I had been giving my eyes a break from looking at the confusing papers when it hit. “Wait…” I murmured. Byn stayed silent, letting me think without interruption.
Tilting my head further up, I stared at the Stars overhead.
I’dlooked at these pages more times than I cared to admit, but itdidn’tclick until that moment as I gazed at the Stars.
That was the key. TheStars.
“Byn!” I said suddenly, excitement in my voice. “That’s it!”
“What’s it?”
“The Stars!That’swhatwe’vebeen missing! Every time before when I looked at these sheets, we were either in a cave, under trees, or it was daytime. But do you see—” I pointed to a small cluster of dots on the page closest to me, “these?”
“The dots? Yes, I see them.”
“They line up with the Stars! Look, this one is the dove, right there.” I pointed to a group of the Stars to the east that followed the same pattern as the dots on the page.
“And this one…” I carried on, unable to stop now thatI’dbegun.“This one is the vine, and—look! The griffin! They all match!”
I frantically rearranged the sheets of paper in front of me, matching them to reflect the constellations overhead. As I did, the lines came together to vaguely make up a sketch.
A sketch I had an idea about—but one Iwasn’tsure about just yet.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, hopping to myfeet and leaping into the air.
Byn caught my hand before I could fly off without a second thought. I whipped my head around to look at him, only to watch him press his lips to my knuckles.
“Be careful,” he advised, then released his grip on me.
I stalled a moment, wishing I had Eden here withusso he, too, could see what I wassoconfident I was about to.
I nodded to him, then shot straight up into the sky.
Taking my husband’s advice, I covered my form in shadows but remained solid. If anything, I would look like a blur or a trick of the light to anybody below.
When I got high enough in the air, I pumped my wings at the perfect pace to hold me steady. I tried not to relish too much in the feeling of the wind in my hair and feathers again as I looked down at the city ofNeokell.
And a spark of hope lit up inside of me.
The shape of Neokell’s city borders almost perfectly matched that of the lines on the papers.
And there just so happened to be an outlier on those papers.
One I was willing to bet was put there for a reason.
Within a moment, I was landing on the edge of the roof and rushing toward Byn. Kneeling next to him in front of the papers, I pointed to the outlier.
“They’re here. I’m sure of it.”
“It could just bea randommarking, but itdoesn’thurt to go check it out.We’vealready come this far, after all.” Byn rested his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. I could feel his pride for me radiating through my body.
“On Laurence’s map, that outlier is roughly where the old Northern mineshaft is.Maybe it’snot a coincidence.” Ituggeda small piece of charcoal out of a small bag on my hip. Using it, I marked the papers, soI’dbe able to place them in order again promptly if needed.
“We need tofind—” I was interrupted by a shadow spearing towards us from the far corner of the roof.
A moment later, Matea appeared a few feet away, holding up a sick-looking Laurence.
“Where have you two been? We waited at our spot for over an hour.There’snothing here,” Mateastated.
