DREYA
“The hell is that?” Kianna asked, her gun pointed at the fox. “Did you hear that? Is that thing talking?”
Dreya put a gentle hand on Kianna’s arm, but she couldn’t get her to budge. She couldn’t take her own eyes off the fox. The boys stood, dumbstruck.
She had heard the voice, clear as day. Just as they all had.
She knew it deep in her core.
“That is not the enemy,” Dreya said. She kept her voice low, soothing. “It is an emissary.”
“Emissary? Emissary of what?”
“The Violet Sage.”
The fox bowed its head again when she spoke the name.
“The hell is a Violet Sage?” Kianna asked.
“The only human to ever wield all four Spheres at once,” Dreya said.
“That looks like a fox to me.”
“It is her voice.”
Tenn took a hesitant step forward.
“Why are you here?” he asked. “What do you want?”
“You have let the boy unleash terrible evil,” the fox said. “We must prepare to fight it.”
“But how?”
“You already know,” the fox said. “Come.”
It turned and walked away, down the alley. Tenn glanced to the others. Dreya nodded.
“We will need her help,” she said. “We should follow.”
Tenn nodded. Began walking forward. Then Dreya heard the voice again.
“Not you,” it said. She knew the voice was meant only for her. “It must be him. Only him.”
But there is so much I wish to ask you, Dreya thought back. So much I wish to learn.
“And you will,” the Violet Sage replied. “Soon. But for now, he must go alone. There is much that must be done back here. She will come for you. And you must be ready when she does.”
A vision filled her mind. The sky in flames, clouds roiling as lightning struck and earthquakes toppled buildings. Figures scattered on the ground. Men and women and children, running and screaming as thousands of Howls poured through the streets like blood, like so much blood, and it was then she realized it was Outer Chicago she saw. And there, at its beating, burning heart, was Aidan.
She gasped.
Tenn looked back at the three of them. They had all stopped moving. She wondered if the others had received a similar message, or were simply too stunned to go.
“You must go alone,” Dreya said. She swallowed. “We will be here when you return. We must let the others know.”
She could see the struggle within him. The desire to tell them he wasn’t going alone. But he saw the logic in it. This was no time to let emotion override logic. The war was no longer coming—it was here. And they needed to prepare.
She worried the vision she had been granted proved there was no point in preparing. They had already lost.
Is that what will be, or what might be? she asked within.
“It is what the Prophets have seen,” the Violet Sage replied.
It wasn’t the answer she’d hoped for.
There was not much more in this world to hope for.
“Okay,” Tenn said. As if to ready himself for whatever was to come. “Okay. I’ll... I’ll see you soon.”
She nodded. They all did.
Then the last hope the world had walked away from them, and Dreya felt the weight of knowledge settle on her shoulders.
This was the end.
No matter what Tenn tried, this was the end.