I eased past each of them and got to the door. I wasn’t going to be able to sneak by, so I pushed the door open hard and strode out. Only the door smacked into someone, slowing its trajectory.
“Mpph!” A grunt exploded from the body that stumbled backward. I grabbed the edge of the door and shut it behind me, blocking the view of my friends as I stared at Rory holding his face.
“I thought you were quicker on your feet than that,” I said, jumping to the offensive. “I mean, aren’t you a fourth-year student? Or did you just skip ahead on your connections and charm?”
Rory glared at me as he felt his nose carefully for a break, and Gen, who stood just behind him, shook her head rapidly and made a cutting motion across her throat with one finger.
Rory pinched the bridge of his nose and gave it a quick twist. It made a horrible cracking noise, but the blood slowed. He dropped his hands and continued to stare hard at me, blood still dripping. Of course, he knew me better than anyone else here, so he knew I was up to something. “What the hell were you doing down in the House of Unmentionables?”
“Making sure Gregory was okay.” I crossed my arms. “He’s stressed after being kidnapped, locked up in a dungeon, and having his life force sucked out of him. Now, on top of that, he’s been thrown into another dungeon by people who are”—I made air quotes around the next words—“helping us.”
I wasn’t sure he bought it, but he finally eased back on his hard stare. “Fine. Come on, you and Gen are rooming together. Director Rufus saw you leave, so he sent me to find you.”
I noted that he hadn’t been able to find the entrance to the House of Unmentionables. He’d been waiting for me to make an appearance.
He strode across the opulent entryway to the far side, directly across from the entrance to the House of Unmentionables. The Web of Wyrd beckoned, the design glowing red ever so slightly as we drew closer, flickering almost like flames. As we reached the far side, Rory opened the door by swooping his pendant over the center of the design.
“Your pendant is keyed to this. It’s the only way in and out of the House of Shade. Make note of the placement in the wall or you’ll never find it again,” Rory said. So he couldn’t see the designs at all. Did that mean only people with magic could? That would put every house except for Wonder at a disadvantage. Not cool.
“Make sure your pendant is working,” he said.
Oh crap. My pendant was, as far as I knew, still in the shape of a coin on one side. I fumbled with it, digging into my pocket as if I couldn’t find it. When I was sure it was in the correct alignment, I pushed it into my hand hard enough to conceal the round edges. Holding it like that, I lifted the pendant and pressed it against the barely visible square in the wall. I held my breath as the seconds ticked by, and then the door slid open, revealing—surprise!—another dark tunnel.
This one led not downward but on a path parallel to the floor we were on. Lightbulbs set in sconces just above our heads gave off enough light to see by. I tucked the pendant back into my pocket before Rory could notice that it was a coin on one side, a moth on the other. Well, at least I could get in and out of the House of Shade as needed despite the spell Ethan had put on my pendant.
Crap, would I be able to get back into the House of Unmentionables?
“Classes start tonight after dinner,” Rory said, jolting me out of my worries. “Your schedule is with your bag. Do not be late for classes. Weekly games are Fridays. Do not engage with the other houses until the games.”
Games. “Wait, what games?”
Gen glanced back at me. Because yes, I had taken the rear position again. I noted that Rory had made sure Gen was between us, the two of us protecting the perceived weakest of the group. “Once a week we’ll be pitting our skills against teams from the other houses.”
“Let me guess, House of Wonder takes the prize every month in the games?” I asked with as little sarcasm as I could muster.
Rory’s shoulders tightened. Apparently I wasn’t so good at keeping the sarcasm meter low. “Occasionally the House of Night takes it if they have a strong enough necromancer.”
I sighed. “Why not have mixed teams then, like they did in the Culling Trials?”
“Because it isn’t about fairness, Wild, or even survival,” Rory said. “It’s about being cohesive with your own kind, about learning to work within your house and use your skills to their fullest expression.”
“Sounds stupid,” I muttered.
Gen cleared her throat. “I agree with Wild. I think we should be allowed to work with whoever wants to be on our team.”
We reached the end of the dim tunnel, which opened into a circular room that didn’t look all that different from the main room in the wing for the House of Unmentionables. Mind you, it was bigger and there were some of the students standing around talking. There were a few chairs and a large fireplace off to one side. A couple of creature comforts. Creature being the key word there, seeing as the chairs looked stiff enough to make you prefer standing to sitting. Not one of said chairs had an occupant, despite the other students milling about.
Rory turned and looked at Gen and me. “You can ask whoever you want to be on your team, but the reality is . . . everyone is playing for themselves. The games account for forty percent of your overall grades. You can’t get good grades if your team loses, and if your grades drop below fifty percent, you will be immediately expelled.”
In other words, the system was rigged so House of Wonder would come out on top. Again. And the House of Unmentionables, of course, would sink to the bottom, making it easier for the students to get booted. Or maybe turned into servants like Gregory said? Was that maybe the plan all along? I wondered how it had happened to the white gargoyles.
“What a crock of shit,” I said, not bothering to keep my voice low. “Rory, that’s a crock of shit so big it could feed a town, and you know it.”
He threw his hands in the air. “Of course I know it! You think that I don’t know the entire system is rigged to keep the magic users at the top? We all know it, Wild. Don’t think you can change it because you and your crew did well in the trials. That required a different kind of survival. I had friends in other houses too during the trials, but they disappeared as soon as we broke into our separate houses.” He was shouting, and every kid from the House of Shade was watching us. Well, if they wanted a show, I’d give them one.
“Well, maybe that’s the problem then. Everyone just gives up because they’re told to give up,” I shouted back. “Which is—and I repeat—a crock. Of. Shit.”
His green eyes were wild with emotions I couldn’t quite pin down, even when he closed the distance between us so we were almost nose to nose. “You will get yourself killed if you go down this path, Wild. You want to follow in Tommy’s footsteps that badly? You want to do that to your family? Make your dad go through losing another kid?”
I blinked and took a step back as if he’d slapped me. “What does this have to do with Tommy?”
He shook his head and looked away as a whoosh of air escaped him. “Nothing.” That sounded like a big fat lie to me. “Everyone, go to your rooms.” No one moved, and he swung his gaze over the group. “NOW!”