“And this is why you will be watched closely, Jace.” Harlan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Talk like that worries people.”
“Good,” I said dismissively. My patience was fraying. The urge to do something rash was building in me. I was a terrible prisoner. “What else?”
“Second, we need you to inform Headmistress Cruzal of any threats to the Grand Design that you uncover.” Harlan’s eyes bored into mine as he spoke. He was hiding something. It would make all this a lot easier if I knew what he knew about me and what he just suspected.
“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘threats to the Grand Design.’” That, of course, was a blatant lie.
Brother Harlan’s eyes narrowed as he studied my aura. Most people could only see obvious aspects—elements, toxins, surface emotions like fear and anxiety—in the auras of others. The inquisitors, though, had long ago mastered techniques that allowed them to detect more subtle aspects.
Like dishonesty.
That turned the inquisitors into Empyreal lie detectors when they questioned almost anyone.
Except me. I cycled as I spoke, and my unique core allowed me to strip aspects from my aura when I exhaled the words. To the inquisitors, my aura was as clear and pristine as a newborn babe.
“I’m sure you’re aware of the attacks on the Church and its territories,” Brother Harlan said, visibly relaxed now that he believed I was telling him the truth. “We’re very interested in any information you hear regarding such radical activities on campus. We’d also like to know if any of your fellow students or staff at the School of Swords and Serpents show any radical tendencies or sympathies.”
“I’m sure I won’t see or hear anything like that at the School, but I will inform the headmistress if I do,” I said smoothly. “What else?”
“Just one more thing,” Harlan said. “And you will speak of this to no one. If you do, the punishment for you, and whomever you impart this knowledge to, will be final and unavoidable. Do you understand?”
I didn’t want to hear whatever Harlan had to tell me. It sounded radioactive, certain to hurt anyone who got anywhere near it. If I slipped up, it would endanger my friends, my clan.
But if I didn’t hear him out, he could pull the plug on my exit. The Flame wanted me freed, but the Inquisition might have ideas of their own.
“Go ahead.” And then, to make it perfectly clear, “I won’t tell a soul.”
“The Grand Design is very near a convergence.” inquisitor Harlan’s eyes burned with a zeal I’d rarely seen in the other brothers. He was a true believer, there was no doubt about that. “The current interpretation is that you will decide the inflection point for this event.”
“I’m not sure what any of that means.” That was no lie. I’d been raised outside the Church and only understood that the Grand Design was an unseen plan that guided the lives of Empyreals, whether they wanted it to or not.
“A convergence is like an intersection of roads.” Harlan could barely contain his excitement. He loved explaining this stuff. “The inflection point is the exact instant when the driver chooses which way to go at that intersection.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “But my choice of roads only affects my car.”
“Oh, no.” A righteous fire burned in Harlan’s gaze. “Your decision will change the course of the Grand Design for all of us.”
The weight of Harlan’s words crashed through my thoughts like a dropped anchor. If what he said was true, I could choose the future of Empyreal society. With one choice, I could liberate the labor camps and give everyone the chance to master the jinsei arts. I could unite the heretics and the Church. I could fix everything that was wrong with our society.
With a single choice.
“And you want me to choose something specific.” Of course. That’s why the inquisitors couldn’t keep me chained up in a dungeon somewhere. They needed me to do something for them.
“No.” Harlan slid the papers aside and leaned his elbows on the table between us. He reached across and took my hands with surprising speed and strength. Before I could escape, the inquisitor pulled me closer. “You will know when the time has come, Jace. And when it does, we want you to do the simplest thing of all.
“Nothing.”
The Wink
BROTHER HARLAN WATCHED as I gathered my three sets of robes and my quantic computer, the only belongings the priests had taken from my room at the School, and stuffed them into the backpack he’d provided. Then he whisked me off to a tiny portal station deep in the bowels of the Temple.
Finally, I was going home and I could get back to searching for my mother and chasing advancement.
“I know you do not understand what has happened here, Jace.” Harlan looked at me differently now. There was a reverence in his gaze that I’d never seen before. I didn’t like it. “I hope this year goes more smoothly for you than the past two have.”
“We’ll see,” I said after a few awkward moments of silence. “I won’t break the rules you’ve set for me. But if anyone tries to kidnap me again—”
“You and I will hopefully never see one another again.” Harlan fished a small vial out of a pouch at his belt. “This is the serum I promised. Drink it when you’re ready to sleep, and you’ll wake feeling rested and refreshed eight hours later. That should reset your body’s internal clock.”
We bowed to one another, a strangely formal way of parting after all the time we’d spent together. And then, as quickly as I’d arrived at the Temple, I stepped through the portal and left it far behind.
A siren sounded and red lights flashed an alarm before I’d fully crossed the portal’s threshold. Students dressed in apprentice Portal Defense Force uniforms grabbed their communicators from their belts and raced toward me.
“It’s okay,” I called out. None of
