Page 78

“A lot of research, practice, and study.” That I do believe.

Kaelis is always poring over a book, or journal, or his own notes on various subjects.

But this is also a magic greater than any even I have seen before, and Mother’s powers were great and immeasurable.

“I wasn’t going to allow a door in my own domain to remain barred to me for long.

It took a lot of trial and error. Mostly error, until something finally led to success.

” His eyes dart down to my arm and then back to my eyes. “It won’t hurt.”

Something in me tells me I shouldn’t. But instead I say, “Go ahead.”

Kaelis hesitates for a moment, vindicating that little worried part of me. Why is it that, in this moment, this feels like a point of no return? More than any other line I’ve crossed with him… This is different.

I suck in a breath, perhaps to object. He does the same. But a look of pure focus crosses his face, and the opportunity is gone.

The card explodes.

Light weaves and snakes around my forearm. It carves shapes across my skin, sinking underneath the layers of me. Kaelis was right, it doesn’t hurt. I feel gentle pricks but no pain. A warmth that’s almost like sunlight caresses me.

On my skin an image appears: thorny vines weave together, capped by silhouettes of white roses. The illustration glows and then settles into thin lines almost like faint scars before fading completely.

“White roses…the symbol of the Fool.”

Kaelis nods. My hand still in his, he presses my palm to the door. The glyph on my arm illuminates once more, shining brightly. The door glows in tandem. When the light fades, the heavy barricade has vanished, as though it were never there to begin with.

“Good,” Kaelis says proudly.

How… That one word launches a thousand questions that I keep to myself. How did he know how to do this? How did he master such magic? I’ve already asked him and doubt I’ll get more clarity beyond “my prowess” even the next time around.

I stare at my palm, wondering just how deep this magic runs. And what he might not be telling me.

But Kaelis is oblivious to my worries; instead, he laces his fingers with mine and, with the giddiness of a schoolboy, hastily guides us into the hallway on the other side of the door. Lamps light themselves as we pass, burning with cold flames.

The workshop of the Fool is alive with magic.

Shelves arc across the walls, laden with books and scrolls that exude the aroma of old parchment.

Long tables are covered with vials and bulbs of multicolored liquid.

Tiny, delicate machinery hums, performing its tasks without need of instruction.

Magic sizzles through the air. The ceiling magically oscillates between night and day, as though it can never quite make up its mind.

One of the mechanical wonders steals my eye.

It’s a tiny version of the machine I saw on my very first night—a powder mill, with a hammer moving on its own, pounding a fractured shard of a crystal to dust. I cross the room to watch more closely how its gears turn.

The larger version had extended into a hole in the ceiling, hiding half of it. Here I can see the whole machinery.

“It’s the hammering itself,” I breathe, realizing how it works.

“The magic unleashed by the breaking of the crystal propels the hammer back upward, which resets the counterweights. That’s how it knows how much force to use—it regulates itself based on how much magic is left in the crystal.

” And I had thought Kaelis secretly had servants, or even Marked, toiling away, working the mill.

There’s probably more to it than I’m guessing.

But it doesn’t require manpower, that much is apparent. “The Fool made the machine?”

I think about the etching I saw upon it, the one that was almost like a V and an E, unless it was an N and a 3? A different symbol for the Fool? Or, perhaps it was intended to be an F, but the etching was clumsy…I wish I could go back to see it, but I doubt Kaelis would take me if I asked.

“No, that—and this small prototype—were made by someone else.” Kaelis’s tone is utterly unreadable. “Someone who came after the Fool.”

“Who?”

“Another nameless explorer between then and now. I don’t know who.”

I don’t believe for a second that Kaelis doesn’t know who it is. But I can tell by his tone that if he knows, he’s not going to say. I can’t blame him for his secrets. I keep my own. But that doesn’t stop annoyance from fluttering through me at his constant avoidance of certain topics.

“Could we make more and replace the need for people to work the mills at all?” I ask.

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why?” I don’t let the matter drop easily.

Kaelis’s mouth tugs into a frown that doesn’t last longer than a second. But something about the expression brings Bristara’s voice to the fore. Can you really trust him, Clara?

Yet again, I don’t know. Though, I want to…A part of me keeps hunting for a reason to believe in him.

“The metals required to channel the magic need specific smithies and refineries. Technologies lost to us along with the previous kingdom.” Kaelis lovingly runs his hand along the shelves of books.

“But that individual was inspired by the Fool’s writings.

If there is a way touncover the secrets, or some kind of hint for how to do it in our time, we’ll find it in here.

I’ve dedicated years to compiling the historyof the Fool’s works and studying his brilliance.

He had ways of doing things that we can only imagine.

That if I have the opportunity to prove and share them with the world will only make all our lives better. ”

His eyes shine with such admiration and hope. He looks like a completely different man here. Kaelis is right, he’s not wholly a monster. But he’s not innocent, either. And I don’t know, when all is said and done, which side of him will win out.

“Let’s get to work,” he announces and moves toward the jars in the back that contain shimmering powders not even I have seen before.

I can come to the workshop of the Fool on my own now. I remember the way I found on my second night and have learned the pathways through the trap rooms. One night I make use of my newfound ability. I know better than to think that Kaelis isn’t aware. He was the one who gave me a key in, after all.

Alone, I take my time scouring the workshop of the Fool.

In the back are the powders of the Fool’s design—the ones Kaelis has insisted will make a card convincing enough to trick even the king.

The powders are coarser than any I’ve ever seen.

They almost look like they’re made of shards of crystal, but it’s unlike what we harvest from the Drowned Mines to ink Cups.

With a glance over my shoulder, I carefully tap some into a second jar I brought with me and place it into my satchel. Twino will have a delightful time analyzing this powder, and perhaps it’s something I can use beyond making these forgeries. Kaelis has his secrets still…and so do I.

In the cold lamplight, I read through the journals, searching for what I couldn’t find in the library or anywhere else in the academy. It takes an hour or two, but, eventually, I confirm my suspicions. I hunch over one of the long tables, shoulders up by my ears, and stare at the page.

The World can do anything. The words on the page whisper to me in Mother’s voice.

Summoned by the twenty Majors, and imprinted upon a vessel card…

Vessel card ? Kaelis had mentioned a vessel, but I can’t recall anything about it being a card.

Unfortunately, the book doesn’t elaborate.

Another thing to uncover, but it doesn’t change my goals.

I can bring you both back, I don’t dare to whisper aloud. I can remake the world into what it should be. Not just create another system that will no doubt rot and fester like all the ones before it, like Kaelis wants.