Thirteen people arrived at the base of a tall stone tower, and every one of them looked up at the same time.
A single great bell hung at the very top, silver and still. A plain sign stood at the tower's door.
Ring the bell together, or do not ring it at all.
"Together," Almond said, reading it twice to be sure. "Not just present. Together."
"We can do together," Natalia said.
The door opened on its own the moment all thirteen of them stood in front of it, and the tower swallowed them whole.
They found the guardian waiting in a single vast round room at the tower's heart, and it took a moment for anyone to understand what they were actually looking at.
