The woman nods, and the man, Austin, makes a swift cupping motion with his hands. The weapons fly back to him and reattach themselves to his jacket. Judging by the way Austin obeys the woman, I’m guessing she’s some kind of senior figure here.

I stare in awe as I try to find the right words. “The truth is, we’ve come to ask for your help.”

The woman frowns, and both Austin and the boy look curiously at me.

“You just said we were disowned by our goddess and banished from the gifted community,” says the woman. “What makes you think you’re in need of our assistance?”

I feel the hard glass of Hattie’s heart vial next to my skin. Because I have to save my sister. “Because we’re looking for something, and we believe you know where it is.”

“And what might that be?”

I look at Emmett, and he nods at me to continue.

“We are looking for the Godrealm’s last fallen star—what we believe to be the eighth and last artifact. And we need your help in locating it.”

Austin’s eyes widen and he puts a hand in front of the boy protectively. “Sora, how do they know of the artifacts?” His voice is strained.

My ears perk up at her name. Sora. The boba-tea woman sent us to the right person! Could this be the same Sora who wrote the letter? It has to be!

Emmett must have come to the same realization, because he speaks up. “It doesn’t matter how we know about them. What’s important is whether you know where the last one is. Do you? Do you know where we can find it?”

Sora studies us carefully. “And if we did know where it was, what makes you think we would help you?”

I glance over at Emmett, knowing that this is, without a sliver of doubt, the worst time to come out with the truth.

But I also know what’s at stake. Even if Emmett is mad at me for the rest of my life, we have to save Hattie. And if he doesn’t forgive me, it will be my fault and my fault only.

“Well?” Sora asks.

I take a big breath. “You see this black cord around my neck? Take a look at what’s hanging from it.”

Sora walks over and pulls out the vial from under my collar. She exhales sharply.

I puff up my chest and channel the courage that can only come from loving your sister and your best friend more than anything else in the world. “This is my sister’s heart, and you’re going to help me save her.”

Sora doesn’t answer for a while. She just stares at the blackening heart and then at me with a weird look that makes me feel sad inside.