Anticipation drums into me. ‘What secret?’
‘She told me that Sifa was in love with a Threskan boy.’
I frown. ‘So?’
Fox brushes my arm, and suddenly I see a girl, only a few years older than me, her dark eyes alight with eagerness as she hurries along a moonlit path.
‘Sifa,’ I whisper, as the vision fades.
‘The very same.’
My breath hitches as Fox’s fingers encircle my wrist. In the time it takes to blink, we’re standing waist-deep in a sea of long grass swaying gently in the warm breeze. This must be Thresk.
Fifteen-year-old Fox is already wading through the stems, his gaze fixed on something up ahead where the ground begins to slope upward.
‘Under an oak tree on top of a hill – that’s where Sifa used to meet her lover.’
We follow young Fox until we reach the summit, where a large tree stretches high into the sky, its gnarled branches casting long shadows.
‘Pretty little spot, don’t you think?’ Fox’s voice is tinged with amusement.
We watch as his younger self drops to his knees at the base of the tree, closing his eyes in concentration. A moment later the carpet of grass trembles then splits, and soil begins to bubble up like water. Young Fox reaches his hand into the earth, a triumphant grin blooming across his face as he pulls out something small and gold.
That’s when the pieces start to fall into place. ‘You’re not telling me …’ The Wildlands flood back in once more, and I swivel to stare at Fox. ‘But … but … I thought she was supposed to have hidden her Eye where she believed it would never be found?’
Fox shifts slightly in the saddle and cracks his neck. ‘You see, Storm Weaver, people are predictable. They have a compulsion to attach meaning. And that was Sifa’s mistake.’
I exhale. ‘So what you’re saying is that you now possess one of the most powerful enchanted talismans in the world all because its previous owner was a romantic fool?’
Fox smirks as he runs the tip of his finger along his chain. ‘Essentially, yes.’
We’re silent for a time as Cedar continues to pick his way among the trees.
My mind spins, thoughts tripping over themselves. ‘And what about Seera?’ I ask. ‘Assuming she didn’t also have some secret lover, how do you suppose your grandfather found the Eye of the Future?’
‘I don’t know,’ says Fox grudgingly.
I swallow my disappointment. ‘Then what about the Mage in Zafar? Did you ever discover why she was able to retain her magic?’
The pause before Fox responds lasts a fraction of a second too long. ‘I’ve searched for answers, but there’s nothing concrete. Nothing easy to prove.’
‘But you have a theory?’
‘I never said that.’
‘You once told me that youalwayshave a theory,’ I point out.
‘And you once told me that you wanted nothing to do with the very talisman you’re risking your life to search for.’
I grit my teeth, irritated. Why must he close off after being so open?
‘People change,’ I reply with a shrug.
I hear the smirk in his voice as he leans in close to my ear. ‘Oh no,’ he says. ‘That’s one thing people never do.’
16
Blaze
