Seven
Exhaling with a groan, all Alex could do was mutter an irritated, “Not again.”
At least this time she wasn’t stranded in the middle of a forest, so that was something. She also wasn’t near any kind of camouflaging bushes, so that meant no hidden Hyroas lying in wait to tear her apart. Also a bonus. But that didn’t mean her new location wasn’t without its own challenges. Because as far as her eyes could see, she was completely surrounded by water.
And deep water, if its dark colouring was any indication.
“On the list of weird stuff that has happened to me, I wish I could say this was at the top,” Alex grumbled as she tried to balance on the dinner plate-sized floating stone she stood upon—the only solid surface in sight. “But sadly, it’s not.”
Leaning her weight forward and hastily back again as her stone started tipping, Alex wobbled to and fro for a few breathless moments before she was stable again, her injured leg throbbing in protest.
With her arms out to steady herself, she slowly crouched down to the water’s edge, her thigh screaming at the wound-inflaming move. When she was close enough, she reached out her fingers, hoping to discover some kind of illusion. But when her hand came away wet, Alex knew she was fresh out of luck.
Rising painfully again, Alex had one last idea up her sleeve that helped stave off her panic. It was possible she had been transported to a room in the Library similar to her parents’ ancient environment. If that were the case, she’d be able to call forth a doorway and leave in an instant. If, however, she had been transported to somewhere else in Medora, that would be problematic, since she couldn’t call back a doorway that she’d never technically created. She’d intended to go straight back to Akarnae, not this… place.
With a silent plea, Alex tried to summon a door.
… And her shoulders drooped when nothing happened. Wherever she was, she actually was.
“Finn’s water survival skills did not prepare me for something like this,” she muttered, pivoting carefully on her rock and squinting into the distance. Not even her Meyarin sight could pick up anything on the horizon. Even if she were willing to risk going for a swim, there was no way for her to know which direction to head in. She’d be travelling blind.
Just when she decided that perhaps her only means of escape was to use one of the two walks left in her Shadow Ring—something she was loath to do, having not enjoyed the experience the first time—a cloaked figure materialised before her.
With a startled scream and a reflexive jump, Alex overbalanced and tumbled straight into the water.
She noticed two things almost immediately.
The first was that it was cold. As in, nearly bone-shatteringly cold. The second, perhaps worse, was that it was salt water, causing her stab wound to flare up as if Kyia were pouring the antidote onto it all over again.
Blinded by the renewed agony and freezing from the temperature, Alex couldn’t yet pay any mind to the cloaked figure who stood still and silent above the now lightly rippling waves. Her sole focus was on getting out of the water.
Shaking, gasping and spluttering, it took Alex an exasperating number of attempts before she was able to heave herself up onto the narrow rock and keep it balanced under her weight.
Chilled to her core and dripping rivulets of water, Alex panted heavily as she slowly managed to rise from her crouched position and up to her feet.
“It is a pity you fell,” said the figure, a male voice being the only identifying feature. That, and he was tall—very tall. “This will be much more challenging for you now.”
There was no compassion in his bland tone. He might have been commenting on the colour of the sky, for all the inflection there was in his voice.
“Wh-Who are y-y-you?” Alex managed between chattering teeth.
“I am here to see if you are worthy of my time, Alexandra Jennings.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “Y-Y-You’re C-Caspar Le-Lennox’s f-friend?”
“Friend is an inaccurate descriptor,” the man said in his monotonous voice. “But for the purposes of this conversation, yes, I am acquainted with the Shadow Walker. And yes, that is why I am here, when there are many things I would prefer to be doing right now. None of which include taking on new students, least of all one not of this world.”
“H-H-How do you know w-where I’m from?” she asked, seeing no point in denying her origins, since the cloaked figure obviously had some kind of power. Not only had he redirected her Library doorway, but he’d also appeared out of nowhere and was currently standing on the water’s surface as if it were solid ground.
“It matters not what I know,” he said, an impatient edge to his voice now. “As far as you’re concerned, all that matters is what comes next.”
He held out his gloved hand and a glass materialised between his fingers, filled almost to the brim with what appeared to be crystal clear water.
“Take it,” he said, passing it to her.
Fingers wet and shaking, Alex was barely able to keep her grip on the glass.
“Now, hold it at a distance.”
Brow furrowing, she stretched out her arm, the rock under her feet wobbling in the water at her repositioning.
“Your task is simple,” the man said. “Do not spill anything.”
“What?” Alex asked, pleased that she was able to get the word out without stammering. Her body was still frozen, but her blood was slowly pumping heat back through her veins.
“If a single drop falls into the lake, you will have failed,” he told her. “And if you fail, you shall never see me again.”
Alex gaped at him. “You’re joking, right?”
Silence was his only response, enough to show how serious he was.
“How long am I supposed to stay like this?” she demanded, the water in the glass already dangerously close to spilling thanks to her shivering body—which was thankfully beginning to settle, if slowly.
“There are three phases to this test,” he said, ignoring her question. “This is the first phase. If you manage to complete it, you’ll move on to the second. Remember, not a drop.”
And with that warning, he disappeared.
Cursing under her breath, and then not so much under her breath, Alex took stock of her situation.
When it came down to it, she could give the metaphorical finger to the cloaked man, toss the stupid glass of water, and activate her Shadow Ring to get the hell out of there. But he might be the only person who could help her strengthen her gift enough to save the world. So while she longed to throw the water into his face, she instead decided to play along with his task.
If it was a game he wanted, it was a game he would get. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t invent her own rules.
Carefully going back over everything he’d said to her, Alex was confident that she had found what Niyx would call a loophole.
Crossing the fingers of her free hand and desperately hoping she wasn’t about to unintentionally disqualify herself, Alex drew the glass to her lips, guzzling down every last drop of water.
The moment she was done, the figure appeared again, but this time she was prepared enough that she didn’t topple back into the lake.
“Explain yourself.”
Two words, neither giving Alex any indication as to whether she had just ruined all chances of him helping her.
“You told me I’d fail if I spilled a drop into the lake.” She jiggled the empty glass. “There’s no possibility of me doing that now.”
Alex wanted to raise her thumb to her nose and wiggle her fingers while sing-songing a mocking ‘nah-nah-na-naaah-nah’, but she thought that might be pushing it.
Once again, the silence stretched on between them.
“Faster than anticipated,” he finally said in a gruff, yet somehow still monotonous voice. Alex wondered if that was what passed as praise until he continued, “I’m not sure whether you’re impatient and careless, or cunning and courageous. Either way, what you did was impudent without knowing more. You’re fortunate the glass only contained water.”
Alex decided not to admit that she hadn’t considered what the liquid was before swallowing the contents. “I prefer the cunning and courageous assessment. But that’s just my opinion.”
Ignoring her—yet again—the man said, “You’ll find there is no ambiguity with the guidelines of the second phase.”
The glass in her hand was suddenly filled to the brim again. “Once more, you are not to spill a single drop,” the man said. “But this time you are to complete the task while standing on only one leg. I advise using your non-injured one, but if you desire an added challenge, then by all means, disregard my suggestion.”
When Alex just looked at him in befuddlement, he barked, “Arm stretched out, leg up. Now.”
In the face of his abrupt order, Alex automatically followed his command, throwing her arm out and shifting her weight onto her good leg, the platform swaying precariously beneath her.
“And in case you’re tempted to try the same trick twice, you should know that’s not water you hold this time,” the cloaked man said.
“What is it?”
“It’s known in Medora as oxytophamine,” he said in his bland tone. “But in your world, you would liken it to hydrochloric acid.”
Alex’s hand jerked, the liquid sloshing alarmingly close to the edge. “You’re bluffing.”
“If you’re willing to risk it, feel free to test your hypothesis and see.”
Once again, he disappeared, leaving Alex balancing like an idiot on one leg and holding what he claimed was a glass of highly corrosive acid.
“Think, Alex,” she said to herself. “Think.”
As the seconds turned into minutes, the glass in her hand transformed from something that started out as being reasonably light in weight, to something that felt like tonnes of pressure pulling down on her arm. And more than that, the platform underneath her was growing less and less steady as she attempted to remain upright on a single, shaky leg.
I have to be missing something, she thought, her mind flicking from one hypothetical solution to the next, all of which would result in her failing. He wouldn’t have given me this task if there wasn’t a way out.
Her muscles began to cramp, telling her that if she didn’t hurry up, both she and the acid were going to end up in the lake.
“Come on,” Alex cried, looking wildly around for anything that might help. But as before, it was just her and the floating rock surrounded by miles of water.
When her limbs started to spasm, Alex knew she was down to her final seconds, and she quickly debated her options. The first was to keep going as she was and, ultimately, collapse—and in doing so, spill the acid. The second was to lower both her foot and arm and risk being disqualified for not holding her position. And the third was to call the cloaked man’s bluff and hope that it really wasn’t acid in the glass.
The first two options would certainly lead to instant failure. But the third…
The third could lead to death.
The odds weren’t stacked in her favour no matter how she looked at the situation. But if she failed and the man refused to help her with her gift, then it wasn’t just Alex who would reap the consequences—it was the whole of Medora. So despite the odds, it was a risk she would just have to take.
Worst case, she’d take a sip, burn her mouth—she refused to consider more than that—and drop the glass, before activating her Shadow Ring and running straight to Fletcher. Or, even better, heading straight to the Silverwood for some laendra, heedless of Aven’s patrols and her promise to Kyia. Sure, she would fail the task, but hopefully she would find a way to survive it.
Best case—and what she was counting on—was that the man had lied to her, and it really was just water.
Being sure to keep her wounded leg in the air so as to not eliminate herself, Alex drew her arm in before she could lose her courage.
“Bottoms up,” she murmured, taking the smallest of sips. With her entire body shaking on the rock—and not just from the strain of holding her one-legged position—Alex waited for the burning.
It never came.
Tentatively, she took another sip. And another. When still no screams erupted from her mouth, Alex felt relief flood her and tipped back the glass, chugging down the remainder of the liquid. She found it remarkably difficult to drink while keeping balanced on one very strained leg, but she managed to hold her position long enough to drain the glass—and for the cloaked figure to pop back into existence.
“Slower this time,” he said. “But not unexpected. Trust is clearly your weakness.”
Presuming she could now lower her leg again, Alex did so, bending carefully at the waist to massage the cramped muscles of her uninjured thigh.
“What are you talking about?” she demanded. “If I’d trusted you, I’d still be standing like that, since I would have believed you about the acid.”
“It’s not your lack of trust that’s the problem—it’s that you’re too trusting. It took you too long before you were willing to consider I had lied. Had you distrusted me from the start, you wouldn’t have waited so long before testing the liquid.”
“But—”
“Your final task continues with the theme of the first two,” he interrupted before she could argue how ridiculous his point was.
Once again, at his words, the glass filled with water. But something new appeared this time as well. A second floating rock rose to the surface of the lake within stepping distance.
“This time you need not keep your arm outstretched while you deliberate what to do, nor must you remain on just one leg,” the man said. “But you also cannot drink the water. When you reach the end, the glass must be as full as when you started.”
Swiping a tendril of wet hair off her face and behind her ear, Alex asked, “When I reach the end of what?”
Of course, that was when he disappeared again—and without answering her, surprise, surprise.
“I do not like that guy,” she muttered to herself, not caring that he could likely hear her.
At least this time she had a fair idea of what she had to do—that being to take a step of faith onto the next floating platform and hope that it would hold her weight.
Psyching herself up for the possibility of tumbling into the water, Alex covered the top of the glass with her free hand just to be safe. She then bent slightly—and painfully—at the knees to help with her balance, and reached forward with her good leg until her foot rested on the second platform.
Putting a little pressure on it, only when she was confident that it wasn’t a trick did she step onto it fully, with the stone wobbling dangerously underfoot but not submerging.
“Ha!” she cried, holding her glass up in triumph.
The moment the exclamation left her mouth, the rock she had first been standing on moved. One second it was behind her, and the next it circled around until it was in front of her, within stepping distance once again.
All of a sudden, Alex had a very bad feeling as she recalled the cloaked man’s words. ‘When you reach the end…’
With a gulp, she looked between the two floating platforms and then lifted her eyes up to the horizon. Having moved barely a foot, the scenery hadn’t changed; there was still no sign of land.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she said, understanding the full extent of her task—or perhaps not, since she had no idea how far she would have to travel.
Raising her voice, she cried, “Hey, Mr. Mystery Man! You can’t be serious about this?”
Unsurprisingly, there was no response.
With nothing for it, Alex sighed loudly and wobbled her way across to her original platform. When the second rock circled around in front of her again, she wobbled her way onto it once more, resigned to continue the tedious balancing act until the cloaked figure decided he was done messing with her and was ready to accept her as his student.