Tadhana’s light bounces around again and rattles the bottle.The Chronicles! The word of our ancestors. What do you mean you don’t know about it?
I shake my head again.I told you, we don’t know anything. Nothing’s left of Ophir.
Tadhana jumps around again, then lands at the bottom of the bottle. The light dims some. I hear a faint sigh.So the Chronicles are gone, then, too. Along with everything else.
-I’m afraid so.
I can tell you what I remember of them.
-Please do.
Once upon a time, there was a shining kingdom floating on the sea, filled with wonder and magic, something children all over the realm looked forward to studying.
-Hold on—what do you mean? Children studied magic?
Yes, of course, magic was part of everything in Ophir. So it must be studied to be used correctly.
-But I was taught that we Ophir were a backward people, that we barely had any learning or knowledge.
Lies. All lies. Ophir was a grand and glorious kingdom, our empire lasted for thousands upon thousands of years. Our floating city traversed the globe until we settled in the Bay of Payun. We were there at the beginning. We named the stars. Apolaki the sun god himself married one of our queens. The Lacon were mere—
-Mere? What were you saying about Lacon?
Alas, Tadhana doesn’t respond. “Tadhana?” Seconds later I hear a snore from within. Either Tadhana fell asleep or she’s faking it because she doesn’t want to talk anymore; regardless, my eyes are heavy, too. It’s been a long, exhausting day. “Tell me the rest later,” I yawn.
Once I fall asleep, I dream of a flourishing Ophir in the distant past, where everyone lived in harmony and had access to our ancient wisdom. There’s a library, with rows upon rows of tablets, scrolls, and bound manuscripts, spanning all the ages of our history. A figure in a hooded white cloak calls to me.Come to Ophir. Heed the call of the Drowned City.Now it holds a book out to me. I see the double diamond mark on their arm, similar to mine and Eban’s. I take the book, heavy, dry, and cool to the touch. But in the dream, when I open it, all the pages are blank.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWOGIN
“Gin. Get up. We’re here.”
I wake to Eban’s face hovering over me. Startled, I sit up too fast, disoriented, with drool on the side of my mouth and half my hair matted to my sweaty head.
“You okay?” he asks.
I nod. My mouth is dry. I notice his sleeve is up, revealing the double diamond mark I’d just dreamed about. “Are we already back home?” The word is strange in my mouth now. Is Lacon still home? Was it ever? I think about what Tadhana told me and check to make sure the relic is in my pocket and clasp the stopper closed.
“You’ve been out awhile,” Eban says.
The bed is so comfortable, I couldn’t help it. I haven’t slept this soundly since I left House Eternal. I almost tell him about the dream, and what Tadhana had said about the Ophir Empire, but for now, I want to keep it to myself. It just sounds preposterous that such a great, grand, and magical people could fall so far from the height of its glory. All I know of Ophir is the Sleeve—a life of filth and drudgery, of servitude and backbreaking work. If we are made of magic, why would we live like this for five hundred years? How could we have been brought so low? It feels like a lie, like something our mothers told us to make us feel better. It can’t possibly be true.
I get dressed and we meet Darius on deck. “Ready?” he asks with a grim nod.
Darius explains we’re going to scout the location first. “Then I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what’s the best way to get into the vault,” he says to Eban. “Seeing as I don’t have your experience in these matters.”
Eban nods curtly and the three of us board a raft. I grasp the edge as we’re lowered to the water below. Eban and Darius row us toward the rocky beach at the foot of the cliffs. I’ve never been to this side of Lacon. The cliffs were strictly off-limits to us in childhood; there are too many stories of the horrors that could occur if any of us went to play there. Someone always knew someone who knew someone who fell to their death from them, whether by accident or something more nefarious. The scary reputation is well deserved. The cliffs tower over us, menacing, like angry faces carved from jagged stone. From below, it appears as if they’re reaching into the clouds, blocking out the sun. I shiver.
Once we reach the shore, we pull the raft behind a collection of tall stones and head up a narrow path that runs alongside the cliffs. The hike is grueling and steep. My legs and feet ache halfway up. Both Eban and Darius struggle as well, though they try not to show it. They seem to have put aside their animosity for now. No one talks that much.
The path runs up to the west side of the island and I realize we’re near the path that leads to House Eternal. A spark of hope lights up in my belly—that I might catch a glimpse of Rollo. I miss him, and it’s only been a few days since we saw each other. But it also feels like a lifetime since I lived in his quarters. So much has happened since I was discovered. I’m not even sure I’m the same girl who used to wait around for meals to be brought to me, content to hide in a nobleman’s bed and spend her days reading. Still, after a morning meal of hard bread and bitter coffee, I can’t help but think of what they’re preparing in the kitchens of House Eternal at that very moment, the sugared sweets, plump pastries, and trays of cured meats and exquisite cheeses. My stomach rumbles.
Darius turns around. “Stay close.” He steers us onto an unused, overgrown path around the edge of some trees. We walk for a moment, then he stops and throws his arms out in warning. He puts a finger to his lips. Eban and I nod.
Darius motions for us to follow him. He bends low, so we do, too, and creep up to an opening in the patch of trees. Below us, at the bottom of the hill, the western estates of Lacon stretch out as far as we can see. In the distance, House Eternal is barely visible. There are a few figures, like tiny beetles, walking on the property, but they’re much too far away to make out who they might be.
“There it is,” Darius says. For a moment, I think he means House Eternal, as if he knows where I was looking, but instead, he points to a different palace farther up the hill.
House Dominant. The estate is even bigger and grander than House Eternal, a flashy attempt to outdo them, no doubt, with six wings stretching out from the center courtyard, all connected by walkways, and round towers that protrude from the top of each wing of the building. There are also impressive outbuildings, including a carriage house that could be considered a palace itself. Pillars in front, huge arched windows along the top, decorative stonework. Their horses live far better than anyone in the Sleeve could ever dream of.
