And so do several other students and teachers, most of that ink serving magical purposes if not aesthetic ones.

“Were you taken from school?” I manage to wrangle the deluge of words assaulting my mind into something more coherent.

“I don’t remember. My memories are fading. I’m fading. You have to help us. You have to hurry. We don’t have much time before—before…” The ribbons of green shiver and Natalie’s body expands. Her edges soften and lose focus.

“We need to know where you are.”

“I don’t know!” The tendrils of mist snap like dancing cobras. “I was blindfolded. I think we hiked through a forest. Not for long though. It was cold and there was snow on the ground. It got in my takkies.” She uses the South African word for sneakers. “Then they made me touch some stones.”

“What stones?”

“Two big, one smaller, all piled on top of each other. Like this.” Natalie’s right arm swirls into a formation I’ve seen before. A tonttukivi, literally elf stone. There are at least a dozen of them, dotted all over Finland.

“That could be anywhere.”

“You have to hurry.” The mist turns milky, already dissipating.

“Natalie?” I step forward as if I can grab her and keep her here in the realm of the living.

“I can’t stay much longer,” she says.

“Why me?” I ask through the tears clotting my eyelashes with rime.

“There was darkness. Just darkness.” Her voice echoes around the circle. “Then there was light, and that light was you. Please, Taika. Help us.”

“I will. I promise,” I say. “You have to hold on.”

“We’ll try, but time is running out. By—” Natalie starts to say something else, but whatever power has been keeping the crows at bay evaporates. Musti, Rekku, and Kamu fling themselves at the mist, talons and beaks shredding the tendrils.

“No, wait! Natalie, please. Come back!” I wave at the crows, trying to drive them away. But it’s too late. The damage is done and the liekkiö is gone.

Darkness settles over the clearing and the forest falls silent.

“Natalie! We need to know more. Come back!” I slump to the ground, fresh tears spilling acid trails down my face.

“Hello? Anyone there?” Sini squeaks from the other side of the circle.

“Yeah, I’m here.” I wipe my eyes and sniff back snot.

“Did it work?” Sini asks.

I only manage to nod.

“Hold on, let’s get some light.” Aysha sounds groggy. “Come on, Katya. Wake up. There you go.”

“Urgh, I feel gross,” Ekaterina says. “Give me a sec.”

Thirty-three seconds later, lightning arcs from Ekaterina’s fingers and Aysha hums them into twinkling lights again, dimmer than before but enough to see each other’s faces by.

Morgan is still slumped to the side, eyes closed, body unmoving.

“No, no, no.” I rush to his side and start shaking his shoulders.