“DAD, THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!” Laura said, handing Micah a cup of warm oat tea. He was lying in bed, looking twenty years older than he had an hour earlier. Fighting off the Hexors had really taken a toll.

He managed a weak smile. “Pretty impressive, right?”

“Pretty impressive? You fought off that Hexor with a Thew bomb—kaboom!” She leaped across the room. “You trapped an enchanted arrow in the lake—and then you froze the whole lake!” She shook her head in amazement. “I had no idea you could do all that!”

Micah chuckled. “Your old dad’s still got some tricks up his sleeve. I can dance, too.” He started wiggling like an awkward worm.

Laura held up her hand and laughed. “Okay, too far.” She looked around at the mess Hugo had made. A heavy chest of drawers was tipped onto its side. The kitchen cabinets were torn off their hinges. There were hoof marks and smashed gray pears all over the floor. Laura sighed. “This is why you should never ride a horse indoors.”

She picked up Micah’s clothes from the floor and folded them in a neat pile.

“Laura, I need to tell you something,” Micah said, straining to sit up in bed. “I should have believed you when you said that Hillview was under attack. You don’t have an overactive imagination. You’re brave enough to see the truth when others are afraid to look. I’m sorry.”

Laura sat down on the edge of the bed. “It’s okay, Dad.”

He took her hand. “You’re my daughter and I trust you. Go to the cabinet in my study. It’s time you learned there’s more to Lysor magic than growing gray pears.”

Her eyes lit up. She had never been allowed to open the cabinet in her dad’s study. She raced to the cabinet and found a box with a crescent moon etched on the lid. She brought it to Micah.

“When the Lysors had the Crystal Crown, the world thrived with life,” he said. “Rushing rivers, bountiful crops, wildflowers so vibrant, it looked like all the beauty of a sunset had sprouted from a tiny seed.”

Laura smiled at the thought. The only flowers that grew in Hillview were dull gray pear blossoms.

“There was no limit to what we could do. And I was a great healer.”

“You still are,” said Laura.

“Not like I used to be.” Micah opened the box, revealing glass bottles of strangely colored liquids. The labels were written in ancient Lysorian that Laura couldn’t understand. “This is all that’s left of my healing tonics.” He picked up a bottle that contained a little bit of pale orange liquid. “This one replenishes energy, even when it’s dangerously low.”

Laura looked at her dad’s weary face. “Why don’t you take some now?”

Micah shook his head. “I won’t use any of these for myself. They’re down to the last drops. Lysor magic is too weak for me to make more. So I save them for when they are most needed.”

“Why did you waste your magic healing that horrible Hexor?” Laura asked.

He looked her in the eye and placed his hand on her arm. “Everyone deserves to be healed. Lysor or Hexor, it doesn’t matter. Always remember that.” He turned his attention back to the bottles. “This one is for a cold—amazing how something so common can be so difficult to cure.”

Laura picked up a small bottle that appeared to have nothing inside. “Why do you have this empty one?

“It isn’t empty,” said Micah. “That’s Chamelixir. It makes you blend into your surroundings. Of course, the Chamelixir also blends into its surroundings, which is why you can’t see it.”

Laura started to put it back in the box.

“Keep it,” said Micah.

Laura was stunned. In Hillview, Lysor children were allowed to use magic only to help replenish the resources on Rations Day. Elder Lysors were supposed to restrict their own use of magic as much as possible. It was the only way to make their limited power last.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

Micah nodded. “Laura, if the walls fall again, you need to be able to hide yourself. I don’t know how much is left in there, but you only need a drop. And remember—after you take it, don’t use any other magic, or the effects will reverse immediately.”

Laura placed the bottle of Chamelixir in her pocket. She really hoped she wouldn’t have to use it. “What are we going to do when the Hexors come back?” she asked, dread rising in her voice.

He put his hand on hers, trying to comfort her. “Hopefully the wall will be strong enough by then to keep them out.”

“That’s not enough!”

His eyes crinkled in concern. “Maybe not. But we have to try.”

Laura jumped up from the bed, exasperated. She stormed over to the wooden chest that had been toppled over in the corner. Its contents were spilled out on the floor.

She heard Torian’s voice in her head: We rebuild!

How could the entire town think that would work? Two Hexors had gotten past the wall as if it were nothing. A whole army would blast it to dust. She pushed the chest upright and roughly stuffed the items back inside—an old sweater dotted with moth holes; a wristwatch that had stopped working long ago—then she picked up something that caught her eye. A notebook with a worn leather cover. She riffled through the pages, which were filled with writing and sketches. The paper was thick and pulpy, as though it had been pressed by hand.

“Dad, what is this?”

He squinted at it. A smile of recognition came over his face. “Oh. I haven’t looked at that in years. It’s your mother’s notes from when she was out exploring.”

Laura gasped. “Mom wrote all this?” She looked at the pages more closely now, tracing her finger along the lines of writing.

“She always took detailed notes during her travels. Then when she returned, she would report back to Queen Ailix. Because of your mother, the queen knew when crops were dying or rivers were drying up. Then, with a flash of the Crystal Crown, Queen Ailix would make things right again. Who knows how many lives your mother saved with her adventurous spirit.”

Laura’s heart swelled with pride.

Micah’s gaze drifted out the window. “But that adventurous spirit is also why we lost her.” He tugged at his beard. “The last time she left, she didn’t want to go. But the Crystal Crown had just been stolen, and…I’ve never told you this, but…your mother went to find it.”

Laura’s mouth dropped open. “Really?”

“You were just a baby. She was heartbroken to leave you. But she was even more terrified of the world you would have to live in if the Lysors didn’t have the crown.” He paused. “But she never found it. And she never came home. And we had no choice but to flee to Hillview.”

Laura had so many questions that it was hard to choose where to begin. “If Mom never came back, how do you have her notebook?”

“A clever trick she came up with,” Micah said. “Your mother never had much interest in Lysor magic, but she could be pretty good at it when she tried. Let me show you.” He pulled himself out of bed with a groan and shuffled over to his desk. He opened the bottom drawer. “It must be in here somewhere,” he mumbled. “Ah, found it!” He pulled out a stack of parchment paper and set it on the desk and explained, “This paper was made from a tree in the Never-Dark Forest. Your mother enchanted it so that whatever she wrote on it also appeared in that notebook. Bring it here.”

Laura brought over the notebook. Micah opened it to a clean page. Then he took a sheet of parchment from the top of the stack. He wrote, Hi, Laura. Please make me some more oat tea. As he wrote on the parchment, the ink glowed green and the same words appeared on the blank notebook page in his handwriting.

Laura laughed. “That’s amazing!”

“Your mother was an amazing person. I always worried about her when she was away, so she left me this notebook. She would take a stack of the parchment and write to me as often as she could. If she was climbing an ice-covered mountain or flying around on a unicorn, I could see it all through her eyes.”

Laura looked at him skeptically. “A unicorn? Seriously?”

“Seriously!” Micah turned to a page with a rough sketch of a unicorn surrounded by detailed notes. It reminded Laura of her sketch of the orange fox.

“You mother’s calling was to explore the world, while mine was to stay with the Lysors. And with you, of course. Through this notebook, I knew she was safe. Then one day, she stopped writing.” His voice cracked a little. “That’s how I knew she was gone.”

Laura put her head on her dad’s shoulder. “Why don’t you get back in bed. I’ll make you some more tea.”

Micah closed the notebook and handed it to her. “Here. It’s yours.”