Emily slept on the bed provided by the academy. It was soft and comfortable, dressed in satin sheets and separated from the rest of the room by a thin white curtain. Her sleep was deep and dreamless, which she hadn't experienced almost since her great-grandfather's tone had come into her possession, and she was glad for it. She hadn't slept this well since she'd been unwittingly and unwillingly thrust into a political military mess on another world. But the past few months had conditioned her to sleep with one ear and one eye open in case of danger, which she'd learned often came when she least expected it.

This was one of those times.

Emily jolted awake as her sixth sense alerted her to a presence other than her own and those of her mother and brother. A tiny burst of adrenaline shot through her body, an autonomic response to a possible threat that geared up the fight-or-flight reflex. She knew how her family's presence felt, could almost see the auras they emitted, a gentle orange that reminded her of the edge of a campfire's flame, warm and welcome and comforting. These were anything but. These felt secretive and mysterious, neither of which she liked in a place she didn't know. She slid off the bed.

"Mom?" The only answer was a moaning breeze that wafted through the open balcony door and made the curtains flutter. "Navin?" This wasn't right. They'd both been here just a few hours ago, but now even their beds were gone. They had little reason to go anywhere else, even elsewhere inside the academy building. The structure was huge and would take at least a week to completely explore. Add to that the armed guards just outside the living space doors and the quarters they'd been provided with began to feel a lot more like a lavish prison block than a student Stonekeeper's private area.

Suddenly she saw a silhouette through the waving curtains, dark and ominous, a face less intruder who didn't answer to her demands for identification. Even when the figure stepped into full view, its face was covered with a segmented mask, more like an armored shell than a simple means to hide itself. She set herself in a defensive posture, ready to fight if she had to. Then a gloved hand gripped her wrist.

She whipped around to see the tall, gray-haired man whom Max had called Duncan standing there. His face was a stone mask that barely hinted at malicious intent and his eyes glowed an unnatural bright blue. "What are you doing?"

"You will come with us." It was more an order than a suggestion.

"What have you done with my family?" she demanded.

"You have been summoned by the Council. Your uniform is on your bed. Please get dressed." He said this in a tone that was almost polite, and it made her that much more nervous. She hadn't felt particularly warm and fuzzy about him before, but now he seemed more like a cactus dressed in barbed wire.

"Let go of my arm!" Duncan did, but his face didn't change. Emily looked back and forth between him and his underlings, and decided she didn't have much choice. She slipped into the proffered uniform. The minute she'd finished getting it comfortable, before she could process what was happening, steel manacles were snapped around her wrists. "What are you doing? What's this about?"

"You asked to be taken to see the Guardian Council. Now you'll get our wish."

"Yeah," Emily shot back. "To the Council, not a jury! Take these off!"

Duncan didn't answer beyond signaling his men, who grabbed Emily by her shoulders and pushed her along in front of them.

Needless to say, Emily was angry. She'd asked to be taken to the Council and been all but ordered to put on a suit she'd never seen before, then slapped in a pair of manacles. This Duncan fellow and his buddies certainly weren't scoring any points with her like this. Fortunately, he'd been just vague enough to spark her curiosity. She could only assume they were taking her to see her family, and that these people somehow saw her as a threat. They needn't have worried, unless they'd done something to her mother and brother. Then they'd have plenty of reason to be worried.

They walked her down a long hallway in the academy before exiting in a large open space filled with ornamental trees and flowering plants. There was no roof and the starry night sky shone down in all its glory. "Welcome to the Garden of the Keepers," Duncan said. "This will be the nexus for the Council's series of tests. You'll meet your fellow students here."

Emily didn't speak as one of Duncan's minions unclipped the manacles from her wrists. She glared at the masked figure. The empty eye slits of its mask seemed to glare right back.

"That Council will be with you shortly. Good luck." Duncan said the last over his shoulder and didn't sound at all like he meant it. He walked through the door after his fellows, which slid shut with a deep metallic boom behind him, and the garden was left in silence.

Left with no other option, Emily began to explore the garden. At first she saw only plants and some waterbirds swimming in a small pond fed by a burbling waterfall. Insects wove through the flowering plants, flitting between their blooms. Some of the flowers were unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Some were spellbinding, emitting alluring glows or beautiful but haunting musical notes; other seemed to be literally alive. Of the latter, some lipped gently at her hands or kissed her fingers as she passed while others seemed to follow her with predatory attention. She avoided those.

As she got deeper into the garden, she saw some features that were much more ominous. Namely, statues. Statues with detail too fine to have been carved by human hands, almost like the figures they represented were frozen were they'd stood. "Such strange statues." She came around one and saw a familiar male figure sitting at the base of a tree, his knees drawn to his chest and his face in his arms. He seemed distressed. Then she recognized him. "Max." She approached him. "Max, what's going on here? Where'd they take my family?"

He didn't respond right away, but when he did, his voice was small and broken. "I'm so sorry, Emily."

This caught her off guard. "Sorry? What for?"

"For lying to you. Just like he lied to us," answered another voice. She turned to see another young man coming out of the trees, cracking his knuckles and glaring lethal daggers at Max. "Can't you see? He's led us into a trap!"

Max's head shot up indignantly. "The Council promised me no one would get hurt! They're the ones who lied!"

But the other boy was having none of it. He stomped up to Max and grabbed his arm. "I should seriously kill you right now, Griffin!"

"Stop!" Yet another new voice, this one female, interrupted him. "You don't want blood on your hands, Pierce. Leave him alone."

The dark boy, Pierce, looked angrily at the girl. "You know this creep deserves it, Ronin!"

"Maybe so," Ronin agreed, "but we should let the Void determine his fate."

Pierce turned his angry gaze back on Max. "You're going to get what's coming to you, Griffin," he promised. "Maybe not now, but you will get it."

Ronin turned to look at Emily. "And you must be the new kid," she said, not unkindly.

Emily nodded in affirmation. "My name's Emily. Emily Hayes."

"Pleased to meet you, Emily. I'm Ronin Larsen, and this hothead here is Pierce Bowers."

"Hey," said Pierce in greeting. "So what did Max tell you? That you're the 'chosen one' here to save Cielis from a terrible fate? 'Cause that's what he told the rest of us."

Emily shook her head. "Just that I would be tested."

"And did he tell you about the consequences of failing these tests?" Pierce asked, his words heavy. "You don't just get to walk away, Emily. Stonekeepers are brought here to die."

"Stop scaring her, Pierce," Ronin admonished.

"I'm not scared," Emily said. "I want to know everything." Pierce and Ronin looked at her. "How many other Stonekeepers are here with us?"

Ronin sighed. It sounded almost sad. "When the tests began, there were at least thirty of us. Now there is only a handful left."

"What happened to the other?"

"Did you happen to notice the pretty statues?" Pierce asked, but his words lacked either sarcasm or humor.

"When you died in the Void," Ronin said, "you get turned to stone."

"The Void?" asked Emily. Before she could get an answer, an unearthly cry emitted by multiple voices shrieked through the garden, so powerful that leaves rustled and branches swayed. "What is that?"

"The Council," Ronin told her. "The tests are about to begin. We need to meet in the center of the garden. Follow us."

Emily looked at Max. "You coming?"

He staggered to his feet. "Yeah, I'm right behind you."

Emily nodded and resumed her previous query. "Ronin, what is the Void?"

"The Void," Ronin explained, "is a simulation. It's a virtual space where the Council sends us to be tested. This week's tests are to be the final ones. Whoever survives them will join the Council."

"Oh, no," Pierce muttered. Two tall figures, one bald and one with shaggy brown hair, stood nearby, chatting amiably like they were at no risk whatsoever. "Look who's still here."

They turned to the approaching group and smiled arrogantly. "Pierce!" the bald one said. "Glad you're still with us! We'd figured you were toast! Sorry your buddy bit the dust, by the way. But he wasn't strong enough to be here from the beginning."

Pierce's face contorted angrily. "James was my best friend," he said hotly.

The bald one scoffed and grinned nastily. "What part of 'survival of the fittest' don't you understand?"

Pierce shoved his face into the bald one's. "I hope you realize that there's no way I'm letting you get through this unscathed!"

"Pierce," Ronin said in warning.

"I know, I know," Pierce conceded. "Save it for the Void."

"Isn't this a last-man-standing kind of deal?" asked the bald one. "Ronin can be the last one standing with me."

Ronin's eyes flashed in angry disgust. "Find me in the Void," she challenged, "and we'll see who's the last one standing."

The implication of her words caught Emily by surprise. "We fight each other?" she asked, alarmed.

"We do whatever it takes to survive," Ronin told her.

"Who invited the little traitor along?" asked the bald guy, grabbing Max by his shoulders. "For that matter, why is he still alive?"

"It would appear the Council abandoned him," said his friend.

Baldy grinned threateningly at Max. "You hear that, shrimp? Nobody wants you on their side. That means the moment you step into the Void, you're as good as stone."

Another bloodcurdling cry rent the air. "Here they come!" said Ronin.

A large disc appeared out of nowhere and hovered several yards above the group. Four caped and crowned figure stood on it, looking down at the pupils. "Stonekeepers," one of the said in a booming voice. "Welcome to you final days of testing. Your abilities have brought you this far, but it will take more than raw talent to succeed at the academy. It will also require sacrifice and determination to succeed at any cost. Show us weakness or mercy, and you will find a permanent place in the Garden of the Keepers. Show us your strength, and we will make you a god. Good luck, keepers."

In a flash of light, they disappeared, and wind began to rush past.

"What's happening?" Emily shouted over the gale.

"We're entering the Void!" Ronin told her. "Just hold tight!" She and the other candidates splintered apart and disappeared.

Emily felt something funny, a slight tingling sensation that rapidly intensified into a searing pain as she also splintered apart and vanished from the world she knew.

The pain stopped as suddenly as it began. After giving herself a once-over to make sure she was still intact and had all her pieces, she looked around. No longer was she in the Garden of the Keepers, but an immense cavern. Huge stone columns supported the ceiling high above and bits of glowing rock hovered motionless above stalagmites that also glowed. She recalled the shape of the chunk of land that must have been taken with Cielis when the city was lifted from the earth, and reasoned that this cavern was somewhere inside it.

"Pst!" An urgent sound broke through her thoughts and caught her attention. "Emily! Over here!"

She turned to see a figure with black hair styled into a flame waving urgently at her. "Max?"

Max grimaced and made frantic shushing motions. "Keep it down and come over here," he whispered.

Emily approached him. "Max, what's going on?" she asked.

"Get back here and get down!" he told her, motioning for her to hurry.

Emily did as she was bidden and hurriedly crouched beside Max. "What are we hiding from?" she whispered. Max held up a hand, signaling her to be quiet. She saw him shudder, and wondered what could possibly have him so jumpy. A strange noise reached them, a sound like a rasping purr, then the thing making it crawled into view and she understood.

The creature was humanoid in general appearance, with a slender body and taught muscles, but looked severely undernourished and was obviously not human. It had long limbs that seemed to stretch as it crawled by with extremities that ended in sharp claws. Knobby bumps sprouted from its spine and ran from its shoulders to its bony, segmented tail. Its head was sharp and angular in the general shape of half a heart with small pointed ears, twin eyes that glowed a ghostly bluish-white but appeared to be blind and a mouth full of teeth that looked sharp enough to rend bone.

The creature paused and looked in their direction, seeming to sense that there was something nearby, and they huddled lower in their hiding place. But it made no effort to investigate, and simply hissed before it turned and crept off into the darkness.

Only when it was out of sight did they release the breaths they'd been holding. "I think it's gone now," Max said.

Emily shivered. "What was that thing?" she asked.

"A groul," he told her. "They were used by the old Council to guard their most valuable treasures. I hadn't realized they still existed."

"What are they guarding here?"

"That's a good question. I don't know."

Emily looked around to make sure there weren't any other ugly surprises lurking in the dark, waiting to pounce. Satisfied that they were safe for the moment, she said, "Let's not hang around for it to come back. We better find the others."

"I'd rather not, if you know what I mean." Max sounded nervous.

Emily turned to face him. "No, I don't know. And why do they have it out for you?"

Max looked dismayed. "I guess," he said slowly, "I didn't tell them the whole truth. I didn't tell them what it would be like."

"What were they expecting? A normal school?"

"I'm not sure what they were expecting, but it doesn't matter now. Not everyone's as resilient as you are, Emily; they aren't willing to face difficult challenges. That's what makes you special."

"Well, the one thing I've learned about difficult challenges is that you don't want to face them alone. We're going to need the others' help whether you like it or not," she said, then added in a requesting tone, "And don't flatter me. It makes me feel weird."

They continued on through the cavern. The whole place was very ominous: Vast areas of overwhelming darkness with only the eerie glow of luminescent rocks for any kind of reference or even somewhere to go. They climbed through a shallow trough cut into the rock by some ancient flow of water toward a glow that reminded Emily of city lights in the distance, and they deduced that it must be a way out. They moved quickly but carefully, keeping a watchful eye on the shadows—one or more of those grouls could be watching them right now.

"Ow." Max's spoke more out of surprise than pain, and they stopped.

Emily turned around. "What happened?"

He looked at her, his face a mask of confused pain. "I cut myself."

"Are you okay?"

He nodded. "I'm fine, but you're not supposed to bleed in the Void."

Emily looked at him blankly for an instant before remembering that Ronin had said that the Void was a simulation, a state of virtual reality where everything felt real, but wasn't. Except for the result of failure. "Maybe it's a part of the test?" she suggested.

"No," Max said definitively. "That's not supposed to happen. Something's not right." They went on for a short while before Max spoke again. "Wait a minute. I know this place." He looked around. "I've been here before; I'm sure of it."

Emily turned to ask him when he'd been here before and what he recognized, but the sound of a discharge of magic stopped her and she was climbing up a short stone cliff before he could tell her to stop. "Walk away, Zaren!" Max follower her up. They peeked over the top and saw Ronin and Pierce standing several yards away from the other two she'd met in the garden. Zaren was apparently the one with his stone active in his uniform's collar.

Apparently, it was Pierce they'd heard. "You don't have to do this," the dark boy said. "We can both live to fight a little longer. Just walk away."

Zaren glared with deadly determination at him. "Why delay the inevitable, Pierce?" he demanded. "Let's finish this. Right here, right now."

"Let's go," Emily said, tensing her muscles and getting ready to vault over and slide down, but a hand gripped her arm. She looked back at Max. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"We need to stop them from killing each other!"

"If they finish each other off, we won't have to."

Emily was horrified. "Max!" she exclaimed. "How can you even think that? Don't their lives mean anything to you?"

"Of course, but—"

"But what, Max? I know this is a game of survival, but we need to play by different rules! We both know that none of us will get out of here alive if we go it alone! I don't know about you, but I'm not in the habit of betting on other peoples' lives! We need to find a way out of this! Otherwise, we're all dead!"

Max seemed undecided for an eye-blink, but then nodded. Emily launched herself over the edge and slid down the face, powering up her own stone as she approached the base. The minute she hit the cave floor again, she unleashed her stone's magic and wrapped it around Zaren's neck. The bald man let out a strangled noise as she lifted him from the ground. "Leave my friends alone!"

"This is none of your business!" Zaren said.

"So I'm making it my business," Emily told him, her eyes glowing. "What part of 'survival of the fittest' didn't you understand?"

Zaren looked over toward his minion. "Chuck! Do something!"

Chuck only looked on in fear. "She's too strong," he whimpered.

Zaren growled angrily. "You useless, whimpering pup! You're useless!"

Emily zapped him with her stone's energy, returning his attention to her. "If I let you down," she asked, "will you behave?"

Now there was furious in Zaren's voice, but he was busy just trying to breath and couldn't lash out at Emily in self-defense. "Okay, okay! Yes!"

"You promise? Can I trust you? I haven't known you very long, but you've already proven to be unpleasant."

"Yes, yes! I promise!" Now his voice was becoming frightened. "Please, let me down."

"I'll hold you to that. Now apologize to my friends."

"Okay, I'm sorry! Sorry!" The energy holding him disappeared and his hit the ground with a dull thump. He looked at Emily with fearful respect, who looked back at him with fierce determination, then scrambled to his feet and jumped away.

"Nice going, Hayes!" Pierce congratulated, then turned to Max. "No for some unfinished business."

"Pierce, wait. I can help you," Max said pleadingly.

Pierce activated his stone. "It's a little late for that, Griffin."

Max started to back away. "Wait! Please, you have to listen to me!"

Pierce grabbed Max's collar and pulled him nose to nose. "Listening to you is what got us here in the first place!"

"But I'm on your side!"

Emily put a restraining hand on Pierce's shoulder. "Let him talk, Pierce," she said.

He looked over his shoulder at her. "You don't know what this little weasel is capable of. He lied to us and left us for dead. We're lucky he got dropped in the Void with us so we can get our revenge." He grabbed Max's arm and prepared to shove his fist into Max's face.

"But we're not in the Void!" Max said. It had the desired effect, stopping Pierce's impending strike cold. "That's what I wanted to tell you! We're in the catacombs beneath Cielis. It's a real place, and I can get us out of here."

Pierce bared his teeth and shoved Max down. "You're lying."

"The Void is virtual reality, right? Where everything seems real, but isn't? Well, I cut myself and am bleeding now, just like your nose, which isn't supposed to happen there."

Pierce grabbed Max's collar again and pulled him upright roughly. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, Griffin," he snarled, "but I'd rather get rid of you before we all find out." He pulled back his fist for another punch, but stopped when a grating purr reached all their ears. "What was that?"

"The real threat," Max said. "We should get to high ground. Now."

Drops of liquid fell onto Chuck's head and shoulders, and he looked up. In a hollow space in the ceiling above were dozens of skeletal creatures, all looking down at him. "Uh, guys?" Suddenly, they chain-linked themselves and grabbed him, but his panicked cry for help was choked off.

The others turned around. "Chuck?" Zaren said. Through a large crack in the wall they suddenly saw dozens of eyes. "What the—"

Then one of them leapt out. "Run!" cried Ronin.

And run they did, going instantly from a dead stop to a dead sprint. They turned on their heels and dashed away, fear and knowing they were hopelessly outnumbered lending energy to their legs. A sizeable horde of grouls was hot on their heels, all making agitated noises that sounded like someone trying to eat glass and gravel. Not far ahead they saw a slope and instantly started to climb it. Zaren was last to start up, but his foot slipped and he disappeared beneath the grouls.

"Keep climbing!" Pierce urged when Ronin looked down.

The grouls were gaining. One latched its bony finger onto Emily's arm, and she reflexively struck it with her stone's energy. The ugly creature shrieked its agony as it was thrown from the slope. But more were there to take its place. She struck out at another, which also shriek-ed when it was hit.

Max reached down. "Give me your hand!" She took it, he pulled her up and then loosed a massive discharge of power that blasted at least a dozen of the creatures from the slope. Emily looked down in awe. "Are you okay?" Max asked.

After overcoming her amazement, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

On the top of the slope was a large pipe with a hole in it. "We can escape through the drainpipe," Max told the others. "It leads toward the exit!"

Pierce looked into the pipe. Inside water rushed past. "You've got to be kidding, Griffin."

"No time to argue! Get in!"

It was more the crowd of grouls advancing toward them than Max's trustworthiness that convinced them all to go. Pierce jumped in first, his cry of alarm and uncertainty fading as the water carrying him away. Ronin got in next. "See you on the other side," she told Emily, then was gone.

"You go first," Emily told Max.

Max looked hurt. "You still don't trust me?"

"I'll be right behind you," she assured him. He nodded and jumped in. Once she was sure he was fare enough ahead that she wouldn't land on him wherever this pipe led to, she hopped inside. The water felt like a mountain river in spring, icy-cold and powerful. But there was no other way out. She looked back at the closest grouls, gave them a rather bawdy goodbye gesture, then let the water carry her off.

The ride didn't last long. After half a minute of pitch blackness, she saw a white circle and knew she was almost at the end. She let out a startled cry when the pipe dumped her out twenty feet above an expanse of water. She had just enough time to straighten her body and take a deep breath before penetrating the surface like an arrow. The water was freezing cold, and the shock almost made her open her mouth. The momentum of her fall forced her deep into the lake, until she finally stopped near some sort of structure that looked like a helmeted figure. Something was tethered to the top of its head, and panic shot through her when he realized that it was a skeleton.

She hurriedly swam toward the surface and broke it with a gulp of air. "Emily!" She looked around and saw Max standing on the edge of a jagged stone island. "Over here!"

She swam over and he helped her out of the water. "Where are we, Max?" she asked, panting.

"The cistern," he answered. "It's where the city's water supply comes from."

"What about the grouls? Won't they try to follow us?"

"Not if they want to live." The others looked at him, expecting him to explain. "They can't swim."

They all stood in silence for a moment, then Pierce said, "What now, Griffin?"

"I'll take us to the exit," Max replied.

"How can we know you're telling the truth?" Ronin asked, more than a little suspicious, and Emily didn't blame her. She might not know Max well, but she knew enough to know that he was a sly character, and was a bit suspicious herself.

"Look," Max said wearily. "I'm only trying to help. You can either follow me out, or go by yourself. It's your choice."