The Book of Trials || ONC 2019

Chapter Twelve

Meanwhile, another woman with an amber braid stood near the doorway with a look of pure surprise and joy. She cast everyone a sideways smile, then slipped out the door and into another room.

"So how did you get here?" Evyne asked, glancing more than once at Atlas and back to me.

It took me a moment to comprehend what she'd said. I ran it under my tongue a few times. "I—" The word cracked and I cleared my throat, trying again. "I don't know... I was walking though the woods when the trees cleared and... now I'm here." A moment of silence through the room prompted me to continue. "Who was that woman?"

"I think her name was Mrs. Mafe." Lefeli scratched her head a few times and stood, backing up toward Evyne.

"Hypothermia, huh?" Evyne said. "You aren't much good at navigation, are you? I searched for you along the way in the woods, but I was back to Kalahkat within the morning hours. You, on the other hand, had to wander six miles in the wrong direction and end up at a farmhouse." She shook her head. "At least you didn't wander back into the hands of the bandits. Hate to think how that might've—"

"Evyne, quit it already." The girl's eyebrows shot up and she looked at Atlas as he interrupted her. He stepped forward and clamped a hard hand on his sister's shoulder, his expression still unreadable, and for a moment they just stood and glared at each other as if caught in a wordless, motionless argument. But then he let go, glanced once at me, and stalked out of the room. The silence lingered and everyone passed confused looks among one another until Mrs. Mafe returned with a bucket of water and a washcloth.

"I hate to break up your reunion"—she adjusted her grip on the bucket and smiled—"but my daughter Tabie has some tea for you in the kitchen while I finish things up in here with a little cleaning."

She sat down, and as Evyne and Lefeli shuffled out the door, she wet the cloth and began dabbing my face. I scrunched up my nose and she laughed. Apparently, the cleaning she was referring to was me.

Even I had to admit I needed a little cleaning.

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After Mrs. Mafe had helped wash me, commenting repeatedly on how lucky I was to have found somewhere safe before my limbs froze, she fed me a bowl of strong soup and helped me sit up.

As it turns out, I had been out like a bug for close to three whole days and no one could even get me to twitch until Atlas, Evyne, and Lefeli showed up at the doorstep. Mrs. Mafe thought it was because I recognized their voices, but for some reason I knew that wasn't the case.

"Veia! Veia!" Lefeli squealed from the kitchen, falling over herself to get to me. "The book! It has two new passages! Look!"

Surely enough, she thrust the pages in my face and I focused directly on the new words on the paper.

"It says 'Sleep until the rest return.' What do you think that means?" She flipped the page. "And this! It says 'The writer grows impatient.' Who's the writer?"

My mind struggled to process the new information. "So..." I pulled at a strand of my hair. "You're saying that while I was unconscious, the book revealed two more phrases?"

I ran the words through my head, trying possibilities, my mouth turning downward in a frown. I stopped fiddling with my hair. "Lefeli, get me a piece of paper and an inkwell."

She scurried away and came back a minute later with a slate and a piece of chalk and I snatched it from her. "Read me the book's passages from the beginning."

She hesitated a moment, then pulled the book out and I began writing as she spoke. When she had gone through all of them, I had nearly filled the slate with writing. The dusty words read as follows:

     She who stands still yet shall move.
     By morn, the poison sets like iron.
     The sunset ceases travel goers.
     Sleep until the rest return.
     Still yet the writer grows impatient.

Lefeli peered at the slate, her face curious. I stared at the letters, contemplating their translation and trying to wrap my mind around what they could possibly mean. Sleep until the rest return... sleep... until 'the rest'?...

It clicked. "Lefeli, this passage has already happened. When it says 'the rest,' it means you, Evyne, and Atlas, which is why I didn't wake up until you guys arrived at Mrs. Mafe's doorstep." It made so much sense. But what did this have to do with the curse on the book? Why did it want me to sleep? Did it even have a consciousness? No, of course not.

Lefeli gaped at me, seemingly impressed, then nodded and scurried away with an "I'm gonna tell Evyne and Atlas." She slipped out the door and disappeared.

My eyes returned to the slate on my lap. The words haunted me. There was something I still didn't get and it was eating at me. The passage didn't make any sense. The writer grows impatient?

Lefeli's questions echoed in my head and I sighed and fell back in the bed, my fingers tingling. Mrs. Mafe had banished me to this bed until tomorrow morning in a very motherlike manner, but I knew that if I didn't move soon, insanity would be added to hypothermia on my list of ailments. Insanity, hypothermia, and maybe chronic fidgetiness.

I stood at once, my feet bursting out in pins and needles that made me cringe and tingle up to my knees, then after bracing myself on the bedpost for a moment, I set off out the door and down the hallway.

Mrs. Mafe never noticed me over the pot of boiling dinner in the kitchen and a toddler clinging to the hem of her dress.

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