“Jake!” he blustered, and scrambled up. He studied Jake’s face, plainly struggling with what to say.

Marika and Bach’uuk rose from the opposite side of the hall. They’d all been watching over him, worried about him. In their faces, he saw a mirror of his own grief, along with their concern.

He thought he was done with tears, but touched by his friends’ vigil, his vision grew blurry. His heart pounded harder in his chest.

“There’s another timestone,” he blurted out.

Marika crinkled her brow. “Jake, what are you talking about?”

They all stared at him as if he’d gone mad. Then he realized that there was a good chance no one aboard the ship had heard the witch.

He brought them into his room and retold what happened, though it pained him to do so, especially when he got to the part about Kady.

“We know what happened from that point,” Marika said, saving him from having to relive it.

Pindor rubbed his chin. “That creature Heka …”

Marika’s lips tightened with worry. “A grakyl brood queen.” As the others looked at her, she explained. “No one’s ever seen one, but there are stories. They’re the most vicious of the grakyl. But what’s she doing here?”

Jake knew the answer, picturing the witch’s tattered wing and scarred body. “The Skull King must have sent her through the storm barrier. We know the beasts have some natural immunity to the blasting sand. Nefertiti mentioned how the harpies nest within the edges of that storm. Kalverum Rex must have chosen his strongest grakyl—one of the brood queens—to send through the barrier. He armed her with a bloodstone wand and the ruby crystal. But even protected by alchemy, the storm still came close to killing her.”

“She was sent,” Marika said, “to find the other two timestones.”

Pindor frowned. “She knows you have the emerald. Now she’ll want the third even more.”

“A crystal the color of a blue sapphire,” Marika said, fingering the apprentice badge.

Jake sat straighter and spoke with a vehemence that surprised him. “I’ll never let her have them.”

“We will help you,” Bach’uuk said. “But we should first find a map. See where your watch points.”

“I saw Politor with one,” Marika said. “He was talking with Horus and Shaduf atop the deck. They were trying to figure out where to go, which village would be the safest place for us to hide.”

“We’re not going to hide,” Jake said.

Bach’uuk patted him on the back. “Then I will go find the map.”

The mention of Horus and Shaduf reminded Jake of their current predicament. “What’s happening on the ground?”

Pindor shifted closer, as if he were huddling for a scrimmage. When it came to strategy, Jake’s Roman friend outshone most others. “Djer stayed behind in Ka-Tor. He’s attempting to rally the people against Kree. Word is that the entire Blood of Ka has vanished, along with Kree and that witch. Nefertiti’s sister has barricaded herself in the palace, guarded by those loyal to Kree.”