Professor Hawkkyn watches after her like a man stunned. A man who’s braved both escaping the Alfsigroth Sublands and the Western Realm, having been through Ancient One knows what to get so many others here, only to find himself suddenly landed inside his most longed for dream. He looks around, blinking at it as if momentarily disoriented. Then strides right toward me.

I jump back, reflexively drawing my Ash’rion blade as the kitchen’s door swings open and we both freeze. For a moment, we just stare at each other. He narrows his eyes severely, then curses vehemently under his breath in Smaragdalfarin.

“Hello, Professor Hawkkyn,” I say, leveling the blade at him.

Eyes blazing, he flashes me a scathing look and opens his varg rune-marked palm.

The blade tears from my grasp and flies straight into his. Tightening his fist around it, he takes a confrontational step toward me. “What are you doing here on Mora’s ship?”

“Hiding,” I rasp, feeling like the ship’s floor is imploding beneath me. I hold up a beseeching palm, pulse thundering. “Professor Hawkkyn,” I force out beseechingly, “I’m here to fight with the East. Vogel can destroy runes.”

His face tenses with apparent surprise. “Clarify,” he demands, and I can sense I’ve secured his attention.

“Vogel has a weapon...a Shadow Wand. He’ll be able to strike down Noilaan’s protective dome with its magic. And render the Vu Trin’s weapons useless. Varg runes, like the ones you can make, might be one of the few things that can stop him.”

I watch as the blow fully connects.

“How do you know this?” he demands.

I launch into my impassioned defense, relaying Vogel’s attack in the desert, my escape through Chi Nam’s portal. The power of the Shadow Wand.

“Chi Nam is dead?” he says, clearly stunned.

I nod, tensing against the upsurge of distress.

He snarls out another series of Smaragdalfar epithets, then meets my gaze once more, silver eyes ablaze. “I won’t turn you in, Elloren,” he says. “But you cannot shelter here. They’re looking for you.”

A cornered defiance rises. “They meaning everyone? In the entire Western and Eastern Realms? Yeah. I’m kind of aware of that.”

We stare at each other.

“You’re truly the Black Witch,” he marvels.

I sigh. Well, I’ve certainly thrown an enormous wrench into his fantastical evening.

“Actually, I’m worse than she ever was. Much worse. But I can’t control my power. The trees have bound it. So, they’re trying to figure out what to do about that.”

“They?”

“The Resistance. Well, the small part of it that doesn’t want me destroyed. It’s a very small part. Family, mostly.”

His mouth tightens. “Does Mora know who you are?”

I stiffen. “No.”

Anger flashes across his angular face. “Have you gotten in touch with Jules Kristian?”