The marshes surrounding the farmhouse were, indeed, treacherous. Twice we had to stop for Laughlan to cast one of his Druid spells and dry the liquid mud ahead, before our horses got stuck. Two of Neraka’s moons glowed overhead, surrounded by myriads of twinkling stars against the night’s indigo backdrop.

“I know where we are!” Idris said. Rayna gasped behind him, her arms tightly wrapped around his waist on horseback. “I know this place.”

“You’ve been here before?” Vesta asked, then clicked her teeth to get her indigo horse to go faster.

“It’s where you were born, sweetheart,” Rayna murmured, tearing up.

Blaze was the first to reach the farmhouse, which was smack in the middle of a disk-shaped patch of dry land. It was fenced in with tall wood planks, the marshes deep and dark around it. Barren and gnarly trees poked out here and there, clawing at the sky. Insects chirped beneath layers of moss and swamp weeds.

We passed through the wooden gates just in time to see Blaze shifting back to normal, and Velnias and Zane trying to stand up straight, still dazed and queasy from their flight. Daemons were definitely not cut out to fly, on any creature, from what I could tell.

The farmhouse was built on one level, but was large enough to hold all of us comfortably. There were stables at the back, which made this a perfect resting place for the night, not just for ourselves, but also for our indigo horses.

One by one, we got off and took our time to look around and analyze our surroundings properly. I used my True Sight to see if any of Draconis’s daemons had followed us. We were clear on a radius of about ten miles, which was as far as I could see, but it was enough to not worry about spending the night at the farm. The marshes alone were a natural deterrent for daemons. Had we not had a Druid with us, we would’ve had serious trouble reaching the farm, too.

“Don’t worry,” Velnias said, coming to stand by my side as I looked out to the north. “Daemons don’t come here. It’s not just the marshes they’re wary of.”

“What else are they wary of, then?” I asked, suddenly alarmed. What wasn’t he telling us?

He chuckled lightly, crossing his arms. “Oh, just some local legends of deadly creatures roaming these parts. Many daemons ventured through these marshes and never made it back. Word spreads fast in our cities.”

“That’s odd,” Idris replied. “We lived here for a while before we headed for the ocean. We never had any issues. Sure, there are some weird and dangerous animals in these parts, but nothing a daemon or even a fae couldn’t handle.”

“Define ‘weird and dangerous’,” I muttered, still not satisfied with what I was hearing about this place. “I’m in no mood to spend the night nervously looking over my shoulder, on the off chance some creature might sneak up on me and bite my head off.”

“Really nothing to worry about.” Velnias giggled like the oversized devil that he was. “Daemons are very gullible by nature. All it takes is one strategically placed rumor, and they gobble it up like crazy. The marshes are fine. Relax.”

“Something tells me you had something to do with those ‘strategically placed rumors’,” Caspian interjected, somewhat amused.

Velnias pressed his lips tightly together to avoid another outburst of laughter. “I most certainly did. Like I said, gullible people…”

Vesta, however, was in awe of the place. She couldn’t take her eyes off the farmhouse, taking in every detail—every log used to erect its walls, every copper shingle on the roof, and every creaky floorboard on the porch.

“Are you okay?” I asked her, moving closer.

She nodded slowly, staring at the small, square windows, their frames sloppily painted black, like the door. “Yeah, just… I can’t believe I was born here.”

“In all fairness, you didn’t know who you really were for the last fifteen years until you saw your parents again,” I replied, gently squeezing her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. I could only imagine how confusing everything must be for her.

Rayna and Idris walked over to the black door, then motioned for Vesta to join them.

I left Hansa, Jax, and the others behind to survey the area and see what we could use during our overnight stay, then Caspian and I joined Vesta and her parents inside. I was curious to see if anything in the farmhouse would ring a bell and help Vesta remember anything from her childhood.

Rush and Amina guided the horses to the stable, then pumped some water into a large copper trough. To their surprise and ours, it worked perfectly, and fresh water burst out and filled the basin. The indigo horses neighed with delight as they gathered around to drink, while Rush pulled a couple of hay stacks out of the stables. He tore the strings off and scattered the hay around for the animals to feed. He even spilled a handful of seeds from a small burlap sack next to the trough. The Ekar didn’t hesitate to help himself to some water and seeds, ruffling his feathers at the horses whenever they got too close. As quiet and obedient as that bird was, he was also quite aggressive when it came to food and water, it seemed.

Ryker and Laughlan checked the garden perimeter, where I’d seen naked sticks poking out of the ground and dried weeds scattered across pebbles and chunks of red soil. Velnias toured the property a couple of times with Pheng-Pheng keeping him company, while Caia and Blaze gathered some wood from the stable to set up a campfire just outside the house.

“You’ll have to dig a firepit, first,” I heard Velnias tell them, “and make it deep. You don’t want your fire to be easily spotted from anywhere.”

I heard Fiona and Zane talking somewhere on the edge of the porch, and Jax and Hansa behind the farmhouse. “Ah, look at that, a greenhouse,” Jax muttered.

“Interested in picking up gardening, now?” Hansa chuckled.

Tuning everybody out, I shifted my focus back to the farmhouse’s idyllic interior. It was covered in dust and darkness, but it had once been home to Vesta and her parents. Judging by the looks of it, no one had been here in at least three, maybe four years. Caspian and I looked around the house while Rayna and Idris got reacquainted with the living room, which was fitted with a fireplace and a couple of wooden couches.

The kitchen was quite spacious, connected to the outer garden through a small side door. The key was still in the lock. The wooden cupboards were loaded with tin cups and bowls, while the counters held a hefty supply of dried nuts, grains, and various herbs and powders.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been here,” Rayna said, running her fingers along the dusty mantelpiece. “I didn’t realize this was where we were going, not even when Velnias first mentioned it.”

“You’re still shaken up, Rayna. It’s perfectly natural,” I replied.

Vesta sat down on one of the couches facing the fireplace, absently gazing around, while Idris looked through the bookshelves mounted on the western wall. It was filled with books and yellowed scrolls.

“I wrote most of these,” he muttered, flipping through one of the manuscripts. “How long did we stay here, Rayna, do you remember?”

“Maybe two years? Something like that,” Rayna said, then looked at Vesta. “Daemons were still prowling around. It was only a matter of time before they would find us here, so, as soon as you were big enough to survive a longer journey, we packed whatever we could carry and traveled to the south, by the ocean.”

“We had it good while we were here, though,” Idris added, a melancholic smile settling on his face. Fine lines were settled around his eyes, one of the few signs of aging that a fae displayed after thousands of years, along with several strands of white hair. “Rayna and I are pretty good with earth and water elements, so we managed to grow our own food in the garden and in the greenhouse. We even kept some animals. It was peaceful. We almost forgot we weren’t on our home planet anymore.”

“We didn’t think we’d ever go home, anyway,” Rayna sighed, sitting next to Vesta.

Caspian came back from checking the bedrooms and lifted five fingers for me to see. Five bedrooms that we could share, plus the sofas in the living room. “You know, you were always our little miracle,” Rayna continued, cupping Vesta’s cheek with one hand. Her aura glowed a warm shade of gold, a mother filled with love for her daughter. I couldn’t help but smile, watching them get reacquainted with each other.

“Rayna became pregnant with Vesta just a couple of months after we got here,” Idris explained, putting one book back and checking another. “She was a surprise. We’d spent all that time living in a meranium box without having children. I was convinced we couldn’t have a family, not just because of our dire conditions, but also because there was maybe something wrong with me, or us. But then, Zara… Well, Vesta was born, and life made sense again.”

“We had a reason to fight, to stay alive, and to find a way either off the planet or away from the daemons and Exiled Maras,” Rayna said. “After we left this place behind, we moved close to the shore and spent years studying the ocean, the winds, trying to figure out what lay beyond the vast turquoise waters to the east. We’d seen some maps; we knew there were foreign territories over on that side, but there was no information about whether they were barren or inhabited by daemons. Nevertheless, we started working on a boat, big and sturdy enough to carry us across the waters. With our fae abilities, we could coax the ocean into making the journey easier for us.”

“But then the daemons found you, right?” Vesta interjected, frowning. Rayna sighed, then nodded slowly, the grief in her eyes making me tear up. Caspian slipped his arm behind my back and pulled me closer, and I quietly rested my head on his shoulder for a little while. “I remember something,” Vesta murmured, staring at the wooden floor. “Just snippets. But I remember daemons… Someone screaming… I turned around, and… I saw them drag you away. Then I fell… and darkness.”

Idris took a seat next to Vesta, with Rayna on the other side. Tears streamed down his cheeks, his lower lip trembling, as he was still getting used to the idea of having his long-lost daughter right here in front of him. “You were playing on top of the cliff, that day. You’d just turned twelve,” he said. “I kept telling you not to get too close to the edge, or you’d fall off. And you kept telling me that wasn’t a problem because the ocean loved you and would never hurt you. Daemons came in wearing their invisibility spell. I only caught a glimmer of red eyes to my left before I got conked on the head. I heard Rayna scream. I saw the air rippling close to you. I tried to warn you, but you saw us getting dragged away. You got scared, moved back, and fell off the cliff before the daemon could grab you. I thought we lost you then. Something broke inside me.”

“I guess I was right. The ocean did love me enough not to kill me,” Vesta breathed, her eyes glassy with tears.

“We lost ourselves that day, not just you, honey,” Rayna sobbed.

“But it was the hope that you were still alive, somewhere out there, that kept the both of us going,” Idris added. “Our hearts were broken, but there was that little glimmer of hope that helped us survive for five years in that wretched meranium box. And… Well, look at us now, huh? Together again.”

Vesta burst into tears, while her parents hugged her. They became a tangled mass of broken hearts as they held each other close, crying tears of both sadness and joy—the former from the irreparable damage that the daemons had done to their family, and the latter from being together again.

My heart ached as I wondered how long before I would see my family again, too. My mother, my father, my sister… They were out there, probably desperate to get to me, unable to breach Neraka’s magical shield. I turned away and wiped my tears, taking deep breaths as I tried to keep my cool. There was no time for me to wallow over wanting to see my family again, my friends. Vesta hadn’t seen her parents in five years. I had been apart from mine for much less. What made me cry was the crippling prospect of never seeing them again. And I couldn’t let that kind of despair seep into my soul and cloud my judgment. Not when we were so close to getting off Neraka.

Caspian came around to face me, gently brushing his knuckles against my cheeks. He pulled me close and kissed me—short, but deep and sweet enough to remind me that he was still there, nestled in my heart and ready to fight anyone and anything so we could be free. So we could be together.

“We’ll get you home, Harper, I promise,” he whispered against my lips, the look in his jade eyes making me melt. I liked this warm version of him better, though I had to admit, the dark and mysterious Mara Lord had a certain effect on my senses, too.

“I know, Caspian,” I replied softly, resting my palms on his broad chest. “We’ll set you free, too. I promise.”

“Speaking of,” Idris said, turning his head to look at us from across the living room. “You should know that Shaytan is not one to give up easily. The more you evade him, the more challenged he is and the more vicious he gets. He won’t stop coming after you, especially now.”

“What do you mean by ‘especially now’?” I asked.

“Even before you came to get us, there were rumors circulating in Draconis about Shaytan and his inability to capture a handful of unruly outsiders,” Idris replied. “His own daemons are starting to lose faith in him. He’s getting impatient, and he is determined to prove to his people that he still has what it takes to rule the daemon nation. I mean, if you thought you riled him up with Infernis, wait until he hears what happened in Draconis,” he chuckled. “He will positively flip out.”

Zane walked in, followed by Fiona. “Knowing my father, he is probably fuming already. I pity the rest of my brothers, since they have to put up with his rage.” He grinned, then suddenly turned serious. “But Idris is right. All hell will break loose over the next few days. With Cayn dead and Draconis destroyed, father will hang on to Darius Xunn for a little while longer, and that will put another dent in his alliance with the Exiled Maras. No one will sleep until you’re all captured.”

“Until we’re all captured,” Fiona corrected him with a smirk. “You’re in this with us, now.”

Zane sighed, then playfully rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I am. And I only have you to blame.”

“Seriously? You kidnapped me, buddy, not the other way around,” she replied, crossing her arms. He smiled and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.

“I couldn’t help myself. Like I said, your fault,” he muttered, his red eyes glimmering with delight.

Blinking several times and feeling my cheeks flushed from the momentary awkwardness as Zane caught me staring at them, I cleared my throat, deciding to pursue that line of questioning later. Clearly, those two were getting really close, but we had bigger fish to fry for the evening, so I turned to Idris and Rayna again, just as Rush and Amina joined us in the living room.

“So, tell us about how they actually caught you the first time around, Idris,” I said, occasionally stealing a glance at Fiona, whose face was the color of a spring rose as she stood next to Zane. Yup, definitely a thing.

“It was systematic and well thought out,” Idris replied, “though I doubt that was their first intention when we crashed on Neraka. They left us to rest for a couple of days. Treated us like kings and queens, eager to prove how they’d changed their ways and so on.”

Fiona scoffed. “Yeah, that sounds disgustingly familiar.”

“Then they caught Lumi by surprise. All they needed to do was gag her, then tie her hands,” Idris continued. “The moment you deprive a swamp witch of the ability to speak, she’s done for.”

“Then they came for us,” Rush said, sitting on the other sofa. “They didn’t catch us all at once, but as soon as they made their pact with the daemons, it was a piece of cake for them. The daemons knew the Valley of Screams like no one else. It was only a matter of time.”

“The rest is, as you probably know, history,” Amina added, then cuddled next to Rush, who put his arm around her shoulders and held her close, occasionally dropping a soft kiss on her forehead.

I nodded, then started pacing the living room, putting all the pieces together in my head.

“So, what we have now is a crippled daemon capital, a prison city utterly destroyed, and rebel pacifists’ ranks replenished and free,” I muttered. “There was already a strain on this alliance between the Maras and the daemons, and it’s only going to get worse, now that Shaytan will not allow Darius’s return to Azure Heights. He can’t have the Mara Lord yapping to the others about the ginormous slice of humble pie we just served him. Right?”

I looked around the room, noticing the amused expressions of the delegation prisoners. Sure, I was certainly enjoying the thought of Shaytan broiling on his throne because of us, but they were downright thrilled. And for good reason, too. He’d kept them locked up in meranium boxes for thousands of years. He deserved a lot more than a mild aneurysm.

“Okay, we’re off to a good start, I think,” I concluded with a grin. “Now, on to stage two. Dinner, a decent scrub, and a few hours of sleep before we head back to Ragnar Peak. We’ll summon the Manticores from there and prepare for stage three: getting Lumi out of Azure Heights.”

We still had a lot of work ahead of us, sure. But we’d already come so far, and we’d cost Shaytan a fortune in dead soldiers. Not to mention the collapse of Draconis and the release of most of his prisoners there. We’d triggered the pacifists into a large-scale sabotage mission, too. I doubted it was enough to defeat the daemon king, but it definitely helped us keep the fiends distracted while we hatched a plan to extract Lumi from the clutches of the Exiled Maras.

Nothing worked better than our enemies’ cities in turmoil and their alliances crippled.