Alkimiya - A Fantasy Mystery Series

EIGHTEEN - The Triad

Over the course of three days, Zenetra worked diligently on mapping the routes other voyagers and Reapers had already crossed over the Ghost Sea. Because none had found any trace of Scarlett Burn or her Windrider, that left Team Yellowbird scouting the border of the Triad—the only other area in their search zone that had yet to be explored.

The morning of the fifth day found Zenetra at the bow of the ship, braving the heights and gazing westward. She kept her long hair braided and pinned to her head in an act of defiance against the cold wind, but a few strands came loose and tickled her neck.

It was the first time she had taken the medicine Healer Pilluck provided. The pills turned Zenetra's insides into the consistency of fluffy clouds and gave her mind fog. Fear had left her, as promised, but so had every other emotion.

The faint reverberations of footsteps clopped across the deck, growing louder until Tilde appeared at the rails. Her eyes absorbed some of the silver-gray colors of the sea and sparkled like fine crystal. "Captain Inglehart says we should be reaching the first marker of the Triad soon."

Sure enough, the airship began to drop lower. It was a gradual shift, a barely noticeable slant downward, but after a few minutes, the whitecaps lapping across the Ghost Sea became more defined.

"Do you think he'll take us in?" Zenetra asked.

Staring into the sunny sky, Tilde's pupils became mere pinpricks. "He said the weather is reasonable enough, so we'll skirt the edges of the Triad for a while. First sign of clouds or sea rot, though, and we'll be on our way back to the UDF."

Zenetra turned, pressing her hip into the railing. "Are you nervous?"

"It's the Triad. There's a reason people steer clear of it." Hair whipping across her face as she spoke, Tilde tried to brush the errant locks behind an ear. "I meant to ask you earlier, but whatever happened with those blueprints? Did you speak with your father?"

"I completely forgot to mention them. Governor Ewald was there with all his guards." Zenetra glanced at the water. Sunray was getting close to the waves. "And Clemence."

Tilde's face pinched. "Who?"

"My desk partner."

"Oh," said Tilde. "My first partner got squashed under our desk. Broke her leg in three places! She blamed me for what happened even though I didn't do anything. Desk partner reassignments are rare, but Trixie got one. Is your partner nice?"

Ignoring the fact Tilde's storm of bad luck likely played a significant role in that event, Zenetra gave a reply free of personal judgment. "She's...alright."

"You hate her."

"With every fiber of my being."

Tilde laughed and seemed to give up on the futile attempt of taming her hair. "Oh, dear. What has this Clemence done to earn the ire of Zenetra Noire?"

It was the combination of medication and the blossoming of a friendship that loosened Zenetra's tongue. "I did try with her at first. Really. In my own way, anyhow. Clemence is not the type of person to understand or try to understand. She didn't know how to handle my introversion. We didn't get on.

"Our first exam came and went. Clemence prefers reading magazines to studying, and copied most of my answers during the test. When she received a barely passing grade and I a perfect score, she didn't take kindly to that. She thought I ragged on her to the cadet minder. Sometime later, my marks made it to the Hive. It's not necessarily bad for others to know that I'm doing well in training, but it was my decision whom to tell and Clemence took that choice from me."