“When veil-born power cracks the gate,
Four shall stand with woven fate.
As hearts align in silent claim,
The Veil shall thin, and truth reclaim.
One by tether, sworn in flame?—
One by bond, through heart and name.
One not meant, yet ever near,
Marked by shadow, bound by fear.
The fracture wakes, the roots unspool?—
And death shall dance through every school.”
He stares at it, brow furrowed. “That’s… not vague and horrifying at all.”
I step beside him, my mark already burning brighter with every line. It’s the same kind of ache that started before the Veil breach, like something inside me is listening.Recognizing. That is more than a simple poem. And I’m pretty sure it’s talking about me.
“It looks like part of it has been torn out,” I say.
Tamsin blows out a breath, her usual snark nowhere to be found. “I take it back. That’s creepy. That’s prophecy creepy.”
“Yeah, and someone already knows about it.” Nolan doesn’t look away from the page. “We need to figure this out. It mentioned four at the start. But then only three descriptions. Maybe the three are linked with the fourth.”
He looks up from the book, and I’m held in place by the knowledge swirling in his eyes.
My heart thuds. “You think I’m the fourth?”
He glances back at the book and then back to me, eyes wide and earnest. “Linds, you’re the Veil-born power it mentioned. That’s not even a question.”
My throat goes dry. Hearing it out loud, like it’s fact and I’m really somehow connected to this, makes something inside me flinch. Like a truth I’ve been dodging just stepped into the light.
Tamsin shifts, arms crossed tight over her chest. “Okay, so we’ve got ‘one by tether, sworn in flame’—that’s Raiden, right? The magical tether fits.”
I nod slowly. “And ‘one by bond, through heart and name’…” My eyes flick to Nolan before I can stop them. His cheeks go pink, but he doesn’t deny it.
Tamsin hums. “Which leaves Mr. Gloom and Horns as ‘not meant, yet ever near.’ Marked by shadow? Yeah, that tracks. He’s always close by.”
A chill prickles down my spine. She doesn’t have to say his name for me to know who she’s talking about.
Nolan finally tears his gaze from the book, his voice quiet. “So then the line about four with woven fate…That’s all of us. You’re the tether. The spark everything revolves around. Not a piece of the prophecy—its center.”
The mark on my arm flares, as if in answer.
Tamsin’s brows knit. “So the prophecy is about you. What if it’s aboutyouand how the threads between you four can change everything?”
“Changeme,” I whisper.
“It’s not just poetry. It’s warning us. About what’s coming…and who you are becoming. Maybe we can find something in the Library that will tell us more about what being Veil-born even means.”
I stare down at the glowing pages, the words burned into memory now.
Veil-born power. Woven fate. Tethered spark. Three threads. And me—caught in the center of them all.
