“I don’t know!” Six threw up his hands and groaned. “It’s . . . it’s hard to explain. She just knows things.”

“You really need to do better than that,” Five hissed, his anger barely in check.

“All right,” Six said, rubbing a hand across his face. “It . . . it started when she was little. Sometimes she would have these dreams that came true. As she grew, it became more complicated though. Instead of simple outcomes, she saw paths, routes to possible futures and all the ways that led to them. Now she sees them everywhere, in everything, even when she’s awake.”

Twelve tried to make sense of what Six was saying and failed miserably. Beside her, Dog was stiff and still. “She can see the future?” he asked eventually.

“Yes,” Six said, burying his face in his hands and drawing a shaky breath.

Something clicked into place for Twelve. “That’s why they took her,” she said, finding a dark satisfaction in the mystery being solved.

Five whistled softly. “That is quite a power.” He stiffened suddenly. “Wait, that is a power!” he said again, his eyes wide as they sought Six’s face. “Something like that . . . doesn’t it make her a witch?”

Goose bumps broke out on Twelve’s arms and she scratched Widge’s ears, more to comfort herself than him.

“I don’t know,” Six said sadly. “Our cave paintings tell us that Icegaard always claims a witch born into the clans. We waited and waited, but no one came. After our parents were murdered, Seven said we had to come to the lodge. She never said why though, and she never said anything about this happening.” His voice shook.

“I never even saw you speak to each other,” Five said wonderingly. Some of the tension had left his shoulders.

Six shivered. “We didn’t. We said goodbye to each other before we got to the lodge, then I went ahead so we wouldn’t arrive together. We knew we’d have to do a convincing job of not knowing each other and the easiest way was to avoid one another completely.”

An unexpected anger fizzed through Twelve. Seven had always seemed so alone—the other students had mocked her, laughed at her, and the only person who knew her, her own brother, had ignored her. He’d even let his best friend pick on her.

“So, this is how the cave clan looks after its own?” Twelve said coldly. “That explains a lot.”

A vein pulsed in Six’s neck. “You don’t know anything about us,” he growled. “And you’re not the only one to have lost people. My parents were murdered for nothing. Nothing. Just because of our clan. They weren’t even robbed, just left in the dirt like rubbish.” His breathing grew ragged. “All the clans hate us, and because of what? Stupidity, that’s what. Fear based on ignorance and history hundreds of years old.”