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She stepped aside and behind her was an old, familiar face. One I hadn’t ever expected to see in the cottage underground, let alone with the resistance.

His grey hair was combed back against his head, a pair of spectacles balancing on his wrinkled nose. He wore training gear, a black long-sleeved shirt, and a leather vest across his chest. A sword hung from his back, a dagger at his hip.

I leaned across the table, my brow raising.

The others turned, equally shocked.

“Alastir? What are you doing here, and why do you look ready for battle?”

Alastirhad come back to the cottage underground with Annelise, and he was wearing training gear, no less.

“To what do we owe the pleasure?” I asked.

Alastir moved forward, and without answering my question, he came to Nik’s side. He put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing tightly.

“I wasn’t sure, I didn’t—” but Nik cut off Alastir’s words before he could finish.

“It worked, old man. It worked.” Nik placed his own palm over Alastir’s hand. “I owe you my life.”

“It was only a spell that I conducted, boy. The blood, the blade, that was all Diana. It is her you owe your life to,” Alastir replied, his mouth thin as he gazed down at Nik.

“I owe her much more than that.” Nik’s reply was gruff as he turned to meet my gaze.

I shared a soft smile with him in return.

“The Mother has worked her magic, once again,” Alastir said, laughing to himself.

He turned towards me. He appeared younger than I had ever seen him before. The corners of his eyes were still creased with wrinkles, but there was something spritely about him.

“I heard there’s a march to war in the coming weeks, one I would be sorry to miss.”

“You’re joining the resistance?” Puck asked, his arms crossed over his chest. “How many times have we tried to recruit you? Asked you to join? Your answer was always the same… ‘I am too old for war.’” Puck’s impression of Alastir had us all bent over with laugher.

“I am,” Alastir replied, his lips curving into a smile. “But Annelise… her visit changed my mind. Osiris was my dearest friend, and I was his advisor for many, many years before his death. Annelise became like a daughter to me in her time in The Stone City. Diana is the true queen, and I would be honored to live long enough to see her take her place on the throne. To be a better ruler for Istmere than Donika or Osiris ever were.”

“So… what you’re telling me is that you like them better than us?” Puck jested, leaning back in his chair with a shake of his head.

“That’s exactly right.” Alastir laughed, and I had never seen him so joyful. “I’m not sure my skills will be with the blade, but I wish to help in… other ways.”

“Thank the Mother.” Tess pushed back in her chair, pushing the dream walking book away from her across the table. “Because we desperately need your ancient knowledge to figure out this dream walking crap.”

“Ancient?” Alastir asked, his brow raised in question.

“You’ve got to be what, one thousand years old by now?” Nik laughed, standing to allow Alastir to take his seat beside Tess.

Alastir narrowed his eyes at him. “You’d better watch yourself, boy. My magic can swallow yours whole. You know as well as I do that witches aremortal.”

“So just eighty-or-so then?” He laughed, backing away from Alastir with his palms raised in surrender.

“We’ve got no time to waste,” Alastir said, ignoring Nik and pulling the chair he had offered up to the table.

Having Alastir as my council would be invaluable. He had known Donika wanted to recruit him and had been cloaking his location for years. She would be shocked to know we had him and his wide breadth of knowledge on our side.

“What is it we are researching?” he asked, pulling out one of the books from the stack.

“Dream walking,” I replied with a sigh.

“When is the last time you walked in dreams?” he asked, his eyes glimmering as if he already knew the answer.