“If Helga won’t cooperate, then where else could we look?” Father asks. He clearly already has the answer in mind. Another test.
A long moment passes as I try to figure out an alternative.
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“The student records, Amund.”
“Helga would never hand them over,” I point out. “Those are confidential.”
“Yes, which is why you’ll need to break into her office tomorrow morning and look through them yourself.”
“What?”I ask, unable to hide my surprise. “Isn’t that too risky?”
“No, because you won’t get caught.” He reaches into his pocket and produces a small, charred piece of lignite. “You’ll have this.”
He drops it into my palm.
I stare down at it. “What is this?”
“A helm of concealment,” Father says. “With it, you’ll be undetectable, but you’ll need to activate it with your blood. It only works as long as you hold it, and even then it lasts a limited time. Once it crumbles, it’s nothing but ash.”
“Where did you get it?”
“Your mother.” He frowns. “She made me plenty before… Well, I still have a few left. I can’t use them because a stave requires the blood of its creator. I ran out of the vial your mother gave me years ago, but since you share her blood, you’ll be able to activate it.”
Mother. I stare down at the lignite in my palm. Suddenly, it seems precious. It’s so soft, already starting to crumble. Once it does, there’s no making it whole again. Precious but easily breakable. Like our family.
“All right,” I say, tucking the helm of concealment away carefully.
Father heads out the door like he’s eager to get out of this place.
Before I go, I glance back at the corpse.
I’m sorry, I tell Emilía.I should have saved you.
Father rests his hand on my shoulder. A comforting gesture, one I’m grateful for.
“Father, I’m—”
I turn around, but he isn’t there.
No one is.
Cold spreads over me, coursing through my veins like ice. Ifeltthe weight of his palm, the press of his fingers as he gripped my shoulder. I know I did. But if it didn’t belong to Father, whose handwasit?
“Amund?” Father prompts, his voice coming from down the hall. He must be by the entrance already. “We have to return quickly. The others should be nearly finished with their patrols.”
“Right.” Ignoring my misgiving, I rush to catch up to him.
He nods at me before opening the door. “Remember, tell no one. Not even Valerie.”
“I know.”
There are plenty of things I haven’t told Val. This will just be one more.
CHAPTER NINEEDITH
Emilía is staring at me.
