“Maybe not,” she acknowledged. “But I’m also not the person who believes violence to be the answer to everything. There’s a middle ground, and I’m confident I’ll find it.”
Jason nodded with a wistful smile pulling at the corners of his lips. “I hope you will. It’s too late for most of us, but maybe not for you.”
“It’s never too late. You might not remember, but I told you once that we always have a choice—I still believe it.”
“I remember,” he said quietly. “I’m not sure it’s true, not for me at least.”
There was something unbelievably sad in his tone, and she looked up sharply at him, but he turned away, and with a quick flourish of his arm, he said, “your door awaits.”
Their conversation had brought them to the wooden door.
Allyra ran her fingers across the iron bar that ran across the wooden door. The metal was cool beneath her fingers, and she found the ringed shapes indented into the iron—five pairs of intertwined animals. Tigers. Dragons. Phoenixes. Wolves. Scorpions. Animals representing each of the Living Weapons as once carried by the Five themselves.
Her hand stopped over the tigers and traced their circular shape. Head to tail, round and round until it was impossible to discern where one started and the other ended. She didn’t need to look at her own wrist to know that the exact shape was tattooed into her flesh.
The Living Weapons were powerful, able to take the form of any weapon she needed. Allyra could only hope that she could force them to take on the form of the shape engraved into the iron. She closed her eyes, focusing her mind and called on the Tigers.
Though she had expected it, the wave of weakness that swept through her body nearly brought her to her knees. With trembling fingers, she grabbed at the door to steady herself, refusing to allow her focus to fracture, bending her will to forcing the tigers from her wrist into her hand.
Slowly and painfully, inch by torturous inch, the tigers came to life on her wrist, gradually appearing as a bright, sliver ring in her hand. Allyra’s hands shook uncontrollably as she held it, as if a shroud of ice had descended over her. The silver ring was the perfect inverse of the shape sunk into the iron bar before her. There was no question that it would be a perfect fit, but she hesitated nonetheless. Her mind drifted to Jason’s warning. There was no knowing what was behind the door. No knowing what it might be holding back or what she might be releasing if she opened it.
The logical thing would be to turn away and never look back. But something deeper and more profound told her that this door was meant for her.
She inserted the ring.
It clicked into place, and the entire iron bar shifted from a horizontal position to a vertical one. The door opened silently and without apparent effort. It opened into a bright, well-lit corridor.
“You’re wearing a Living Weapon,” Jason said in disbelief.
Allyra started. In the effort it took to open the door, she’d almost forgotten he was there.
“How?” he demanded.
“In the Between,” she said reluctantly.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” he shot back sharply.
She shook her head, not knowing how to answer.
“Another one of your secrets?” Jason said sarcastically, hurt now evident in his voice. “Very well, keep them, so we can get this over and done with.” He stepped deliberately into the corridor.
The walls were a silvery white, coming together in an elegant arch overhead. Allyra stepped into the light and immediately felt her Gift surge within, filling her with an overwhelming sense of power and confidence. There was more clarity, everything falling into sharper focus.
“Do you feel it?” she whispered.
“What?” Jason asked. “Wait, where are we?”
Allyra turned to Jason, tense at the sudden confusion in his voice. He was standing still, looking around him with bafflement. And then she realized the truth—why it felt different in this room.
“What is the last thing you remember?” she asked him.
“Entering the Tunnels for the challenge,” he replied, and then, with sudden urgency, he said, “Wait! Did we win?”
“Not yet, but we will,” she said quickly, trying to reassure him. “This room, it’s hidden in the Tunnels, but it’s not a part of the Tunnels.”
“So—I won’t remember what just happened in the Tunnels, but I might remember what happens in here?”
Allyra nodded. “I think so, though I can’t be sure.”
“What are we doing here?” Jason demanded. “We shouldn’t be wasting time. Let’s just go back and finish the challenge.”
“There was a door. I needed to see what was behind it,” she replied cryptically, hoping to head off any more questions he might have, a little relieved that he’d forgotten that he was already angry at her for avoiding his questions. She walked briskly down the corridor, toward the graceful arch at the end of it.
“Allyra?” Jason called, his voice frustrated. When she didn’t reply, she heard his footsteps behind her, quickly catching up to her, and he took hold of her arm. “Damn it, Allyra. Stop.”
She met his eyes. “Please,” she said softly. “I need to see what’s in there and what it has to do with me.”
Undecided, his indigo eyes raked searchingly over her face. Finally, he sighed and closed his eyes, pressing his fingers against them, letting out a muted curse. When he opened his eyes again, he wore an expression of exasperated acceptance, as if she were an unruly child. “Fine,” he said. “But let’s make it quick. I want to get out of the blasted Tunnels and finish this thing. Hopefully, it’ll be the last time I ever have to be in them.”
She gave him a bright smile. “Thank you.”
They walked down the corridor, the sense
