Wilder was the only student, as far as I had heard, who collected his own elixir components, and while that was not strictly forbidden, it was plainly frowned upon by certain members of the faculty.
He grinned down at me as we rounded the statue of Eldon and Avalona at the center of the quadrangle. “So, I know I’m not supposed to ask, but have you given it any thought?”
“Naturally, I know precisely what you’re talking about, given that in addition to being a gifted alchemist, I canread minds…” I teased, careful to keep my tone light and approachable. Too late, I realized that if he was talking about that kiss, I’d walked face-first into my own doom.
Wilder laughed. “The White Trial, of course. It’s next week, Amber. How could there possibly be anything else on your mind?”
“There isn’t,” I lied. “I just…I didn’t thinkyou’dbe worried, considering how easily you managed the Black Trial.”
It took me a moment to interpret his silence, along with the intensity with which he held my gaze as we walked, as if he had no concern for where his feet would land on the path. “Oh. You’re worried for me, not for yourself.”
“That is not what I was going to say.” He pulled his knife from its sheath and began to twirl it between the first two fingers of his right hand and into his palm over and over as we walked. “Not precisely, anyway. I’mcertainthere’s a less offensive phrasing.…”
“And yet probably none more accurate,” I insisted. “Don’t fret. I’m not offended.” I was concerned for myself as well, and the truth was that the trial had never been far from my mind. It just wasn’t theonlything occupying my thoughts, with Wilder’s kiss in my memory, his brother waiting for me in the laboratory, and the mystery of Lord Calyx’s riddle providing a welcome if not exactly helpful distraction from everything else.
“And yes,” I added. “I’ve given it considerable thought. But I have no idea how the trial will interpret the concepts of purification and rebirth in order to put us in mortal peril while challenging us to do our very best alchemy.”
“Succinctly put.” He hesitated, his blade going still, and the tension in his arm as it brushed mine said that there were more words waiting on his tongue. “Has my brother said anything?”
“About…?” I hadn’t told Desmond about the kiss, and he’d been very busy in the lab, working on something for the Bluehelm. Something to do with the mysterious contagion causing aurums, to which the Alchemary had vowed to devote considerable resources.
“About the White Trial.”
“Oh. Not a word. He told me before the Black Trial that they’re different every year, so he couldn’t—”
“Not the White Trial,” Wilder interrupted. “The Black Trial yes, and maybe the Red one. I’m not sure about that. But the White and Gold Trials require equipment and some sort of momentous setup that keeps them static, year after year. That’s why there’s such secrecy around them. Last year’s Mastery students were required to take a temporary draught of memory drain after they passed so they couldn’t tell the rest of us what had happened.”
“A temporary…?” My pulse spiked again, so strongly that the quadrangle warbled out of focus for a moment.
He sheathed his knife. “It’s precisely dosed to only take a few hours of memory, and it wears off after a few months. But by then, they’re all either gone from the Alchemary or they’ve taken oaths as permanent members.”
“Could that be what happened to me?” I asked. “Someone slipped me a draught of memory drain?”
Wilder shook his head. “I did consider that at first. But a draught that took years of your memory and has lasted this long would have had other noticeable effects on you.”
So either it was not a memory drain, or it was a veryskilledmemory drain, which did not seem beyond the realm of possibility, considering the expertise of every alchemist in residence on the island.
“But I am planning to take advantage of the fact that we’ll be forced to take one.”
“How so?”
“I have a client among our instructors who has agreed to get me an extra dose of the draught they’re going to make us take since I’ve assured him I won’t be using it on anyone. Instead, I’m going to essentially engineer it in reverse, in order to develop a new elixir for you. To try torecoveryour memory.”
“Oh!” I seized his arm and squeezed it, unable to conceal my excitement. As desperate as I was, I’d felt too guilty to remind him of his promise to help. “Thank you!”
“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long. My initial attempts were utter failures.”
“I appreciate those attempts anyway, and you owe me nothing,” I assured him.
“Thank you. Clearly Desmond believes that’s true for him as well.”
I let go of his arm. “Meaning?”
“Heknowswhat the White Trial is, Amber. At least, he understands its basic construct. And I thought he might…I’m not asking for information for myself,” Wilder clarified.
“You just want me to know that he could be helping me more than he is.”
He frowned. “That isn’t precisely how I would have phrasedthat, either.”
