“Please,” I say, and my voice comes out strained, “let’s just finish the challenge.” My teammates stare at me, wordless. For a moment, I worry they might push me to reveal more than I want to. And if they push me right now, I might shatter. My soul feels as tender as a fresh burn.

A slow, silent beat passes. And then finally Bram stands and scrubs at his eyes with the heels of his hands. “I agree with Saskia. Let’s finish this and go home.”

His words hit me at an odd angle. Home. He must mean Ivory Hall, but a pulse of longing for Midwood goes through me that snatches the breath from my lungs. I want to go home. I want my mother so much that it hurts.

I have to focus.

We examine the items on the table.

They seem straightforward—the femur of a raven, carving tools, a handful of smaller bones. And at least the temperature is normal.

Niklas picks up the femur. “This one is obviously prepared for me,” he says, and then inclines his head toward Talon. “I’m guessing I’m supposed to carve a flute for you.”

“There must be a raven outside that I need to control,” Talon says.

“Do you think it’s hurt?” Tessa asks.

Talon cocks his head to one side. “Why would it be hurt?”

Tessa scoops up the small bones in her palm. “These are prepared for healing. I’m trying to figure out why we’d need them.”

“I guess it’s possible,” Talon says.

“Maybe we should start with what we know for sure,” Bram says. “Niklas, how long will it take you to carve a bone flute?”

“It’s a small one, so I should be able to do it in a few hours.”

Jacey groans. “Hours? I was really hoping you could have it done faster.”

I bite my lip and pace back and forth. “It doesn’t have to be fancy. It just needs to work.”

A muscle jumps in his jaw. “Have you ever met a Mason? I can’t just snap my fingers and magic the thing into existence. Carving takes time.”

Niklas sits at the table and begins to work. The knife moves deftly in his hands, bone dust drifting on the tabletop like snow as he whittles. The rest of us explore the room, hoping for some other clue of how to escape, but it seems we can’t do anything else until the bone flute is finished.