Where is he? How did Mika escape? Could Lark have survived if the fenriswulf attacked him?
The broken shackle around the wolf’s hind leg taunts me in eerie silence from inside the ice. Below it, long deadly claws flex. No one could survive those, let alone the glistening teeth. My head and heart both pound.
“Where would they have gone?” I turn to Katja, who is deathly pale under the full moon.
Her mouth hangs open.
“Kat! Think. Where would Lark have taken him? You must have some idea!”
Her mouth snaps shut, and she shakes the frost from her hair. “I might know. I’ll fly there.”
“Not alone. I’m coming with you.” I leave no room for argument.
“We’ll come too!” Johannes says.
“No. You all need to stay with Mikael. This shouldn’t melt anytime soon, but we can’t let anyone find him like this.”
Katja seems to have regained her composure, dipping down to face Helkki.
“Use your masking magic. Practice extending it to others to hide him,” she tells the redhead.
“Is your magic strong enough for that, Hellion?” I ask. “Can you make someone invisible?”
She flips her hair over one shoulder. “Duh. The princess almost ran me over in the forest once. Never even saw me.”
“You…what?”
Katja cuts in. “We’re wasting time.”
My thoughts stumble, but there’s no time to chase them. I glance at Mikael again, and to Helkki, already halfway up the block of ice using shards of my spear like pick-axes. My gaze finds the twins, fiercely determined, jabbering together about patrol strategies and perimeter watches. Aili stares back at me, just as blazing in her loyalty. Then I glance down at Eevi’s sleepy face, her warm weight strapped to my chest. I need to keep them safe for Lark, but I need to find Lark for them just as much.
“If anything happens, you two,”—I gesture to the girls—“shoot fireballs into the sky. I’ll be back here fast as I can. Stay together, all of you. No matter what.”
I need to find Lark, for them.
I need Lark.
Ineed him.
My breath is sharp in the cold as I look up at the full moon overhead, and at Katja, ready to fly. It’s not enough. We have to find him quickly.
I know what I have to do.
“Lumi.”
Are you sure, Valkie?
“I’m sure. We can trust them. I need you.”
She materializes above me in a shimmer of pale light, vanishing from the pendant around my neck. Her glow illuminates the path, reflecting off the ice block, delicate and ethereal. Gasps of shock and delight greet the little moon.
“Is that—?” Johannes starts.
“A celestial,” Katja breathes.
“A moon? I thought only…” Juani trails off.
Everyone knows celestials only bond with Point Fae. At least, I think that’s true. Unless it’s another lie.
