting to see how I’d react? Laughing from somewhere just out of reach?
My head pounded. Breathing felt impossible.
The riddle clawed its way through the panic.
Cities. Mountains. Water. No houses. No trees. No fish.
I needed to solve it. Ihadto. Not just because it was my sole purpose for living without my twin, but because I refused to let someone best me. Refused to allow secret notes and things to have gone right over my head.
I supposed letting someone else die wasn’t an option, either. Not when I... I... not when I loved people.
Another sharp buzz of electricity jammed through my cuff. Harsher this time. At the same moment the students yelled in more pain, Hightower’s voice cut through the room, broadcast through some hidden speaker embedded in the walls. Her tone was flat, as if she were reading from a list she’d long since grown bored with, and I had no choice but to pause my watching.
“All those involved in inappropriate behaviour are to receive no food tomorrow and have one week added onto their training before deployment. Any lingering hostility and insubordination will result in more severe penalties. This is your only warning.”
The words dropped like stones. And the silence that followed her announcement was heavier than anything she could have ordered.
The punishment hit hard enough to make a few students go still, forks frozen halfway to their lips. One of them even dropped their tray. I looked at all of them for signs of guilt and murderous intent, as I pressed my fingers into my knuckles until the sting from the recent hit brought a flicker of focus.
There’d be no food tomorrow. Adding to my lack of sleep. To my new stress about the stupid fucking riddle.
I wiped my split knuckles on my combats and sat down again because this was fine. I was fine. Nothing was wrong with the situation. Nothing bothered me.
It didn’t matter. I couldn’t eat anyway. My stomach was lined with knives. I just wanted the day to be over. Wanted a moment to see what myfriendhad left in my pocket.
