“None of them did.”
XXXIELLERY
WINTER
The car lurched down yet another winding, snowy road, barreling heedlessly through the Northern hills. Ellery sat in the backseat, trying not to vomit.
“Woah, slow down,” Domenic croaked, white-knuckling the handle above the passenger door. “There’s a—”
“I see it,” Hanna grunted, swerving at the last possible second to avoid a fallen tree. She was so short, she sat propped on an extra seat, her foot barely touching the brakes.
They were headed to Nordmere to uncover why Maltherius had shown Ellery a vision of her hometown’s alban tree. Ellery, Domenic, and the Council still believed Maltherius had set them up for a trap. But the danger would be worth it if they finally gained a lead on Summer’s traitor.
Because Syarthis was best suited to verify the traitor, Hanna had paused her interrogations of the Order to accompany them. But the Council had contained the mission to the three of them, unsure of who else to trust and unwilling to risk rumors of internal discord leaking to the public.
“We won’t even survive until Nordmere at this rate,” Ellery grumbled. “I can just see the headlines.ALDERLAND’SDISAPPOINTINGCHOSENTWODIE INTRAGICCARCRASH.”
Domenic choked out a loud, awkward laugh. Hanna shot him an unreadable look. The two of them had behaved strangely the entire journey, keeping Ellery’s nerves fraying faster than her seat belt. Before a third of the country had fallen to Winter, the drive from Gallamere to Nordmere would’ve taken twelvehours. But the ravaged road conditions beyond the border had slowed what could’ve been a single-day trip into two.
Anxiously, surreptitiously, Ellery slid her hands into her pockets, reassuring herself the winterghast hearts were still there.
Ellery had her own plans for this trip. Back in Gallamere, she’d tried touching each heart to its corresponding tree—Maltherius to an aspen, Eledrium to a pine—in an attempt to create a Winter wand. It hadn’t worked. But she refused to give up. It stood to reason that she had the best chance to make a Winter wand within Winter territory. So once they got to Nordmere, she’d slip away and try again. If her gamble worked, she’d tell Domenic everything. And if it didn’t… he’d never have to know she’d lied to him at all.
Abruptly, their car skidded across a patch of ice.
Domenic cursed and braced himself in his seat. “Hanna.Hanna—”
“You’re not helping!” Hanna wrestled the steering wheel.
Ellery hastily grasped Iskarius. Ice dissolved across the highway, and the snowbanks lurched backward. She’d only meant to clear the road immediately in front of them, but her magic poured effortlessly through her, until pristine pavement stretched hundreds of feet ahead.
“Thanks,” Hanna muttered.
Ellery inspected Iskarius, bewildered. “You’re welcome.”
At long last, Nordmere came into view. The city was nestled into a valley, bordered by a frozen river on one side and thick forest on the other. Like most cities in the North, it had begun as a mining town, then grown large enough for other industries to take root.
“Huh,” Hanna said. “I thought it’d look worse.”
“Hanna,”Domenic gritted.
“No, it’s fine,” Ellery murmured. “I did, too.”
Although Peak had told them that some Northerners stubbornly remained in the fallen territory, Ellery had assumedyear-round Winter would be as bleak as the textbook descriptions of the Thirty Years’ Chill. Yet flourishing farms circled the city, crops rising through the snow in what could only be regular magical cultivation. New neighborhoods had sprung up amidst the rubble. In the city center, they passed entire blocks under active construction. Although Nordmere was far from the bustling metropolis Ellery remembered, there were still people on the streets, open storefronts, even a park.
It unnerved her more than ruins would have. Ellery had girded herself for the fallen territory to be a wasteland of memories. Not this. Notlife.
As twilight fell, the three of them elected to begin their mission after a night’s rest. So they stopped at what seemed to be the only hotel left in town. Marks gouged the lobby floor from what had likely been a winterghast’s claws. Hanna and Domenic lingered near the door with their luggage as Ellery marched to the front desk. The receptionist read a pulpy romance novel propped against an ashtray.
“Welcome to the Nordmere Grand Hotel,” she said, with the throaty rasp of a heavy smoker. “What brings you to town?”
“Oh, we’re just passing through. We’ll need three rooms.”
“Sorry, sweetie. We’re nearly full up. Just one room left.”
Ellery gulped. “We’ll take it.”
The woman rummaged for the key, then leaned forward. “You look awfully familiar. And your accent… Have you got family in town?”
