Royce pretended to choke himself and shrugged. I haven’t been able since, he mouthed.

Thiago pulled Royce into his side and held him tight. “Maybe we should go see Katherine too?”

Tegan nodded. Once they were gone, she turned to the rest of us. “I have a bad feeling about that as well.”

We all shuddered.

Tim cleared his throat. “What about the missing page?”

I cursed violently, which made Tenn give me a smirk. “It wasn’t there, but Bentley got a new prophecy. Go ahead, show them.”

Tegan flicked her wrist and Bentley’s sleeve slid up to his elbow, then she read the words, “Remember where thy forsaken, a ruse we now must awaken. To play with rules that can’t be broken, for only one can claim the spoken. But drop thy sword, flee the scene, this quest becomes evergreen. For upon the dawn my word shall come, The Angel of Tides must ring his drum.”

Cooper covered his face with his hands and grumbled.

“Great, so tonight was a necessary evil.” Tenn’s legs bounced with his anxiety.

“Okay, go to bed, guys. We’ve seen enough for tonight. There’s nothing we can do right now.” Tegan walked back over to Tenn and squeezed his shoulder. “I’ll wake everyone when Valathame’s word comes.”

CHAPTER THREE

SAVANNAH

I slammed my bedroom door shut behind me and staggered inside a few feet, then just stopped. The tears I’d been fighting burst free, scorching a raw, hot path up my throat as I broke down. I pressed my fingers to my closed eyes and tried to breathe deep, slow breaths to stop the tears. My heart couldn’t handle much more of this, if this was what handling it looked like. My breaths hitched on every inhale. My lungs seemed to rattle.

I wasn’t over watching Cooper die, holding his body in my arms as I begged him to come back to me, to just stay out of the light and come back. Not even a little bit. That night haunted my waking thoughts and dreams. I heard Riah’s pleading words to him in the wind rushing through my hair every single day.