Page 11

Eleven

“ I heard Kamine had some kind of breakthrough,” Dritoria said. Though her tone shifted to displeasure as she added, “After I heard that she almost got killed again.”

Professor Grimot and Headmaster Dritoria were in the first room of the school—the only room where any sun filtered through. With a metal watering pot in hand, she nurtured the few plants that basked in the light of the school’s one rare window. She looked so at peace as the sun lit her face, her dark skin glowing. She belonged out in the world, he thought. Not in this dark hellhole. But she was dedicated to her students, and he applauded her for the sacrifice.

Grimot had been on his way to his room and, unfortunately, had bumped into the Headmaster. He knew he would need to explain himself. Word spread that Kamine had been hurt, again . It wasn’t directly his fault this time, but he was still to blame for even bringing her to the game, despite it being a tradition that Headmaster Dritoria sanctioned and surely participated in, herself, years ago.

“Correct,” he finally responded, hands clasped behind his back. “Her powers are much greater than any of us could have expected. I’m now working to ensure that she can use them properly.”

Dritoria stepped on a small ladder to reach a few plants that hung from random perches of rock. “Good, she needs to learn to control it.”

“I’ll do my best,” he said, relieved that he didn’t get any stern words thrown at him for allowing Kamine to get into such a precarious situation in the first place. Maybe Headmaster Dritoria was also relieved that progress had been made with Kamine’s powers.

Grimot helped the Headmaster down from the step ladder. Her face became solemn, weary. “I worry for her, Grimot.”

He cocked his head to the right. “What for?”

He could guess what for. He had treated her harshly from the start, and Headmaster Dritoria no longer trusted him to teach her in a safe manner.

“Her mother became a ghost after her Undertaking.”

Well, that was not where he thought it was going…

She continued, “She was such a light when she entered this school with me.”

“You were in the same cohort?”

She dipped her chin. “Kassandra was so confident in herself, and it showed in her powers. She could move boulders across the entire room on her first day. She had such strength, and so much love.”

Grimot gulped, not liking where this was heading.

“No one knows the full extent of what she experienced during the Undertaking since no one witnessed it. Kamine’s father, Jace, hasn’t spoken on it either. The following years after her Undertaking seemed good, at least from the outside. She married Jace right after she won, then had Kamine and Damien. Yet none of it brightened the shadow that loomed over her. She could no longer find the sun, and her life ended too soon.”

“Undertakings change a person,” he said, wanting to offer something, anything . He knew the exact feeling, though. One’s life was lived in anticipation of being an Undertaking participant. If chosen, it was an honor, but a large responsibility, with each death in the village weighing on the shoulders of the cohort that failed to prevent it.

“Yes,” the Headmaster agreed. “They do, which is why I put so much effort into hammering in the importance of understanding what it means to be a participant. It’s more than just finding the Heart.”

Grimot understood that. He hadn’t when he was an actual participant, but it was clearer for him only now that it was too late, when his body would be frozen to stone if he didn’t accomplish what the Gods set out for him to do.

The Headmaster put a hand on his shoulder. “Kamine never got to experience the version of her mother that was full of life. She has only seen how an Undertaking can strip a person down to a husk. Be patient with her as you embark on this journey. It’s more than just her powers. There’s an emotional wall holding her back. One I hope you can help her crack away at.”

“You’re alive,” Zoya cheered as Kamine limped into the Purple Hall. She dove off her bed and gave Kamine a hug. Kamine winced, but returned it as best as she could.

Janina gave her two thumbs up. “That was quite a show back there.”

Kamine rubbed her head, “Was it? I barely remember it.”

Zoya gently guided her to the bottom bunk. Kamine immediately dropped to her back so she could stare at the bottom of the top bunk. Writing covered it. Everything from profanities, to simple drawings. In one corner, there was a heart with two initials in it.

“Professor Grimot looked so worried,” Zoya said, as she pulled Kamine’s boots off her feet. It felt good to stretch her toes.

“He was probably just trying to cover his ass.”

“No, he looked genuinely worried,” Janina jumped in. “He lifted you up, and practically ran you out the room like a white knight.”

They must have been imagining it. Professor Grimot worried about her? That sounded like some romantic fantasy they concocted to make her feel less embarrassed about the whole thing. The reality was that Professor Grimot was doing everything in his power to make her miserable.

Kamine pushed herself up off the mattress to be able to see her friends. Zoya had knitting needles and the beginning of a blanket that she promised Kamine would be done by the time of the Undertaking. Janina was holding the ball of yarn for her, but her face revealed no hint of deceit. They honestly believed Professor Grimot cared.

Nothing between them had actually changed since he started his private lessons with her. He was still a menace, but perhaps he did show—in the small moments—that he actually had a caring bone in his body. He had given her advice, even if it hadn’t seemed the most helpful.

And then…he had watched over her as she rested. He hadn’t left her side, and he had even walked her almost all the way to her room, only leaving her right at the mouth of the hallway that led to her room where her friends had waited. His parting words were the quiet advice that she needed to find something to eat. Kamine hadn’t even realized how ravenous she had become until he pointed it out. Over the last few days, she had discovered he made her comfortable.

Kamine didn’t know what to make of it all. But she was convinced his actions were definitely for his own personal gain, somehow. She was sure of it.

Yet, there was a tiny whisper in the back of her head that kept telling her there was something more, that him using his spare time to teach her was bigger than the satisfaction of training the untrainable student. But…what?