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I love you.

Looking away, Alex took a moment to compose herself before turning back and waving Bear’s family from the room.

One day soon she hoped she’d get to enjoy their company without the threat of Aven looming over them. She dreamed of long summer days spent with them in Woodhaven, exploring the forests surrounding their family home and enjoying the delights of the sleepy village and all its inhabitants. She dreamed of a time when her own parents could leave the safety of the Library, experiencing the wonders of Woodhaven—and the rest of Medora—right along with her. That was what she had to look forward to. That was the hope she would hold onto in the coming days.

Becausethatwas what she was fighting for.

Freedom for those she loved—and for all of Medora.

Jordan and Bear took off not long after the Ronnigans left, leaving Alex and D.C. to scramble together their homework for the next day and then finally bunker down into their beds.

Just as Alex began to drift off to sleep, a growl from Soraya was the only warning she received before there was a flash of light and she was suddenly yanked from her bed—and from herroom. She found herself lying in the middle of a rocky, desert-like valley, the sun only just beginning to set, as opposed to the fully dark sky she’d left back at Akarnae.

Leaping to her feet, Alex whispered, “What the hell?” as she spun around once, twice and still couldn’t figure out what had happened.

“Be at peace, child,” came a familiar voice as a figure appeared in front of her. “You’re safe here.”

With wide eyes, Alex said, “Lady Mystique? What—How—What—”

Her stuttering was interrupted when, in a burst of shadows with spears of lightning, Soraya appeared at her side, teeth bared as she growled at Lady Mystique.

With an overjoyed clap of her hands, the ancient Tia Auran cried, “Ooo-ee, look atyou!”

Alex had never seen the old woman so excited as when she kneeled and opened her arms. Nor did she expect her protector wolf to suddenly stop growling and instead give a happy yap and do a running jump into Lady Mystique’s hands.

“Some protector you are,” Alex muttered, but Soraya was too busy licking Lady Mystique and being lovingly rubbed down to pay her any mind.

“This is a welcome surprise,” Lady Mystique told Alex, indicating to the puppy. “She will serve you well, Alexandra.” Her ancient eyes looked down to Soraya as she finished, “But for now, young one, you can leave us. I mean your mistress no harm, and I will see that she returns safely to your side.”

After a quick flick of her amber eyes to Alex as if making sure what the old woman said was true, Soraya disappeared in another explosion of shadow and light.

Frowning at the spot where the wolf had just been, Alex said, “Niyx thinks I’ll be able to travel with her when she’s a bit older, but I don’t fancy being electrocuted in the process.”

Lady Mystique waved a hand. “Your companion could no sooner harm you than she could herself. Do not fear.”

Focusing on the Tia Auran, Alex said, “What am I doing here?” She glanced around at their barren landscape and added, “Wherearewe?”

“I’m sorry for pulling you from your bed,” Lady Mystique said, gesturing to Alex’s pyjama-clad body, “but I needed to speak with you urgently, and this is a safe place.”

Alex could attest to that. There was nothing in sight for miles other than craggy rocks, like a flat, volcanic wasteland but without any actual volcanoes.

“Aven has been relentless in his hunt for me, but my time has not yet come,” Lady Mystique went on. “When it does, I shall go willingly. But until then, I cannot allow him to find me. It is places like this, the forgotten lands of this world, that help shield me until there is no longer a need to remain hidden.”

Despite the balmy temperature—not at all like the wintry landscape she had been transported from—Alex felt chilled by the woman’s words.

“Lady—”

“I can’t stay out in the open like this for long,” the Tia Auran interrupted, “and neither can you, Alexandra. But what I have to say is important enough for such a risk.”

“I’m listening,” Alex said, sensing her urgency.

“It is imperative that you win your next fight in thevatali targo. The Shadow Walkersmusthear your warnings. Youmustturn their attention towards Meya, towards joining you in the coming war.”

Alex blinked, not at all expecting that.

“You fear that you cannot afford to wait a month,” Lady Mystique continued, her ancient eyes solemn, “and you are right. If they do not listen to reason before then, it will be too late.”

Rubbing her arms at the dire warning, Alex said, “I don’t even know if the elders will let me fight again.”