But as the trees opened and the yawning black mouth of the cave came into view, it wasn’t Oracle who haunted Serina, but Jacana. She felt the girl’s presence all around her. She and Jacana had stood just here on that first terrifying night, staring into the dark maw of the lava tube as Cliff and the others disappeared inside. Jacana had been Serina’s first friend on Mount Ruin—her first friend ever, if she didn’t include her siblings. Jacana was gone now; maybe if she hadn’t been friends with Serina, if she hadn’t been on the stage that last night, maybe she wouldn’t have died. Her small, pointed face and sad eyes wouldn’t leave Serina.

“We should douse the light,” Serina said softly.

“You want us—we have to go in there? In the dark?” Maris asked. In the flickering torchlight, the whites of her wide eyes gleamed like those of a panicked horse.

“If the guards are inside, the light will warn them we’re coming. It’ll give them a target to attack.”

“Stay behind me,” Helena said.

Maris grabbed a handful of Helena’s shirt in one hand and held the firearm tightly in the other.

With a deep breath and a silent prayer, Serina doused the torch and led the way into the tunnel.

Almost immediately, the space shrank around her, until the stone hemmed close. Behind her, she could hear the steady footfalls of Tremor, who was used to the tunnel, and the tentative shuffle of Maris and Helena.

Serina had lived within these walls for weeks, and still the air sucked from her lungs and her hands trembled the deeper she went. She walked blind, feeling her way along the walls of rock. The closer she got to the main cavern, the more she strained for any hint of light. If the guards had lit a fire, there’d be a glow along the lava tube; there’d be some warning.

But no light appeared, even as the air changed, and the space opened up. They’d reached the cavern.

She stopped, and the girls behind her stopped too. Silence filled the darkness. Serina held her breath.

One, two, three…

Still no sound.

She’d relight the torch and have Helena and Maris block the tunnel while she and Tremor searched the cave properly. If the men were hiding in the shadows, they’d find them.

Serina was fumbling for her flint when she heard a faint bang. Behind her, Tremor flinched. The distant gunshot echoed strangely in the cave; it was impossible to know which of the other search parties it came from.

But it meant the guards had been found elsewhere.

“Did you hear that?” Helena murmured.

Serina turned around. “Let’s—”