My heart beat fast as I held out my hand. “Can I see it?”
He handed over the card, and I used my lantern to read the brief contents.
* * *
Find the others, and you will find me.
Chapter 33
My heart skipped a beat. Those final two words were enough for me to know who had sent the package.
Cassian studied my face. “You know who sent this.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah. It was the guy who dropped me in those woods. His last words to me were ‘find me.’”
Cassian pointed at the strange mechanism on the face of the locket. “Did he mention to you that he had one of the stars?”
I blinked at him. “No. Are they really that special?”
He pursed his lips as he dropped his gaze to the thing. “Yes, and I wonder how your acquaintance managed to get a hold of one.”
“Are they rare?”
“The rarest objects in all the kingdoms, and perhaps even the world.” He rolled his eyes at me. There was a strange look in his eyes as he held out the machine to me. “Would you like to hold it?”
I swallowed hard. “Is it safe?”
“Yes. Whatever these things are capable of, they do no harm.”
He took the lantern from me. I raised my shaking hands with the palms up, and he set the machine in them. That’s when all hell broke loose.
A silver light blasted out of the machine and enveloped me. I tried to throw the thing, but my arms wouldn’t move. None of me would move. The light flowed all around my body, encasing me in a transparent and gentle cyclone of magic.
Cassian was pushed back at the initial blast and dropped the lantern, where it shattered on the ground. He caught himself and leaped toward me. The cyclone knocked him back again. He drew out his scales and tried to slice at the flowing magic, but his plates were cut away, getting smaller and smaller with each slice until they were nothing but nubbins.
A tip of the whirlwind slammed into the locket and sank into the face. The rest of its body followed, the whole thing being sucked into the trinket in a matter of moments. My body came loose the moment the last bit of light vanished, and my legs buckled. I crumpled to the ground, but Cassian caught me before I hit my head. The star rolled out of my hands and across the grass, coming to a stop against the box.
We both gaped as the metal, so perfect a moment before, now sank into rust. Bits and pieces fell off until the whole thing crumpled to the ground in a pile of ruin. Even that deteriorated to nothing, until all that remained was a stained spot in the grass.
I lifted my wide eyes to Cassian, whose face reflected my own shock. “W-what just happened?”
He shook himself of his stupor and pursed his lips. “I don’t know, but-” He dropped his gaze to me and froze. His eyes narrowed, and he grasped the locket, nearly yanking me up as he pulled it toward him.
I grasped the chain and choked out my surprise. “What are you doing? What’s wrong?”
“The frame of the picture,” he told me as he turned the locket face toward me and held a glowing stone aloft. “It’s changed.”
I squinted before my heart skipped a beat. The frame around the picture had indeed changed. The upper left of the circle now showed a symbol. The same symbol that had covered the mechanism.
I shook my head. “I-I don’t understand any of this. What’s going on?”
Cassian grasped one of my hands between his and squeezed it. His soft voice cut through the rising tide of panic that threatened to overwhelm me. “Grace, look at me.” My eyes darted up to him, and he looked straight into them. “Whatever is happening, you won’t be alone in finding the truth. I’m here. I will not leave you, no matter what.”
Tears sprang into my eyes, and I set my other hand atop his. “Thank you.”
“Now let’s see what became of that star,” he mused as he helped me to my feet. He led me over to the box and the remains of the mechanism. Cassian released me and knelt beside the stain. He brushed his palm over the blades of grass and furrowed his brow. “It looks like there’s nothing left of the Dreadwrought.”
“Why is it called that?” I asked him.
