The Warden is doing his best.
Some kids can’t be saved.
My nostrils flared, and I just wanted to scream.
Stay calm. You can’t tell anyone what you know,Oberi insisted.
My hands curled into fists at my sides. Oberi was right. It wasn’t like exposing the Warden for his lies would change anything. He’d twist some story to make me out as athreatso he could run his sick experiments on me. And if he found out I was a demigod, we were all doomed.
The Warden could keep his lies.
This time.
With the Warden’s threat hanging in the air, he excused us. Students filed out of the room and headed in different directions. The conversations around me were deafening.
We didn’t make it far before Eddie pulled me aside, and we ducked into an empty classroom. The door shut behind us, and I felt like I could finally think in the silence. Oberi nudged against me, like he was trying to comfort me, but I was fuming.
“The Warden is lying,” Eddie raged.
“I know,” I agreed. “Gavyn didn’t kill anyone when he escaped. I’d have heardsomething.”
“Of course he didn’t,” Eddie insisted. “Gavyn wanted out, but he was no murderer. I know him. We grew up together. He wouldn’t do what the Warden said he did.”
I gritted my teeth. “The Warden is trying to scare us.”
“The Elves aren’t bad people,” Eddie practically pleaded. “We just want peace.”
“I know that. But it’s not me you have to convince.”
Eddie began pacing. “The Warden started a war when he raided Forevermore. He’s using Gavyn’s escape to perpetuate that war. It won’t stop unless we do something.”
I raked my fingers through my hair. “I want to. I just don’t know what we can do. I’m not totally immune to noxite like Gavyn is. I can’t go up against the Warden on my own and get everyone out, even with what I am.”
I made sure never to say what I was aloud— a demigodorthe Elven prince— in case someone overheard.
Eddie stopped pacing. “You’re assuming you have to do this on your own.”
I huffed, then lowered my voice to a whisper. “Well, don’t I? My prophecy says so.”
Eddie had practically drilled the prophecy into my head. I could never forget it— it repeated like a mantra every day, a curse I could never escape.
The emperor’s legacy will return, and bring light to a new dawn. A second war will break Forevermore, but it shall be restored by the power of the demigods. It is his choice to damn the realm, or save us all.
“No,” Eddie clarified. “Youwilllead us to the Blessed Haven, but nowhere does the prophecy state that you must do it on your own.”
I was so frustrated, I could break something. I held myself back. “Who’s going to help?” I demanded. “We have no allies here.”
Eddie spoke softly. “You have Ava.”
When he said her name, my heart stopped. I didn’t talk about Ava, not even to Oberi. I’d barely heard her name in months. It was too much to hear. I could feel my chest ripping apart, as if a wolven shifter was digging inside of it to devour my heart. I’d rather feel nothing at all.
“I don’t have Ava,” I spat. “We broke up. Remember?”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t be allies,” Eddie insisted. “Your destinies are entwined, and you know it. It’s time you two stopped acting like you can do this on your own. If you can’t face each other, everyone will perish.”
Eddie was always kind to me, but he sure had a way of making me feel guilty.
“I didn’t ask for this!” I growled.
