"Why tell us now?" Codric asked. "We're still cadets. We haven't even bonded with our dragons yet."
"Because I told Kailin," Saphir said. "It was difficult for her to keep this from all of you, so she asked me to tell you. That way, you could start preparing for the responsibility you will one day carry and honing your abilities."
I glanced at Kailin. She met my eyes briefly before looking away. How long had she been carrying this burden? Days? Weeks?
"You said that a few of the high-ranking generals know about the portals," Shovia said. "Did you tell them about the prophecy as well?"
"That number is even smaller than those who know about the portals." Saphir shifted his gaze to me. "Nyxath, General Lesten Zorian, and now you."
General Zorian, the Chief of Staff of the Dragon Force, knew, but not General Bardaky, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Elucian Forces. I filed that information away.
What did General Zorian think about Saphir's prophecy? Did he take it seriously, or was he humoring an ancient shaman who might be losing his grip on reality?
Portals to other worlds, dragons hunting across the galaxy, shamans trapped for a thousand years—it all sounded insane. The ravings of someone who'd lived too long and seen too much. But the prophecy about the seven topped even that.
Still, I couldn't dismiss the fact that Kailin had saved Podana with abilities no one understood. She'd broadcast a prophetic dream to every dragon in the Citadel simultaneously, which shouldn't have been possible. That was real. Documented. Undeniable.
So maybe insane wasn't the right word.
"I hope that once you bond with dragons," Saphir continued, "your abilities will manifest more strongly. The bond amplifies what's already there." He stood, the unexpected movement sudden enough to startle us. "For now, this stays between us. No one else can know."
His words draped over me like thick fog. It wasn't painful, just present and slightly oily. It was a pressure in my mind that saidkeep this secretwith an intensity that felt wrong.
I pushed back against it instinctively, and the uncomfortable sensation faded, but the effect remained. I was sure I couldn't tell anyone about the prophecy even if I tried.
What the hell was that?
I'd heard rumors about Saphir's shamanic abilities, including the power of compulsion, but I'd never experienced it with him, so I'd dismissed them as malicious gossip.
It would seem that I'd been wrong.
The others were nodding in agreement, seemingly unaffected, but I suspected they just hadn't realized what had happened.
I kept my expression neutral and said nothing as we filed out of the chamber. The spiral staircase that led back up to the surface was narrow, barely wide enough for two slim people side by side, and I wasn't that slim. As I took the lead, my glow stick illuminating the way, the others filed behind me, with Morek bringing up the rear.
"Onyx," I sent out a mental call. "We are done. Tell the others and come pick us up."
"On our way," came his reply. "Anything interesting?"
"There always is with our esteemed shaman."
I couldn't tell Onyx about the prophecy because I had agreed not to tell anyone about it, but even if I hadn't, Saphir's compulsion ensured that I would keep it a secret.
The cadets were talking, the sounds of their voices reverberating from the stone walls even though they were trying to be quiet.
We were perhaps twenty steps from the top when I heard it.
A soft mechanicalclick.
My body reacted before my mind fully processed the sound. Years of training and combat compressed into a single instant of recognition.
"DOWN!" I roared, launching myself back.
I crashed into Alar and Kailin, my arms sweeping them both backward. The momentum carried us into Codric and Shovia, and we all tumbled down the narrow staircase in a tangle of limbs. Morek, with his inhuman reflexes, managed to grab Saphir and haul the shaman down with him.
The explosion ripped through the stairwell above us, the concussive force slamming into us even as we fell. Stone and debris rained down, chunks of masonry bouncing off the walls and steps. The sound was deafening in the enclosed space, a roar that assaulted my eardrums.
We landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, bodies piled on top of each other. Dust filled the air so thick I could barely breathe. My ears rang with a high-pitched whine that drowned out everything else.
