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T he familiar flora and fauna of the Red Meadow and its forested border—red deer, oaks, beech, berry bushes, and rabbits—gave way to ancient olive trees with pale and twisted trunks, low scrub, sandy ground, and the long-tailed birds that sped along the ground instead of flying.

Smooth rock rose higher and higher as they made their way into the western mountains, the sun rising bright and piercing over their heads.

The magic inside Vahly tugged hard and she sucked a breath in surprise.

It felt like a hook had been threaded through her ribcage, right below her heart, and something invisible had yanked the barb to grab her attention. The feeling, though incredibly odd, didn’t hurt. She only felt …incomplete.

“We must be getting closer,” she said, a hand on her chest.

Arc and Nix nodded and gave her twin looks of sympathy as she started walking again.

What did her magic yearn for?

She wished they could’ve questioned Mattin before fighting and being forced to kill him. He’d been the oldest of the elves still living and had known enough about human power rituals to nearly thwart Vahly before she’d truly had time to begin this journey to become the Earth Queen.

All they knew now was that Vahly had more to do before her power woke in full. At least, that was the most optimistic viewpoint, and the one Vahly was betting on.

The three of them worked their way along what had once been a road, a path wide enough for two wagons to pass side by side.

The only sign left that it had been a thoroughfare was the flattened earth where only a few weedy plants managed to thrive.

Ancient olive trees grew toward the clear sky.

The sun climbed in time with Vahly, Arc, and Nix, its white heat unusually powerful for a day this late in the summer. It was very nearly autumn.

Sweat trickled down the back of Vahly’s neck, and the top of her head was on fire. She pulled her skin of water from her satchel and finished the last of the lukewarm liquid.

“Can we search for a spring?” she asked.

Nix sniffed the air. She gestured toward two promising-looking boulders that came together to form a dark recess. “There might be water in that small cave.”

Arc cocked his head, listening to something the rest of them couldn’t hear. “Possibly.”

The opening in the mountain swallowed them.

The air didn’t smell damp to Vahly. She hoped Nix’s nose was working better than her own because they wouldn’t get far without more water.

The last time Vahly had been in this region, traveling with Amona, the awful Lord Maur, and a small group of warriors, the land hadn’t been nearly as dry.

Yes, it’d always been far less lush than the Lapis territory, but the rising seas had definitely affected this area in a foul manner.

Something about the encroaching spelled salt water drew the life right out of the earth.

Vahly blew out a heavy breath, wishing with everything she had that her magic wasn’t so picky about when it was going to show up. Time was not something they had to waste.

Nix’s yellow eyes flashed in the dim light as she knelt to touch the cave floor. “Dry.” Sighing, she removed her own water skin and shook it, trying to get the last drop.

Arc bent to reach into a crevice between a rock with a glassy surface and a boulder that had broken from the larger expanse above their heads.

The tug in Vahly’s ribs increased in intensity.

She put a hand over her heart, feeling a little lightheaded.

She almost said I’m meant to be here , but she managed to hold her tongue despite the powerful urge to declare her feelings.

The whole situation was bizarre, and she felt foolish talking overmuch about it.

But there was no doubt in her. Her earth magic was insistent on her exploring this cave.

But why?

“There is water below,” Arc said.

Was that the sole reason? Well, they did need water if they were going to continue to follow Vahly’s gut. She approved of how practical her magic seemed to be.

“I’ll get down there.” Her sword and bow clanked against a rock as she removed them. She had to be the one to go, because Arc and Nix were too big to squeeze into that space.

“You’re certain you’ll be able to climb out again?” Nix eyed the space, the corners of her mouth tipping down as if she wanted nothing to do with it.

“Sure. I only ate one rasher of bacon as opposed to my normal two yesterday,” Vahly said wryly. “But if you could work up one of those light orbs of yours, Arcturus, that would be very helpful.”

“Of course.” As Arc spun a glowing sphere from the air, the sound of his magic rose, a distant howl like the wind on a stormy night. Hair slightly mussed from the gust of wind that accompanied his creation, he handed the orb to Vahly.

The light dimmed as she touched it, but the miniature suns floating about inside the transparent sphere still managed to illuminate the space as well as a small torch.

“How long will this work for me?” she asked.

“I don’t know, actually. I’ve never handed one off to a human.”

Nix looked over the ground. “I can torch a branch for you if we find one.” She picked up a sad little stick, then dropped it. “Nah. There’s nothing here that’ll work. Stick with the magic of elf balls.”

Vahly snickered as she lowered herself into the crevice, but she heard Arc’s reply to Nix.

“I’m so glad you are finally beginning to appreciate the prowess of my kynd,” he teased Nix, his voice echoing off the walls as Vahly climbed down.

Vahly maneuvered into the crevice, then underneath a low shelf of rock. “Nix has been admiring your prowess since we left,” she called up to them. “And by prowess, I mean your arse.”

The space Vahly wiggled into quickly widened into a room with damp, heavy air and a constant drip from an unseen source.

The pull in her drummed in rhythm with her pulse as earth magic sang through her boots and into her feet.

She climbed over a tumble of smaller stones, scattering a few hand-sized cave spiders.

A shudder rocked her. She’d always hated the little beasties.

“Why did it have to be spiders?” she muttered, forcing herself onward.

Arc’s orb glinted, weakly illuminating the end of the space. Vahly knelt and ran a hand along the dark rocks at her feet, feeling for a spring. All was dry, so she pushed her fear of more arachnid beasties to the back of her mind and stretched to reach farther down.

Finally, moisture wetted her skin. Using thumb and finger, she tried to dislodge one of the stones in hopes that disturbing the spot would allow the water to flow freely enough to fill her water skin.

Idly, she wondered if she could use her earth magic to move the rocks.

Her power was weak at best and, of course, tied to her own energy levels.

Right now, she was tired and parched. She managed to work another rock away from the water source, deciding to hold off on using magic to save it for instances in which nothing else would do the job.

Best not to risk it at the bottom of a cave, in any case.

The water bubbled over the back of her hand, cold and refreshing.

If she could get a hold on one final stone—an incredibly smooth and oddly shaped one—perhaps the spring would be fully accessible.

She pushed the strange rock, trying to shift it.

The thing rolled back, slid over her hand completely, then knocked along the ground, rolling to a stop out of sight.

It wasn’t nearly as heavy as it should’ve been.

She scrambled to where it might have halted, and sure enough, an opening to a spring appeared. Water flowed at a steady enough pace to fill her water skin. Well, it would once she moved the rolled stone.

Wait. It wasn’t a stone.

She set the light orb down, then lifted the stone that wasn’t a stone.

Purple flecks colored the seamless surface. Vahly tapped it.

Something inside scratched back.

She nearly dropped it, her own heart hammering along with the earth’s ever-present heartbeat. It was an egg. And her tingling fingers and the sound drumming in her ears made it very clear this was no normal egg.

Whatever lived in this shell belonged to her, and, equally, she belonged to it.

Forgetting the water and her parched throat entirely, she cradled the egg, and then maneuvered her way back to the crevice to the upper level. She looked up, her hand steady on the egg, and an ache spread through her chest—a feeling similar to being on the brink of crying.

Arc’s eyebrows rose as he peered down. Nix leaned over too, her pupils dilating in that dragon way beside a second light orb Arc must’ve created.

“Water,” Nix said slowly. “We needed water.” She glanced at Arc. “I think our friend here must have bumped her skull. She’s forgotten the goal completely. We can get eggs from the trees, darling Vahly.”

But the fire in Vahly’s returning look must’ve shown them exactly how important this egg somehow was.

They immediately set to work helping her bring the egg carefully up to their level.

Once Arc had secured the egg, Vahly filled all three of their water skins at the mouth of the spring—the place the egg had revealed to them.

Because that was exactly the truth of it.

The egg had brought her to the place where she and her cohorts could find proper water flow.

Every beat of the earth inside Vahly’s Blackwater blessed blood sang the truth of it.

A word whispered through her mind. Familiar.

Climbing back out of the crevice to join Nix and Arc, Vahly did her best to remain calm.

What did that word mean? How was it related to a large egg?

Was this the end of her quest? Had she found the reason her magic had been pushing her into the western mountains?

So many questions. Her mind burned for the answers.