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Farah counted three distinct voices outside Arya’s shadows.

“…say it’s someone on the inside.”

“ Fools . They’ll be caught. Who blows up the compound and then two ships?”

“ They called me in this morning. The interrogation was intense.”

Then , suddenly, they were gone. When Arya’s shadows opened, Farah found herself back in the room they had just departed.

She turned to the Dark . “ Should we try another floor?”

“ Not yet,” Arya said, her voice trembling.

“ What’s wrong? What happened?”

Arya shook out her hands. “ Something was pushing against my shadows, trying to force them open. It drained my magic. I barely returned us in time.”

Farah looked around the room. Neither Jai nor Dain and Rohan were there. Maybe that meant they’d had better luck. “ Has that happened before?”

“ Once ,” she murmured. Something in Arya’s eyes spoke of horrors she wouldn’t put into words.

“ We’ll wait for the others and see if they fared better,” Farah said.

Arya looked past her. Immediately , her face lost all its color. Farah spun, expecting to see someone. The only thing she saw was the entrance to the access tunnel. It was still shut. Nothing seemed out of place. Until she noticed the thick lock around the latch. Her stomach dropped to her feet when she spotted the wards etched into the metal—markings to specifically keep Dark and Wood Elves from passing without a key. They were stuck inside Mortham now.

“ None of that was there when we came in,” Arya said.

Farah shook her head. “ Nay , it wasn’t.”

“ Someone was here.”

They instantly went on guard, spreading out to look around the softly lit room at the shadows. Whoever it was could be waiting for the others to return. Farah turned and met Arya’s gaze. The Dark shook her head. Farah did the same.

Something struck the door from the outside. They both jumped at the sound and faced the door. It swung open, and Jai stumbled in, holding on to the handle with everything he had.

“ Jai ,” Arya said and raced to catch him before he hit the floor.

Farah quickly closed the door, and Arya dragged Jai inside as he fell unconscious. Farah pressed one ear against the wood, listening as she eyed the sallow tint to Jai’s gray skin and his struggle to breathe.

“ He’s drained,” Arya said as she cradled his head in her lap.

They would have to wait until he woke to learn what’d happened, but Farah had a good idea. Unease slithered through her as she anxiously awaited Dain’s and Rohan’s return. They might have been caught if Arya hadn’t gotten them back when she did. They had all known the risks, but that didn’t make what’d happened any easier to accept.

The minutes ticked by with excruciating slowness. Twice , Farah heard footsteps outside the door, but they continued on. She looked at her hand on the latch to see her skin held a coppery tint once more. She reached up to her ears and found them pointed again. Her transformation to human had been mildly painful. She had expected the same when the magic wore off. Maybe she had felt it but was too preoccupied with the current situation to notice.

Jai stirred. Farah turned her head to the couple. Arya helped him sit up. The two embraced, holding each other silently for a long moment. Farah looked away to give them a bit of privacy.

“ What happened?” Arya asked softly. “ Was something pressing against your shadows?”

“ It’s , uh…” He swallowed and tried again. “ It’s the book.”

Arya’s face went slack.

“ What book?” Farah asked in confusion.

Jai ran a hand down his face. “ I encountered it recently. I guess you could say it chose me. It’s beyond evil.”

“ You ignored it again,” Arya said and smoothed some hair from his face.

But she was unable to hide the quiver in her voice. This was the first Farah had heard about a book, but she wanted to know more. If it had affected Jai in such a way, she wanted to steer clear of it.

“ You make it sound like the book is sentient,” Farah said.

Arya shuddered. “ In a way, it is. Trust me, you don’t want any part of it.”

“ I need to know what it is.”

“ You’ll know,” Jai told her. “ Did something go after both of you? Are you hurt?”

Arya shook her head. “ Something tried to get through my shadows. I got us back here the moment I felt it.”

“ Any sign of Dain and Rohan ?” Jai asked as he stood.

Farah sighed. “ Nothing yet.”

“ They should’ve returned by now,” Arya said.

It was the same thing Farah had been thinking. The longer they remained gone, the more she feared something had happened.

“ There’s more,” Arya told Jai .

He followed her finger as she pointed to the door. He strode to it for a closer look before letting out a string of curses. “ Someone was expecting us.”

“ We’ll find another way out. Just like last time,” Arya stated.

Farah hoped the Dark was right. Now that she was back within Mortham’s walls, she couldn’t wait to leave it behind. Something vile and malicious hung in the air. It always had, but she had gotten used to it. She didn’t want to become desensitized to it again.

Dark shadows swelled from a corner. They opened, and Dain spilled out onto his hands and knees. But there was no sign of Rohan . The three of them rushed to Dain’s side. He tried to stand, but his legs gave out. He toppled over, showing his bloodied and bruised face.

He grabbed Farah’s hand and yanked her close. His yellow eyes were wild with fury. “ Rohan ,” he bit out.

“ What about him?” Even as Farah asked, she knew.

Dain released her and tried to sit up. “ They have him.”

Farah dropped onto her butt, inwardly screaming. Arya and Jai attempted to see to Dain’s wounds, but he shoved them away. Finally , he managed to sit up.

“ They were waiting,” Dain said breathlessly.

Jai grunted and pointed at the door to the access tunnel. “ We know.”

The three shared with Dain what had happened to them.

“ How did they know we were coming?” Farah asked.

Dain caught her eye. “ There’s a double agent within Durga’s midst, remember? Could it be Salil ?”

“ I can’t believe that,” Farah replied. “ Savita ?”

Dain shook his head. “ Never .”

“ Then who?” Jai asked.

Farah cut her hand through the air. “ I don’t care about that right now. I need to find Rohan .”

“ You need to care,” Dain said. “ If we know who set us up, then we’ll know what to expect.”

Arya snorted. “ We do know what to expect.”

Farah saw her rub her neck as if one of the gold necklaces encircled it. She had placed many around elves’ necks. Farah might find herself wearing one now.

“ What happened, exactly?” Jai asked Dain .

The Dark leaned back on a hand. “ We found the watch house and the ledgers, but they were all written in code.”

“ Code ?” Farah repeated. “ Not the ones I saw.”

“ All the ones we looked at were in a language I’ve never seen. That’s when I heard something. I told Rohan to stay hidden while I checked it out.” Dain shook his head. “ The noise led me into a room, where they ambushed me. Six of them tore through my shadows and attacked. I managed to get free, but when I went back for Rohan , I saw him being pulled into another shadow. My attackers came after me. I had to lose them before I returned here.”

Farah dropped her head into her hands. “ They were waiting for us.”

“ No one was in this room when we arrived,” Jai said.

Arya added, “ We looked for any Dark hiding here.”

“ What if it was something else?” Dain asked.

Farah lifted her head to look at him. “ Like ?”

He shrugged. “ Your guess is as good as mine. It’s one thing to know we planned to come to Mortham . It’s another to know every detail.”

“ Unless it was one of us,” Arya said.

Farah surged to her feet, fury making her voice shake. “ It isn’t Rohan . He wouldn’t. Not after what he’s lost.”

“ We know it isn’t one of us,” Jai told her.

Dain slowly stood and faced her. “ We know it isn’t you. Arya was with you the entire time. And I was with Rohan . I did leave him, but that didn’t give him enough time to warn anyone. Especially when all of us had something happen at the same time.”

Farah released a breath. Well , that cleared Rohan . But if it wasn’t one of them, then…who?

“ They’d know we would meet back here,” Arya pointed out.

All four of them looked at the door. No one had come barging inside yet.

Jai shook his head. “ None of this feels right.”

“ You should leave. Now . While you still can.” Farah looked at each of them. “ If you stay, you may never get out.”

Dain wiped the blood from his temple and turned his head to Arya . “ She’s right. You and Jai need to leave. He should be far away from the book.”

“ So should you,” Arya retorted. “ Need I remind you what it did to you.”

Farah frowned. “ What did it do?”

“ Nothing good,” Dain answered.

Jai shrugged. “ Either we all leave, or we all stay.”

“ I’m not leaving Rohan .” Farah’s stomach churned with regret. “ He never should’ve come.”

Arya’s lips twisted. “ It’s settled, then. We’re staying.”

“ We need a plan,” Dain said.

Farah was relieved that she wasn’t doing this alone, but there was also guilt for leading them into this.

“ Don’t do that,” Jai told her. “ We knew what we were doing coming here. And we know what we’re likely giving up by staying.”

Arya smiled slightly. “ We do what others cannot or will not.”

Farah nodded. “ All right.”

Dain tapped his ear before motioning them closer. They had been speaking in whispers but only mouthed words now. If someone was listening, they would never know what they were planning.

It took twice as long to sort out the specifics, but they eventually got it hammered out. Since Farah was the only non- Dark , she would be bait while Dain , Jai , and Arya hid in their shadows, watching to see who arrived. It wasn’t foolproof. The same anomalies could happen to them again, leaving Farah to fend for herself.

One of them was supposed to get to her if anything happened, but she was confident she could make her way back to the room should something go wrong. She knew Mortham , and she would use that to her advantage.

“ Ready ?” Dain mouthed.

Farah nodded. The three of them called their shadows and hovered, waiting for her. She walked to the door and cracked it open to look outside. She slipped out and crept along the wall to the stairs. A dark shape of shadows moved ahead of her. Arya would scout ahead. If someone was there, she would alert Farah . Jai and Dain stayed behind her.

Farah hurried to the third floor and then onto the fourth, where Rohan had been taken. It was where they would expect her to go. Arya’s shadows waited around the corner. She issued no warning, which meant the coast was clear. Farah inched into the hallway. Her gaze immediately went to the watch house. It was empty, just as Dain had said it was when he and Rohan arrived. She walked toward the doorway and looked inside. Several ledgers were on the floor. Had they been in Rohan’s hand when they took him?

She drew in a shaky breath and turned her head to look down the long corridor with its many doors. Had they brought him into one of those rooms? Or was he being held elsewhere?

“ A human? Really , Farah ? You disappoint me.”

The voice was one she never thought she’d hear again. She turned around and looked into the green eyes of her sister.