Wicked Rebellion (Darkwater Reformatory Book 3) Read online

I walked around the room, my footsteps dull thuds on the stone floor. The more I studied the holes, the easier it was to narrow them down. Some had small notches along the outer lips. While my stone might fit, it wouldn’t fill in that tiny groove.

  When I finished assessing the holes what felt like a billion times, I’d narrowed it down to five.

  Two were on the floor, near where I entered. Another two were on each side wall. And the final one was located on the far edge of the ceiling. Fortunately, I could reach that one if I chose to use it, as the roof was only half a head above me.

  Which one would complete this puzzle?

  I pulled the timekeeper from my pocket and held it up in the murky light.

  Shit, shit, shit. Most of the fourth day was gone, leaving only a little over three left. Three more paths to get through still. Meanwhile, I’d stalled on the first challenge.

  Just do it.

  After stuffing the timepiece back into my pocket, I pivoted and strode to where the entrance had been. I stooped down and held my stone over the two holes. This was a random guess. I had no way of knowing which of the five would work, but for some reason, I wanted to try one of these.

  Back and forth. I glided the stone over both holes but got no hint as to which could be the correct hole.

  “Here goes nothing.” Closing my eyes, I carefully slipped the stone into the slot on the right.

  A flash, and I stood outside the building again, staring at the door with two frames filled in. My stone had returned to my pocket.

  When a wexal cat shrieked behind me, I was tempted to turn and welcome what it offered. How could I keep doing this? Pain stabbed behind my breastbone like I’d been hit with a sword. This wasn’t fair. It wasn’t—

  The cat’s claws landed with a thud beside me and raked backward, leaving deep grooves in the stone.

  Gulping, I ripped open the door and stumble inside. It banged behind me as the cat hit the surface. Rough scrambling told me it was trying to dig a way through.

  Too bad. Within seconds, I was sliding down the tunnel. As before, I popped out into the muck and floundered to the shore where I found Kylie standing near the fire, her fingers outstretched to gather the warmth.

  “You failed, too,” she said.

  Her comment on the fact irked me, but it was the truth. “Yeah.”

  “Me, too.” Her gaze slid to one of the archways. “For my first attempt, I misplaced the stone. On my second, I tried another doorway. Don’t try either option. They’re both mistakes.”

  “This is my last chance,” I said, and she lifted her eyebrows. Turning, I baked my backside with the fire. “Brodin and I tried to solve the test together.”

  She gazed around. “Since he’s not here, I take it you didn’t do that a second time?”

  “For my second attempt, I chose the wrong hole.”

  She nodded. “Then we’ll need to hit the right one this time. I have—had—three holes available for my last round, but I’m going to get it this time, because I’ve narrowed it to two.”

  Lucky her to have only three holes to choose from instead of four.

  “What drives you to finish this test?” I asked. “You didn’t want to come with us. Leaving the Reformatory won’t help your sister.”

  “Maybe it will.” She stared at the flames licking toward the ceiling. “I only know one thing. Stealing more dragons will rip through the rest of my soul.”

  “You have one?”

  Her lips thinned. “Sure, I do.” Leaving me and the fire, she strode toward the arch I saw her enter earlier. She turned back at the opening. “If I didn’t have a soul, I’d let my sister rot.” She entered the archway, and didn’t come back out.

  Leaving the fire, I slowly walked to the same doorway I used before, thinking about what she said. She was right about her soul, and I felt mean for trying to slice through her hard surface to reach her soft, vulnerable spots. It was mean, and I’ve never been a person who purposefully hurt someone else. But I still couldn’t reconcile what she’d done. I may never be able to find peace with that. Should I try?

  I pressed my forehead against the stone wall outside the archway, but the cold surface didn’t offer comfort or answers. It sent shivers down my spine and reminded me of how precious time was and how little I had left.

  Do it.

  I had four holes left to pick from, and I couldn’t mess up again. If I did, I assumed I’d find myself outside the building facing three filled-in frames on a door that refused to open. The prison was nowhere near filled capacity. Some prisoners didn’t make it past Titan. Others failed in the catacombs—like Rohnan. A few made it to the Reformatory, only to find themselves facing more trials, ones that eliminated all but a few stragglers.

  My uncle implied there were students on campus, but I didn’t believe him. He only told us what he chose, and I suspected very little of it contained the truth.

  I stepped inside the room and examined the holes, one on either wall, one on the floor by the door—the one I tried had disappeared—and the final hole on the ceiling.

  Closing my eyes, I pulled in sketar magic, the fine, magical mist my stepfather had taught me to use. I’ve been grateful for his gift a thousand times already. It had saved my life and that of my friends.

  I sent the magic out, inserting a touch of my old Seeker skill. Yes, my Seeker magic was blocked by my tennas, but weirder things had happened since I arrived on Darkwater Island.

  With a soft exhale, I asked—no begged—my power to help me solve this riddle. The power glided around the room, outlining the holes I’ve already identified. Frustration poured through me when my magic didn’t land on one particular hole; when I wasn’t told what to do.

  I opened my eyes and stomped around the room, letting the irritation that had been growing inside me take hold. This was ridiculous. How could anyone solve the puzzle without a clue?

  My footsteps faltered. Wait. Perhaps I had been given a clue, but I hadn’t seen it for what it was at the time. While lots of odd things have been said to me since I arrived at the Reformatory, one particular statement made by my uncle when I met him at his cottage, stood out. At the time, I brushed it off as a loose thread fluttering in the wind and going nowhere. But…

  When down is up and up is down, you lift your head and look around.

  Was that the true riddle here?

  Pacing across the room, I studied the ceiling. And that’s when I saw it. A slight depression I overlooked in one corner. As I stared, a tiny light flickered as if guiding me through the darkness.

  I’ve spent a lot of time feeling angry about the blows life had dealt me. The Master Seeker had driven me into this mess. So had Bixby, driving me to attempt an escape through the catacombs and now through the tests in the Reformatory paths.

  But I was responsible for what happened now. Sure, Bixby and the Master Seeker were catalysts, but if I spent all my time reacting, I wasn’t driving myself forward. I needed to establish control of everything that happened to me from now on, as much as I could.

  And I also had to learn to trust in fate. Some things couldn’t be changed. You could only move forward, and hope life and luck dealt you a different hand of cards than the one you’d just tossed onto the pile. Shuffle things up and see what came of it.

  With confidence surging inside me, I lifted my stone and pushed it into the overhead depression.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “I see you’ve completed the first challenge,” my father said. “Well done.”

  I stood in the gardens outside the Reformatory, the alternative Reformatory, that is. The sun beat down, warming my skin, and birds and bugs chirped in the nearby woods. If this was my old life and things were normal, I’d be tempted to sit on a bench and do nothing but savor the day and the view. I’d close my eyes and take in the fresh air. But my new existence involved tests that not only challenged my brain, they seemed eager to etch themselves into my soul.

  None of my friends were here with me, and
my gut lurched. What if they hadn’t made it through?

  “Never fear,” he said, not looking up from the flower bed he worked in. “They’re still trying to decide where to place their stones.” He chuckled, but this wasn’t funny.

  “How close are they to finishing?” Jacey could tap sketar magic and Rohnan could to some extent as well. Would they think to use it? And Brodin… My mouth went dry. Would shifting to his Eerie help him? How would he figure it out? He could be dead by now. I wanted to collapse onto that bench now. My legs could barely hold my weight.

  Kylie… Why had I thought about her?

  “Are any of them struggling with their final choice?” I asked.

  “I cannot tell you the answer to that,” he said.

  Of course he couldn’t. That would make this too easy.

  “What can you tell me about the Reformatory and the tests?” Maybe I was coming at this from the wrong angle. He must be able to tell me something.

  I advanced toward where he knelt in front of a big flower bed with a trowel in his hand and a basket of flower seedlings nestled in the grass beside him.

  “Not much but do feel free to ask all the questions you please.” When he looked up, a soft smile lit up his face. It drew me in like a favorite song. A fluffy blanket I wanted to wrap around myself and snuggle into. Only now did I acknowledge the ache I’d felt for contact with my father. I needed to remember I couldn’t trust anything here. I couldn’t trust him. “You are my daughter, after all,” he said. “I’m happy to help you where I can.”

  I wanted to believe him, but I found it hard, based on his prior actions. It was all I could do to resist temptation to give into him solely because he tossed me a little kindness. It tapped into the longing I’ve felt all my life. From the time I was little, I dreamed of meeting him, of getting to know him. Sure, I want to take back what he stole, but inside, I was still the little girl hoping for a father to love me. Naturally, my curiosity and hesitation were tinged with excitement.

  Most of all, I hoped he’d either tell me he hadn’t stolen my magic or give me a reason I could accept for taking it. This was stupid. Life didn’t work out like that. It took all you had to give then asked for more.

  While he might present a soft, welcoming exterior, inside, he was as corrupt as everyone else in this place.

  I needed to find the hate that had driven me to track him down. If I could hold onto that instead of my dreams, it would keep me going.

  “What happens to Reformatory students if they don’t make it through a test?” I asked.

  His fingers stilled, and dirt fell off the roots of the plant he was about to stuff into the hole he made in the ground. “You don’t want to know that, do you?”

  “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know. What happens to them?”

  “They moved on.”

  “How did they move on?” From where I stood, I couldn’t see his face. Not that I trusted my judgment of his expressions, but I wasn’t learning anything by going on his words and tone alone. I moved sideways and partway around the circular garden, where I could see him better.

  As if he’d read my action, he tucked his head close to his chest and dropped the plant into the soil before mounding dirt around it and pressing it down.

  “It means what I said. They move on,” he said carefully.

  “To where?”

  His shoulders drooped with his heavy sigh, and he settled back on his heels. Still not looking at me, he paused in his work to give me his full attention. “Some of the kids, as you know, return to the prison rather than take the path challenges. Others…remain here.”

  “I haven’t seen anyone but you, Uncle Blaine, Bixby, and Duvoe, plus my friends. If they remain here, where are they?”

  “But that’s the thing.” His head tipped back, and he allowed me to see his face—one tinged with frustration. “You’re not here. You’re there.”

  “Of course I’m here.” Stomping over to him, I reached out to tap his shoulder, but my hand passed through him. I wasn’t sure if I was horrified or amazed by this. “I’m a ghost?”

  He snorted. “Not yet.”

  “Then how am I here if I’m not here but there?” Did I travel on another plain like Brodin did in his Eerie form?

  “You could say I brought your essence here.”

  You could say. “Could” wasn’t definitive. There was a key in his words; I just needed to find it.

  My hand went to the vial on the chain around my neck.

  His gaze followed the movement, and for a second, I read fear in his eyes, but the emotion fled, replaced with something I couldn’t read. Anger?

  I waited for him to confront me about it, but he went back to his work, tugging another plant out of the basket to place in another hole.

  My chin lifted. “As you’ve seen, I have it back now.”

  “So it would appear.” No mistaking his dry tone.

  “What does that mean?” If I was ten, I’d stomp my foot. Instead, I shot fury with my eyes, though it seemed to pass through him as easily as my hand.

  “Whatever you’d like it to mean.”

  I growled. “It’s real.” Damn, I hoped it was. Had old lady Kylie lied? Jeez, I could be running around with a vial full of tap water. Or swamp water. I’d drink it and get sick, and nothing else would happen. Exactly what I needed during a vital point in my life.

  “I’m sure it is real.” No missing the dismissive tone in his words.

  “I’m going to use it when I most need it.” I purposefully named it, because I needed to see his reaction.

  “That seems like a wise plan.”

  Neutral, but I’d take it. At least he didn’t tell me it wasn’t my core magical essence.

  “You lost it,” I said. “And I’m not letting you steal it again. It’s mine to do with as I will.”

  “As it should be.” He paused but didn’t look up. “Any other questions?”

  “Why did you bring me here after I finished the last test?”

  “Because I wanted to visit with my daughter.”

  “Truly?” I couldn’t keep the hopeful little girl out of my voice.

  “Our time is limited. Once you either fail or complete the tests, you’ll leave here to go there.”

  Additional odd phrasing. I’d tuck it away to examine later, perhaps when it might make more sense. “I have to leave here within four days.” Or less. I needed to look at the timepiece. For all I knew, it had taken me a day to decide where to place my stone.

  “Then it seems wise for you to begin your next test, does it not?” he said. “They won’t be completed while you’re standing here chatting with me.”

  “You brought me here,” I said in a huff.

  “And I told you why.”

  Not really, but if I pressed him for answers, I had a feeling I’d learn nothing new.

  “So, that’s it?” I huffed. “Nice seeing you, kid, but get lost?” Damn, I felt pain when I told myself I wouldn’t allow him even a tiny bit inside.

  “You are the one who said you need to leave.”

  That drew my racing emotions to a halt. “If I said I wanted to stay and visit longer, what would you do?”

  “Perhaps I’d invite you into my home for dinner.”

  What would it be like to sit down at a table with him? To share the meal and conversation? I could get to know him; get a sense of who he was as a person. And then we could—

  “Or perhaps I’d tell you it’s too late. Our chance was swept away years ago.”

  “By your actions.” I shouldn’t feel the loss of what we’ve never had. How could I shut off the feeling?

  “Perhaps.” He tilted his head, seeming to taste the word.

  “Perhaps? Perhaps. Perhaps. Is that all you can say?”

  “Why deal in absolutes? They won’t get you anywhere in this place.”

  And there was the truth. Nothing could be trusted at Darkwater. I needed to keep that fact solidly in my mind.

&
nbsp; “You’re saying I need to leave, that I need to start another test by myself,” I said.

  “I could be saying that. Or not.”

  I chose to ignore him and hold back my frustration. This is part of his game, and I’d be a fool to play along with him. “Shouldn’t I wait for my friends? In the catacombs, we worked together.” Mostly. Kylie had worked for herself.

  “Unless you feel an urgent need to get this over with. In which case, if I was you, I’d jump into the next trial. Why wait?”

  “Why not wait? What aren’t you saying?”

  “I’m afraid I’ve told you all I can.” Rising, he lifted his basket. “If you don’t mind, I need to get inside. I’d like to wash up.” His gaze drifted across the woods. While we spoke, the sun had made its way closer to the horizon, stealing daylight along with it. “I don’t wish to be out here after dark.”

  Chills zipped up my spine. “Send me back inside, then.”

  He lifted his hand, pointing toward a door I hadn’t seen before. “Go through there, and it should take you where you need to be.”

  Not exactly magicking me to my friends, but did I have any other choice?

  A cry from deep within the woods made me jump, but when I darted my gaze in that direction, I was met with oppressive silence.

  Something watched, however. I’d swear on it.

  “Goodbye, then,” I said. “I don’t imagine I’ll see you again.” Bonus points to me for sounding normal. Inside? I was a wreck. It wasn’t easy juggling my emotions for this man.

  He started walking in the opposite direction of where I had to go, and he stopped, though he didn’t turn back. “Is that what you believe? That this is it between us?”

  I stepped backward as if blasted by his words. I didn’t sense hostility or anger in his tone, but for some reason, I got the feeling I’d be safer in the woods than here. “That’s what you said.” My words came out shaky; I couldn’t hold them steady.

  “So I did. So I did.” He continued walking, and I watched until he rounded the side of the building and disappeared from view.

  Chapter Twenty