Page 24 of Fateless

Thankfully, despite Halek’s ominous observation, none of the skeletons crawled out of their alcoves to attack us. Perhaps it was only the guards who were cursed to protect the palace, evenin death. It was still eerie making our way through narrow, claustrophobic tunnels, the bones of the dead on either side.

“I know you can’t tell me,” Halek whispered as we ducked into yet another low-roofed tunnel. “But if what you’re looking for is down here, it might be difficult to find in this mess. I hope what you’re searching for isn’t small.”

I swallowed. “It’s the size of a finger,” I whispered back, and he winced.

“We could be here awhile, then.”

“There’s supposed to be a vault.” I gazed down the tunnel at the seemingly endless shelves of bones. Hopefully, the vault would still be intact, not broken open, as Halek was right: We would never find the memory stone if it had been lost in the crypts.

“A vault,” Halek repeated. “Well, that’s something. If there’s a vault, I guess we’ll know it when we...”

He trailed off, stopping at a crumbled section of wall half blocked by a pillar. I paused, too, edging forward to peer through the gap, and my stomach curled. Beside me, Halek released an awed breath.

“Maederyss’s mercy. I think we found it.”

My heart beat faster. A breeze whistled through the gap and into a massive chamber, soaring up into the darkness. Similar to another cavern I had recently been in, this one was circular, ringed with stone columns that vanished up into the void. In the center, an enormous platform rose out of a pit that seemed to drop straight into the center of the earth, vanishing into blackness. A narrow stone bridge led to the edge of the platform, and at its very center stood a pedestal.

Something glimmered on the pedestal, something small yet clearly powerful, pulsing with a glow that seemed to suck in the light instead of reflecting it. A chill slid up my back, and I suddenly knew—this was what I had come for.

Ducking under the pillar, I stepped into the room.

I tensed, gazing around the cavern, waiting for a rush of choking air to sweep through the chamber or a voice to hiss that I was doomed. But nothing happened. No wind, no voices, no sudden arrival of skeleton guards, clawing themselves upright to destroy me. The chamber remained silent, my pulse and the faint drip of water somewhere in the void the only sounds I could hear.

This doesn’t feel right.I was a thief, and in my world, no one left a vault unguarded.

Halek eased his way through the hole and looked around, blue eyes wary as he scanned the cavern. He, too, was tense, not trusting the apparent stillness. “Well,” he ventured, “I don’t like that nothing has jumped out at us, but I guess we should take advantage of it while we can.”

Carefully, we walked to the bridge. It arced slightly away from us before coming down at the edge of the platform. I peered into the pit and saw what I’d suspected—a straight plunge into absolute darkness. If I let my imagination run wild, I could imagine thousands of eyes peering up at me and Halek from that abyss. With a shudder, I wrenched my gaze away and studied the pedestal in the center of the platform.

“Be careful, Sparrow.” Halek’s voice was uncharacteristically somber. His warm hand came to rest on my arm, making mestart. “I don’t know what that is,” the Fatechaser went on, “but I’ve been in a few cursed places in my time, and this place...” He shook his head with a shiver. “Just... be careful,” he finished, dropping his hand. “I’ll stay here, in case you step onto the platform, get hit with a nasty curse, and need someone to pull you back.”

My stomach churned. And suddenly, I didn’t want to do this. I was the best thief in Kovass, was chosen for this job by the Circle because I was literally the only one who could do it, and... I did not want to grab that stone.

“Or you could let me do it,” Halek offered. I glanced at him in surprise, and he gave a wry grin. “I’ve dodged a couple curses in my time,” he said. “If it’s not my fate to die here, not even the curse of a Deathless King can kill me. If it is, well, there’s nothingIcan do to prevent that.” He gave a casual shrug, as if the thought of his own death was truly of no concern to him. “So if you want me to march up there and grab that stone, I will. Just say the word.”

“No.” I shook my head. I trusted that Halek wasprobablynot someone who would snatch the treasure and run with it, but still, this was my mission. If anyone was going to pick up the memory stone and whatever curse came with it, it had to be me. “I’ve got it, Halek.”

He nodded. “All right. I’ll stay here, then. If you feel yourself turning into dust or a centipede, just yell.”

“Yeah. Thanks for putting that thought in my head,” I muttered, and started across the bridge.

The feeling of eyes on me grew stronger as I crossed thenarrow arching pathway, and I couldn’t shake the sensation that we weren’t alone. As if hundreds ofthingswere clinging to the underside of the bridge, mere inches from the bottom of my boots. I kept walking, putting one foot in front of the other, refusing to look down, until I stepped off the bridge onto the platform.

Still nothing. A breath of wind circled the chamber, stirring up dust eddies and smelling of death, but nothing happened on the flat surface of the platform. I set my jaw, locked eyes on my target, and started toward it.

A foot from the pedestal, I paused, staring at what I’d been sent to retrieve. The tiny black stone hovered over the stand, the ominous dark glow surrounding it sucking in the light. It seemed to pulse like a heartbeat, and with every beat, tiny crimson runes appeared on the jet-black surface, making my eyes burn when I looked at them.

This was what the Circle wanted. This was what I had to retrieve, though every instinct I had was telling me not to touch it. Normally, I listened to my instincts; they had kept me alive when otherwise I would’ve been captured or killed. A suspicious deserted alleyway that held thugs waiting to ambush me. A normal-looking empty window that actually held a guard with a crossbow, ready to shoot first and ask questions later. Sometimes I got lucky—luckier than most—but sometimes, I kept myself out of trouble by listening to my gut. And my gut was telling me everything about this was wrong.

But this was my mission. I couldn’t return to the surface empty-handed. I knew how the guild worked well enough toknow the Circle would kill me, and Vahn, if I failed. I was a thief. This was my place in the story.

Taking a deep breath, I stretched out my hand toward the glowing rock.

“Stop!”

Nine

The deep voice echoed through the chamber. I spun, looking past Halek to the entrance of the vault, and my blood chilled.

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