They spent the train ride back to the Lower City in silence.
Devvyn rolled the broken pieces of the Locator in his palms. He would try fixing it if he had a screwdriver and some bolts and nuts, but it wouldn't make a difference. He flicked a piece of gemstone. The gemstones were crushed, and they were the most expensive piece of the Locator. He couldn't afford to replace them, and Maelis would notice if he took from her current stash. That's if she hadn't already figured he stole the Locator. He thought.
He groaned in defeat and rested his head against the window. No way he wanted to put it, Maelis was going to skin him alive.
Outside the window, Eternis went by, fast. The train ran on tracks along a hillside overlooking the city, offering Devvyn a sweeping view of its beauty. Cobbled streets wound between vibrant marketplaces. Tall houses with spires of glass and steel touched the evening clouds. Towering cedar trees with golden leaves swayed in the breeze, and fields of wildflowers stretched out in waves. Devvyn would give anything to live down there. The Lower City didn't have a quarter of Sinai's lush.
A golden hue fell over the city as it got darker.
"I wish we had that," Aela said, quiet as a mouse.
Devvyn followed her gaze. She was staring at Eternis's main grid—its large crystal was lit up, pulsing with golden electricity. During the day, all of Sinai was powered by the sun, but once the sun went down, the train stations, Eternis, and the Golden Fields shifted to their mana-powered grid while the Lower relied on rechargeable bulbs, lanterns, and torches.
"We will. One day." Devvyn said. But he wasn't sure. He was no longer sure about anything. It was as though Sinai wanted him and his friends to remain in its lowest depths. He was trying his best to swim against the waves, but the current kept pulling him back and pulling. Sometimes, Devvyn wanted to give in. Maybe a job in the crystal mines wouldn't be so bad.
Eternis disappeared as the train barreled forward into a yawning underground tunnel leading to the Lower City. The world outside plunged into darkness, the glass reflecting only the dim glow of the carriage lamps and Devvyn's tired face.
In the darkness, Devvyn listened to everyone in the cabin breathing and snoring. Jelric's was the loudest. He was in the seat opposite, his leg propped up on a bag someone had kindly volunteered. His pain had gotten unbearable after they had walked all the way to the train station. He slept off immediately after the train moved.
Devvyn felt the train's smooth movement lulling him to sleep, too, but his brain was too awake, flooded with thoughts. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and the worn leather poked him in multiple places. He was sure what exactly was bothering him. The Locator? The competition? He had to let that go. He would apologize to Maelis, fix the Locator himself, somehow, and find another way to get the Echo.
He couldn't give up now, not when the dreams in his head were grander than anything the Lower City had to offer. "I'll figure this out." He whispered to himself.
Aela heard. "What?" She asked.
"Nothing. Just thinking out loud."
"You should rest, Devvyn. Your leg might not be busted up like Jelric's, but I saw your wrist. It's swollen." Aela yawned, her voice sleepy.
Devvyn raised his right hand and put it down. It was still dark on the train. Now that Aela mentioned it, he realized his wrist hurt. He touched it and winced. He faintly remembered hitting it on the cobblestone when the guard tripped him. "I'll take care of it at home."
"Hmm. Okay." Aela yawned again. "Wake me up when we're at the first station."
"Gotcha," Devvyn said as he put the Locator's pieces back in the satchel.
When he was sure Aela was in deep sleep, he shifted his attention to the boy in the opposite seat. "What do you want?" The boy had been watching them since they entered the train, and followed them from the square even. Devvyn's hairs stood raised at the back of his neck, so he was sure the boy was still watching.
Silence. The figure didn't move or speak, just watched him with eyes Devvyn couldn't quite make out. The air felt heavier, pressing down on his lungs. What if it was one of the Unbound? Devvyn's mind raced. No. The boy was too young. Younger than him.
"I have a knife with me," Devvyn warned, the lie slipping off his tongue easily.
The boy spoke then. "I…I don't mean any harm…I saw you…What you did. It was very brave…I just wanted to say that." His voice was shaky, unthreatening.
"Oh." Devvyn relaxed.
"Yeah. Er. I'm Novius. You probably don't know me, but I was a class below you in school…before you graduated."
"Novius," Devvyn repeated, testing the name on his tongue. It didn't ring a bell. "Graduating from school soon, right?"
"Yes. Just a few more months."
"Congratulations," Devvyn said. A smile tugged at his lips as he remembered his graduation, where he and Jelric had fixed a trapdoor on the stage with a big bath of pig blood under for Oryn Voss, the arrogant loudmouth valedictorian in their year, but Headmaster Rhanes had fallen into it instead.
"Thank you," Novius said. "I…I plan to enter The Gauntlet Trials next year."
Devvyn was tired of the conversation already. So he simply grunted. Novius took the hint, and they fell into an awkward silence.
The Gauntlet Trials. Devvyn rolled the idea around in his mind before discarding it just as quickly. After basic education at the public school, the only path to advanced learning and possibly a better life was through the Golden Academy—and for people like him, the only way in was by winning The Gauntlet Trials.
He'd thought about it once. More than once. Back when he, Aela and Jelric would sneak out of class to Eternis to spy Golden Academy students passing through the streets in their sleek uniforms, the silver crest of the Academy glinting on their shoulders. The Academy paid its students' allowances. He could easily buy a one or two Lux Echo after a year if he saved well enough. But he had attended one Gauntlet trial and immediately thrown the idea away.
People died in those trials. Brutally.
Devvyn rather liked being alive.
Finally, the train emerged from the tunnel. Devvyn blinked rapidly as golden light flooded his eyes. They'd gotten to the Lower City. The train eased to a halt with a shudder at the first station, and doors slid open with a hiss. Passengers stirred, stretching stiff limbs and collecting their belongings.
Novius stood. "That's me." He said, smiling. He hesitated, then extended a hand. "I'll see you around?"
"Sure." Devvyn took his hand.
The noise of people moving woke Aela. She blinked awake, rubbing her eyes, and looked around, disoriented. "Who was that?"
"Random guy from school."
"What did he want?"
"Nothing really. Just saying hello."
Jelric groaned, cracking his neck before wiping drool off his chin with the back of his hand. "We here already?" He mumbled. Aela went to help him adjust his foot so he could look outside.
"Nope. First stop," Devvyn replied, pushing himself to his feet. He peered out the window.
Passengers poured out of the train and jumped into the arms of waiting family. Amid their laughter and relieved smiles, there was a noticeable tension—guards, stationed at every exit and along the platform edges. Their eyes scanned the crowds with sharp precision, hands resting on the hilts of their swords.
The Commander had ordered a blockade after the attack at the festival, halting all incoming travel until the dust settled. But Devvyn hadn't expected to see people waiting at the station. If news had traveled this fast, then surely Maelis had heard by now. He imagined her pacing at the second station, like she did when stressed, wearing her shoes out. He began forming an apology in his head.
Near the far end of the platform, a young woman stood alone, eyes scanning the crowd with growing desperation. She rocked back and forth on her heels. And she wasn't the only one. Devvyn looked away, wondering how many people had died in the attack and if he knew anyone.
"What do we tell Maelis?" Aela asked, "About the Locator?"
"The truth," Devvyn said. He was too tired to think of anything else.
"We're doomed," Jelric added.
The train moved and brought them to the second station five minutes later. It had never made sense to Devvyn that they had two stations so close in distance.
They waited for everyone in their cabin to get out so Jelric wouldn't have to struggle with the crowd. When the last of the passengers had shuffled out, Devvyn helped Jelric to his feet, and the three of them made their way down the narrow aisle, stepping onto the platform just as the whistle blew.
The Lower City's Station 2 was a relic from another era, with cracked cobblestones and rusted iron beams that groaned from age. The paint on the sign overhead had long since peeled away, leaving only faint traces of its name. Station 2. It didn't even have a proper name like the one in Eternis.
Directly under the sign, Maelis paced in tight circles, exactly as he'd predicted. Jelric's dad stood beside her.
The moment she spotted them, she stopped dead, her face crumpled, like squeezed parchment paper, into a storm of relief and frustration that Devvyn knew all too well. In three quick strides, she closed the distance between them, her eyes running over Devvyn's body, checking to see if he was hurt. She stopped at the patch of blood that stained his boots.
"It's not mine," Devvyn said quickly.
Her face flooded with relief.
She went to Aela and then Jelric, inspecting them, too. He saw her hands twitch and knew her well enough to know that she wanted to hug all of them, but she wouldn't. Once Devvyn turned eight and started asking about Echos and bonding, Maelis became…different.
"Good evening, Mrs Arkwright." Aela and Jelric said in unison. She didn't return their greeting or tell them to call her Maelis as she always did, because being called Mrs Arkwright made her remember she was old.
Anger lurked beneath her relief.
"You're safe." Jelric's dad came and wrapped him in an iron-tight hug.
"No thanks to you." Jelric snapped, shocking everyone. "Sorry, I'm tired and in a lot of pain." He apologized.
His dad nodded stiffly. "Let's go."
They said goodnight to Jelric and his dad. Devvyn couldn't help but notice something was off between them, but he had Maelis's disappointment to deal with for now, so he tossed it aside.
"Where's the Locator?" she asked once Jelric and his dad were outside hearing distance.
Devvyn removed the satchel and gave it to her. She opened it and peered inside.
"Grandmother, I–" Devvyn's apology began to tumble out of him.
"Not a word, Devvyn Arkwright. Nothing till we get home." She hissed.
