A storm of small rocks began raining down.
“We need to hurry,” Zoya said. “It’s going to start again.”
“I see it,” Roz said, excitedly. Then her demeanor changed. “I see it, and I don’t feel any different.” She blinked, as if confused. “I’m this close to everything I wanted, and I don’t even care as much as I thought I would.”
Lycaster agreed. “It’s just a pretty rock. We’ve been training to find a pretty rock. And we’ve had to dig out a dead body for it.”
Janina rubbed Kamine’s shoulders. “I think what they’re saying is that you can have it. It’s yours.”
Kamine opened her mouth, but closed it again. She was ready to immediately dismiss it, and ask one of them to take it. She didn’t want it. She wouldn’t have survived the last few months alone, it was the work of a collective that had brought her the courage to do this.
So she wouldn’t take it. At least not on her own.
“We should all have it,” she said with conviction. “We take it together.” Confusion danced across all of their faces, so she added, “The Gods never clarified that there can only be onewinner every year, so it can’t be considered cheating.” She shrugged. “Let’s change the game.”
A mischievous smile had taken over Roz’s face. “Let’s do it.”
The others nodded in approval. They had started this together as one cohort, and they would end it as one.
Kamine counted down as more rocks pelted down around them.
At once, they all touched the amethyst gemstone.
At once, the world around them stilled.
Twenty-One
The silence was deafening. Her ears rang with all that she accomplished with her cohort. Her fingers tingled where they made contact with the Heart, as if congratulating her. It felt both unreal and real at the same time. The Heart of the Thunder Court was gracing her skin.
“We did it!” Roz exclaimed, her face beaming with an almost disturbing delight.
The others cheered and hollered, proud of what they accomplished. Zoya was the first to let go of the Heart as she embraced Janina tightly. Lycaster fell to his knees, but all the adrenaline must have prevented him from feeling the pain of the hard ground.
Kamine's own joy was short-lived. A churning in her stomach told her something was off. A deep despair seemed to loom.
“Zoya, did you stop all the rocks?” Kamine asked.
Zoya responded, her face cringing. “It slowed when I left, but you know this doesn’t end until the Heart is found. There might have been another onslaught.”
Kamine furrowed her brows. Her family had to be alright. Grimot had to be alright. She tried convincing herself, but the feeling deep in her gut told her otherwise, told her she needed to run.
“I need—” she stumbled over her words. Zoya gave her an encouraging smile. “I should go,” she pointed behind her.
Kamine finally let go of the amethyst Heart. The sensation of success wiped away from her, and the seriousness of it all came back. She needed to find Grimot. She needed to findherheart.
Even with all the training, Kamine’s feet were tired. Her ankles ached, and she kept almost twisting them on the uneven ground. She wanted to get to him fast, but she also wanted to be in one piece when she arrived. One of the lenses of her glasses had cracked at some point, but she didn’t let that deter her from her goal.
Grimot is okay, Grimot is okay, she chanted to herself as she pumped her legs across one village, and into the next. People began to come out of their safe havens to inspect the damage. They were barely a whisper in the wind as she trudged forward.
At one point, she was in a large empty field, and a few cattle grazed the grass. They looked spooked from the Undertaking, but hopefully some grass in their bellies would calm them.
Luckily, Grimot and Zoya came from the same village in the east, Schod, so she knew the direction of it. Though, she had no idea exactly where she was or how much farther it was to Schod. She searched for a home on the farm, and found a barn. No one was inside, but when she circled the perimeter, she found an old woman, shoulders hunched forward due to age, with her head bent upwards and yelling at the roof.
“Excuse me,” Kamine said with a sense of urgency in her voice. “Do you know which way is east?”
The woman stepped back, startled. Kamine didn’t notice it until now, but the woman’s arm was wrapped in a sling. “It’s that way,” she pointed to her right with her uninjured hand.
Kamine prepared to leap off and go, but stopped herself as the woman turned her eyes back to the roof, her hand arched over her eyes to block the sun that had just come out.
