I wanted to beg him to hurry, but I gasped for breath instead, hoping his stately pace meant I’d made it in time.
He carried a parchment in his hands, his sleeves pulled back to show the markings around his wrists. I looked at the paper greedily. Could it possibly be true that I would soon be able to read similar parchments, just as the law enforcement clerk could?
“Your name?” he asked, and I gave it.
“Yes,” he grumbled. “It had to be. The last one.”
Euphoria filled me. I really was on the list. Until that moment a strong shadow of doubt had lingered. Ellis would never play such a cruel prank on me, but he had been relying on secondhand information.
The clerk looked at me over the top of the parchment, his expression as disapproving as his voice. “You’re cutting it mighty fine, young lady. We’ve never had someone not show up for their own sealing ceremony.”
“I’m sorry,” I gasped out. “I didn’t know…” I let the words trail off, not clarifying what exactly I hadn’t known. I didn’t want to raise even the faintest suggestion that my name had somehow made it onto the list by mistake. “Where do I go?” I asked instead.
The clerk waved forward a young woman who wore the same red uniform of a law enforcement clerk but lacked any markings on her wrist. She led me through a side door and down a corridor.
“Usually people turn up early,” she told me with a sideways glance. “I was starting to think I would have to slip in myself.” She gave a soft laugh to show she was joking, but I felt a stab of pity for her anyway.
I had earned my place in the sealing ceremony, and I didn’t feel bad for taking it. But the calculations on the number able to be sealed would have been precise. If I hadn’t shown up, they certainly wouldn’t have wasted a spot. There were probably already conversations underway as to who should be sent in at the last minute in my place.
Two guards and another clerk stood at the doorway of the actual hall, and I had to give my name again. The clerk crossed something off the list and nodded at one of the guards.
“That’s the last one.”
The second guard ushered me inside, and the door behind me was firmly closed, the click of a lock chasing me inside. I stood on trembling legs, looking around me.
I was no longer gasping loudly, but my breath still came raggedly, my whole body shaking. It would take me more than a minute or two to recover from such a desperate and prolonged sprint. But I had made it, and that was all that mattered.
I had always imagined the ceremony to be a formal affair with rows of stiff seats and utter silence. Instead, I stood on the edge of a milling crowd. People stood tightly enough that therewouldn’t have been room for everyone to be seated, and I could see no sign of any furniture at all.
The waiting throng stood in clusters, their murmurs creating a hum throughout the hall. But those closest to me turned to look at me with curiosity, and I managed a weak smile. I was still in too much shock to engage in proper conversation.
“They’ve finally locked the doors,” one man said. “They should be bringing the mage in, in that case.”
“Aren’t you terrified?” A woman asked in a breathy voice. “To be in the same room as the Shrouded Mage?”
“Nonsense,” the man said stoutly. “He’ll be accompanied by plenty of guards, and he’ll only have a single composition on him.”
His words set off a fresh wave of murmurs from those around us. We all knew which composition the criminal would carry—the one that would connect to his energy and seal his power, along with the power of everyone within the shielded hall. For him, that would be a devastating blow, blocking his access to his power. But for those of us who couldn’t control the power anyway, it would be a miraculous release. Once sealed, we would be able to write without unleashing uncontrolled power, and that meant we would be permitted to learn to read and to possess and handle written words.
“He must be a powerful mage,” another woman said. “We’re packed in here like sardines.” She didn’t sound upset about it, though. Maybe she would have been one of those to miss out on a place if there were fewer of us.
“Not powerful enough to be moved to the arena at the Mage Academy,” a second man said. “I once met someone who was sealed at a ceremony there. There were too many of them to be squeezed into the hall that time.”
“That’s incredibly rare, though,” the sardines woman said quickly. “I have a friend who was sealed five years ago. She saidthey had rows of seats for them, and even so, they only filled two thirds of the hall.”
“I’m just glad to be here,” the breathy woman said, and I nodded fervently.
A spreading wave of silence from the other side of the hall caught our attention, and we all craned to look. There must have been another door to the hall because four guards had entered, escorting a man who was shackled at the feet.
The man looked down at the ground, not making eye contact with anyone, and it was impossible to get a good look at him in the crowded room. The guards, looking almost as proud and excited as the other occupants of the room, led their prisoner into the center of the hall.
I caught a flash of one of their bare wrists and realized they had been assigned to guard duty because they had been chosen for sealing. No wonder they looked so pleased with their task.
I expected someone to say some official words—perhaps to make a small speech. But I should have known better. There was no space for extraneous officials in this ceremony.
Instead, one of the guards prodded the bound man. “You know what you need to do,” he said. “The doors are now locked, and the shield has been confirmed secure.”
The man looked like he wanted to protest, but instead his shoulders slumped, and he ripped the piece of parchment in his hand in one swift movement, tearing it clean through. The sound carried through the now silent hall as every occupant held their breath.
