Page 55 of Ashes of Gold
Dwegini
Head Researcher
Magical Molecular Anatomy and Thermodynamics
“Carrying identification?” I say. “He’s an amateur.”
Tears stream down his cheeks. “I-I… the money. There’s nowork anymore. The labs are all closed. I j-just wanted the money. My family, I need…”
Zora hits him in the back of the head and his head bobs. “Tie him up. We should get out of here.”
I nod in agreement, stream a coil of light from my fingertips, and rope it around his hands.
“Twixame,” I say, pointing at his lips, and they snap closed. He wiggles them but they’re glued shut.
“Bri, sedate him, give him a memory sweep, and let’s go.” I turn to the others. “We’re leaving him here.”I have no use for him.
Phiz’s eyes grow as Bri pries his lips open and pours a honey-colored liquid down his throat. His expression dulls and he slow-blinks.
“He’ll be drowsy for a bit, then he’ll come out of it completely confused as to how he got here.”
“It’s for the best,” Grag mutters.
“Excuse me?” I ask.
“I… just, he… it’s good you didn’t keep him as a hostage. He’s very lower level, hardly knows anything. He’d probably be more of a liability.”
I narrow my eyes at him. Is that a lie? And if not, why would he help us?
“We have to go,” Jhamal says. I give Grag one more glance before we snake our way back toward the exit of this death trap of a building and follow the moonlight.
“You sure you’re okay?” Zora asks me.
“I think so. I’d never felt anything like that before, my magic leaving my body… it was… I felt so weak.”
Images of my cuffs being pulled away from my body sludgethrough my memory.I burn all over as they slice.My breath quickens.Long eyelashes in a lab coat’s face is clearer this time. He smiles as he pries. I scream. Everything goes black. Something warm is pressed to my lips and I swallow. It burns my throat.I gasp for air.I’m cold all over like my blood, or my power, or something is draining out of me. Someone yells. My knees give way underneath me.
My pulse races and Jhamal squeezes my hand. “You okay? Breathe.”
Five… four… three… two… one.
“You’re not in there anymore. You’re here, with me. You hear me?” Jhamal squeezes my hand again and this time I squeeze back. “I-I’m okay. Th-thanks.” I shake off the haunting memory and force out a breath.
Zora and Bri are immersed in a conversation as I slip the gold rings and bell Zora gave me out of my pocket. I hook the rings on my left ear and affix the bell in my hair, on the left side. I need all the power I can get. I cycle through the same thoughts over and over, assuring myself we’re on the cusp of victory.
But a worry keeps needling at me: If the Chancellor wants me out here, getting caught in his traps to steal my magic… did I escape from prison or did he let me go?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TOTSI’S TINY BOOKSHOP ISjust up ahead. It’s a lone square building with stores on either side. Moonlight lights the road ahead. Only then do I realize Jhamal’s injured. He wraps a shred of fabric around his limb and ties it with his teeth.
“Is it deep?”
“Just sliced it on that jagged rock we came through. It is fine,” he says, but his next step is a limp.
Zora pulls Grag, who is also bleeding, closer. Bri dabs his wound with a paste and he winces.
“You’re alright,” Grag says matter-of-factly.
