Nomi followed Malachi down the stairs. Yes, she remembered this. The night she’d snuck down here with Renzo and Luca came back to her so clearly—the moon on the water, the slippery riverbank, the sound of Renzo’s voice telling ghost stories.

But this time, the shadows were empty. No one was here.

Malachi put his big, warm hand on her back. “There are more places to look.”

“Like Asa’s dungeon?” She stepped away from his hand, up to the edge of the water, where the ground was muddy and slick.

“You said you wrote to your brother using his friend’s address. What about there?” Malachi suggested. “Could his friend be sheltering him?”

Nomi stared at the ripples of water meeting the shore. “And what if Luca and his family have been slaughtered too?”

“Then we mourn. But there is still hope, Nomi.”

She turned to face him. “My parents are dead. How can you speak of hope?”

She had no tears left. But she did find something in the emptiness, in the haze. Something deep inside, a candle flame that grew, burning hotter and hotter.

Every moment that passed, her fury rose.

Asa had done a lot of terrible things. And now he had killed her parents, and probably her brother too. Nomi’s grief became sharp as a knife’s edge, and just as dangerous.

“Nomi?”

Nomi looked up. At the base of the slick concrete steps, backlit by the wavering morning sun, stood a figure as familiar to her as her own.

Her too-big boots slipped in the mud as she scrambled to reach him.

Renzo.

“Renzo! Is it you? Are you okay?” she practically screamed. Her hands swept across his cheeks, his crooked nose, his worn wool jacket that smelled of old books and fresh bread.

Renzo’s questions tripped over hers. “How are you here? How did you find me? Are you okay? Oh, Nomi, I’ve been so worried—”

She pulled back slightly so she could study him in the low light. “Did you go home?”

His face fell. “Yes. I—I got there too late. You went home too?”

Nomi nodded, her throat closing.

“But how did you find me?” Renzo asked. “I was so careful.… I tried not to leave a trail. I thought it would be safe.…”

“I saw your note in the book of legends,” Nomi scratched out. “I remembered coming here with you.”

Renzo’s eyes widened. “That was a message for Luca. Did you see him? I was afraid Asa would go after him too. I went by his house as soon as I got back to Lanos, but he had traveled to the coast with his parents.”

“I haven’t seen him,” Nomi said. She squeezed Renzo’s shoulders, over and over, to reassure herself he was real. Not a ghost.