My cloth bird had found him! Starlight shimmered over its wings as it shot up into the sky, making its way back to me, asleep in Master Longhai’s shophouse.
But then, the stars began to shatter. The ground shuddered, swallowing the trees and the mountains and the moon. Out of the dark chasm flew shadows with charcoal eyes and cloudy white hair.
Sentur’na.
My cloth bird pierced the crowd, wings flapping at the ghosts to fend them off. But there were too many. They surrounded my bed, skeletal arms outstretched. Their fingers circled my neck, squeezing away the last of my breath, and my pendant began to blacken….
“Wake up!” my bird shouted at me, suddenly able to speak. “Wake up!”
• • •
“Maia, wake up!”
I jolted upright on the bed, breathing hard.
A warm hand rested on my shoulder. “Breathe,” Ammi said, sitting on the edge of my bed. “Breathe.”
My heart pounded wildly in my chest. “What…what…”
“You were shouting in your sleep.” My friend’s eyes shone with concern.
“Just a bad dream,” I said shakily.
“You’ve been having a lot of bad dreams.”
“What did I shout?”
Ammi let go of my shoulder. She looked tired, her blankets half tossed onto the ground. I must have disturbed her rest.
“You were speaking in a language I didn’t understand. It sounded like someone was trying to kill you. In the end you kept shouting one word.”
“One word?” I whispered, even though I already knew.
Shadows folded out of the candlelight, and Ammi’s face blurred.
Sentur’na.
I could still hear the voices in my head, relentlessly calling for me,Come back to us.
The wooden ridges of my amulet scraped against my skin, rough and warm, clashing with the cold that clenched my insides. My nail dug into my pendant, trying to pry open the crack to let some of Amana’s power seep out and silence the voices.
No.I forced my hand away from the pendant.That’s what Bandur wants. He wants me to rely on the dresses. He wants them to become corrupted, like me—
“What’s that?” Ammi asked, interrupting my thoughts. “Can I look at it?”
No,I wanted to balk, but I forced myself to pass it to her.
Ammi held the pendant to the light, so the glass crack in the center caught the glint of the sun.
“I’ve never seen anything like this!” she exclaimed. “Where did you get it?”
I wasn’t listening. My throat had closed up like I was being strangled. White-hot barbs of fire pricked the corners of my eyes, which burned redder than ever before.
“Maia!” Someone grabbed my shoulders. “Maia, are you all right?”
I jerked away. “Don’t touch me,” I snarled.
“I’m sorry—” The girl beside me let go. I looked up at her round face, her kind but frightened eyes. “Maia?”
