I'M THE ONLY student standing, and the other students gape at me in shock. Somehow the wind came from me. It blew Max thirty feet across the room. I'm terrified of what I did, but a little proud. He deserved it.
My arms fall to my sides, and Sarai is there.
"Cipher, Cipher," she is saying.
Her eyes are deep pools. My breathing slows.
"You must learn to control this," Sarai says, a hint of a smile in her eyes. "I asked you to get the paper, not to blow another student across the room."
She turns to face the others, her back to me, protecting me. "We must stay united. Our power must be used against the others in the Scouring. So why do you provoke each other?"
No one responds. Max is hugging his knees, on the far side of the room.
Sarai walks to the small table at the front of the room where she had left the piece of paper. She kneels down and picks up the paper from the floor. Maybe the wind blew it off the table. Maybe I did it.
Sarai returns and hands me the paper. It's an envelope.
"Lead them to lunch," she says. "Read it there."
The envelope weighs down my arm like an anvil in my hand. The other kids stare at it, or at me, looking scared.
Kiyo comes to my side. She doesn't look scared. "I'll show you the way."
She takes my hand and guides me out of the hall. The rest of the class follows, murmuring behind us.
"Thank you," Kiyo whispers, "for what you did. I've been wanting to do that for a long time."
We descend through the tower on the spiral pathway. Kiyo and I walk in the front. Max stays at the back of our group. Whenever I glance at him, he looks away. One day into this place and already I have an enemy.
While we're walking I try moving the air again. I look down at the envelope and concentrate on making wind blow at it, just to shake it a little. I visualize it blowing out of my hand and whirling to the floor.
Nothing happens.
Was it my anger that did it before? I don't have anything against the envelope, not like I had against Max. Trying to feel angry again doesn't work. But Sarai said I could learn to control this...
The air starts to grow damper, like we're underground. I figure we're near the bottom of the tower, near the cavern where I appeared, treading water, without a single memory.
"How much farther?" I ask Kiyo.
"We're close. You should lead the way in, like Sarai said."
"Then what?"
"Just go in and find an empty table for us." Kiyo glances back at the others. They're watching us, listening to every word. "Make sure the table fits twelve."
Kiyo stops us in front of a huge set of open doors. They were not open when I passed them before. She nods ahead, and I lead the way through.
As I step inside, my feet freeze in place. The room is even more spectacular than the classroom far above. The walls are crystal clear glass, as are the floor and ceiling.
We're completely underwater.
YOU ARE READING
The Blue Tower
FantasíaFIVE TOWERS. FIVE COLORS. ONLY ONE WAY OUT. Cipher wakes up in the Blue Tower with no memories of his former life. He discovers that he is not alone. Dozens of boys and girls must compete in a battle called the Scouring against four other towers: Re...
