I blinked. “They’re… not?”
Skonk shook his head. “They’re not even skirting the outer reaches. They adjusted course hours ago.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said automatically. “Stonewick sits right at—”
“—a convergence point,” Twobble finished. “Yes. Which is why we assumed.”
“Then where are they going?” I asked.
Twobble hesitated, then straightened. “North.”
My pulse kicked. “North toward Shadowick?”
Skonk answered this time. “No, not north-east. North.”
I frowned. “What’s up there that a bunch of orcs would want?”
Twobble swallowed. “The Northern Luminary.”
The room felt suddenly smaller.
“The Glacial Hollows,” Skonk added as if I didn’t know what was just beyond the Luminary.
I stared at him. “That’s… that’s not—”
“Expected?” Skonk said. “It is now.”
My thoughts raced. Why would they be going to a place that was considered neutral ground? Did they want to destroy it?
“Why would they go there?” Celeste asked.
Twobble shook his head.
“They’re not just marching blind. They’ve got reconnaissance, or something’s guiding them.”
“Who?” I demanded.
Before either of them could answer, the air shifted.
Nova stepped into the room as if she’d been standing just outside the conversation, her timing so precise it sent a shiver down my spine. Her eyes flicked from Twobble to Skonk and then to me, already piecing things together.
“Say that again,” she said quietly.
Twobble squared his shoulders. “The orcs aren’t moving toward Stonewick. Or Shadowick. They’re headed for the Northern Luminary.”
Nova froze. It wasn’t dramatic, but something in her posture went very still. And in life, there wasn’t much that made her pause.
“The Luminary,” she repeated.
“Yes,” Skonk said. “And they’re moving with intent.”
Nova inhaled slowly. Her gaze drifted unfocused for a moment, green eyes clouding as she looked inward, outward, sideways through time the way only she could.
“The orcs are headed to the Hollows,” she said at last.
I stared at her. “Are we absolutely sure?”
She nodded faintly.
