An hour after I spoke to Serena, we reached a meadow farther to the east. A stream crossed it, its crystalline water murmuring and inviting. I was so thirsty that the first thing I did was run toward it, skid down on my knees, and gulp down handfuls of the cool, refreshing liquid.

My senses reignited as soon as the water hit my empty stomach, as if I could already see and hear and smell everything better. The others joined in, while I looked around and noticed an abandoned farmhouse on the edge of an orchard spreading to the south. The colorful fruit hanging low in the trees caught my eye.

“Are those good to eat, you think?” I asked Wren.

“Absolutely,” she replied, rubbing the cold water on her face. “We come here once in a while when there’s nothing to pick in the forest. It used to be run by a couple of incubus brothers who didn’t like the citadel life. They left it behind years ago, but the orchard went on.”

I looked at Aura, who gave me a quick nod and moved toward the orchard. She found an old copper bucket lying on its side in the grass by one of the trees, and took it, starting to pick the ripe fruit.

The Green Tribe succubi settled by the stream, filling their flasks and rinsing the dirt from their faces and arms as the sun rose bright above us, making their silvery skin shimmer again.

Field came next to me, his hand resting on the small of my back for a second as we both stood by the stream and gazed at the farmhouse. I looked over my shoulder to check on Phoenix—he was crouching by the water, quietly washing his face. The muscle in his jaw never stopped twitching, and grief glimmered in his dark eyes.

“Should we talk to him?” I asked Field quietly.

He glanced at Phoenix, then slowly shook his head.

“He’s still processing everything. I’d leave him alone for now,” he replied. “We’re still in survival mode, and he’s doing the best he can, given all that has happened since last night. Let’s get to Stonewall first.”

I nodded. Field made a fair point. We were in the middle of a run for our lives, with barely any supplies besides the weapons we’d snatched on our way out of the mansion, and from the Destroyers we’d taken down. We still had a lot to survive in the remaining full day’s trek to Stonewall.

I froze then, remembering the single most precious item in the mansion. I’d completely overlooked it when the shield came down.

“The swamp witches’ book,” I gasped.

Field mirrored my horrified expression, then groaned with frustration as he rolled his eyes.

“Oh no,” he replied. “The Destroyers probably have it. Azazel’s probably learning new tricks as we speak…”

“You mean this?” Almandine came from behind and pulled the swamp witches’ leather-bound book from the satchel she’d snatched from the house.

Relief washed over me as I grabbed the tome and held it close to my chest. Both Field and I stared at the young succubus in disbelief, while Anjani and Eva wore half-smiles in response.

“That’s my girl!” Anjani cheered with a satisfied grin.

“How? When?” I asked.

“When we went through the house.” Almandine shrugged. “Everything was happening so fast, I suppose none of you saw me run into Draven’s study. I just thought, as soon as the shield came down, that everything in that mansion would be theirs for the taking. The book sprang to mind as the most precious of all items in the house. I didn’t want the snakes to get it. So I grabbed it.”

“You are fantastic, Almandine.” Field placed a hand on her shoulder, and she gave us a shy smile in return.

“I could kiss you!” I gasped with newfound joy, moving toward her.

“Don’t!” She stopped me politely, taking the book back and hiding it in the satchel. “Listen, I’ll go look through the farmhouse and see what we can take from there. We’ll need anything that might come in handy, as long as we can carry it while we run.”

“We’ll help,” Anjani replied.

“I’ll come,” Phoenix added with a determined nod, and they all headed inside the farmhouse, while Eva went into the orchard to help Aura with the fruit picking.

I was impressed by each member of our group. No one complained, they all just pitched in—no questions asked, no looking back. I worried about Phoenix’s state of mind, but, like Field had said, there was no time to properly delve into it. He was heartbroken and angry, and for good reason. But he was strong and able to tough it out until we could look at options, once we’d reached Stonewall.

There was no way I was going to let the Daughters keep Viola away from us, from him. It wasn’t fair.

Field turned to look at me, his turquoise eyes carefully analyzing me.

“How are you holding up?” he asked.

“I’m good,” I replied. “Better than I thought I’d be, given the circumstances. I need to reach out to Vita, though, and make sure she’s okay. I haven’t spoken to her since last night, and she was supposed to get Kyana out of the dungeons.”

My nerves were stretched thin, but Field’s presence had a soothing effect, helping me keep a firm grip on everything. He was, in many ways, my rock. He took a deep breath, then looked out across the meadow, scanning the forest we’d left.

“I’ll keep a lookout, then,” he said. “You do your thing.”

I sat on the grass, crossing my legs, and breathed out. Field took his position a couple of feet away from me, a hatchet in his hand, ready to strike anyone who dared attack us. My heart was filled with love. It felt good to see him there. It gave me the momentary peace of mind I needed to tune everything out and let the universe open up to me.

With my eyes closed and darkness enveloping me, the world’s noises faded away, and I focused on Vita’s heartbeat once more. I found it, dim but steady, and followed it until the chamber in Azazel’s castle revealed itself to me.

I stilled as I realized Vita wasn’t alone in the room. Damion was there with her, standing by the caged window and waiting quietly, watching her and making notes on a piece of paper with a slim piece of charcoal. Vita was lying on the bed, her eyes white and runes flitting across her skin. She was having visions.

My blood chilled, thinking of the many ways in which Azazel was abusing my friend. Unfortunately, I was only a ghost there myself, and there was nothing I could do about it. All I could do was hope Bijarki would hurry.

Vita inhaled deeply as she woke up, the runes gradually vanishing from her skin.

She sat up, tears welling in her blue-green eyes. Damion said nothing as she looked around the room, her face brightening at the sight of me. I brought a finger up to my mouth, quietly reminding her that no one knew I was there except her. She looked away, quickly catching on, and shifted her focus to Damion. A deep frown brought her eyebrows together as she pursed her lips.

“What are you doing here?” she muttered to him.

“My job. You’ve been under for quite some time now, and Azazel had some urgent business to attend to. So he left me here to take note of your runes and alert him once you’re up,” he replied with a shrug.

“You’re damn right I was out for a while,” Vita snapped. “Whatever those weeds you burned were, they knocked me into oblivion.”

“You’re fine, no need to moan about it. I’ll go get him,” Damion mumbled, then left the room.

Chills ran down my spine, and a feeling of urgency came over me as he closed the double doors behind him, leaving me alone with Vita. She looked at me with a pained expression that rang more alarm bells in me.

“Aida, we don’t have much time,” she said with a trembling voice. “Azazel will be here soon and will expect me to tell him what I saw in my visions.”

The dread of seeing Azazel, even from my protected state of Oracle connection to Vita, was extremely difficult to handle. But I held it together, as we both had a job to do. I nodded briefly, waiting for her to tell me about the visions before I revealed the horror we’d been dealing with for the past ten hours.

“I won’t tell him everything, of course, I’ll bend it as much as I can,” she continued, tears streaming down her cheeks. “But just so you know, the future has changed, and not for the better. In short, there’s a darkness in Azazel, a curse of some kind that fuels his immense power. Not just the Daughter he has in his possession and the energy he’s drawing from the volcanoes. Something much more toxic and evil. We’ve changed the outcome, sort of. The Daughter no longer sacrifices herself to destroy him, but Draven does, by taking that curse into himself. I think it has something to do with that creepy snake medallion that Azazel is wearing, because in my vision, after Azazel is vanquished, Draven turns into a Destroyer and wears the damn thing around his neck.”

I thought I’d had a bad time of it already, but according to Vita’s vision, the worst was yet to come. I held my breath for a second, trying to process that information, as I had difficulty imagining Draven going dark like that.

“What… What do you mean, Vita?” I managed, my voice barely audible.

“Draven will become a Destroyer if he defeats Azazel. I think it’s the only way to kill the guy, by taking his curse away,” she reiterated. “Thing is, the burden is too heavy for Draven. He won’t make it. He’ll turn into the very monster he destroys and will go on a killing rampage. We… We die…”

Her voice broke as she got to the most painful part of our possible future. I had no words left, just an overwhelming feeling of grief seeping into my soul, tying knots in my heart and burning my stomach.

“We will try to stop him, but we’ll die. You, me, Jovi and Phoenix… The Daughter… I don’t know what happens to Field or our other allies. I only saw Serena, Bijarki, and Anjani left alive. And not in a good way. Bijarki and Anjani end up exiled on Marton with other incubi and succubi, whom they unite by getting married, in hopes of either finding a way out of Eritopia, or replenishing their numbers and eventually killing Draven and getting rid of that curse,” Vita said.

“How? If Draven must take on the curse to begin with, in order to destroy Azazel, who will take it from him to do the same?”

“I don’t know. But I think if a non-Druid takes the curse, it might not work the same way. Or maybe we’ll find a way to get rid of the medallion altogether. Or maybe we’re just delusional and hanging on to false hope, I don’t know. But I can tell you one thing—if Draven gets hold of that medallion and kills Azazel, it’ll start a chain of catastrophic events. The only people I saw left standing were Draven and Serena, whom he kept in a cage, unwilling to let her die because there’s still a part of him that’s truly him, and has feelings for her, and doesn’t want her gone. But all of Eritopia will burn. The few who survive are doomed to die out in the desert.”

“What of the Daughters, then?” I replied, feeling the rage toward those so-called protectors of Eritopia simmering through me. The thought of my brother dying, of me, of Field, of my loved ones dying—I couldn’t fathom it. I couldn’t accept it.

“I don’t know. I only saw them laying their little sister to rest on Mount Agrith, and Viola dying. Her connection to Phoenix is vital because she will die when Draven kills him.” Vita sobbed, speaking between hiccups as she wiped her face with the corner of a bedcover.

“Listen, we’ll work something out,” I said, aware that we had very little time to deal with grief and that Azazel was on his way up to her room. “Bijarki is on his way to get you. It will take him a couple of days to get to Luceria, so hang in there, okay?”

She nodded slowly, regaining her composure.

“I set Kyana free last night,” she said. “But I got in trouble for it…”

She lifted her leg, and the sound of chains tore through me. She’d been shackled to the bed, and I suddenly felt like coming to Luceria myself and beating the living daylights out of Azazel for doing this to her. I knew I stood no chance against Azazel, but still, the thought helped me process the anger.

“Listen, just stay here and don’t get yourself into any more trouble, okay?” I sighed. “You’ll be out of here soon.”

“What trouble can I get myself into with this around my ankle?” she scoffed, pointing at the chain.

“When has a shackle ever stopped you from doing something crazy, huh?” I raised an eyebrow in response. “That sharp tongue of yours alone is enough to do serious damage to these slithering beasts…”

Vita gave me a weak smile. I took a deep breath and broke my side of bad news to her.

“You’re not going to like this, Vita, but we ran into some trouble,” I said. “Don’t be alarmed—we’re okay, we’ll be okay, but the Daughters came for the Daughter. Phoenix calls her Viola, by the way. He’s broken, obviously…”

I watched her expression shift from horrified to pained, then to genuinely concerned as she listened to my brief account of our agitated night.

“They said she couldn’t control her powers. Thing is, she influenced some shifters who were attacking us during the diversion we put together for the others to leave the shield,” I continued. “And she did something to those shifters, something weird but permanent. Like she fundamentally changed them somehow, and now they are literally our protectors. There are six of them left, and believe me, they came in handy because as soon as the Daughters took Viola, the protective shield came down. It’s gone. We ran east, and we’re on our way to Stonewall now. Made some friends along the way; more succubi from the Green Tribe, to be precise…”

Vita’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, stunned by the developments.

“What… How… Are you guys okay? Phoenix? Field? What… How could this happen? Why would the Daughters be so cruel?” she croaked.

“I don’t know, honey. I think they have permanent PMS or something. We’re okay, really, don’t worry too much about us. We moved fast and got out of there. Took some of the snakes down with us, too. I think we’ll be okay till we get to Stonewall. Serena and Draven are looking through those Druid archives for a cloaking spell for us as we speak. We’ll need it because Azazel can sense us Oracles now. You’ll need it too when Bijarki brings you back.” I winked, forcing myself to seem cool and composed so as not to worry her. She had enough on her plate as it was.

“Just stay here and keep a low profile, Vita,” I added. “We’ll see each other again soon.”

We heard voices outside the door and instantly nodded at each other before I broke the connection and regained my consciousness by the water stream.

I exhaled sharply as Field crouched in front of me, noticing the tears glazing my eyes. I could feel them, wet and hot, ready to roll down my cheeks.

“Are you okay? Is Vita okay?” he asked.

“For the most part,” I replied, barely holding it in.

“What’s wrong?” he frowned.

“We’re in so much trouble, Field. Vita had visions... The future’s changed again.”