We get to our feet, armed and alert. Aeri has a throwing knife in her hand, Euyn is searching for a target with his bow, and my hand is on my sword, but there’s nothing. And that’s exactly the problem. How did the priest simply vanish?
We run to the spot where we saw him last, no longer worried about stealth. I’m a little concerned Royo will smash right through this ice with his heavy footsteps. It’s a good thing the lake has been frozen for nearly a month now.
“I thought he stopped right around here,” Aeri says. “Where did he go?”
I thought so, too, but that can’t be. There’s only snow and ice. We have to be missing something—people don’t just disappear.
When he vanished, I thought he’d fallen through, but if that were the case, there would be a hole. Yes, the lake would freeze back over, but not instantly. I bend down and feel the ice with my hand. It’s so thick that I can’t see the water below. If he fell in, there would be a break, at least a thin spot, and there’s nothing.
Euyn tracks along the ice, and the others continue to look around.
“There has to be something we’re missing,” I say.
I glance at the side of the hill in the distance. I wander toward it, but it’s not possible that there’s a door there. We are twenty or thirty yards from the shore. Even if the priest moved like Aeri, he still couldn’t have made it to the hillside. I look straight up, thinking maybe he stepped on a trap, a lift, but it’s just gray sky and snow.
“If I didn’t want anyone to be able to get into my temple, I’d disguise the door,” Aeri says. She’s speaking more to herself than to me as she walks around. “Wait. Mikail, can I see the key?”
I take it out of my pocket and hand it to her. She weighs it in her palm, looks at the key again, and then at me.
“It’s not jade,” she says.
“What?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Sorry, I thought it was jade when you first showed it to us, but it’s not. It’s not emerald, either—the weight and color are off. This almost feels hollow.” She moves her hand up and down, and then her eyes grow wide. “It could be veritite.” She holds it up to the sky. “Yes, I think it is.”
Aeri raises the key in the air and then strikes it hard against the ice. Like she’s trying to break into the lake.
“Gods on High, what are you doing?” At the last second, Euyn remembers to aim his bow away from her.
Just as the words leave his mouth, the ice shakes and the perfect corners of a glass door come into view, along with a green keyhole. Royo and Sora jump back. Euyn studies it intensely. I shake my head.
Stars, that’s impossible.
There was nothing there before. I’m certain of it. I felt the ice—there was no crack, no keyhole. But now there’s a door and a lock, clear as day.
I stare at Aeri. Her eyes are wide with wonder. How did she know to do that?
“Should I even ask?”
She glances at me, tilting her head. “You’ve never seen veritite?”
“No.”
“Strange,” she says. “Anyhow, it’s a rare stone but not a gem. It’s known as a truth seeker—it will reveal other stones of the same material. The lock and edges must also be made of veritite. It’s really clever.”
Aeri leans down and puts the key in the lock. It’s a perfect fit. She exhales and turns her wrist. I hold my breath and wait for something incredible.
Nothing happens. At all.
“It’s…stuck.” She knits her eyebrows, removes the key, and tries again, but the result is the same. “That’s weird.”
I take a knee and try. I expect the key to turn, but I can’t get it to move, either. I try to the left and right, and then I remove it and try again with the key upside down. It makes no difference. I wonder if the lock froze shut or if the priest blocked it.
Royo wanders over. “What’s wrong?”
“We can’t get the lock to open,” Aeri says.
He leans down, and I move for him to try. Maybe muscle will help. If not, we’ll need him to smash through the door. But at least we know where the door is now—it’s in the middle of the lake.
