We ran the rest of that mile to Stonewall. We needed to disappear inside the citadel—if there were more hostiles coming after us, they wouldn’t see us.

As soon as we reached the steps, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. I looked up, marveling at the sheer size of the place, the massive stone walls and the wind howling through the wide arches. I could hear waves crashing against the shore on the other side, but other than that, there was no sound.

I followed Jax and his wards, along with the rest of our group, as they took us through a spacious courtyard. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and stilled, turning my head to see what it was. A large feline moved quietly along the wall. Field stopped behind me, and I could feel his body heat radiating into my back.

“It’s okay,” he whispered in my ear.

“Bajangs,” Hansa said over her shoulder as she kept walking.

I looked around and noticed more of these creatures quietly watching us from the shadows.

Field didn’t let go of my hand as we kept moving. We entered the citadel and followed a wide corridor as the Bajangs came closer, walking alongside us. Some of them looked at me with big amber or green eyes, sniffing the air and crinkling their noses. They didn’t seem to like me very much.

Jovi noticed my discomfort and winked at me. “Relax, Sis, they won’t hurt us,” he said. “I guess this ‘cats and dogs’ thing is universal, that’s all.”

“You mean ‘multiversal’.” I raised an eyebrow. “You know, since this is the In-Between.”

“Look at you, one day out in the wild and you’re making up new words!” he replied jokingly and put on a smirk.

He was close enough for me to smack him over the shoulder. He flinched, then growled playfully.

“Careful, Sis, I can still kick your ass if you get out of line.”

“I would love to see you try, wise-ass,” I grinned, while Field stifled a chuckle.

I’d missed the banter. I’d missed my brother and my friends. My heart leaped at the thought of seeing Serena again. We’d only been apart for a few days, but given everything that had happened, if felt like eons.

We reached the end of the hallway and stopped in front of a limestone wall. One of the felines that had walked with us, resembling a snow leopard, stood on its hind legs and morphed into a male Bajang. I couldn’t help but gawk at his athletic physique, at the ropes of toned muscle that stretched across his back and the gray and white fur covering the lower part of his body. He glanced over his shoulder at us with icy blue eyes as his lips parted, revealing his sharp fangs. He pushed his thumb into one, drawing blood.

He pressed the same hand against the wall, and I gasped as the stone began to ripple. Anjani looked at Hansa, her eyes wide with surprise.

“This is a cloaking spell!” she exclaimed.

“Yup,” Hansa replied. “Almus taught these people a few swamp witch magic tricks, it seems…”

The Bajang walked through the wall, and we followed, one by one. I felt the liquid stone tickle my skin as I moved forward, holding onto Field’s hand in the process.

“This is so cool,” I heard Field mutter once we reached the other side.

The Bajang guided us farther as we gaped at the spacious interiors, at tall ceilings and ornate details, painted walls and heavy velvet curtains. He took us through the Bajangs’ living quarters, where I saw more of these creatures in their two-legged form—males, females, and cubs, all stopping to look at us as we passed by. The Green Tribe succubi stopped here for their wounds to be treated, except for Wren, who came along with us.

We went through a wide arch, and I heard Serena squeal.

I peeled my eyes from the thousands of books covering the walls and looked ahead as she ran toward me and trapped me in a hug.

“Oh, I am so happy to see you here!” she gasped, and held me tight, kissing my cheek.

I hugged her back, slowly relaxing in her embrace. She beamed at me before she jumped into Phoenix’s arms. He responded by wrapping his arms around her and hiding his face in her black hair. I saw his ribcage swell as he breathed in. She dropped a multitude of kisses on both his cheeks, then cupped his face and looked him in the eyes.

“We’ll get her back, Phoenix. I promise you,” she said, her eyebrows tucked into a frown.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Phoenix replied, his voice barely audible.

Draven came up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, a sympathetic look on his face.

“There’s an unbreakable bond between you and the Daughter,” the Druid said.

“Viola. Her name’s Viola,” Phoenix muttered.

“Viola,” Draven repeated, nodding slowly. “We may be able to use this bond between you to find her. Key word here being ‘may’. I wouldn’t want to get your hopes too high.”

“Either way,” Serena added, giving Draven a reprimanding sideways glance that expressed her discomfort at his sometimes inappropriately brutal honesty. He shrugged in response. “You know she’ll be safe with them, and you know they won’t let anything happen to you, since you and Viola are so deeply connected.”

Phoenix exhaled sharply, his lips tight, a muscle still twitching in his jaw. He looked at me as he took a step back. I hadn’t had time to tell him what Vita’s visions had shown. We’d been running and fighting Destroyers since we’d left the farmhouse. Everything had happened so fast, and I didn’t want to risk giving him even more to worry about while he battled the slithering beasts.

“Yeah, about that,” I managed to say, feeling terrible for having to spoil the moment. But Vita’s vision could no longer wait. “I spoke to Vita.”

All eyes were on me, including Field’s. He’d seen me distraught after I’d reached out to Vita during our stop at the farmhouse, but he hadn’t pressed me with questions. He’d understood the lack of time for properly delving into everything she’d told me.

“She says the future has changed, but not for the better,” I continued, choosing my words carefully. I glanced at Phoenix, then at Draven and Serena, and bit into my lower lip. I had no choice. “Viola won’t cause that massive explosion anymore. But she will die…”

I immediately looked at Phoenix, whose face was livid. He didn’t say anything as I struggled to speak.

“She will die because Phoenix will die,” I continued. “Draven will kill him.”

Draven and Serena gaped at me, their eyes huge. The Druid’s lips parted and his shoulders slumped, while Serena’s gaze darted between me and him. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I couldn’t bear to look at them as I told them the rest of Vita’s vision.

“I believe it has something to do with Azazel’s snake medallion. Vita saw Draven wearing it, turned into a Destroyer. Draven will destroy Azazel, but victory will come at the price of his own soul, and the medallion is key. I think it holds whatever it is that makes that monster so powerful. But Draven won’t be able to resist that darkness, and he will turn. He will kill us all when we try to stop him. Eritopia will burn, but it will be at Draven’s hand. Those who do survive will be exiled to Marton, doomed to die in the desert. That’s all I could get from Vita in the short time we had together. I’ll reach out to her later for the details, but… it’s not looking good.”

A few minutes went by, my stomach churning in the meantime.

Draven’s gaze was fixed on the floor, as was Phoenix’s. Jovi, Field, Hansa, Anjani, and I looked at each other, while Serena stared at the Druid, pain flickering in her eyes. I couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

“It’s only a possible future,” I added weakly. “We’ve changed it before, haven’t we?”

But no one answered. I saw other creatures in the archive hall with us, three of which I’d not met before. They all watched quietly, occasionally glancing at each other before shifting their focus back to the Druid.

“It can’t be,” Draven finally spoke.

His eyes were dark, flickering black. His jaw twitched, his mouth turned into a thin, straight line.

“The snake pendant,” Serena whispered. “You’ll take Asherak’s curse into your…”

“Ashe-what?” I replied, my confusion evident. I’d clearly missed out on some information.

“Azazel’s pendant,” she explained. “It’s a curse. It holds Asherak’s soul. He was the first evil Druid. Think Azazel in his beta version. He created dark and powerful magic, forbidden spells that he used to torture and kill those who opposed him, thousands of years ago.”

“I’ve heard that name before,” Anjani muttered. “In old Eritopian legends. I never thought he was real…”

“He was.” Serena nodded, while Draven boiled by her side. “He went crazy, like Azazel, but the Grand Temple Druids got together and defeated his invading armies. By the time they got to him, though, all they found was his lifeless body. He’d stashed his soul with all its poison inside that snake pendant with ruby eyes. The Druids tried to destroy it, but they couldn’t. So they never spoke of him again and passed the pendant over to the Grand Druids. Only they knew about it, and they kept it safe and hidden from the rest of the world…”

“Until Azazel took over the Third Kingdom and became a Grand Druid himself,” I concluded, putting the pieces together. “It’s why he’s so powerful. He draws energy from the volcanoes, the little Daughter, and the pendant…”

“This cannot be,” Draven said, his voice trembling.

“Draven.” Serena moved to take his hand in hers, but he pulled away, taking a few steps back. I could see him unraveling.

“No. No, it cannot be. I would never.” He looked up at Phoenix. “I wouldn’t… No… I am a Druid; I’m sworn to protect you all. No, I… This can’t be.”

“It can, if it’s a sacrifice,” Jax mused from the edge of our group.

Draven stared at the Lord of Maras with genuine disbelief.

“What kind of sacrifice would it be, if I ended up finishing Azazel’s job for him?” he snapped.

“A sacrifice gone wrong.” Jax held his chin up, his jawline firm, but a sympathetic glimmer in his jade-colored eyes. “Good intentions succumbing to Asherak’s darkness.”

“No.” Draven shook his head, stepping farther away from our group.

My heart tied itself in knots at the sight of his misery, and judging by Serena’s pained expression and fast breathing, she couldn’t stand to see him like this either. She moved toward Draven, but he raised his hands in a blocking gesture, stopping her in her tracks.

“Just no. I would never take a life like that. I would never betray those who have helped me. Who have helped Eritopia,” he said. “I can’t… I would rather die. I would rather end myself if I have to.”

“Draven, don’t say that,” Serena’s sharp voice cut through.

She was angry, her hands balled into fists at her sides, tears welling up in her eyes. Draven looked at her, his eyebrows raised, as he clearly hadn’t expected her to take such a slicing tone.

“You listen to me carefully, Druid,” she added. “What Vita saw is a probable future.”

“The most probable,” Jax added.

“You’re not helping!” she barked at the Mara, whose mouth flattened as he looked down, like a kid being reprimanded by his mother. She then glared at Draven. “You! You won’t go dark, you hear me? I won’t let you! We know what’s going to happen, so we can prevent it. We’ve talked about this before. Every time the future shows us something horrible, we all gasp and cry and feel bad and suffer. But we change it. It’s the same now. We’re going to change it!”

She then turned to face us, her nostrils flaring.

“We need to focus on the big picture here,” she continued. “The single and most immediate threat is Azazel. We don’t know enough about Vita’s vision right now to take any action against it. But what we can do is move forward with our alliance against that snaky bastard. We need to get Vita out of there. We need a concealment spell for the Oracles. We have work to do!”

Her resolve was truly impressive, and rather infectious. Hansa and Jax nodded. I felt Field’s hand as it tightened its grip on mine. I looked at him and nearly lost myself in his turquoise gaze. He was so calm and quiet. I took a page out of his book and willed myself into a balanced state while Serena’s words buzzed around in my head.

She was right. We had a lot of work to do.

“We need to hold out until the alliance meeting,” Serena added, looking at Draven and Phoenix. “Put all those dark thoughts aside for now. We will talk all this through once we get Vita back here safely. We will find a way to change the outcome, like we always do.”

Phoenix didn’t reply, looking away and barely moving his head in a faint nod. Draven took a deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds, then exhaled sharply. He was nowhere near done with the subject, but he seemed to agree with Serena—we had more urgent issues to deal with.

“I think it would be best if we kept this among ourselves for now,” Draven said slowly, looking at the whole group. “It might cause reluctance among our allies if they knew about my potential downfall.”

“Thorn and I won’t say a word,” said the female of the two Bajangs in the archive hall with us. Her companion raised an eyebrow and nodded.

“We can’t afford doubt in our ranks at this point,” he said. “Rest assured, Druid, we will keep quiet about this.”

“I won’t tell my mother either,” Eva chimed in, her amber-yellow gaze fixed on Draven. “Unless it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise there is no point to adding concern to an already difficult situation.”

“Thank you, Eva,” Serena replied with forced politeness.

“I’m looking after the future father of my child, that’s all.” She winked back.

That remark earned her an icy glare from Serena, but the young Lamia didn’t seem to care. I would’ve expressed my own displeasure with her deliberately stinging words, but I took comfort in the fact that she was going to get the short end of the stick in the end, as Draven was never going to go through with Tamara’s condition. If anything, I tried not to smirk at the thought of seeing her face when they eventually told her she wasn’t going to have a little Draven.

The Druid ignored her completely, choosing to resume his seat at the large round table in the middle, where a mountain of books and scrolls waited.

Serena watched him for a moment before she went to Phoenix and cupped his cheek.

“Phoenix, it’ll be okay,” she said. “We won’t let this happen. We’re Shadians, you know. We don’t bend so easily, do we?”

He didn’t reply, but his gaze was locked on hers. Their eyes flickered gold, and I figured they were reading each other’s emotions. Phoenix scoffed, then walked over to one of the windows, choosing to stand there and look outside.

Serena moved to try to talk to him again, but I reached out and caught her wrist.

“Don’t,” I told her. “Give him some time. He needs to process all this. It’s coming down on him too fast and too hard.”

“I can’t stand to see him like this,” she muttered.

“Me neither,” Field interjected. “But you’re right. Bigger fish to fry here.”

My Hawk was right. We had a lot to deal with already. Another deadly future wasn’t exactly a surprise. The circumstances had changed, of course, but the outcome was the same. Our main priority was to get Vita out of Luceria and strengthen the alliance against Azazel.

We had a deadly enemy to bring down, without losing our souls and the people we loved in the process. We had a future to change.

Most importantly, we had to find a way to destroy that damn snake pendant. I had a feeling it would all boil down to that one, cursed object in the end.