Page 94 of Ashes of Gold
“Rue, are you serious?” Bri’s face twists in frustration.
“Rue, come on, fam,” Jue says. “Walk it off. We got shit to handle.”
“I just can’t believe it,” I say. “She’sTotsi’smother. Totsi, who…”Oh, shit.“H-he had hisowndaughter killed?”
Pieces of the puzzle click into place. The Seer can’t be on his side. She told me I’d be betrayed. Unless… that’s because she knew firsthand? I slide down the wall and plant on the ground, raking hands through my hair.
“I looked in that woman’s eyes,” I say. “She is enslaved to the pain she’s carrying. There’s no way.”
“Well, she at least knew what the Chancellor did,” Julius says. “You said yourself. Don’t unconvince yourself now because you don’t like it.” He extends a hand for me to get up and I take it. “Either way, now’s not the time to dwell.”
It’s true. Her knowing makes sense, I can’t deny that. “Maybe she knew but did nothing?” I ask, dusting the dirt from my pants.
“Still, though, being passively aware of something and doing nothing don’t make you innocent,” Julius says.
I’m spiraling. I don’t have a way to get real answers now. “When I see her, I’m going to ask her, straight up.”
I glance at Bri and she holds tension in her expression, eyes far off. It stings. “I’m sorry, Bri. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s cool,” she says, but I know it’s not.
I sigh. “Zora said one of the two tunnels would take us to the place they’re keeping Bati. We took the wrong one. Let’s get back to the access point, the dark tunnel is the one we should have taken.” We set off back up the blue-lit corridor.
Julius and Bri stick behind me, no questions asked, like they know what’s what. Like they trust where I’m going to lead them. Like whatever happens, they’re here for it, and the guilt over my words to Bri wedges deeper. Whatever her faults, her not giving a shit isn’t one of them. She’s trying. In her own imperfect way. And I get that. I get that a whole lot.
The access point comes into view and the alternate tunnel we didn’t take looms ahead. It’s pitch-black and the hair on my neck stands. I light flames from my fingertips. No one in their right mind would walk down this way unless they needed to. The dirt on the floor is hardly disturbed, no shoe imprints, no dust in the air. I can feel it in my bones, the room where Bati is trapped is down here. We walk for what feels like miles. My thighs ache, and the tunnel twists and turns, deeper into the Web.
We spot a patch of wall that appears disturbed. I wave my hands along the walls and Bri tries her gadget again. It suctions to the wall, and while we wait for the depth reading, I try to meet her eyes, flash a smile, but she won’t look at me; I feel even smaller.
“I think we’ve found it,” she says, smoothing the device fartheralong the wall. It beeps, flashing a number. “There’s a room here.”
“If Zora’s told me right, it has to be the eurostarum.”
I summon my magic and energy ripples from my hands.Crack.It’s dark, but the split in the rock zigzags to the floor. The faint sound of panting and paper rustling pricks my ears.
“Sssh.” I point at Bri, then at the wall, and she already knows what I need. The sphere rolls through the hole and a hologram floats about her watch. Piles of books stacked on shelves cut into rock line the walls, and in the corner a red-orange blob—a person.Bati.
“Bati,” I breathe.
The shuffling stops.
“Bati,” I mutter again.
“Wh-who’s there?” The voice is worn, crackled with age. It’s him. We crumble the pieces of the wall until the hole is big enough for us to step through. Bati’s coiled up in a corner, his white robe stained yellow on its end. Ammonia wafts under my nose. How could they leave him in here, treat him like this?
“Jelani,” he groans as we move him, eyes darting to the door. “You must go. If Shaun finds you here…” His hands are dry with ash. “I cannot let anything happen to you on account of me. I promised your father.”
I want to ask why he’s locked up, but does it even matter at this point? Shaun can be rash. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
“And I promised him things too. You’re coming with us. And besides, I found a way to summon the Ancestors. I need your help.”
“There is a way, you say?” He gasps, hands cupped over his mouth, as Julius helps him up. Fortunately, Bati can walk just fine. He’s just stiff from being in one position for so long.
“There is a spell, but I need a hair from an Elder. Do you think yours would work?”
“Oh, Jelani, I am not sure. But take whatever you need.” He uncoils his white locks.
Julius takes out his knife. “May I?”
