There’s a saying that warns people against waking sleeping giants. I should listen to it, but I want to see Liv too badly. I pull the jug of Luster from my belt and unstop the cork, muffling the pop with my hands. It’s a shame to waste it, but I don’t see any other way—and this could be entertaining. I bring the jug to the gap and pour the Luster through it.

I hear a solid thump as the roof shakes beneath my feet. The warm light from inside disappears as three fingers poke through the hole. Scrabbling, wrathy fingers full of murderous intent. After a moment, they’re replaced by a green eye that’s shiny like a cat’s—really like a cat’s.

Perry mutters a few curses and then asks, “What’s wrong with you?” His voice is muffled, but I hear him perfectly.

“Get Liv and meet me on the northern trail,” I say.

The cat eye moves left and right as Perry shakes his head. “No. Beach trail. Someone poured Luster on me and I have to wash it off.”

“Right. Beach trail in five minutes. Don’t take too long.”

Only one finger appears this time. The obscene gesture makes me grin.

I recork the Luster and climb down. There’s one more thing to take care of before I meet Perry and Liv. I cross the clearing again, guided by the light of the Aether, the rugged cottages of the Tide compound spreading around me.

At Brooke’s house, I rap softly on the door.

She eases it open a few moments later and smiles. “The cave?” she whispers.

Brooke is Liv’s closest friend, and for the past year she and Perry have been together. Half that time Perry has been trying to end it. Perry will probably be streaked at me for bringing her along, but so what? I like things the way they are.

I nod and lift the bottle of Luster. “You coming?” I ask, though I already know she is. Brooke is always up for anything when Perry is involved.

“I’ll get my bow.” She disappears into the house.

I look around the compound as I wait. When it’s quiet this way, it’s easy to remember the night I came here with my grandmother twelve years ago. I was barely seven then. Gram and I walked up out of the darkness on a spring night just like this. We’d been traveling for weeks and the soles on my shoes had worn through. Gram knocked on the first door we came to, and when Perry’s father answered, I thought he was the biggest man I’d ever seen. He invited us inside and had bread and fennel soup brought to us. Three kids watched us from the loft above as we ate, but it was the girl I couldn’t take my eyes off.