Page 70 of Wings of Ebony
“A-ah, mind your tone.”
My tone is fine, but I change it up anyway. “I just meant that the book you gave us doesn’t go into detail about what Ghizon was like before the Chancellor united the clans. It doesn’t even say how many there were, where they were, wha—”
“And why would it?” She interrupts. “This isn’t the History of the Four Indigenous Tribes on the Isle of Ghizon class. This is the—”
“So it’snotin the text. How am I not keeping up?”
All eyes on me.
She crossed the room, a wild look in her eye, and got real close to my face.
“This is History of New Ghizon, the Ghizon full ofmagicandwonder.…” Her arms swept in the air in grand gestures. “A peaceful land of magical innovation. Thanks to the Chancellor’s incredible ability to engineer raw magic with hisbarehands.” She was so exhilarated she almost ran out of breath. So dramatic, I swear.
“And to take that power and so kindly share it with us. I just…” She closed her eyes, holding her palm to her chest. A few people clapped. Someone give this woman an Emmy.
“Benevolence. Duty. Fidelity.Thatis what we are learning about, Miss Akintola.”
“So, it was four tribes then?”
She turned pink and pointed to the door. I’d become used to that. I packed my stuff, and when I reached the door, I turned back. “It’s messed up thatyouknow what Ghizon was like before theChancellor, butwecan’t.” I got a few lingering stares as I left. Didn’t go to History class or any class much longer after that. Ms. Totsi’s selection of books was a little better. I learned about the village Aasim is from. How they were dying out years before the Chancellor swept in. And sadly, even the Chancellor’s magic couldn’t save them.
But nothing—absolutely nothing—in Ms. Totsi’s old books could have prepared me for the inside of Yiyo Peak.
CHAPTER 24
MY SIDE BURNS.My eyes too. Inside the cave, the heat clings to my skin and I scream. I scream until my throat burns.
I’m on fire. I have to be.
I blink several times.
My hands appear fine. My clothes feel the same.
It’s hot. So hot. Butinsideme somehow, not out, like my very bones are made of flames.
I stagger.
“Rue, you okay?” Aasim reaches to steady me and I use his arm to get my bearings.
“I… I’m fine.” I think. After a few moments, the heat settles—not like it’s gone, but like it’s at home inside me.
Flames dance in oblong stone bowls hovering overhead. Everything grows brighter as my eyes adjust to the dim orange light. A rocky cavernous ceiling twinkles above us like a sky dotted with stars made of smoky glass.
Onyx.
Humid air clings to my skin and a thick, industrial stench burns my nose. On my right a path deeper into the cave extends undera low ceiling held up by wooden beams. To my left are carts piled high with black stone discs, spilling over their edges in heaps on the ground. Flickers of orange lick their surface, reflecting the firelight hanging from the jagged ceiling.
“Th-there’s so much of it.” I grab a piece of onyx and it’s cold. I don’t know why I’m whispering, but I have the distinct feeling someone is watching me. Someone other than Aasim.
“This way.” He gestures for me to walk toward the narrow tunnel. It looks like a partially collapsed construction zone, only without hard hats.
But the onyx is just sitting here, out in the open.
Why does he want to gothe other way?
He gestures again, more urgently this time. I slip the hard stone in my pocket and follow.
The tunnel’s ceiling is so low, my breath shortens with each step. I run my hands along the jagged surface made of bits of brittle rock and glassy stone. The firelight from Yiyo’s entrance fades the deeper we go, but there’s a faint light up ahead. The ceiling is lowering. Walls tighten. Finding even ground for each step is harder than the one before it. Where are we going? This is madness. We pass a sign plastered with stamped letters that readsSTOP.
