“You will,” the lead orc said.
“And if you hear anything about movement near Shadowick,” Keegan added, his voice low but carrying. “Anything at all.”
“We’ll send word,” another orc said.
I let out a slow breath, nodding as I took a step back, my gaze drifting once more across the gathered group.
Shifters and orcs standing side by side.
Our unity wasn’t perfect, and we weren’t without tension, but we were closer than we had been.
And right now, that mattered more than I could put into words.
“We move carefully,” I said, more to myself than anyone else. “We don’t give her an opening.”
The sun climbed a little higher, light spilling across the courtyard, warming the stone beneath my feet, but the unease didn’t lift.
If anything, it settled deeper because for the first time, it felt like everyone was bracing for the same thing.
And none of us quite knew when it would hit.
I took a few minutes and walked to a bench near the Hedge of the Butterfly Ward. I sat down and tried to focus on anything…Gideon, the shadow stone, the Priestess, my mom. That was when I felt it. A quick glimmer of comfort that was quickly replaced with dread. My mom was no longer in her own quarters. I could feel it. The Priestess had placed her in the same dungeon she had tossed Gideon into. I let out a shaky breath and reached again, this time feeling Gideon and Skonk, but they weren’t anywhere I recognized, and my pulse started hammering just as I heard footsteps.
I blinked my eyes open to see my dad in front of me. “You didn’t think you could sneak off without me, did you?”
I smiled and chuckled, hugging him as I stood.
“I was hoping you were still finishing your morning tea,” I said as I pulled back, though the relief of seeing him settled something in me I hadn’t realized was unraveling.
He gave me a wink. “Not a chance. Do you think you can run off and try to save the world without me?”
“At this point, I would just take getting mom back.”
He let out a deep sigh and shook his head. “I don't know what got into her. I really don't. But I believe she thought she could help somehow…Maybe talk sense into her mother. I think just the thought of you getting in the Priestess’ clutches scared her to death.”
I nodded and glanced back toward the Hedge, pressing my lips together as I tried to steady the rush of what I’d just felt, because it hadn’t been faint or uncertain.
It had been clear.
Too clear.
“She’s not in her quarters anymore,” I said quietly.
His expression shifted immediately. “Your mom?”
I nodded. “The Priestess moved her. The gargoyles reported it, and I felt it.” I exhaled slowly and rubbed my palm along my shoulder without thinking. “She’s in the dungeons now. The same ones Gideon was in.” My mind drifted back to when I found Gideon at the Priestess’ compound. The chill of the stone, the absolute boundaries of the wrought iron gates, and the nonstop isolation. “The thought of Mom thrown away is nearly paralyzing.”
My dad’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt.
“I tried to reach further,” I continued, my voice lowering just slightly as I focused on it again. “I found Gideon… and Skonk.”
“And?” he asked.
“They’re not anywhere I recognize,” I said, shaking my head. “It felt… wet. Dense. Like the air was heavy. There was water, but not open water. More like marshland. Swampy. Thick.”
My dad’s brow furrowed as he listened, his arms folding across his chest as he thought it through.
“Not Shadowick?” he asked.
