They all took off at a sprint.

If only there were more moontears, more unicorns, more magic. They would need an entire sky of falling stars—like Starfell—for that wish to come true.

Wishing stars and wishing hearts can’t be all that different, can they?

As she ran, Claire felt like she was trying to solve a puzzle painted by the Impressionists. A painting made up of millions of little dots that finally, if you stood far away, made a beautiful whole. For three hundred years, the guilds had been their own dots and taken with them their own sayings and traditions.

The Spinners celebrated Starfell by dancing with ribbons to imitate unicorn manes and tails as they ran up the mountains to meet the stars. But the Forgers celebrated something else—the finding of unicorns in the snow. Claire’s heart was pounding now. Maybe even unicorns in mountain snow. The Tillers celebrated the coming of winter with a cookie named after a springtime flower, but it was also a flower that bloomed in a unicorn’s steps. And the Gemmers—Claire looked around—they lived on Starscrape mountain.

She stopped running, while the others sprinted ahead. All except Sophie, who immediately fell back. “Claire? Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Claire said, her heart racing as she remembered the dazzling display of falling stars from just the night before. “I know where there are more moontears!”

“What?” Sophie gasped, her hand flying to the necklace. “What do you mean?”

The answer to everything was right there, in all the tales and traditions of Arden. Individually, the guilds’ customs seemed like fun ways to celebrate, but together they wove a greater tapestry. A greater meaning. A truth that had been lost as the guilds drifted apart.

“Moontears,” Claire said, barely able to get out the words. “They’re falling stars that landed in the mountaintops!” She felt like laughing. She’d even thought that the stars had made it look like the moon was crying last night.

“Every year,” Claire hurried to explain, “the unicorns would run up the mountains to greet the stars—that’s what the Spinners say. But I bet it wasn’t just to greet them, but to waken the new moontears that had landed in the mountain snow. And no one ever realized that’s where moontears came from; because there were so many unicorns, it was impossible to know that more had been added to the herd.”

Sophie gasped. “That means—that means there could be thousands of moontears, collecting under the snow for the last three hundred years. But I can’t awaken them!”

“That’s all right,” Claire said, because she knew that it was. “Moontears are the Great Unicorn Treasure! They’re still incredibly powerful. If we can bring more down to Stonehaven, they will make all our magic stronger! Arden might stand a chance against the wraiths!”