It had been twenty-five sun jumps since the massacre. How much longer would the priestess keep them here? “How do you know they’re Arch Deacons?” Shyla asked. “By their clothes?” Deacons wore oversized green robes, but Arch Deacons wore green tunics and pants. They were the priestess’s elite fighting unit.

“Nah, they’re waiting in the pitch dark. By their stench.” Mojag seemed to think that was all the explanation required.

“Arch Deacons attend a special blessing ceremony every sun jump,” Jayden said. “The Heliacal Priestess lights an incense that smells like burnt hair.”

“It’s awful,” Mojag added.

“Then let’s avoid them and go another way to twenty-four,” Jayden said, leading them toward a different tunnel.

They followed Jayden through a series of tunnels, up a set of stairs, and down a spiraling ramp.

“Is all this necessary?” she asked. Shyla remembered when he took her to the Invisible Sword’s headquarters the first time. She’d suspected he tried to get her lost so she wouldn’t be able to find the place again.

“Yes. All the routes to reach the hidden entrances are complex. We couldn’t be invisible if anyone could accidentally find it.” He glared at Mojag, no doubt remembering Mojag’s earlier comment.

The boy ignored him. Shyla considered. If Mojag was able to follow Jayden without alerting him, did that mean Mojag blocked magic like those torques? No. Shyla had been able to read Mojag’s surface emotions. There must be another reason. Perhaps Jayden put too much faith in the confusing tunnels and wasn’t as vigilant as he should have been. Too bad Shyla had promised not to read Jayden’s soul. Not without a good reason.

Eventually they arrived at a dead end. Or rather what appeared to be a solid wall. Jayden ran his fingertips along an almost invisible seam until he reached a slight depression in the stone which he pressed with the pad of his thumb. Strange that Shyla noticed it now when the last time she’d been at one of these not-doors, the opening mechanism wasn’t visible. Was it due to the power of The Eyes? It could be she wasn’t as distracted. Back then she had just determined the Invisible Sword had tricked her into helping them, which had ruined her prior—trouble-free—life.

The not-door swung open. A musty scent mixed with an acrid odor wafted out. No burnt hair smell or the putrid stink of decomposition. Yet. Shyla worried that the priestess hadn’t taken proper care of the bodies. When someone died, the body was wrapped in cloth and taken to level one to shrivel. Once baked until no moisture remained, it was buried in a massive sand graveyard. If not dried prior to burial, surface predators like the sand demons would dig up the body for a snack.