The Drekleid shook his head slowly, regret in every line of his face. “We have been talking all week, and we remain deadlocked. Perhaps there is too much anger among the leadership on both sides of this fight.”
“Then what will happen?” Rayna asked in a small voice. “War, again?”
“I hope not,” Leif said gravely. “Perhaps...” He paused, then continued, looking directly at Anders. “Perhaps we need to come up with a new kind of solution. Perhaps someone will see a creative way out of this situation.”
Anders felt quite sure in that moment that Leif meant him to listen carefully to those words. That Leif meanthimto think about finding a way out of this.
On one hand, the task felt almost overwhelmingly large.
On the other, he wasn’t the same boy who’d fled his own first transformation in terror. He’d found his way into Ulfar, to Fylkir’s chalice, to Drekhelm itself. And now he was finding a way to get by, even to make a home at Drekhelm. Who knew what else he could do when those he loved were at risk?
As the three of them walked back to the classroom, Anders knew he had to tell Rayna about the mirror. He’d worried about whose side she might take in the wolf-dragon divide, but now she knew that she herself was born of both, things had to be different. They’d always worked together to solve problems in the past, and this one was going to need all the brains they could muster.
When they were back with the others, he quietly told Lisabet what had transpired in the Drekleid’s office. He could see Rayna whispering the story to Ellukka as well. Lisabet’s eyes went huge at the news.
“Pack and paws,” she murmured. “You’re... You two are a completely new kind of elemental, Anders. That’s incredible.”
“There’s more,” he said, leaning in close. He told her what else Leif had said—about the way the dragon had looked directly at him, as good as telling him to use his creativity to avert an all-out war, while the adults were tied up in endless, deadlocked discussions. “We have to tell Rayna,” he finished, and Lisabet nodded.
“The others too,” she said. “Ellukka goes where Rayna goes, and we’re going to need Mikkel’s and Theo’s help. Wehaveto trust them. If the Dragonmeet is no closer to a solution, and we’ve seen what my mo—what Sigrid can do with the Snowstone, then this is urgent.”
After dinner that night, Anders and Lisabet discreetly gathered up their friends and brought them back to their room. The dragons were all curious, but they came quietly, piling into the little guest room the wolves had made their own. Anders, Lisabet, and Theo sat on Anders’s bed, and Rayna, Ellukka, and Mikkel took up Lisabet’s.
“Well?” said Ellukka. “What’s the big secret?”
Anders told them about his trip with Theo to the artifact storage caverns, and Theo joined in a little, confirming what Anders was saying, though he clearly didn’t know why it was so important that they share this information right at this moment.
Then Lisabet took over from Theo, and together the wolves told the dragons about Hayn, and about the mirror they’d seen in his office—about their theory that perhaps the dragons’ counterpart wasn’t broken—especially since the symbol beside it in the book said otherwise—but instead simply locked up somewhere dark and quiet.
And finally, Anders told them what Leif had said in his office that day—that to search for one artifact at Drekhelm, you looked for others like it, which at least gave them something of a hint as to how to narrow their search. And more important, that Leif had as good as told him to take action.
“What exactly does Leif want us to do?” Rayna asked, thoughtful. “Whatcanwe do?”
“We’re twelve,” Mikkel said, pale. “How can we be in charge of handling any part of this?”
“I’m thirteen,” said Ellukka, and he elbowed her in the side. “Anyway,” she continued, “we’re Finskól students. We’re there because we’re all good at something special.”
Anders nodded. “And if we do nothing, it’s just going to get colder and colder. The Dragonmeet’s talking forever and getting nothing done. We should try and find out what the wolves have planned.”
“I agree,” said Rayna. “We have to try and find the mirror, see what we can find out from watching this Hayn.”
“Then do what?” Theo asked. “If we tell anyone where we got that information, we’ll get in trouble for using an artifact like that without permission. Assuming they even believe us. And if they think we revealed to the wolves that the mirrors still work...”
“Then do whatever we can think of,” Anders said, “to try and stop them using the Snowstone. To keep things the way they are, so the wolves can’t attack.”
Until now, it had been a matter of keeping himself, Rayna, and Lisabet safe. But now, looking around the room, he was realizing he had more to fight for than that. He needed to broaden his vision—he had friends on the wolf sideandon the dragon side who would suffer if there was another battle.
“I think we should vote,” said Lisabet. “It’s a big risk for all of us. Anders and I could be thrown out of Drekhelm if we’re caught using an artifact like that without permission, or risking the wolves using their mirror in return. Perhaps the rest of you could too, I don’t know, if we got caught going behind the Dragonmeet’s backs. Everyone needs to be in on this.”
“Agreed,” said Anders, his throat tight with nerves. What would they do if one of them didn’t want to join in but already knew their plans? “Hands up, all who think we should try and find the mirror.”
He raised his own hand, and beside him, Lisabet raised hers as well. Rayna did at the same time, backing him without hesitation.
Ellukka looked sideways at Rayna, and then raised her own hand, and with a soft, worried sound, Theo raised his.
Mikkel looked around at them all, biting his lip, considering.
“I think they really would throw us out,” he said quietly. “Out of the Finskól for sure. Leif couldn’t defend us. We might be exiled from every dragon community in Vallen, if they think we’ve shown the wolves a way to spy on us, or they think we were trying to talk to them.”
