ARKAYNA SWOOPED DOWN, landing her griffin outside the Caves of the Fang. Nova Terron had brought Gandobi, Proxima, and many of the other Astromancers along with them. Gandobi had been an Astromancer for a long time, but Proxima was among the youngest in the order.
As the group assembled outside the gaping entrance to the caves, Proxima muttered, “It’s about time. Tazma’s already inside.”
“Step aside, please, heroes coming through.” Arkayna waved at her fellow Mysticons to follow her. She’d always been annoyed by Proxima, who acted like a know-it-all. “Looks like a classic dungeon crawl. Come on, girls, we’ve got this.”
“I’ll tell you what you’ve got,” Proxima snapped. “You’ve gotten us into a heap of trouble.”
“Says the armchair Astromancer,” Zarya shot back.
“Yeah, you should try being on the front lines sometime,” Arkayna said, glaring at Proxima. It was easy to have opinions when you weren’t the one dodging Tazma’s swirling dark magic. Maybe Arkayna had made some mistakes, but every day she was fighting back. Every day she was trying.
“Come along, Proxima,” Nova Terron said as he walked out in front.
Arkayna couldn’t believe her ears. “What? She’s coming with us?”
“As am I,” Nova Terron said. “The Spectral Dragon is a near-unstoppable force of evil. You will need all the help you can get.”
“What about me?” Malvaron asked.
“What about you?” Nova Terron said. “Proxima did an in-depth study of the caves.”
“You’re on guard duty with us,” Gandobi said, yanking Malvaron back by the ear.
“Let’s go, girls,” Proxima said, pushing Arkayna aside as she entered the mouth to the caves. “It’s magic hour.”
“Hey! That’s my line,” Arkayna shrieked. “My line!”
Proxima started walking into the darkness, calling behind her, “These caves run for miles under Drake City, and their center is the cavern that spawns these monsters.”
Arkayna hated that they were following Proxima, listening to her give directions. It was enough to drive any mage crazy.
They turned right, then left, winding through the maze of tunnels. Until suddenly, Proxima stopped in place. She stared at the dead end ahead, then pulled out her parchment map.
“It doesn’t make sense,” she said. “This tunnel should come to a branch. Maybe there’s a clue in the prophecy.… How does it go?”
“When twin stars unite,” Zarya recited.
“The spectral beast will take flight,” Piper added.
Proxima furrowed her brows. “When twin stars unite? Does that mean the twin stars of Samara?”
“That’s what I thought,” Arkayna said, “but their orbits don’t cross for another…”
Em closed her eyes, doing the math in her head. “Twelve years, four hours, and six minutes.”
“Please stop this jabber about stars!” Nova Terron grumbled. “We need to focus on finding the dragon.”
When Zarya looked at him, he wouldn’t meet her gaze. “That’s what we’re doing. Hey, you know something, don’t you? What are you hiding?”
“Nothing! Nothing! See, this is my hiding-nothing face.” Nova Terron whistled a quick tune and smiled.
“The prophecy’s not talking about stars, is it?” Arkayna asked.
For a moment everyone was silent. “No,” Nova Terron finally admitted. “It speaks of the royal twins.”
“But there haven’t been any twins born to the royal family,” Arkayna said, studying his expression. Why was Nova Terron acting so weird? What was he even talking about? Royal twins?
“So, we don’t have to worry about the dragon, right?” Piper said hopefully.
“Wrong,” Nova Terron replied. “There are twins. They were born fifteen years ago. To Queen Goodfey.”
Arkayna could only stare at him. My mother had twins? she thought.