Chapter 29
Him.
I stared into those unforgiving ocean-blue eyes that had drowned me more times than I could count. Eyes that pushed me into bottomless depths every time I clawed my way to the surface.
You’re a pathetic excuse for life. I washed my hands of you the day I walked out that door, and I haven’t thought about you since.
The memory hit like a blade to my chest. My breath turned ragged, fire clawing through my lungs. Sparks leapt from my fingertips. Around me, the world slowed.
Rhodes stood beside me. Fallon positioned herself between me and the man I once called my father.
The man who abandoned me. An innocent child.
Because of him, my life spiraled into a series of breaking points—each one more violent, more soul-crushing than the last. If he hadn’t walked out, everything could’ve been different.
You are nothing to me. Just take a look in the damn mirror. You are not mine.
He was right. I wasn’t his. Not really. But I was a child. A child who deserved parents who would fight for her. Love her. Protect her.
Instead, he left.
Because of him, I believed I was unworthy of love.
Because of him, I believed I deserved the chains, the abuse, the silence.
Because of him, I thought no one would ever come for me.
Because of him, I hurt myself—just to feel anything besides the ache of being me.
Look at you, falling apart in front of the big bad wolf.
Back on the rooftop, he looked down at me like I was the filth on the bottom of his boots. If his words hadn’t made his hatred clear, his expression certainly did. He loathed me. Every breath I took was a reminder of something he wanted to forget.
I told him then that I was his biggest mistake.
My only mistake with you was staying as long as I did.
Now, here he was—his chest rising and falling as if he were barely holding himself together. His eyes flicked from Fallon to Rhodes, then back to me.
One hand gripped the doorframe, knuckles white. The other still clenched the broken knob of the wooden door he’d just shattered—no doubt with his air element. A breeze cut through the terrace, cool and sharp, whistling between us. It made my blood run cold. It silenced the fire burning in my veins.
And then I saw it—the same look, but reversed.
Captain Thorne stared at me like I was without a doubt his biggest mistake.
The five words that have kept me breathing echoed through my mind.
I am meant for more.
I would no longer cower. I would no longer crumble. I would no longer fall apart in front of the big bad wolf.
I was the wolf.
Shouts rang out from the corridor behind Captain Thorne—sharp, angry voices growing louder. The spell broke. And for the first time, his expression cracked. Not with rage. Not with disdain. But with guilt. Regret.
“Go,” he said, voice rough as gravel, the command catching on something in his throat. “Hurry.”
He was letting us go.
Rhodes tugged my elbow, snapping me out of my trance. I swung a leg over the parapet and descended, not daring to glance back. Above me, the rustle of sprouting vines and snapping wood echoed—Fallon sealing the door with her element before following. Rhodes came last.
River met us at the base, pressing her snout into Fallon’s side to check for injuries as she dismissed the vine ladder into the night air. Tatum emerged from the shadows of the treeline, waving us over urgently.
“Let’s get back to the Hollow,” Lakota said in a low voice. “We found a divot in the mountains big enough for the four of us to stay hidden. We’ll regroup tomorrow night.”
As we slipped into the dense veil of forest, I allowed myself one last glance at the towering silhouette of Mageia’s castle. Its spires pierced the night sky like jagged spears. My gaze rose higher, searching the stars—until I found one that shone brighter than the rest.
I closed my eyes and nodded once.
Then the eight of us, and River, vanished into the dark as the War College’s sirens sounded behind us.
Our journey back to the Hollow was far more urgent than the one that brought us out. If the castle hadn’t been under full lockdown before, it certainly was now. Thank the elements we slipped away before the sirens could announce our intrusion.
Our horses, still tethered near a stream on the eastern slope, greeted us with eager snorts—grateful, no doubt, for the apples we’d brought as a peace offering.
Cleo, following Fallon’s whispered instructions, called down a massive brown wolf nearly the size of River.
With nothing more than a scratch behind the ears, she had him tamed and mounted in no time, and was now calling him Nook.
I handed my reins to Davis. Pehper approached like she assumed she’d ride with him, but Tatum beat her to it, hip-checking her squarely into the mud. Pehper landed with a sharp yelp and a splash. It took every ounce of restraint not to double over laughing.
I swung onto Rhodes’s horse before she could even think of trying her luck with him, leaving her to mount up behind Nash.
He did not look thrilled.
Avoiding towns and villages had been a unanimous decision.
We stayed deep in the woods, moving under the canopy’s cover, rising before the sun, and packing up camp before the birds even stirred.
By nightfall, exhaustion had worn us thin—too tired for stories or laughter around the fire. Even our silence felt heavy.
Rhodes gave up his tent to me and my friends without a second thought, retiring by the fire with quiet resolve each night.
Cleo, Tatum, and I curled together inside, shoulder to shoulder, drawing comfort from each other’s warmth as we read through the letters from Laney that Nash had given us.
It wasn’t much, but it was comforting. And right now, that was more than enough.
After the whirlwind of the past two weeks, I haven’t had the energy to talk about the mysterious tomes or what happened in the Eternal Tomb.
My body was drained, my mind even more so, and the only thing keeping me upright are the belly laughs and delirious inside jokes I’ve shared with my friends in the quiet moments between chaos.
Saving the world can wait one more day.
Right now, I just wanted to breathe. Before the world comes crashing down around me again.
By tomorrow, we’ll be back in the Hollow with the intel Arrow Fitzroy sent us to retrieve. For decades, Elementals have searched for the Mareki’s Key—but they’ve been looking for the wrong type of key all along.
The key wasn’t a key. It’s two journals.
Magical tomes with hidden ink that only reveals itself once they’ve entered the presence of the Mareki.
And somehow, Fallon and I are the only ones who can read them.
From the few glimpses I’d had, the lettering in the first journal was old—ancient, even.
The language was ours, but the phrasing was unlike anything taught in Mageia.
I wanted to go back into the Eternal Tomb to unlock the second tome—the one Hogboom had thought important enough to hide in the walls of his office. But Fallon was right. If we had risked it, we would’ve been caught. And this mission would’ve ended in failure.
Both tomes stayed tucked safely in my pack ever since. They hadn’t left my sight, not for a second. The forest hid and shielded us, but I couldn’t afford to risk pulling them out, not even for a quick read. If we were ambushed again, I couldn’t risk losing them.
So, the tomes will stay where they were, sealed tight in my bag, until we are back behind the Hollow’s protective wards.
Cleo and Tatum had been peppering Nash with questions about his sister ever since we finished our campfire dinner.
His bright smile flickered behind the dancing flames as he recounted childhood stories, most ending with him and Laney causing trouble together.
They were partners in crime, even as adults—inseparable.
My heart tightened at the sight of his eyes—those same warm brown eyes, shaped and shaded just like Laney’s—now sparkling with laughter. Laney may have been taken from me, but somehow, she still found a way to send me her brother.
A friend.
“Missed you, Thorne.”
I rocked sideways from a playful bump and turned to find Davis settling beside me.
I grinned, though the smile didn’t reach my eyes. “I’m happy you’re here.”
Davis chuckled. “Couldn’t let you have all the fun, now could I? I’ve always wanted to be part of a secret mission.”
“Is that right?” Rhodes called from behind us, brushing down one of the horses.
Davis snapped his fingers, conjuring a flame that curled and twisted above his hand.
“Shoot, yeah. Makes for the best kind of adventure. I was getting stuffy trapped behind those walls. Kalluri’s gone full dictator—tightening control on every cadet, pushing us harder than ever. He’s prepping us for the front lines.”
My eyes narrowed. “Front lines? There’s no way he’d send cadets that close to the war.”
Davis tilted his head. “He hasn’t said it outright.
But war’s coming, Thorne—sooner than any of us want to admit.
Tyria has been capturing our soldiers in the Barrens.
They don’t come back. It’s a slow bleed, weakening our borders piece by piece.
It’s all leading to something. And after Professor Maksimov… ”
Rhodes made his way over and lowered himself onto a log beside me, silent and listening.
I sighed. “Tatum said the explosion was devastating. Enough to take down part of the Valley’s rock wall.”
Davis nodded. “And I’m sure Cleo informed you of what she overheard before her teaching-assistant post was cut.
” He glanced at me, then continued, “Kalluri’s men from the legion are planning.
They expect an attack in the next couple of months.
They’re even mapping escape routes for cadets.
Cadets might not be on the front lines, but they’ll still be in it. ”
My chest tightened.
“A gray dragon was spotted just north of Mageia,” Davis said, voice low and solemn.
My stomach dropped. I caught the subtle shift in Rhodes’s posture—the clench of his jaw, the way his hand stilled on his knee.
“A gray?” I whispered, keeping my voice low, not wanting to interrupt the laughter still bubbling from Cleo and Tatum. “They never leave the northern territories…”
Davis nodded once, eyes darkening. “From what I heard—overheard, actually—from Professor Lamport and a soldier near the cafeteria… it was every bit as ruthless as the legends claim. It took three of Arya’s dragons to bring it down.”
His gaze flicked to me, and he added grimly, “And it didn’t have a rider.”
A chill swept my spine. Gray dragons were almost never seen outside Dragon Valley—and even there, they were rare.
If a gray hatched, it didn’t stay. It migrated north within weeks and never returned.
Legend says they’re drawn to Tyrian bonds, but even then, they don’t fully accept a rider.
Grays are wild, untamable—loose cannons, creatures of instinct and chaos.
If one crossed into our territory… it didn’t just stray. It had a purpose.
Rhodes finally spoke, voice cold and even. “If a gray’s broken its territory, more will follow.”
Davis nodded. “Exactly. Kalluri and the other commanders think it was scouting—testing our defenses.”
Rhodes stood, tension radiating off him like heat from a forge. He paced a short distance away, running a hand through his hair as the weight of it settled over us.
No one spoke for a long moment.
“They’re after the Mareki,” I murmured, almost to myself. “They all are. And now that the Grim’s plan failed, they’ll try to take it by force.”
My gaze shifted to Rhodes. His stormy gray-blue eyes met mine and softened, sending butterflies spinning in my stomach.
What would happen to the Mareki’s Curse if Tyria got the Gem?
Would it retaliate again—ripping open a new realm just to restore balance to magic?
And if it did… what would happen to the current realm that was created to balance the essence after the Battle for Mareki?
The Forgotten Realm that Rhodes’s life was tethered to.
Either I take part in sending him down with the Forgotten Realm… or I sit back and let Tyria do it for me. Too bad for fate, neither was an option.
Either we reverse this curse—or I go down swinging with it.
The sound of metal clanging against metal ripped me from my dreams. I groaned, pressing the back of my hand against my eyes.
I had been tucked snugly between Cleo and Tatum, somehow managing to fall asleep despite Tatum’s relentless snoring—but that sharp, metallic crash was enough to pull me fully awake.
Carefully, I crawled out from under the bedrolls, trying not to disturb my friends. My fingers brushed the soft fabric as I moved, grounding me, before I peeked through the tent flap. The night was dark, shadows flickering from the campfire. I grabbed my boots and slipped them on.
Rhodes slept on his side, facing away from the fire, unaware of the disturbance. River and Nook lay curled between our tent and Fallon’s, while Nash’s tent rested on the opposite side of the flames. The camp was still. Too still.
The roaring fire dwindled to embers, leaving the campsite in flickering shadow. On the far side, a figure knelt. I moved closer, steps silent.
My stomach dropped.
Her brown curls were tangled and matted, but what I first thought was dampness revealed itself as a sickening crimson sheen. She wore the same leathers I’d last seen her in, now shredded and torn where thorned vines had cut through her chest.
She struck something repeatedly, the harsh metallic clang echoing like blade on flint. I couldn’t make out what she whispered to herself. The firelight revealed a hole torn through her upper back, jagged and cruel. The ends of her curls weren’t damp—they were soaked with blood.
A cold knot of dread tightened in my chest. “Laney?” I choked.
She froze. The metal clanging ceased. My own breath seemed too loud as I stood perfectly still.
Then she whispered again—three words I could almost make out.
“Laney? Is that you?” My voice came out hoarse.
“Don’t… trust… them.”