“She needs me,” Oro said. Isla had only been gone hours, but he felt her absence like a gap in his soul. It would be so easy to allow himself to go hollow, for the embers of himself to extinguish beneath this grief, but instead, he had to ignite. For her, he had to find his strength even within this panic.
“The island needs you,” Enya said.
Oro and his friends were back in their favorite floor of the Mainland castle. Grim had portaled them here, at Oro’s request, while he went to calm Lynx and his dragon. Both creatures had become inconsolable in Isla’s absence.
Enya was right. Lark’s turmoil had left the island in pieces. Most of his people were gone, portaled to the newlands, for their own safety. Many who had remained had already been turned into undead soldiers by Lark.
His duty was to his people and this island. He knew that.
And yet.
“I need to do this,” Oro said. “I need her.” He didn’t miss how his friends glanced at each other. He also knew they wouldn’t keep their thoughts to themselves.
“And what if this world is better off without her?” Zed finally said. At that, fire flared in Oro’s hands. Zed studied the flames and kept speaking. “Try to take your heart out of it, Oro. Isla Crown is now the most powerful person in our histories. Possibly, in the entire universe. Do we really want her back here?”
“Yes,” he said, without missing a beat.
Zed continued as if he hadn’t said anything at all. “Maybe...this was the best thing she could have done for everyone. She rid us of Lark. She sacrificed herself to do so. Maybe...” Oro’s jaw clenched as he predicted his next words. “Maybe she doesn’t want to be found.”
He’d had that thought before, right after he and Grim had beaten each other to bloody pulps in the maze. Isla knew the danger of her powers. She knew the pain and havoc those abilities had already brought unto this world. She knew the prophecy and that it meant killing either him or Grim...
Maybe Zed was right. Maybe she was trying to outrun the prophecy. Make it so she wasn’t even in the sameworldas them. Maybe she thought it would be enough to change her fate.
But Oro knew, deep in his bones, that Zed was wrong. This world needed Isla. She had endless wonder. Endless hope. She always saw light where most would see darkness. It was why Oro had fallen in love with her. She was his reminder that this world could be better. She was his light in dark places. She was his eternal summer.
And this world would need her light and her abilities to rebuild. She was a worldmaker, just like Lark. She could restore the island to what it once was.
“We’re better off with her here. We need that power,” Oro said. He had to convince his friends that this was true. He couldn’t do this without their help.
Calder sighed. Everyone turned to face the Moonling, the wood of his seat sagging beneath the weight of his towering form. “She is the most powerful person to come from this world. She is wearing a necklace with a diamond made of pure power. We need her back.”
Oro sagged in relief, before Enya said, “And I bet there are those in that world who want that power for themselves. Other worlds too, maybe.”
Including Cronan.
There it was. His worst fear. That Isla would be in trouble, and Oro would be stuck worlds away. Terror crept through his blood like ice. The necklace she wore was bound by her marriage oath to Grim and could only be released with her death. What if Cronan found her? What if he wanted that diamond? What if he—
The thought had him gripping the sides of his chair until the wood broke off.
He stood. “I’m getting her back,” Oro swore, circling the room. “Not just because I love her.” He caught a flash of pity in Enya’s eyes. “But because this world is better with her in it.”
“And how far will you go?” Enya asked.
Oro remembered what Grim said. That he would tear apart worlds if he had to. Oro knew deep in his soul that he would do the same. As a rule, he tried not to lie. He wouldn’t start now. “To the ends of the universe,” he said.
That was when Enya finally looked afraid.
His oldest friend opened her mouth—but before she could say a single word, Grim appeared in a torrent of darkness. His shadows shredded the ground, circling impatiently, reflecting his storm-like mood. There was a long claw mark along his side, the fabric of his cape torn.
Clearly, Lynx was angry. Oro couldn’t blame him.
“Well?” Grim demanded, completely ignoring Oro’s friends. “Any thoughts?” When no one immediately responded, he said, “She was already close to death when she left. We have just days to get to her.”
Panic bled through his chest. Oro didn’t know how they were going to create a portal. Or how they were going to amplify Grim’s powers. But the more he thought about Isla’s plan to take Lark into the otherworld, the more he became convinced that she would have had help from someone who wanted her to succeed.
“We need to talk to Cleo,” Oro said.
The Moonling, it turned out, wasn’t hard to find. In fact, she was in the captain’s quarters of her white oak ship as if she was waiting for them. When they portaled inside early the next morning, she didn’t even seem shocked.
