When the world turns, don’t delay,
run at once or fade away.
Well, that is comforting. Before we can discuss the meaning of it the carriage starts riding. A friendly face runs after us, and I turn to the rider.
“Stop, we are missing someone,” I call out to the rider.
It isn’t a question, but a demand. He turns to look at me and as soon as he notices who he is talking to he stops. The door of the carriage opens with a swing. A red and sweaty faced Caleb jumps in.
“Thanks,” he breathes and as usual he claps my shoulder, sitting down in front of me.
Eliane’s eyes meet mine.
“Should we tell them our hint?”she asks, as sweet as she is. She wants to help them, save them. Before I can answer she turns her paper around for everyone to see. I clap my hand on my forehead and bow forward. As much as we like these two, in the trials they are our enemies.
Caleb repeats the words, but stops halfway as he catches sight of the chain of Eliane, her necklace blinking in the sun. He gives me a smug smile, but doesn’t speak about the paper anymore.
During the rest of the ride, Eliane and Kailey chat and Caleb chimes in occasionally. I sit and observe.
After what must have been an hour of three or four, the carriage stops and the door opens.
Chapter 37
Eliane
The railing of the carriage glides through my hands, my feet following Braxton outside. I jump and my feet land into the soft, dewy grass. The sun shines brightly on my face, the sky being colored in beautiful colors of pink and purple. All the candidates line up next to each other, looking at the person in front of them. My gaze follows theirs.
The king.
My feet drag me in the same direction until I stand in line next to them.
In front of us is a giant forest.
But there is something strange about it. The giant trees, like I saw in the dark side of Fosia forest, are lined up. Not perfect straight lines, but there are definitely lines combined with other plants out of nature, stones and waters. They remind me of something. I fidget with my necklace and the memories bring me some comfort.
A maze.
That is what it looks like.
Except there are no walls as far as I can see. A body hurls through the woods and something happens. The earth starts to shake and shutter. Trees move and some roots are getting ripped out of the ground. Something blurry holds them in line.
So there is a wall.
It is invisible when standing still, but when it moves you can slightly see the blur. I feel Braxton’s gaze on me like a question. I press my shoulder back and stretch my arm, cracking my head and fingers.
“It is a maze,”I explain, and I have to put effort on myself to not say duh behind it. He nods at me.“I only don’t understand how it moves,”I sputter, narrowing my eyes as I watch the walls of nature settle into their place again.
“Nature and gravity controllers,”he answers without further explanation. Just like Hazel. How does he know that anyway? It does explain the figure I just saw running and hiding in the woods. My eyes look at the king, who is looking proud, but has his eyes on me. I would like to say something like, ‘what do you want,’ but I don’t find the courage to. My blood starts boiling as I look at him, sweat dripping from my back. I touch my dagger on my thighs searching for comfort, releasing a bit of blood and pressure as my finger brushes the point of it. As all of us are in line he speaks up. We aren’t alone. Zephron is there too and some other people I recognize.
