“We don’t know.” She could see how it pained him to admit it. Slaide, who prided himself on being right. Slaide, who always had an answer.
“I see. So how do we find the break in the wards?” She was happy to have a distraction, and glad he had one, too. The less he focused on her and her abilities, the better.
“Normally, I start near one of these obelisks and work my way out. When the sensation decreases at an odd rate or an unnatural part of the Border, it means we’re close. This time, though, it’s not going to take that much effort.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we’re almost there,” Slaide said plainly.
Sure enough, as they approached the obelisk, the tingling, buzzing sensation faded. “Is it normal for the Border to be weaker near these pillars?”
“No. They should be strongest here.” A look of concern grew on his face, brow furrowing. As she walked to his side, he stuck aprotective arm out, blocking her from taking another step. “Stay behind me. Touch nothing.”
Well, that’s less comforting than it should be.But she obliged him, if only because she didn’t want to lose her head.
The base of the obelisk was broad. It towered over them, reaching twice as tall as the tallest tree. Slaide looked up at it, then at its base, running his fingers through the grass, looking for something. Wordlessly, he stood and walked toward the broken portion of Border.
While he busied himself with his search, Hazel approached the obelisk. From a distance, its surface looked so plain…just black. But up close, it was spectacular. The stone was almost glossy, its smooth surface dotted with speckles of gray, white, and silver. It reminded her of the night sky back home. The same sky she used to lie under and count the stars with Zeke—when life was simple. His invasion into her thoughts startled her. WherewasZeke? Why hadn’t he come to check on her? Did he know she was in the castle? Did he know she was alive?
While her thoughts wandered, she reached out to touch the stone. It was cold; so much colder than she’d expected and she drew her hand back in a flash. But then she reached out again, feeling the coldness, embracing it. Just above head height, a blue glyph appeared from within the stone, as though the stone itself was glowing. It was blue, glowing so bright it almost looked white. She stared at it with the cluelessness of a child staring at the sun, ignoring the warning that flared beneath her shirt.
Slaide looked over his shoulder in time to find Hazel with her hand against the obelisk and the blue glyph glowing on the stone surface, indicating the pillar was still active.
He was on his feet in a flash, charging toward Hazel, yelling at her to back up, but she couldn’t hear him. The world around her buzzed louder. Louder.
The glyph morphed into an angry red. Even with his unnatural speed, he would not make it to her in time. The world around them slowed to a crawl. Tendrils of smoke and shadow leaped from him and made a beeline for Hazel. He threw as much force into them as he could. His shadows barreled into her the very moment the obelisk erupted in light, throwing them both on their asses several yards away.
His shadows withdrew into him as he ran over to her. She was lying on her back panting, eyes wide as dinner plates and hands gripping the grass at her sides.
“Spinning?” He asked.
She barely glanced at him before squeezing her eyes shut.
“That would have killed you.” He scowled. “Shouldhave killed you.”
“What was it? Why did that happen?” She was out of breath, a combination of having the wind knocked out of her and being scared half to death.
“That, my dear Hazel, was the Border demonstrating how it works. Except it failed, since you’re not a pile of ash. You’re welcome, by the way.”
She tossed him one of her now-signaturego-fuck-yourselfglares. “That just makes us even.”
His laugh sparked something she chose to ignore. “Fair enough.”
“Well,” she said, standing and dusting herself off, “clearly the obelisk is functioning.”
“Indeed. Better than I’d expected. But while you were playing the game of touch-stuff-and-die,myinvestigation turned up something interesting.” He held up his open palm.
“What is that?” She moved closer. There were fine black granules in his hand.
“It’s salt.”
SALT AND STONE
“Salt?” She grabbed a few of the granules from his palm and rolled them between her fingers. “But it’s black.”
“It’s notthatkind of salt. This is, as its color indicates, black salt. Some people call it obsidian salt because it comes from the same mines as obsidian stone. But the salt itself isn’t obsidian at all.”
Hazel nodded in understanding. “The way things have been going I probably don’t want the answer to this, but what is black salt used for?”
