“Oh, my gods,” Kallie said breathlessly. “You said you have one of the keys already?”
“Yeah,” Ava replied. “My mom gave it to me before I came to the Institute.”
“Well, you can check another off the list, because I have one, too,” Kallie said. The fabric of her shirt rustled, and I heard metal fall against the buttons of her uniform.
“Hold up,” Marcus said in a croaky tone. “I recognize this one.”
Something clinked to the ground like it’d come out of nowhere, and I assumed Marcus had conjured it. He cleared his throat as he bent to snatch it up.
Aw, fuck. This wasn’t just aclue. It was the whole freaking key to the prophecy— no pun intended.
“We already havethreeof the keys?” I asked, trying not to let my unease show.
“Ancestors, we’re so close!” Ava cried.
Each of them started showing off their keys to one another, and Ava passed me one. I ran my fingers over the cool metal, detailing the large key in my hands.
“Where’d you all get these?” I asked curiously.
“My parents,” they all answered in unison. A silent beat passed, as we all thought it was strange.
“Could our parentsknowabout this?” Kallie questioned.
“Mine sure as hell don’t,” Marcus said. “My mom gave it to my dad as a present a long time ago. My dad told me this key held a protection enchantment. He gave it to me right before I came to the Institute, to keep me protected here.”
“Mine was a wedding gift from my dad to my mom,” Ava said. “There was a whole story about how he found it the day he proposed. If my parents knew it had to do with Forevermore, they would’ve told me. Where’d you get yours, Kallie?”
“My mom had it for ages,” she explained. “I always admired it as a kid. She said it came from one of her professors at Arcanea University.”
“That’s only three out of the seven,” I said with relief. I assumed we needed all seven to open the door.
“Yeah, but isn’t itweirdthat we all have one?” Ava pointed out. “What about you, Charlie? Do you have a key?”
“No,” I said a bit too bluntly. Even if I had one, I wouldn’t hand it over.
“Itdoesseem like too much of a coincidence,” Marcus mused.
“So does the fact that we’re all demigods,” Kallie added.
Ava drew a breath, like she was thinking hard. “It’s like we were drawn here for a reason. The inscription on the door mentions demigods, and we know the Warden is looking for demigods to lead him to Forevermore. What if we’re all here to bring the keys back to the island? That must be what the Warden is truly after.”
“You think there’s a spell calling the keys to the island?” Kallie asked. “And because we’re demigods, we were somehow… I don’t know…sentto deliver them?”
“Not aspell,” Ava emphasized. “Destiny!”
Fuck destiny. I didn’t give a damn— not if it hurt Ava.
“You don’t think there could be four other demigods on Darke Island with keys, do you?” I asked through a dry mouth. That put uswaytoo close to fulfilling this prophecy.
“There could be.” Ava sounded excited, which twisted my gut. “Think about it. There are seven major supernatural races— elementals, fae, witches, vampires, mermaids, angels, and Astromancers.”
“Seven races, seven keys,” Marcus whispered.
“Exactly,” Ava stated. “Charlie and I are both Elementai, so we would share a key.”
“So all we have to do is find the other four demigods with keys,” Kallie said. “Astromancers are rare at the Institute, so that shouldn’t be hard.”
My hands curled into fists, but I forced my voice to remain steady. “You’re making assumptions. We don’t even know if these keys fit the doorway.”
