Chenda pressed her finger against the page. “Bopha says the rending of her shadow from ours will take place on the darkest day. Could that be—”

“The eclipse.” Gerel shivered and looked at me. “You were right. The gods confirm it.”

Chills marched up and down my arms. That was only fifteen days away. If we didn’t return to the Fallen Isles with the bones of the first dragon, then there would be nothing left.

No one else said anything. There was no need. We just studied until the day began to wane, and finally my eyes caught on a passage:

Where there is light, there must also be darkness.

Where there is hope, there must also be fear.

Where there is life, there must also be death.

Every first is paired with a last.

There can be no beginnings without endings.

But do not despair. Instead, have hope, because what lives falls to dust, and from dust comes new life. It is sacrifice that enables change.

The Great Abandonment is an ending, yet it is also a beginning. The shadow soul of the dragon, the fellowship of the Fallen, and the rending of earth: these are the signs of the end and the beginning.

In the moment when the day and the night are the same, when the first and the last become one, and when hope and despair meet on the field of battle: then the Great Abandonment will be done.

Remember: fire cannot exist without something to burn.

I read the passage aloud, forcing my voice steady even as waves of knowing rushed in and out of my heart. The words were like a waking dream.

“‘The shadow soul of the dragon.’ I just saw that.” Chenda turned a few pages in her book and read aloud. “‘The brightest lights yield the blackest shadows, but even during the darkest day, the shadow soul of the dragon reigns.’”

“What does that mean?” Ilina asked.

“I don’t know about the Anaheran passage,” Chenda said, “but the Bophan one has always been thought of as a warning and a blessing. To us, shadows are often interchangeable with souls, but some interpretations believe there is a subtle difference. Shadows are”—she paused to consider—“texture. They add depth. If an object does not cast a shadow, is it really there? Shadows are the shapes of us, the details unseen, and if even our souls have shadows—”

“Perhaps someone’s soul casts the shadow of a dragon.” Ilina glanced at me, something between worry and awe in her eyes. “When you were telling us about your dreams, you said when you looked down, your shadow was the shape of a dragon.”

Slowly, everyone else looked at me, too.

“You have this connection with dragons,” Ilina went on. “I used to be jealous of it, but then I saw what it did to you when we found the dragons in the ruins. That cured that.” She offered a tight smile, as though needing forgiveness for her feelings.