Page 175 of The Fifth Heir

The stores contained hundreds of black channel sections.

Every legitimate piece had been marked.

I checked the first crate. Outward channels for the Sky arena, all bearing silver inventory numbers. The second held inward collectors used in the Fire Trial. The third contained mixed repair pieces separated by length and direction.

None matched.

The demonstration had been assembled quickly, after Leander’s family filed its petition. The runemasters would have requested supplies under a temporary project number rather than an established Trial code.

I found the issue ledger near the back wall.

The cabinet containing it was locked.

I placed two fingers near the keyhole and sent a thread of air inside. Metal pins lifted one at a time.

The lock opened.

I took out the newest volume.

Hall of Prism—Fifth Element Demonstration.

The entry covered two pages.

Four control pillars. One inner containment ring. One outer absorption ring. Five positional wards. Eight return-channel sections, each thirty inches long.

The final column showed the directional mark.

Outward.

I read it again.

The academy issued eight outward channels.

The pieces installed around Talia had pointed inward.

Someone had switched them after they left the stores.

That narrowed the sabotage to the journey between inventory release and installation. The trap had not begun as a mistaken order or an incorrectly marked crate. Someone had possessed the correct pieces, set them aside, and supplied eight replacements made to produce the opposite result.

I examined the signature authorizing the release.

A runemaster’s name occupied the first line. The Keeper of Trials’ seal appeared beneath it. Malcolm had authorized the materials, but there was nothing unusual about that. His office approved every alteration to Trial-related magic.

The delivery signature had been smeared beyond recognition.

That was unusual.

Runemasters signed with enchanted ink. It could fade over centuries, but it did not smear within days unless someone deliberately disturbed it before it set.

I took a blank sheet from the cabinet and made a rubbing of the issue entry.

The ink refused to transfer.

Of course it did.

I could remove the ledger, but carrying an entire inventory book through a ventilation shaft would be difficult. Its disappearance would also reveal the break-in before we determined what the record meant.

A storage note had been tucked between the pages.