A fat golden honeybee buzzed lazily by them and perched itself in the horn of an enormous purple flower. The sun shone like a golden aurum in the sky, and the grass was softer than seresheep fleece. The trees hung heavy with fruit, ripe plums and peaches, yellow pears and juicy red apples. And right in front of them, the temple soared upward, the doors open as if they had been waiting.

The many-pointed star pulsed out a welcome that Sera’s moonstone returned.

“The tether is inside,” Sera said. “I can feel it.”

Agnes struggled to her feet. “We’ll go with you.”

Leo didn’t say anything; he just straightened and looked at her with the blue-green eyes she had come to know so well, eyes that said to her now, “I will be with you to the end.” She knew he would let her go no matter how much it hurt.

“We’ll wait here,” Vada said. “These men are needing rest.”

“I am sorry, my friends,” Eneas said.

“I can come,” Matthias said, struggling to get to his feet. Sera stopped him with a gentle shake of her head.

“No, you have done enough. More than enough.” Then she leaned down and whispered, “Take good care of them.”

When she passed Eneas, he took her hand and kissed it. “Bless you,” he said. “And all you have done for this family. I wish you could see it. It all began with you.”

Sera’s first thought when she stepped inside the ruins was that this temple was almost like the one in the City Above the Sky.

The ceiling was vaulted and painted with moons and a sun and stars. But the paintings were ancient and not well tended—they were chipped and crumbling in places. The room was huge, circular walls of rose stone with alcoves cut into them that held sconces of copper, though they bore no light now, no candle or wick to be seen.

“Wow,” Leo said, and his voice echoed in the cavernous space.

When they reached the opposite side, they found a door so short they all had to duck to get through it. The next room was smaller and entirely overrun with plants. Ivy devoured the walls, saplings pushed their way up from the cracks in the stone floor, and dandelions and ferns and thistles carpeted the ground. The following room was so dark they had to feel their way along the walls to find the door to get out. It led them into an impossibly cold room with water trickling down the walls, lichen growing in the ancient stone.