“Hmm,” said Lani. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. But at least a few of us know now. That should be enough to prevent a disaster in the future.”

The three of them went on to find the doors in the other two rooms and locate the tiny buttons. Then they returned to the secret hallway, where Simber was waiting. “Do we need to keep this main door to the alcove locked magically?” Lani mused. “It would be annoying to require Kitten’s presence in order to open it. I recall Mr. Today used to carry Kitten in his pocket in the early days, so it made sense for him. But maybe it’s not a problem, since we won’t need it often.”

Fifer considered the options. “While it would be easier to remove this alcove door completely, I trust Mr. Today’s original intentions. And I want to preserve the traits of the secret hallway as much as possible. Kitten is usually pretty easy to find.”

“All fair points,” agreed Lani. “We’ll keep this new information close.”

“Kitten,” Fifer instructed, “please use your best instincts when deciding whether to open this door. I trust you.”

“Mewmewmew,” said Kitten.

With that settled, Lani turned to Fifer. “What’s next on your list?”

“I need to locate an extra head mage robe to keep in Florence’s quiver. That worked so well as a storage place.”

“I know exactly where Frieda’s robe ended up,” said Lani. “Let’s go knock this one out too.”

While Fifer was slowly crossing off tasks on her New Head Mage List of Things to Do, Seth, Ibrahim, and Clementi joined Thisbe and the others from Grimere on the lawn every day to learn from Florence. Sometimes Carina and Samheed participated too, as well as Sean, Scarlet, and Thatcher. Even Henry sat in on a few trainings when he wasn’t busy in the hospital ward.

The black-eyed team trained physically and magically, honed their weapon skills, and grew stronger. They worked harder than they’d ever worked before, knowing the future of the land of the dragons was in their hands, and it could slip through their fingers if they didn’t do this right. Getting their land back was up to them. And if they didn’t succeed, they would not only be failing themselves as leaders, but they’d be failing a nation of people and a league of ghost dragons who were waiting to die. Everything rested on their ability to take down the Revinir for good. “We have one shot,” Thisbe announced, and she reminded them of it daily. It became the mantra of her people. One chance to get it right.

In the evenings, Seth and Rohan worked together to teach Artiméans and those from Grimere to speak the other land’s language. Thisbe and Fifer often sat in together to absorb this knowledge, and before long the groups were communicating much better than before.

One morning Florence took Thisbe aside. “I want you to have these,” Florence said, and handed her four tiny boxes that fit easily in the palm of Thisbe’s hand. “These are obliterate spell components,” she said. “They are individually packaged for safety’s sake.” She trained Thisbe on how to use them, and how not to. “We’ll use one for practice,” she said. “The rest are for you, and you only. Understand?”