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“There’s something else you need to know,” the old woman said, her tone gentle but firm. “They are words written of old. To what they refer, no one is certain. But I believe you must be made aware of them.”

She released Alex’s hand and pulled a faded piece of parchment from her coat. It was withered and crumpled and looked as if it had survived more years than should have been possible.

“Open it,” Lady Mystique urged.

Alex hesitantly did so, finding a beautiful script in an unknown language, with a translation directly underneath.

When Day and Night combine and fight

Against one Enemy

Then Dark and Light shall meet mid-strike

And set the Captives free.

She read it a few times before turning her eyes back to the old woman. “Am I supposed to know what this means?”

Lady Mystique just looked steadily at her. “You will when the time comes.”

Alex didn’t have the strength to fight for more information. She tried to hand the paper back, but the old woman said, “Keep it.”

“What happens now?” Alex asked, looking around the clearing.

“Now you go back to your friends. They’ll need you in the coming times, just as much as you’ll need them.”

Alex felt her throat close painfully, but she forced out a whispered, “What’s going to happen to Jordan?”

Lady Mystique stared at her for a long moment before she answered, “That will depend on you, Alexandra.”

With her declaration still echoing in Alex’s ears, the old woman disappeared, as did the darkened clearing. Alex’s head spun at the abrupt change in landscape and she closed her eyes. When she reopened them, it was daylight again, and she was standing in the middle of the snow-covered Raelia.

And she wasn’t alone.

appeared.

Twenty-Six

The clearing was full of people—beautiful Meyarins,mostly—and all of them were looking at her with startled expressions. But her attention was solely on her two friends sprinting her way.

“Alex,” D.C. sobbed, slamming into Alex and wrapping her arms around her. “We thought—We thought—”

D.C. couldn’t finish her sentence, but she didn’t have to. Her fierce embrace said enough, as did Bear’s tormented face when he reached them and circled his arms around the both of them.

“Jordan?” Bear whispered against Alex’s hair.

Alex knew what he was asking. She wished she could tell him what he wanted to hear, but she couldn’t. She shook her head and held her friends close as her own tears began to trickle down her face.

Alex felt Bear shudder in anguish and she absorbed D.C.’s sobs as they racked through her entire frame. The three friends held tight to each other while they grieved for their friend, remaining like that until someone cleared their throat nearby, breaking them apart.

Alex wiped her eyes as she stepped back and turned towards the source of the sound. “Zain?” she croaked, unsure whether or not he was real.

The Meyarin’s face was alarmingly pale and he held himself as if he was in pain. But he still smiled at her and said, “It’s good to see you, little human. You scared us all for a while there.”

Alex released a broken breath and launched herself at him, hugging him fiercely. He grunted but wrapped his arms around her in return.

“Aven said you were dead,” she whispered into his solid chest. “He said the Hyroa blood would kill you.”

“It almost did,” Zain told her, his voice weak. “If your headmaster hadn’t found me while he and the other teachers were out protecting the academy, then I fear I would have soon passed on from this world.”