There was so little she could be certain of anymore. They had so many impossibly powerful enemies and so little knowledge on their side.

Raven’s Nest, she thought now. That’s where all the secrets are …

And the land’s screaming stopped. For one glorious moment, she was surrounded in the hush of perfect silence. Then the sound of bells exploded all around her, ringing with glorious certainty.

Air gathered tangibly behind her, ready to push her forward if she wavered.

That way. Go!

“Connall told me where to go next,” she said. “We need to find Raven’s Nest.”

They were still arguing ten minutes later, as all three stood on the high hilltop gazing down through thick sapphire air at the vast kingdom spread before them. It was all so much bigger than Cordelia had expected! Farms and marshes and high-walled towns dotted the dark landscape, along with burned-out fields and ruined castles rotting in broken solitude. Silver rivers snaked across the horizon, while tiny, wounded woodlands clumped in patches.

In the distance, Cordelia glimpsed a line of moving shadows that might have been another army, marching.

There was so much waiting for them in the land beyond, like it or not … and a line of high mountains rose beyond all the rest, their distant peaks hidden by clouds.

“So Raven’s Nest is just ‘up in the mountains,’ eh?” Rosalind waved furiously at the horizon. “Well, that’ll be easy to find, then. Just an hour or two of wandering around, d’you think, before we’ll spot it? Or maybe a month or two? While we leave the others to rot so we can chat with a bunch of mythical spirits who might not even exist anymore?” Her voice rose to a roaring bellow.

“Connall said—” began Cordelia.

“Connall isn’t here,” Rosalind spat. “If we do what you want, he never will be again! Bah!” Rolling her eyes, she stomped down the other side of the hill and disappeared into the growing shadows.

There was green grass on that side of the hill. There were knotted tree roots, too, and tangles of brambles that swarmed treacherously across the ground. A moment after Rosalind had disappeared, a loud thump sounded through the evening air. The grumbling that came afterward was even louder as Rosalind picked herself up from her fall.

Giles sighed. “We’d better give her a minute to cool down.”