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Tess tilted her head to the side. “Why would I be mad?” she asked, her brows furrowing in confusion.
“Because I should have told you earlier.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Okay...”
“It’s not that big of a deal,” I hurried to say. “There’s just been a development in my dream ability.”
Suspicion gave way to anticipation. “Really? Did you see through someone else’s eyes? Another family member you don’t know about?”
“More like adopted family. I saw Koen’s memory.”
I regaled the scene: Emalyn using her clairvoyant power to see Sanlow, Aspen offering to go there to stop Agana, and Koen refusing.
“He said, ‘I’m the only one who can stop,’ and then broke off,” I told Tess. “He hesitated, and then Em said, ‘Uncle Koen, stop hiding secrets! Bas and Tess are depending on us!’ Then Koen said, ‘Bas is the only one who can stop,’ and then got cut off because Agana slapped me out of it.”
Tess stood up and started to pace to help herself think. “Do you think he was going to say Amate?” she asked, her eyes searching mine for answers.
The question seemed to have a tangible weight. I flopped sideways on the couch from where I sat, disturbing Night again. She shot out from under it, spitting and hissing at me, when the diary fell with a loud thud. I sat back up in a jolt. “Sorry!”
Tess went over to rip a small piece of bread off her loaf and handed it to me to give to Night as a peace offering. She sniffed the bread curiously, then her narrow pupils went round, and she snatched it out of my fingers and gulped it down. It seemed that was all it took to get back in her good graces; she jumped up to curl in my lap, purring.
Tess’s presence beside me was so comforting that I had no trouble admitting, “Yes. Who else could he mean? But why? What would I ‘stop’ her from doing when I’m just an heir she wants to kill off?” I wondered aloud, my mind racing with unanswered questions.
“I don’t know,” Tess said, her tone regrettable before shifting into urgent encouragement, “but I think you should level up your skill to do it again. Learn from the book. Seeing what Koen is doing is the perfect starting point to figure out what to do next. He’ll have a plan. We can use it as a base for ours.”
Luckily, I didn’t have to dislodge Night as Tess picked up the diary from the floor where it had fallen. I leafed through it until I reached the Abilities section, scanning for the part about honing the power. My heart lurched when my eyes landed on a paragraph I hadn’t gotten to yet. “This says it’s through a connection not just of a blood bond, but of strong emotional ones.”
“Koen taught you everything you know and raised you like a son,” Tess said, “as a promise to the woman he loved. I’d say you two have a pretty emotional bond.”
I read and re-read every single word pertaining to my power. Certain explanations could have been more detailed, but the writer couldn’t have known every little thing about an ability they didn’t actually have. But that didn’t matter because I had all I needed at the moment: how to purposefully relive a memory while awake.
“I’m going to call it dream-jumping,” I announced to Tess, who nodded in acknowledgment. “Wish me luck. Switch laps, Night.”
The cat meowed dozily and padded onto Tess’s lap. “I’ll start practicing spells,” she said. “Good luck.”
Following the diary’s instructions, I closed my eyes, picturing Koen and all his attributes, from physical appearance down to his personality. There was nothing in my mind’s eye at first, but the more I concentrated, the more a scene started to appear. Warbled voices drifted in and steadily grew stronger. Before long, I was fully transported into my mentor’s subconscious.
But I couldn’t celebrate.
Koen wasn’t at the library anymore. He and the others—Aspen, Sloan, Emalyn, and Rhetta—were back at one of Ophir’s meeting caves. They stood facing Leysa, who was even more brusque than usual.
“Wherever they are,” the leader was in the middle of briskly saying, “they’re on their own.”
“But we have their belongings,” Rhetta said worriedly. “We get them, bring them back—”
An idea jolted up my spine. This conversation was from the past. Had it been Rhetta who dropped the books off?
“No,” Leysa snapped, her auburn eyes flashing threateningly. “Or did you forget what Shen predicted?”
Sloan stepped forward to glare at her friend. “Predictions change. They’re too young to be on their own. They need help—”
“They’re resourceful, powerful witches,” Leysa interrupted. “They did just fine on their last adventure—”
“Adventure?” Koen scoffed angrily. “We realize this is our reality, but we are a team—”
“And teams get split up! Are you all apprentices? Your emotions for Tessia and Bastian are clouding your judgment! You have the information on the eclipse. We need to brainstorm how the covens plan to abuse their power. Aspen, Agana is involved. Is she the mastermind?”
Aspen cast a sympathetic look at the Blackwood siblings before answering seriously, “No. She’s teamed up with someone. My bet is Aeros. They likely combined their covens. From what little my mother clued me in on, I’m betting Elarian will also be involved.”
Leysa’s face screwed up in disgust. The leader of Elarian was Tanith Taran, her half-sister. “If that is the case, it’s safe to say they’re going to storm Sanlow.”
A grim silence stretched between the Kairos members. I swore I could feel Koen’s ice-cold dread pumping through his veins.
Emalyn bravely broke the quiet. “We need to go there. The Kairos has to stop them.”
“Yes!” the Blackwood siblings immediately agreed, along with Rhetta’s empathic nodding.
Leysa bared her fangs and hissed wordlessly, glaring at each person, even Aspen. I sensed Koen’s thought: She’s just lashing out because of Denarius. It breaks her heart to see Vidar so upset by his nephew’s betrayal. They don’t know how to break the curse Gideon has put on him. This would be a great time to have Galen’s spellbook.
“Amate’s army will do that before we even gather our forces. The last thing I’m letting happen is anyone going to Sanlow. As prepared as we are, even we are not prepared for that kind of war.”
“Then what kind of war are we prepared for?” Rhetta’s voice was unexpectedly cold. Even Koen was surprised by his wife’s sudden ferocity. I had never seen her anything but happy or calm. It was unnerving to see her genuinely upset. “Bastian knows what you said about him starting or ending a war. Are you planning for the one he might start?”
I remembered Agana’s words again. “He’s a dangerous bastard, is what he is. He’s the reason for the Bloody Liberation in the first place.”
Did that mean Leysa’s prediction was right? Or did I already start a war?
That just raised even more confusion. I didn’t dwell on them.
And as usual, they all knew something I didn’t. Maybe with my “spying,” I could catch that something.
Leysa’s tone was defiant and chilling when she said, “Yes.”
Anger sparked in Koen’s chest. He glared at Leysa. “And you’re not involving us?”
Leysa narrowed her eyes in a challenge. “Not yet. We need to be strategic.”
“You mean you need to be,” Koen growled. “Why the distancing all of a sudden? What are you planning without us?”
The Kairos leader opened her mouth to snarl a response, but Em stepped between them. “Agana took Tess and Bas! That means she might take them to Sanlow or abuse their powers. Are we just going to let that happen? If we don’t go to war, we still need to rescue them before they’re killed.”
Sloan pulled her daughter close. She nodded at her brother, who dipped his chin in acknowledgment. “We’re not letting our son and daughter be taken as slaves.”
I startled. Does Koen really view me as a son? For a moment, all I wished for was to be saved by my father figure. The want grabbed hold of me like a giant fist.
It unclenched, leaving me adrift when Leysa answered, “We will continue to discuss this matter. Right now, Tessia and Bastian have to fend for themselves.”
Rhetta approached Koen when Leysa stormed out. Sloan and Emalyn followed her, begging her to see reason.
“We will save them,” Rhetta assured softly, resting a hand on her husband’s chest. “And if we can’t, then Leysa is right. They can save themselves.”
Koen kissed her briefly. “From here on out,” he murmured, “I will tell Bas everything. No more secrets.”
Rhetta nodded. “Secrets only divide us.”
“Bas!”
I jolted out of the memory at the sound of Tess’s voice. I dragged in a gasp as if I had been shoved underwater. “Leysa’s a jerk,” I reported with a scowl.
“Huh? You were starting to worry me. You don’t look right when you dream-jump. You stare off and gape.”
“Was I drooling?” I asked, swiping my hand across my chin. Blessedly, I was dry. “She doesn’t want to rescue us or stop Agana and Aeros from storming Sanlow.”
Once again, I recounted what I experienced. Tess surprised me again with her expressions at each turn of the story. When I finished, she crossed her arms stubbornly. “Fine, then. We’ll do what we have to survive. Bloodfrost and Rhidian—and possibly others—are going to use the eclipse to lay siege to Sanlow and Amate. That much is absolutely clear. If the Kairos isn’t going to stop them, then we should try.”
Tess gritted her teeth and lifted her chin. “Starting with transporting back to Piroska.”
I almost howled with laughter. I stifled it to not frighten Night again, still sleeping on Tess’s lap. “Are you crazy?” I hissed. “You think we can stop a war on an entire city?”
Tess looked at me innocently. She was surprisingly good at the pouting look when I was so used to her glowering. Handing me the spellbook, she noted wryly, “You say it like we’re powerless weaklings.”
“We’re not,” I protested quickly as she placed it in my open palms and splayed it open to a certain page. I slid the frayed blue ribbon used as a bookmark aside to read the complicated spell from top to bottom. My jaw dropped lower with each line of description and instruction. Now I knew why she was so confident in her statement: because she was confident in her ability to learn this updated way of travel. “Is this possible?”
Tess was unfazed by the daunting task. “This spellbook might be just as ancient as Galen’s. If it belongs to Aspen, I don’t know why he wouldn’t have shared it with the Kairos. It would be beyond useful to have more than just the basic transportation and trapping abilities. This page was bookmarked. Whoever sent this wants us to use it. And it should work.”
“Teleporting without a token,” I reminded her dubiously.
“Yes!”
I eyed her skeptically. “Since when are you so optimistic?”
“Since it’s our only option. You’re going to dream-jump to Piroska’s memory, preferably a recent one, and we’ll travel to wherever she is. We’ll have to risk the possibility of it being a very dangerous, inconvenient space.”
“We’re hinging a lot on her actually wanting to help us.” I sighed. “The chances she’ll still be with Agana and Aeros are very, very, very high. I’d rather not see them ever again.”
“I know, I know, and I know,” Tess agreed. “But what other options do we have, hm?”
“Probably a few we can’t think of on our own.”
“I know,” she said again, this time softer, more uncertain. “We do the best we can with the knowledge we have. We should go before we back out. Sorry, Night, but we need to leave now.”
The cat’s mrow was mournful, but she seemed to understand, sitting by to watch us eat and drink the rest of the provisions and pack the diary and the piece of Night’s cloak into the shoulder bag in case we needed to transport ourselves back to the cabin.
We stood over the spellbook set on the table and memorized the spell. Once we agreed to have it down to the last letter, Tess hid the book under a vanishing ward spell.
“I memorized other spells we can use, ones easy enough to teach on the go,” she told me, clasping her hand into mine. I could sense she was studiously ignoring the significance of it. “No planning this time,” she continued quietly, almost to herself, as if trying to convince herself it was the best option. “Planning never works. Are you ready?”
I searched her pale blue eyes for courage. “Do I have a choice?”
Tess smiled warmly. “Nope.”
