Except fear of getting it wrong.
Which I did anyway.
26
Iwaited for something to happen until waiting began to feel like another form of obedience.
The basin stayed dark.
No one knocked.
No message came.
Eventually I gave up, opened the door, and found the apple.
Bruised at one side. Skin split under a thumb. Set close enough for me to find and far enough away that no one could call it a gift.
Kieran, then.
I picked it up and shoved it into my coat pocket because I couldn’t just leave it there.
Itfelt wrong.
The corridor outside Room 114 was empty. It would not stay that way, because Zenith Hall had a talent for producing witnesses the moment a girl made a decision, so I moved before the building could get organized.
I considered going to the east kitchen but decided against it.
Rev would ask what happened in the ring, then what happened after it, and at least one of those questions would be about Caspian or Hale, not the assessment.
I wasn’t ready to answer any of them, so I went to the clock tower instead.
The stair was even colder than the last time. Or I was. At the roof door, the little carved wedge held its place, grinning with the confidence I wished I could feel for just one second.
When I pushed the door open, wind came in first.
Then green apple.
Kieran Marsh sat on the low wall with one knee drawn up. His right hand rested carefully in his lap.
I took out the apple out of my coat pocket and tossed it to him.
He moved to catch it with his right hand.
Then froze.
Green-gold light seeped through the shoulder of his coat, thin at first, then bright enough to make the dark fabric look wet.
The apple hit the stone between us and rolled toward his boot.
Kieran didn’t make a joke quickly enough to cover for himself.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Poor reflexes.”
“That was more than poor reflexes.”
“Well,” he said, looking down at the apple. “It was certainly a poor catch.”
