The Reach Between Worlds (The Arclight Saga, Book 1) (28 page)

The Edges of the World

When Taro heard footsteps in the nearby grass, he didn’t think much of it. These days the Magisterium courtyard was full of artificers studying and the ash tree he leaned against was a popular spot. When he heard the Sun King’s voice, he almost dropped his textbook.

“May I sit?” the Sun King said.

“Your Majesty. Of course.”

The Sun King looked rather out of place sitting cross-legged. Somehow he’d managed to slip away from his bodyguards, though Taro got the impression that this was quite a common occurrence.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” the Sun King said. “Your family should be arriving within the hour.”

Taro folded the page of his textbook and set it aside. “I figured this is one place they won’t be able to find me.”

“You don’t want to see them?”

“I do. More than anything. But explaining to them what happened to Nima is... well, it’s not going to be easy.”

The Sun King pressed his back against the tree and fished something from his pocket. “That's what brings me here. I wanted to deliver this news personally.”

The Sun King brought out a piece of paper that Taro instantly recognized as one of Mr. Mathan’s two-way parchment. “We recovered this from what was left of Victor Mathan.”

“Why didn’t you show it to me sooner?”

“It was blank when they found it. Yesterday, however, a single line of writing appeared on it.”

Taro unfolded the parchment. Scrawled across it, in Nima’s unmistakable handwriting, were two words:
Help me
.

In that instant, Taro knew only two things: that she was out there somewhere, and that he was going to find her.