Together, she and her triplets formed all three parts of the triad that it needed.

Heart: that was Giles, and it always had been: the open, overflowing heart of the whole family, breaking now before her eyes. She had to fix it.

Protection? That part could never be in any doubt. Rosalind set down her sword reluctantly to take Giles’s free hand in hers. She squared her broad shoulders in visible preparation for any battle ahead.

Spirit … Cordelia took a breath and flung herself wide open.

Power rocked through her like the wildest of storms. She squeezed her eyes shut and gripped her triplets’ hands hard to stay upright on the rough mountain path as ancient green magic filled her to overflowing.

Overwhelming. Terrifying. Incredible. The feeling made her head spin and her body shake like a tree caught in high winds.

We’re all here, she told the land. I’m yours, just as you wanted. Now show her to us! I know you can.

Giles’s hand tightened around hers as Cordelia shook with the power that raged through her body, like a willow tree whipped back and forth by a storm. Rosalind let out a harsh breath and shoved one strong, bracing shoulder against Cordelia’s side to keep her from toppling.

Green and blue snapped into place and filled Cordelia’s vision as her mind’s eye hurtled through the miles. Blue sky ahead and a green landscape below.

That landscape moved faster and faster, blurring with speed as all three children flew high above it. They passed sprawling army camps and high, fortified city walls. Finally, in her mind’s eye, they swooped over a set of strong stone walls into a dirty, crowded city with a sprawling castle at its center. Bear and wolf flags flew from its ramparts. Armed guards marched threateningly along its square towers—but none of them seemed to glimpse any of the three children who flew through the air toward them.

Cordelia’s feet were still planted on Mount Corve. She felt her triplets’ solid hands in hers, anchoring her as always. But behind her closed eyelids, she was swept through the air, and Giles and Rosalind flew invisibly beside her until they finally came to a halt, peering down together through the high tower window where the land had brought them.

It was a tiny, arched opening without any glass, laced with brutal iron bars. It looked down into a suffocatingly small, rectangular room, where a familiar figure paced the stone floor like a wild animal trapped inside a cage.

Mother’s hair had fallen out of its braid long ago. It whirled around her now in a wild, tangled cloud as she spun to stare upward with bloodshot dark eyes. “Who’s watching me this time?” she snapped. “Mother? Is that you again? I’ve told you, your tricks don’t work on me anymore.”