That thought triggered another, much more chilling concern.
What if the wheel hadn’t been able to pick a role for me because I didn’t belong in the Design at all?
“That is correct,” Ishigara said quietly. “I’ve never seen anything like it before, nor have I heard of such a thing happening during an assessment.”
“Yes, well,” Brand started, then shook his head. “I understand your confusion, but we should give Jace some more time to heal. It’s possible his current affliction is confusing the results.”
“There isn’t much time left for him to take the assessment,” Ishigara pushed. “Perhaps it would be best if I marked the test as inconclusive.”
Brand glanced my way, gave me a wink out of the eye Ishigara couldn’t see, then nodded to the professor.
“Yes,” he said. “Do that. In the meantime, I’d like to speak with my clanmate for a few minutes, if that’s all right with you.”
“As you wish,” Ishigara said, and bowed low to Brand. “Thank you for your consideration, honored Elder.”
The professor left my sickroom not quite with her tail between her legs, but very nearly. Her test had gone poorly and then Brand had chased her out. That victory would definitely cost me some aggravation down the road. Just then, though, I didn’t really care.
“Mind telling me what happened there?” Brand asked. “Assessments are pretty straightforward, but the damage you did to the wheel suggests otherwise.”
“The ball split,” I explained and spilled the rest of the details.
“I see.” Brand chuckled and plopped into a chair. “Things have gotten very interesting out there, Jace. The oracles won’t shut up about the convergence, and that’s got the heretics all stirred up. They’ve hit us hard with constructs the past couple of weeks. Tough ones.”
“You have to find my mother,” I said. “And not just for me. She’ll be the one behind those designs. I know it.”
Because, apparently, while she’d been a laborer in the undercity, my mother had also been a brilliant scientist. She’d created the Machina, or at least refined them significantly, and she’d engineered the return of the Eclipse Warriors. I was almost afraid of what else she had planned.
“We’re trying, but...” Brand threw up his hands. “Your mother’s ties with you make it difficult. Your presence obscures hers, somehow. Sanrin’s not sure how that works. That’s part of why I’m here. I want to take a good look at you and see if there’s something we’ve missed.”
“You think I’m connected to my mother somehow?” That was both comforting and terrifying. It was nice to know that there was still some part of my mother with me, but if she was using me as a tool to wreck Empyreal society I’d have to put a stop to that. If I could.
“Something like that.” Brand smiled and dragged his hands through his scruffy hair. He didn’t look wounded, just bone tired. Whatever the clan had him doing, the elder was exhausted. “Relax, this won’t take long.”
True to his word, Brand wrapped up his investigation in less than five minutes. He’d spent most of that time staring at me, until the end, when he closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep.
“Well, nothing unusual there,” he said with a shrug. “Maybe Hirani was right. Your mother might be using one of the Machina to mask her presence, though we’re not sure how that would work.”
“Like this,” I said, and pulled up the sleeve of my robe to reveal the medallion stitched to my forearm.
“What is that?” Brand peered at the medallion curiously.
“Technique stitching,” I said. “Ishigara explained it to us.”
“Intriguing,” Brand muttered. “I hadn’t considered that, but I suppose it would be possible. Attaching the Machina to her channels would be a strain, though. She’d need to nullify the conflict between the artificial core and her own. Still, she’s a smart woman. I’ll run it past the others. First, though, I wanted to warn you to keep your eyes open.”
“I can’t see much from my bed,” I said.
“True, true.,” Brand chuckled. “Sanrin wanted you to know we’ve caught chatter about a meeting between members of the Inquisition and the Scaled Council.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” I flopped back on my pillow. “They’re one step away from a war because of the Empyrean Gauntlet. Maybe it’s peace talks.”
“Anything’s possible the way the world is going, but we wanted you to know that there may be more to all this than meets the eye.” Brand stood from his chair and patted me on the shoulder. “And, whatever trouble is brewing, you’re likely to be at the middle of it.”
“Comforting,” I said.
“We’ve added some guardians of our own to the School’s security.” Brand gave me another wink. “Mostly to keep an eye on you. Just stay alert and don’t trust anyone.”
“No worries there,” I said. “Thank you, honored Elder.”
“Be well, Jace.” And with that, Brand vanished into the shadows.
I lay there for a long time after that, thinking of the dangers that lurked all around me. If the dragons and Inquisition were working together, then things were about to get a lot more dangerous.
The Path
BRAND’S WARNING HAUNTED me for the rest of the week. While my body lay resting in the hospital, my mind jumped from one possible problem to another like a ferret amped up on a pure jinsei cocktail.
“You worry about nothing,” Hahen chided me on one of his many illicit visits to the hospital. The rat spirit wasn’t supposed to even be in the infirmary, much less in my room. Keeping him out had proved an impossible task for the nurses and doctors, though, and the nursing staff had looked the other way as long as our conversations didn’t run too late into the night. “What will be, will be.”
“That’s exactly the kind of thinking that worries me,” I complained. “Everyone is so sure
