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She could hear her sisters moving around behind her, tucking what they’d foraged into their packs and grabbing their weapons.

“We’re ready,” Hadima whispered, only a step behind her now.

“We’re going to slowly walk out of here,” Iryana told them, hoping it was the right call. “Misha, you lead the way. Hadima, I want you to keep a hand on my shoulder and lead me out of here.”

Her metal-forging was at the ready. She wasn’t sure it was the right weapon for that kind of creature, but it was her best option at the moment.

Hadima’s hand tightened on her shoulder through the thick layers of her coat, and Iryana let her pull her toward the edge of the clearing. She couldn’t easily move backward in her snowshoes, but she turned sideways, taking long, awkward steps, so she didn’t have to look away from the creature.

It didn’t move, just kept watching, head tilting around the tree.

They moved until it was out of sight, but Iryana kept her eyes glued on the trees behind them until they were back on the main patrol trail. The farther they got, the more her adrenaline seeped away and the pain of using her forgings grew.

The shadows of the surrounding pines stretched across the blinding snow, despite it being near midday. The sun wouldn’t climb any higher in winter.

Iryana stopped them when they reached the base of the cliff leading up to their hanging valley. Her hands trembled on the staff of her spear. She searched the trees again, listening carefully for any hint of the creature they’d seen.

It was all quiet, so Iryana turned her back toward her sisters. She didn’t want them to see this, but she wasn’t sure she had a choice.

Iryana released her forged staff, swallowing her groan as a shudder ripped through her. As the magic collided with the roiling bundle of water and metal-forged magic inside her, searing pain spread through her body.

“Iryana?” one of her sisters asked, concerned.

She tried so hard to push the pain down, to act like it wasn’t there, but she lost the fight. Iryana doubled over, groaning, and Hadima was there in an instant, rubbing her back. She was dangerously close to vomiting on the snow.

“What’s wrong?” Misha demanded, panicked.

“It’s fine,” Iryana grunted, taking slow breaths to ride out the worst waves of nausea and pain. “My magic… hasn’t settled.”

“Because of the second forging?” Hadima asked.

Iryana nodded weakly.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Misha demanded.

“I don’t want anyone to worry. We’re figuring it out.”

Hadima’s hand stilled on Iryana’s back. “Maybe this was a bad idea. I’m sorry I asked you to come out here. I didn’t realize—”

“No,” Iryana cut Hadima off with a groan. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault.”

“Should you really be going out on this mission tomorrow? If your forgings—”

“I’m going to be fine,” Iryana told them, straightening. She still felt shaky—wrong, but she ignored it.

Iryana turned to her sisters. “Be careful what you say to the others. About how badly my forgings are settling, and…” She struggled to choose the right words. “We don’t know what we saw, and we don’t want anyone to freak out.”

Her sisters didn’t know that someone in the 18th had seen a strange creature, probably the same one they’d seen. They also didn’t know that a well was supposedly drained.

Hadima and Misha looked at her, and then at each other carefully. An unspoken conversation seemed to pass between them. It was Hadima who spoke. “We won’t mention it. But… is this what the First was talking about when she said there were some strange rumors?”

Iryana wasn’t supposed to say anything else, but if her sisters were going to keep secrets, what was one more? “Possibly. This and a few other things. But we don’t know anything for sure. It’s all just… rumors. But I’m doing my best to figure out what’s going on.”

“Don’t keep secrets for too long,” Hadima advised, giving Iryana a serious look. “I doubt the clan would take it well after all the secrets this summer.”

Iryana swallowed. Misha looked away.

“Let’s get back.” Iryana gestured for them to start moving again.