The first week in Crystalia was a blur of silver-clad doctors and silent tutors. Every morning, Leo and Liam were taken from me, led down into the sub-levels of the Spire for what Malakai called “calibration.” Every evening, they were returned to me, exhausted and unnervingly quiet, their golden-silver eyes reflecting a weariness that broke my heart.
“What do they do to you down there?” I asked Leo one evening as I tucked him into his furs.
He didn’t look at me. He stared at the ceiling, his fingers tracing a small, circular scar on his wrist that hadn’t been there the day before. “They make us move things, Mama. They make us freeze the water in the tanks until it turns to diamonds. And they... they want us to talk to the voices.”
“Voices?” I sat up, my heart hammering. “What voices, Le
