Jump.
My boots slam against the gravel of the opposite rooftop and I quickly roll. A motion sensor light blinks on. I duck low and sprint to the service stairwell door. I pull pins from my hair and shove it into the keyhole, moving until I feel the familiar click.
I wrench the door open and take the stairs as quickly as possible. I stop at the second-floor office level, right above the street. Not wanting to risk getting caught on the lobby’s camera, I move my way to one of the windows, pushing it wide enough for me to slide through.
One leg, then the other.
I hang for a second, then drop into the alley below, knees bending, palms kissing the concrete to break the fall.
I’m out.
No alarms.
No alerts.
Just my footsteps fading into the night.
The Guild creston the old chamber door shimmers faintly as I press my palm to it. It hisses open. The Guild chamber. Cold air. Dim lantern light. The scent of old parchment and steel. Smoke.
I move quietly down the stone steps, still in my stealth gear, hood shadowing my face. When I reach the floor, I pause.
They are all there. The four boys stand off to one side — Jace with a scowl permanently etched into his icy face, Luca smirking because I don’t think his face knows any other position to be in. Tex still and unreadable, and Noah tapping at something on his watch with a glint of calculation in his eyes.
And then there are the others.
Ten masked Guild members in dark cloaks line the circular dais like silent judges. Their masks gleam — gold, fox-shaped, inhuman. All eyes on me.
Lucian stands at the center, unmasked, tall and perfectly composed in his dark coat.
“Isobel Ashthorne,” he says, voice cutting through the hush. “You stand before the Guild to confirm completion of your initiation task. Do you have the ruby?”
I don’t answer. I step forward and open the case from my belt. I open it slowly, revealing the Sunrise Ruby.
Gasps whisper through the room.
Lucian nods once. He steps down and takes the case from my hands with precision, setting it on the table. He extracts the ruby in between his fingers, the light catching on the faceted edges.
Even the masked ones lean in.
Lucian sets it on a scale on the table. One of the masked members holds some sort of device to it.
“Verified,” one of them says, the voice hollow through the mask.
“Confirmed,” says another.
Lucian looks back at me. His eyes are bright. I bask in it.
“You’ve done well.”
I don’t know what to say. My throat is dry. My body wants to collapse. But I stand straight.
Then, to my left, Jace scoffs. “She got lucky.”
“She earned it.” Lucian whips his head to look at him.
Another masked Guild member steps forward. “You’ve taken your first step, Isobel Ashthorne. But this is only the beginning. There will be more. Harder. Deeper. Blood and shadows. Prove yourself again… and you may yet survive us.”
I nod once.
