“No idea.” She shakes her head, gazing around with a sad look in her eyes. “One minute everything was normal, and the next this massive storm comes out of nowhere. Lightning hit the castle, the windows blew open, and the Unity Flame just... died.”
My storm. The one I called in anger and grief and used to helpmurdersomeone.
“People are saying it’s an omen,” Evie continues, her voice dropping. “That something terrible is coming.”
I want to laugh. Or cry. Or both. Because something terrible already came. It’s standing right next to her, wearing a ruined dress and a fake confused expression.
“Attention!” Constance’s voice cuts through the chaos. She stands next to where the unity flame should be burning, power radiating from her in visible heatwaves. “Due to the unprecedented weather event and the... current state of the unity flame, tonight’s festivities are concluded. All students will return to their dorms immediately.”
Nobody moves. There are too many questions, and there’s too much fear.
“Now.” Her final, single word carries enough heat to make everyone flinch.
People shuffle toward the exits, and I trip over my fair share of feet as I try spotting Logan in the chaos. Finally, I catch a glimpse of him across the room, directing students, keeping order, and looking appropriately concerned.
Our eyes meet, and I see my own fear reflected there. Then he looks away, back to the business of adapting, surviving, protecting, and keeping everything in control. Always control with him.
I’m almost to the door when fingers close around my elbow. The grip is light, but unmistakably a command.
Constance.
“Jade.” The headmistress’s voice is perfectly pleasant. Too pleasant. The kind of pleasant that makes smart people run, although that would be a poor decision right now, given the suspicion it would draw to myself. “A moment of your time.”
She guides me to a small alcove that’s partially hidden behind a scorched tapestry.
Sweat beads on my forehead, and I don’t know if it’s from her magic or my own terror. Probably both. “What’s going on?” I ask, remembering Logan’s instructions from earlier—act confused and clueless. “The storm… the flame…”
Her eyes bore into mine. “Can you explain how a storm powerful enough to extinguish a flame that has burned for over a thousand years appeared from nowhere on a clear night?”
My blood runs cold.
Because she knows. It should be impossible, but somehow, she knows.
“How would I be able to explain that?” My voice comes out steadier than I feel, which is a minor miracle.
She pauses, sizing me up. “Maybe you don’t now, but eventually, you will,” she finally says, her words carrying a weight that makes my bones ache. “Because all the stars havechosen their champions. Soon, we’ll learn if they chose wisely, or if they doomed us all.”
“I’m sorry, what?” The words burst out before I can stop them. “Stars? Champions? I don’t understand.”
But I do. I really, really do. Because it was all in that book Thad gave me.
When the stars align and darkness rises, four daughters of Selene will choose their champions. Sun, Moon, Star, and Storm—each selecting a mortal vessel to carry their light against the coming darkness. Only when all four unite can the balance be restored.
I’m one of those champions. Chosen by T—no,Tempest.The storm goddess.
Her storm lives inside me now. And you can sure as hell bet I’m going to track her down and find out what exactly she did to me, and why.
Screw the old books. I’m going to go straight to the source.
“Tell me, Jade.” Constance tilts her head and sniffs, as if she can smell my lies. “Do you know what the unity flame represents?”
“Unity between the houses?” My voice comes out smaller than intended.
“Balance.” She stares down her nose at me, her voice calm and sharp at the same time. “The flame represents balance between order and chaos, tradition and change, the known and the unknown, light and darkness. It’s burned without interruption for over one thousand years. Now, the Revenants are rising—the living dead that defy the laws of nature. Some of them may be hiding in plain sight, perhaps even within these walls.”
“What does that mean?” I no longer have to pretend I’m confused, because now, I thoroughlyamconfused. “What are Revenants?”
But my question goes far deeper than that—deeper than Constance can know. Because why did Oliver mention Revenants before Thad killed him? The events at the Scorched Circles happened so quickly it’s hard to keep track of them all, but Oliver said something in the tunnels about Thad recruiting Revenants, and not wanting Evie to be recruited, and then Logan said Oliver didn’t want Evie to be exposed to Thad’s “radical” ideas…
