“Nothing I don’t already know.” But for just a moment, I wonder if I’m wrong. Maybe Bram was trying to tell me something else. But then I push the thought away. I can’t keep stoking the fires of false hope. We’re not meant to be.

Not in this reality.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The workshop is louder than usual. I assumed Norah had summoned only our team, but it appears every apprentice at Ivory Hall is here. And they’re all talking at once. The air hums with anxious conversation—worry and speculation and excitement blend together to create a low roar that makes my head ache.

Norah steps onto the amphitheater stage. “Take your seats, please.” She speaks into a bone-carved trumpet that amplifies her voice across the workshop. The chatter dulls as we all file into our color-coded sections.

A sorrowful feeling steals over me as I sit on one of the red-painted benches reserved for Bone Charmers. I’ve grown accustomed to being with my team, and I feel their loss sharply. Regret knots inside me. I should have never let myself grow so attached. My connection to them has made me more vulnerable. It’s so much easier to lose something you never expected you’d care about than to lose it after hope has taken root.

My eyes slide to Bram.

Norah claps her hands and the room falls silent.

“Congratulations, apprentices. You’ve nearly made it to the end of the term, and now the final bone game is upon us. This one will be a bit different from the others.”

Norah paces from one end of the stage to the other as she speaks. Every pair of eyes in the room is glued to her. “Up until now, each of the challenges has been custom-designed to test your team’s strengths and reveal your weaknesses. But in real-life situations, this won’t be the case. Difficulties will arrive without respect to your readiness or your skill. So, for your final bone game, we have replicated real-life scenarios that actual town councils have faced. Each group will receive the name of someone who has broken the law, and your task will be to find the clues you need to locate and apprehend the criminal.” She smiles. “We will use actors, of course, but the details of each case will unfold precisely as they did then—with each team acting as an independent town council.”

It sounds similar to our first bone challenge, except this time instead of convicting a criminal, we have to catch one. But for the other teams, who only had to contend with obstacle courses and puzzles, it will be much harder.

“But this time,” Norah continues, “the stakes are higher. The first team who solves their challenge will have their choice of assignments at the completion of their apprenticeship.”