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I looked into Ujal’s eyes. “Channari still has a part of me. I must return the pearl so I can claim it back. So she may rest.”

Ujal’s anger faded, and she gave a slow nod.

Then the seven paper birds fell, landing lifelessly among the folds of my robe. As I gathered them up, Ujal let go of the spear. It began to sink into the earth, disappearing into the flower beds.

She watches you, her daughter, said the serpent as she too blended into the orchids. My father would have been happy to know that she found a family in the end.

Long after I’d departed Tambu, her words stayed with me. Remembering them never failed to make me weep.

We left Tambu on a headwind of luck, our basket breezing along in a warm gale over the Cuiyan’s emerald waters.

I should have known it was too good to last.

“Look,” Takkan murmured, pointing at a blanket of mist unfurling over the water. “That must be Lake Paduan.”

Where the mist touched the Cuiyan, its emerald waters went dark. As my brothers dove nearer, the air turned cold, as if we’d pierced a hidden veil.

Far too early it was twilight, and streaks of black and violet painted my brothers’ wings before steeping the world entirely in darkness. It was beautiful at first. Not a star blinked, and the moon was lean, like a scythe scraping the clouds. When it grew too dark to see, I took out the pearl. At my touch, it opened a hair, emanating the light of lost stars to guide our way.

I wished I could say the rest of the journey was peaceful, and that whatever darkness awaited us I banished with the pearl. But that was not so.

Before long, the birds Kiki had recruited began screeching and flailing their wings.

Not again! Kiki cried as they abandoned us, winging back the way we had come. Cowards! Come back here. Come back!

Without the extra birds to help, the basket teetered against the wind. My brothers bit deeper into the ropes, their necks stooping as they strained to carry us. But it was no use. We dipped lower and lower, and my stomach made a hard swoop as I held in my screams.

“Help us!” I cried, turning my attention to the pearl. Light blinked from its crack, but instead of helping, it spun off into the clouds. Leaving me in the dark.

Scourge of my existence! I started to hurl a curse after it, but the basket made another drop, and my throat fell to my stomach. Enough with the pearl. I had to help my brothers.

I tossed Raikama’s seven paper birds into the sky. “Awaken!”

One by one, they quivered to life and picked up the basket’s ropes with their beaks. Their aid wouldn’t keep us from falling, but it’d buy us time. Enough to reach Lapzur, if we were lucky.

We had to be close. The Forgotten Isles sprang up from below, their waters pockmarked with jagged rocks and hanging cliffs.

The winds gathered strength, and Lake Paduan thrashed hungrily. It was under the guise of this gathering storm that the darkness birthed a shadowy behemoth. None of us saw the guardian of Lapzur creep upon us, his black wings skulking beneath the clouds.

Until he smashed our basket.

I slammed into Takkan as the world shook, wooden debris and shredded silk exploding in every direction. Somehow, while the world around us fell apart, I managed to grab hold of Takkan’s hand—or maybe he grabbed mine, I couldn’t tell. A scream had knotted up my throat, and I bit down on my tongue until my mouth filled with blood. Its iron tang was all I tasted as we fell.

In the darkness I crashed against feathers and beating wings. My brothers! They’d found me, and they threaded their necks between my arms.

That was close! Kiki cried, hanging onto Andahai’s neck.

Close indeed. I caught my breath, glancing back at Wandei, Yotan, and Reiji. They’d rescued Takkan too, but they were struggling to hold him. At first I thought it was because he was heavier than I was, but then I saw Bandur’s amulet rattling against his chest, juddering violently as smoke seethed out….

Takkan’s eyes met mine, an unspoken apology on his face.

Adrenaline shot like a lightning bolt through me. Takkan, don’t you dare—

I didn’t know whether it was Takkan or the amulet that made him act, but he flung himself free of my brothers’ backs—and plunged into the sea.

I lurched after him, but the pearl suddenly returned. It slammed into my ribs and yanked viciously, tearing me from my brothers. While Takkan disappeared into the depths of Lake Paduan, the pearl spirited me soundlessly away.

We soared over the water, under the black night, to a city so old it was the color of ash. A city sculpted of despair and decay.