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“Interesting starting point I suppose,” Mona mumbled.

Horo tilted his head to the side as he watched us. “Can I see it? The book?”

I could tell Oak did not want to share it, and I didn’t blame him. After all, the book itself held our past and was a key to our future. But still, if we were going to get anywhere at all, we had to trust those willing to help us, trust our allies. Oak reached to the small of his back and pulled out the book. His eyes met mine, and I gave a slight nod before he handed it to Horo, his grip tight as he struggled to part from it.

Horo grabbed the book, his fingers running gently over the cover. “This- this is astonishing.”

“Do you know it?” Justice questioned his Beta.

“This one, in particular, no. But I know what it is.” He opened up the cover before running a finger over the first page. “It’s a book of fates. Very few volumes exist but never in the outside world. They are made and protected by seers, so how this one ended up outside a collection, I have no idea.”

“Seers are rare,” Sterling chimed in.

“They are, which is why this is even more precious.” Horo read a few lines. “Has the book been kind?”

I just shook my head. “I don’t even know how to answer that.”

“Who makes it?” Oak interrupted; his face was hard, his body coiled, anticipation pouring out of him.

“Well, they weren’t wrong when they told you to seek Truth.” He smiled, and I knew he was about to drop a bomb on us we weren’t prepared for.

“Horo, out with it!” Justice’s voice boomed.

“Truth isn’t information or a state of mind. He’s a seer. The best of them, which is why he earned that nickname. He’s never wrong. But he’s a hermit too. Hard to find, last seen in the Sierra Nevadas decades ago.”

I held my breath, almost afraid to breathe. “So you’re saying . . .”