“That was actually kind of satisfying,” Talon says as we gather the bones and take them to the far wall. I know what he means. I don’t have the sick pit in my stomach I did at Jensen’s trial. Solving a riddle is a relief compared to the last challenge. I place the atlas in the first space. Niklas drops the axis in the second, and then we arrange the bones in descending order just as they would sit in the spine.

But the door stays closed. We’re pressed shoulder to shoulder. Closer than we were a few moments ago. A wave a dizziness washes over me.

We try putting the bones in reverse order. Still nothing.

The color drains from Jacey’s face.

Niklas curses and slams the side of the wall with his fist. “I was sure that was it.”

“We all were,” Tessa says. She sinks to the floor. “What now?”

The room is sweltering. Sticky. The thought no sooner goes through my mind, when Jacey takes off her purple cloak.

“It’s hot in here,” she says.

Talon tugs at his collar. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

Tessa and I exchange a look. The increased temperature isn’t an accident. We need to solve this, and soon.

“I still think the bones are the answer,” I say. “They wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

“Or they’re trying to lead us astray,” Niklas says.

“They don’t want us to fail,” Tessa says, and I wish I shared her optimism. “Is there another way we could use them? There’s nothing here to heal or mix or break. Saskia, maybe you’re supposed to do a reading?”

I shake my head. “The bones aren’t prepared for magic, and besides, they didn’t leave us the appropriate supplies to use them for our specialties.” I don’t have a basin or flint or a cloth. Jacey doesn’t have a mortar and pestle. “There must be another set of bones that make sense in the lock.”

“Maybe seven sets of the same bone?” Bram asks.

We scatter and start searching through baskets. We try seven scaphoids, seven lunates, seven capitates. But nothing works.

My hair is wet and plastered to my forehead. A bead of sweat drips down my spine. The air has only gotten warmer and more stifling.

“We’re going to die in here,” Niklas says dryly.

Tessa shoots him a sharp look and then jerks her head toward Jacey, who sits against the wall, her head between her knees. “Not helpful.”

My shoulders ache. I roll my head slowly from side to side. Then I stretch out my legs and draw an invisible circle in the air with my toes. My ankles crack and I freeze.

“What’s wrong?” Bram asks.

“The cervical vertebrae aren’t the only set of bones that come in seven.”