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“Come on.” I squeeze him by the shoulder. “Enough with this. Let me see your face.”

Liam shrugs me off and the knot in my chest deepens. But whenever I reach to undo it, it slips out of my grasp. I leave my brother to his musing and look for Quell. She busies herself, preparing to hang a hammock.

“I can do that.”

She doesn’t respond but sighs in frustration when she rips a tear in the fabric. I smooth my Shifter magic over the frayed threads, and they bind themselves back together.

“Those trees over there are a bit stronger.” I walk in that direction. To my surprise, she sticks to my heels. Once we find a shaded spot, I stop.

“Well? Are you going to set it up?”

“Oh, now you want my help.”

“Just do it already.” Her stomach churns loudly. When I finish the tent, I offer her a hard sausage from my bag and a drink from my canteen. She needs her strength to sun track.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Eat.”

She snatches the meat out of my hand and shoos me away.

One more day of this.

Forty-Two

Quell

I’ve slept terribly the last two nights and my toushana isn’t happy about it. It slips over my bones, chilling them to the core. Then it pricks me in the ribs over and over, for a long while, before fading away. An hour or so later it’s at it again.

The promise of sunrise lurks beyond the trees that my hammock’s swung between. The color has drained from the world, but it’s like the biggest, grayest, heaviest cloud sits squarely on my chest. I force in a big breath and feel my lungs swell. Breathing takes effort. Everything takes so much effort. I’m summoning Beaulah’s face to my mind, to urge some motivation to my limbs, when Jordan pops up like a ghost.

“Get up.”

He offers me a piece of bread that looks as hard as a rock. I roll onto my other side to look at something other than his face. The hammock shifts near my feet. I catch a glimpse of Jordan fiddling with the rings and suddenly the support goes out from under me. My stomach drops as the hammock and I plummet. My butt slams onto the ground.

“I said get up.”

He steps back to give me room to stand, but I anticipate his movement and stick my leg behind his feet. He stumbles, and despite his gracefully flailing arms, gravity wins and he falls. And just like that I’m having a stellar morning.

“It’s time to go.” Jordan dusts himself off. Yagrin saunters over, looking like someone else. I bundle up my hammock and stuff it in my bag, keeping my back to him. I’m not dealing with another one of his personas. No way.

“Quell.”

“Leave me alone, Yagrin, or Liam, or whoever you are.”

“We cloak to Aronya today,” Jordan says, taking my hammock and slinging it over his arm with the other two. Yagrin holds on to Jordan, then he reaches to hold on to me. I bristle at his touch, but I stuff down my annoyance and call on the cold to take us where we need to go.

* * *

The mining town off the coast of Aronya smells like potpourri with a crude, sour scent underneath. Cargo ships line the modest harbor, where a flood of tourists loiter beneath signs for cave tours; they meander in and out of trinket shops and eateries. I hadn’t pictured the remote island as a bustling center of commerce. Its skies are clear almost year-round, I read, and it has a high-altitude peak, perfect conditions for sun tracking undisturbed. But most importantly, Aronya is also where enhancer stones are mined…And enhancer stones hold magic! At first the throng of tourists are just a blur. Then I notice many of them tout House colors and subtle House symbols in some form or fashion.

“Is everyone on this island Marked?” I say to Jordan’s back as we snake through the crowd and up the harbor.

“No.”

A mountain looms in the distance. Its highest peak draws up to a wide crater and disappears into the clouds. “They used volcanic resources to build the Sphere?”

“Sort of.”