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“You can use my tree,” Esther says from directly behind me.
My arms flail as I jump. “Sun burn me!”
Esther tips back the fur hat out of her eyes to squint at the sky. “I don’t think it will today. Quite overcast and cold.”
I take a breath.
“Come on,” Ramona says, pulling my arm toward Esther’s tree-in-question. Leaf and Esther follow. “I want to hear what you found out in Terraguard. Please tell me that you found something. Anything.”
Her gaze flicks to Leaf, who manages to kick a piece of hard-packed snow then proceeds to swear under his breath about how much he loves it here while hopping on one foot in pain.
“I did!” All of it comes out. How I confirmed the Spring Equinox theory and how it’s the only time the star stone can be accessed. I share about the infection that seems to be spreading in the Underworld and how the moon drifting is disproportionally affecting them.
“I’m so sorry,” Ramona says, genuine hurt showing on her face after learning that Atlys is personally responsible for killing many of the most far gone constituents. “I’m not sure I’d be strong enough to do that.”
My chest tightens. “I’m not sure either.”
Leaf stops hopping to put an arm around me, cocooning me in his everlasting warmth.
Does he look different? Taller?
“So while we don’t have the star stone just yet… we have something equally important.” I pull out the small golden stone I won at the Summit last year. Magic from the Helios Blessing buzzes in my palm as I hold it out.
Esther gasps as if this is the first time I’m reminding her of this stone and pulls out a notebook from one of her pockets to begin taking notes. Her pen whips furiously across the page. “The Helios Blessing?”
I smirk. “Yes.” I tuck it safely back into my pocket before any nearby cadets saw. “The sun stone. It’s confirmed.”
“At least we have this one,” Ramona shoves a shoulder into me.
Leaf squeezes my shoulder.
Esther faints, though she stops a few inches from the ground. Leaf’s hands flick, and the solaris shield slowly dissolves to set her down gently.
My heart sings. We’re getting closer to finding the stones. “What about you guys? Did you get the moon stone?”
Leaf freezes beside me.
Ramona winces.
“What?”
Ramona clears her throat and looks at Leaf for reassurance. “We… didn’t get it.”
“Oh.”
“It wasn’t fucking there,” Leaf grumbles and kicks another piece of ice.
The flame of hope in my chest fizzles out. There has to be another way we can get the moon stone. Perhaps the answer is in the stars. I make a note to start searching the ever-present web of memories tonight.
“There is something I should probably tell—” Leaf starts.
“CADETS!” Commander Hogsmith’s voice reverberates magically across the entire campus. “ASSEMBLE IN THE AMPHITHEATER!”
“That’s odd,” Esther says from the ground, fully recovered from her fainting spell and drawing what looks like a side profile of my face with a sun behind it. “There hasn’t been a call for assembly like this since the royal courts arrived last year for the Summit.”
“How do you know that? You weren’t even a cadet yet?” Ramona asks.
Esther just stands and shrugs off the snow from her coat.
