strange weapon on his wrist emitted heat, somehow infusing his body with warmth, regulating his body temperature. He paused to shine his lamp on the mage object that seemed to have chosen him. Instead of looking like a weapon, the blades had slowly retreated, forming a simple thick band around his wrist. He could make out a pattern etched into the metal, a design he was vaguely familiar with. He’d definitely seen it before.
“What are you doing?” Gabrielle asked curiously and stepped close to him, looking over his shoulder at the band. “What is that?”
“A crest,” Jubal answered. There was disbelief in his voice. The design wasn’t just any crest—specifically it was the family crest—his father’s family’s crest. The weapon had changed its looks. Could it somehow have “felt” his history through the odd metal? Being made of some kind of metal, the bracelet should have been cold, yet it was warmer than ever.
“This is creepy, Jubal. Maybe you should take it off,” Gabrielle suggested.
Jubal felt the weapon’s reaction—it gripped his wrist tighter and shuddered. “I don’t think so, Gabby. I think this was made for someone in our family to wear. If feels . . .” He paused, searching for the right word: “. . . right.”
“That’s impossible and you know it, Jubal. Mom comes from South America and Dad . . .” She trailed off.
Jubal nodded. “Exactly. Dad. I’m very much like Dad and he never talks about his side of the family. Never. Mom is a very dominant personality and he’s very quiet, but you and I both know we all three are above-average intelligence and we get that part from him. Mom’s the one with the athletic abilities and we managed to get that as well. But just suppose Dad’s family was somehow part mage?”
Gabrielle drew back. “They’re evil.”
“An entire species couldn’t be wholly evil, Gabby. In any case, we need to find our way out of here. Whatever this thing is—it doesn’t feel evil to me and I want to keep it.” There was something about the wrist band, a kind of growing attachment, almost affection, he couldn’t explain. The thing made no sense, but he was sure, once out of the labyrinth of caves, he could unlock the puzzle.
Jubal turned back to the stairway, hating that Gabrielle shivered continually and yet he was warm. His headlamp revealed that the steep stairway curved around, almost spiraling, taking them down thirty feet or more, and then curved back up. Suppressing the urge to hurry, he kept a steady pace, every once in a while reaching out to make certain Traian and Joie were alive. He couldn’t reach either of them telepathically, but he knew they still lived.
Gabrielle didn’t say anything at all, but followed him, stumbling every once in a while and catching herself by grasping his shoulder. Jubal knew he had to get her out of the caves and down the mountain—or at least to the tents where he could warm her up. It seemed a lifetime on the winding staircase of ice, with only their headlamps to light the way.
“I think we’re close, Gabby,” Jubal said encouragingly.
His lamp found the end of the ice stairs. There was a narrow strip of ice that dead-ended abruptly into a thick wall of ice. Gabrielle sank down onto the stair and covered her face with her hands.
“We’re trapped, Jubal. I searched the walls as we came down and they’re solid.”
“There has to be a way out, honey,” Jubal said. “Just give me a minute. The entrances and exits seem to be all about patterns and math. You know how my mind works. I practically see in numbers and patterns.”
“I’m having a difficult time thinking clearly,” she confessed.
Jubal turned to her. She needed to warm up. Her body was protecting her heart and lungs. Soon she wouldn’t be able to walk if he didn’t find a way to warm her. He glanced down at the thick band of metal circling his wrist. If he could take it off and put it on her . . . the weapon tightened as if reading his thoughts. He put his hands on his sister’s shoulders and began to rub her arms up and down through her jacket.
The bracelet brushed against her sleeve. At once he felt the warmth spread through her coat. Immediately he pressed the metal against the back of her neck and when he noticed she stopped shivering, he took both of her hands and cupped them over the