Phoenix blinked. For a second, he looked like he didn’t know what to do with my question. Like it hadn’t occurred to him that I might ask.
He dragged a hand through his hair, eyes flicking back toward the camp.
“I’m ok,” he muttered. Then added, quieter, “I just… didn’t expect Caelen to be part of our inner circle now.”
“He’s not,” I said quickly. “Phoenix—he’s not.”
He gave me a look. Not cruel. Just tired.
“He’s just… I don’t know. A friend,” I said.
Phoenix nodded once, then looked back at the lake. “Like me,” he said quietly.
The words hit harder than I expected.
I tried not to show it. Tried to keep my face still. But something in my chest tightened, like I’d swallowed the truth wrong.
I blinked it away. “Sure. If that’s…” I trailed off, looking away. I swallowed my feelings and pulled out the book and amulet.
I explained—briefly—how I’d found them. The ruins. The medallion. The safe behind the scorched bookcase.
Phoenix listened without interrupting.
Despite the weird tension still clinging between us, he took the amulet and the book.
“I can’t read it either,” he said, flipping through the pages. “It’s blank.”
“I think… only I can.”
His eyes met mine—sharp, searching.
“But Phoenix,” I added, lowering my voice. “I skimmed through it. And inside… there’s a map.”
His brow furrowed. “A map?”
I nodded.
“A map to the dragons.”
“If that’s true…” Phoenix began, looking thoughtful.
“If it’s real. It could change everything.”
Chapter 17
Leo
This guy was starting to bug me.
I walked near the front, next to Slade. He led the troops with the kind of quiet authority I’d always known he had.
Just behind us, riding side by side, were Elle and Caelen—and they’d spent the last few hourschatting. Nonstop.
And it was driving mecrazy.
Maddie, who was sharing a horse with me today, sighed loudly behind my shoulder.
“Stop glaring at him,” she muttered.
