Page 88 of Cursebreaker

My pulse leaps. “What sings?”

She plants her feet. “Coins. Spoons. Swords,” she says, crossing her arms. “All sorts of metal things. They sing to me.”

I kneel, eye level with her. “And what does this song sound like?”

“Like…” Elsie screws up her face, listening hard. “Sunshine.”

I glance at Lewis, and I can tell by the look on his face that he’s putting it together.

Mother said my siblings’ affinities would never surface—that they had suppressed their magic for too long.

But Elsie…

“Do you think it’s really here?” Lewis asks.

I pivot, facing the chest.

There’s an inscription carved into the gilded latch.

What is given must be gained.

I wish Owen had worked that part of the riddle out, but by the din of clashing metal coming from just outside the Tidesinger, there’s no time to waste.

I clutch the medallion hanging from my neck, take a deep breath, and say a quick prayer to the Stars.

“Well, open it!” Elsie says.

My hands buzz as I reach out, the Manan humming louder as I grasp the lid.

“Stars!” Elsie gasps. “Your eyes!”

I barely process what she’s said as I open the chest.

There, seated on a bed of red velvet, a silver helmet with a moth in the center of its metal forehead…

The Helm.

I reach out, taking hold of it and—

“Help!” Elsie screams.

I drop the Helm, whirling to face her.

There’s no one but Lewis and me here. She isn’t wounded—not that I can see.

But her skin… it glows, sparkling with golden dust. And as the Manan begins to fade…

So does Elsie.

Lewis and I both try to grab hold of her, but our hands grasp at thin air, as if Elsie were a ghost.

“Az? Lew?” Elsie cries, reaching for us. “I’m scared!”

“It’s all right!” I say, paralyzed by panic. “You’re all right!”

“What’s happening?” Lewis continues to grasp at the air where Elsie’s form grows dimmer by the second. “Az!”

“I can’t see you!” Elsie screams, her eyes blazing with gilded light, as bright as the sun. “Az! Help me!”