Anika stepped in to take my place instantly. I walked as casually as I could behind Levana and Helen, clapping and cheering for the dancing pair—and I went to stand right next to March.
Like I said—I could have been another Ora.
Never in a million years would I have done this with anyone back home, but nobody back home would ever talk to me the wayhedid. So, maybe it was just him.
“Tired yet?” March asked, and he was finally smiling again as he looked down at me.
In fact, his eyes sparkled, and he looked over the moon. I liked to think that it was becauseIwas near him now. I really liked to think that.
“Not a chance,” I said—and I meant it. The day had been long, yes, and my muscles were sore, but I wasnotready to call it a night just yet.
A hand around mine that sent another jolt of electricity throughout me, and March pulled me to the side, near a particularly large pile of devices, and said, “It’s only fair that I’m honest with you about this,” he whispered in my ear. “I’m going to kiss you when you least expect it.”
Whatever it was about those words, in that moment I could have sworn to you that I had the whole realm in the palm of my hand. I couldn’t contain my smile if I tried, and March’s eyesdrankit in, like it was exactly what he’d hoped to see.
“Well, you can’t take me by surprise nowthat you told me,” I said in half a voice.
“Oh, but I will.” His confidence was a breeze against my warm skin. I really did adore the way he even nodded his head.
I thought he was going to kiss me when we went back to the dormitory that night. Iexpectedit, was excited about it, and dreaded it all at once—what if I don’t know what to do? What if I use too much tongue? What if I whimper or moan or embarrass myself when he goes for it?The thoughts ran through my head and kept me nervous while we danced some more, then searched the junkyard for other things we could use to play.
But March didn’t kiss me that night at all.
I sleptwith a smile on my face and a heart sofullI feared I would explode before sunrise.
9
The next day was more of the same, except we had very sore muscles, andmuchhigher spirits as we went through the meals, the lectures, and Asha’s and Hector’s orders to run and climb in the arena.
Nobody had seen or heard us the night before, it seemed, because nobody said a single word to us about it. Even so, for a moment there during breakfast, when Calren asked us if we slept late, and we saidno,I could have sworn a smile tugged at his lips. But he hid it by lowering his head and pretending to be busy putting the next bite of food in his mouth.
There was no reason for him to lie and say he didn’t know, though, so I didn’t think anything of it.
When night fell, and the help saw us to our rooms after dinner, we waited all of five minutes before we slipped out of our rooms to go to the junkyard.
This time, though, we had snacks we’d stolen during dinner—fruit and crackers and small bites of chocolate only, but we swore to find the kitchen next. Just as soon as we were done exploring the junkyard first.
“I wanna show you guys something,” said Helen when we reached the ground floor, very close to the junction with the grandfather clock in the middle. “Come on—this way.”
A few of the others protested—what if someone saw us?,andI would rather just get to the junkyard already!,andWhat could possibly be more important than the junkyard?!—but we all walked together, followed Helen down a hallway we hadn’t been to before, no different than all the rest in the palace. I was curious to see, though—verycurious to know everything that hid in The Ever.
March stayed beside me, my handalwaysin his, and any time I looked at him, he was looking at me and smiling. Every single time. It made me so giddy it was ridiculous.
Then Helen brought us through a set of polished doors and into a large room full of furniture. Couches and armchairs and sofas and recliners in all colors, all made of velvet, with beautiful tables against the walls full of vases and fresh roses, as well as sets of small lamps and clocks made out of the same colored metal. By then I’d gotten used to the scent sticking to everything inside the palace, so it no longer bothered me. The tall narrow windows between the tables on the wall opposite the doors showed us a portion of the forest near the tower of the Great Clock.
“There,” Helen said, pointing to the wall on the far left. “Look at that—it’s the other Hands!”
The wall was completely covered in picture frames.
My heart jumped as I went closer. Plenty of light from the lamps to see, but Silas pulled out his hand-lantern again and shone it on the pictures.
There were twenty pictures, all the same dimensions, their frames silver and gold, stacked one over the other. The ones near the ceiling were much older, the colors on them paler, faded.
The ones below lookedbrandnew.
It was the Hands, indeed. In each one of those pictures, there were twelve boys and girls staring at the light-catcher, wearing identical clothing, each group a different design. They were the Hands of the prior trials, the people who’d been in this very palace before us.
“Wow,” Reggie whispered, squatting in front of the last picture—the Hands who’d played five years ago in the trials. “They look so…” He looked up at us, eyes wide, confused. “Miserable.”
