I don’t want him to read anything I do as guilt.
“Do you love the Empress Dowager?”
He’s not a sensei. He’s not a government official.
“Do you love your country?”
He’s just a businessman.
“Do you love Pearl, little bird?”
How is this an effective way to tell if I am lying? Just because I react to one of his questions doesn’t mean I’m guilty. It could mean that I’m angry or insulted. Both of which I am right now.
All of a sudden, I see why he’s doing this. It’s not to tell if I’m guilty. It’s to frighten me into confessing that I’m guilty. I refuse to be afraid of him. I refuse to give him anything.
I can see at the edge of my vision that he’s read nothing from my reaction. The Chairman comes to me and takes the cup and the knife from my teeth. He stands over me. I stare straight ahead at his shoulder, where the complicated mandalas embroidered in pearlsilk match perfectly across the seam where shoulder meets sleeve.
He lifts his hand. With the long nail on his small finger, the Chairman digs the toggle open on the breast pocket of his robe. He reaches in and pulls out something. He straightens his posture.
He holds out the object in his palm.
It’s a cord with some sort of trinket. Something small and black.
“A token for you, little bird.”
He lets it slide off his hand. When it hits the floor, it’s so heavy that it doesn’t bounce or slide. It simply stays where it lands.
He skates toward the door.
“You did not do well, little bird,” the Chairman says as he passes me. “I would ask you to do better the next time, but there will not be a next time. Do you understand?”
Without waiting for my answer, he leaves. It’s one thing to have someone like Suki as an enemy. Suki practices a school of treachery I understand. It’s all heat. The Chairman’s strange, quiet attacks are different. They are chilling.
I bend to pick up the pendant.
I try to lift it by the cord with a finger. Then I grip with my whole fist and heave it up. It weighs as much as a great jug of water.
The trinket suspended from the cord looks like a little black house with a sloped roof.
The number 2,020 is carved on the back.
I look closer and see a little indentation in the house. A minuscule door.
But it’s been sealed shut.
As if something is trapped inside.
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
I have to find Cricket. If the Chairman put him through the same interrogation, Cricket’s nerves would be smashed into ten thousand pieces. And the Chairman would say that Cricket’s reaction was evidence of his guilt and use that to force whatever false confession he wanted out of Cricket.
Students are finishing up midmeal and coming out of Eastern Heaven Dining Hall. When I see Cricket skate out, I hook my arm through his and drag him away from the others. I take him to a maintenance rail built into the side of the cliff over the sea behind Eastern Heaven Dining Hall. No one comes out here, and the sound of the sea prevents us from being overheard.
“Cricket, what happened this morning after the boys’ Motivation was postponed? Did the Chairman speak to you?”
“No, just Sensei Master Bao. He asked all the boys one by one if they knew anything about the damage to the pagoda. Did you see it, Peasprout? What could have done that? It couldn’t be fire, because the damage went down from the top tier to the bottom in a neat line. How did they repair it in just an hour?”
“Don’t let anyone hear you asking any of those questions! Don’t look too interested in architecture or the pearl.”
“Why not?”
“Because Suki’s trying to set us up! Or at least me. Suki committed the attack to try to make me look like I’m a spy. She’s come up with some ridiculous story that I’ve destroyed the pagoda so I can watch the pearl being rebuilt and learn its secrets.”
“But, Peasprout, wouldn’t Suki have had to commit an actual crime to do that?”
“That wouldn’t stop Suki! That’s why she’s dangerous! That’s why—”
I cut myself short. Why didn’t I see this before?
The vandal attack has a secret gift in it.
Suki’s trying to set me up as a criminal.
But Suki had to commit an actual crime to do it.
Thus, if I can prove that Suki is responsible, I wouldn’t just clear my name. I would take down Suki. My bitterest rival for first ranking would be thrown in prison, or at least expelled.
I’m going to catch her in her own trap. My safety and Cricket’s safety depend on it.
* * *
After my evening bath, I sit on my futon in my dormitory chamber and consider how to ensnare Suki. The first step is to figure out how Suki wreaked that terrible damage. Knowing what destroyed the pearl will help me know what sort of evidence to gather.
As I think, the Chairman’s trinket catches my gaze. I’m certain he gave it to me as a warning. It’s intricately carved, but it doesn’t look anything like the pearl. It’s small, black, and heavier than anything under heaven.
I try to bite it, but as soon as I put it in my mouth, I feel like it’s trying to suck my whole tongue into it from within my own mouth. I quickly spit it out.
I know that Hisashi doesn’t have any special knowledge just because he’s the Chairman’s son. Especially if it’s true that, for whatever reason, the Chairman hasn’t seen his children in years, even though they live in the same city. And I really don’t think Hisashi knows anything about the pearl. Still, I should show him the trinket.
The next day, I look for him everywhere on campus. It’s hard to find him because it’s difficult to see anyone now. The season has changed, completely and unmistakably, like the
