Alice Wanderlynn's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

Alice sat back on her heels beside the fountain. The row of runes she had cut into the base looked clean and correct. It was not. Killian had already caught one hook she had read as a slant. If she had walked to the door alone and pressed that stone, the water would have hummed, and whatever the note was meant to summon would have come. "I need to check every one again," she said. "Before we touch the door." Killian crouched across from her. His bow stayed on his back. "Then check them." She worked slow. She laid the sword flat on the fountain's rim as a straightedge and matched each carved rune to the one above its geode. Purple, three slants. Orange, broken cross. Green, two hooks, not one hook and a slant. She said each shape out loud, quiet, so Killian could stop her. He stopped her twice. The first time, a rune she had drawn with a closed loop. On the fountain, the loop was open at the top. She scraped the carving flat with the sword's edge and cut it again. The second time, a mark she had given four strokes. The fountain's rune had five. She fixed it. Water slid down the tiered bowl. Moss dripped. The geodes kept their steady light — teal at the crown, amethyst and orange around the basin. Nothing hummed. When she finished, she made Killian read the row back to her while she pointed. He named every one without pause. "Now the door," she said. They walked to the black tower. The stone leaned over them, cracked and mossy, its carved runes glowing pink and blue in the shade. Alice matched her corrected row against the door. Six stones. She named them again. Row and column. Killian nodded at each. He did not stop her. "Press them," he said. "In what order." She had not thought of order. Her stomach dropped. "The note read left to right." "The note was a lure." She looked at the fountain again. The geodes sat in a ring. There was no order there. She looked at the door. The six stones sat scattered across its face. No line. No pattern she could see. A red shape moved at the tree line. The fox again. Same black arrowhead on its shoulder. It sat and watched. Alice lowered her hand from the door. "I can read the stones," she said. "I don't know which to press first." Killian did not answer right away. He watched the fox. The fox watched them. "Then we don't press yet," he said. "We find the order." Alice stepped back from the door. Her mapping was right. Her key fit. But the lock had a second wheel she had not seen, and something in the trees was still counting how long it took her to notice.