Kamine blinked, trying to make sense of the words. The realization that the Headmaster knew of her budding relationship with Grimot made her blush. She opened her mouth to explain herself, but Headmaster Dritoria put her hands up.
“I don’t want to know. You’re both adults who can make decisions for yourselves.” Headmaster Dritoria sighed. “He left to go back to his village so he can be with his people and family. All the professors do.”
Kamine nodded. That made sense. It wouldn’t be fair that the professors got to stay safely in the school while the rest of the court needed to face the horrors of the Undertaking.
“He looked devastated,” Headmaster Dritoria admitted. “I’ve only seen him look that way one time before. It’s when he came here and begged for a job.”
Kamine couldn’t see it, if she were honest. Grimot was always so sure of himself. It was hard to believe that he truly thought he was cursed.
“He told me that ever since his Undertaking, ever since he won, he hadn’t felt the same. That seemed to change when he was with you.”
Kamine gulped. She doubted she had such an impact on him.
“I was scared when he came to me,” the Headmaster added. “His curse was damning. I couldn’t say no.”
The curse. Kamine had been too scared to ask what it was. With him gone, though, she needed to know. “What is his curse?”
Headmaster Dritoria’s shoulders slumped. “His body is to turn to stone if your cohort fails, or if any of you cheat.”
Kamine felt the blood rush from her head, and her body swayed. She steadied herself against the wall, as her body became weightless with the truth.
“The Weather Gods are a cruel sort,” Kamine said with fervor, her voice filled with anger.
“Yet we must play their game,” Headmaster Dritoria responded.
Kamine’s whole body wanted to lay down and never get up, forget about the Undertaking, and tell the Gods to fuck themselves—but she still had more that needed done. For her mother, she would do it. For her father and brother. For Grimot, whose life now depended on the entire cohort. She wouldn’t give up that easily. The Undertaking had become more than just a competition for her. It had become her way of defying all expectations.
Nineteen
Fierce winds whipped biting strands of her hair across her face. A drizzling rain had started as soon as she arrived, and the ground was becoming slick, but Kamine couldn’t focus on anything but what lay in front of her.
Her village hadn’t changed since she left, as if it had frozen in time, waiting for her arrival. The stores were locked up for the day, everyone at home with their loved ones in case they didn’t make it out, because hiding in any type of bunker would be considered cheating, and no one wanted to anger the Weather Gods. Her own family was likely sheltering together in one room. Kamine hoped Damien didn’t cry. She hoped she could prevent death today, that every last one of her villagers would make it out alive.
She hoped Grimot was safe in his home, surrounded by his family.
Kamine had spent the whole night pondering what she would tell him when she saw him again, because shewouldsee him again. There was no alternative.
Others in her cohort spent the night praying to the Gods led by Kestra. Kamine didn’t bother. She refused to get on her knees for the Gods, and she didn’t dare approach Kestra.
A horn blasted loudly, and Kamine’s first instinct was to duck and run to safety—but the gravity of the moment hit her. Today, she was the one to keep others safe. The others depended onher.
Her clothes clung to her body uncomfortably as they dampened, and her protective armor was heavy with the rain. She breathed deeply through her nose to calm herself.
She thought about her parents and how years ago they were in a similar position as her. She thought about every past Undertaking participant facing this harrowing reality. If she survived this—whenshe survived, she tried convincing herself—she would become part of a legacy. One that would either destroy her completely, or remind her to keep living each day to its fullest.
In the distance, the first rock fell. Kamine softened its fall as it landed in a large open field, and then let the ground swallow it. Another rock came before she blinked. It rolled down a hill, headed straight for the main square. Kamine split the ground in two and watched as the rock disappeared before it could cause any damage.
A shower of rocks came next, small ones that she had to ignore to focus on the larger ones, even if it hurt to watch them destroy the roofs of homes. Already, Kamine’s energy began to wane. She didn’t know how long she would last, but she would fight every second that she could.
Her abilities limited how much she could actually do. She wasn’t able to stop a rock midair like some of the others, or crush the rocks with her mind. She learned to get creative where she could.
One large boulder was barreling directly for someone’s home. She used her powers to move the land underneath the building,until it was out of the way. The rock smashed into a dirt mount beside the home, the rubble exploding with the impact. Kamine stumbled slightly, regaining her balance once the ground stilled again.
Yet, the storm of rocks did not stop. With every rock that she managed to move out of the way, Kamine tried to take a deep breath, but there was no break from the onslaught of the Undertaking.
She wondered how anyone—how Grimot—could abandon their people just to find the Heart. The image in front of her was too horrifying to even think about winning the Undertaking. To her, winning would be seeing her village safe.
Grimot regretted it, Kamine reminded herself. Watching her mother take her own life was proof enough that her mother couldn’t exist with the knowledge that people died because of her, even if she had pursued the Heart to save her one true love. The Weather Gods might call it cowardly, but Kamine considered it human.
