“Didn’t you see the soldiers? They’re all here as guards.”
My brows narrowed as I thought back…yes.There had been soldiers wearing armor everywhere around the arena before we entered the first trial.
“Why, though?” Russ asked.
“Because it’s dangerous, I guess. Because the Labyrinth is working at its full capacity right now.” Silas shrugged. “Because a lot could go wrong?”
We thought about it for a tick.
“It’s the Turning Trials, you sandbrains,” Reggie repeated. “We’re only here a few more days. We’ll do plenty of interviews after we get out of here. We’ll be plenty rich in money and Sparetime, too. How about we try to enjoy the time we have left in this place?” He spread his arms to the sides, and even though he was smiling, I could hear the pain in his voice. Reggie hadn’t cried from whatever memory Silas had told him about, but he was clearly affected. We all were.
“I don’t know about you guys, butthisis way cooler than anything I had back home.” He wrapped his arms around his knees again and shrugged. “So how about we focus onthat?”
He said it like heneededto. He needed to focus on the positive.
He said it like thishadto be good for him, like…like maybe he was running, too. Like he’d come here to get away, and he couldn’t possibly fathomthisbeing bad as well.
Maybe it was all in my head. Maybe I was projecting on him whatIfelt but was still too cowardly to accept.
Maybe.
But the others agreed. Slowly, I began to see smiles just waking up, curling corners, even toothy grins. If not forourselves,then for each other. Reggie was right, we were only here a few more days, and then the Turning Trials would be over. Then we’d be out there to do whatever we pleased.
“All right, all right, you convinced me,” Silas said and stood up. “Who wants to see something cool I discovered this morning?”
A bunch of others were already on their feet, running to the other side, shouting—someone turn that timebloom on!
We laughed, and March got to it right away, like he, too, couldn’t stand the silence.
Just like that, the second part of our night began.
16
We danced and played this game or that. We divided, a handful of us on one side, others hidden away behind the piles and piles of—mostly junk, but some stuff worked a little bit, too. It kept us curious. Searching.
It kept us from having tothinkabout the fact that we’d actually lost memories to each other forever.
Eventually, I ended up with Mimi and Helen analyzing this device that looked like some sort of alarm clock, but the bells attached to it refused to make a single sound no matter what we tried. It took us the better part of an hour because it was in good enough shape that we genuinely believed we could get it to work.
The only thing we managed was to get ourselves frustrated.
By the lantern, Silas and March were sitting down, talking, until Reggie stuck his head from behind a pile and called—“Hey, Red! Get over here, I need your help!”
Just as we went to sit down with them, March stood upwith a roll of his glistening eyes. He was back to his usual self, at least for right now. He smiled at me, winked, brushed his fingers against mine as he passed me by, and it was impossible not to blush even as I tried to pretend like I didn’t notice.
“Come on, let’s see what he’s got,” said Mimi, always so curious, and Helen waved for us to follow, but I shook my head.
“I’m going to sit here for a little bit first.” It felt like the night was moving too fast and I wanted to just…slow down for a minute.
“You go ahead, and we’ll catch up,” Silas said. He was staying there, too, it seemed.
I didn’t mind. Silas was…okay.Maybe because he was a Spade, but my instincts were always calm around him.
So, I sat on the floor across from him, put my hands back to lean into them, sighed deeply.What a night.
“Tired yet?” he asked.
“Well, yes. Aren’t you?” The trial had been yesterday, and all that dancing had really gotten to me. And then this whole day, with Master Talik and with Asha…averylong day, indeed.
