The briefing session was relatively short, since we didn’t have much information regarding my grandparents and their friends’ disappearance. Our search radius started with the resort and the island of Noagh, and, based on Dmitri and Hunter’s tracking, it was going to expand.

“Do you think they’re okay?” I asked Ben.

He stood in front of a screen with aerial images of the resort, his arms crossed, and his brows furrowed.

“I’d like to give you a wholehearted yes, but I can’t. Not at this point in time, anyway,” he replied. “I’m sorry, Kailani, but we’ll know more once we get there.”

“Think about it this way,” Dmitri chimed in. “We’re talking about Derek and Sofia here, not to mention the rest of the crew. I mean, my grandparents alone could tear into five hundred whatever-type-of-creatures came out of those pods. Add your grandparents into the mix, and it would be a bloodbath.”

Hunter raised an eyebrow. “He makes a fair point,” he said. “What if they went looking for the pod creatures? What if they went back to the cave in the morning, saw the pods cracked open, and decided to extend their stay to find them?”

“That’s also a possibility,” Rose replied.

We were all geared up and had our backpacks stuffed with swamp witch magic ingredients, healing potions, and other tools we’d need for both the search and the cave study. Dmitri carried most of the tech stuff, along with Hunter and Ben. From our group, they were the ones most familiar with Phoenix and Jovi’s gizmos.

Jovi, Phoenix, my mom, and Shayla had joined us in the meeting room to give us last-minute advice and indications.

“Telluris doesn’t work on the surface of Strava,” Jovi said, “but we’ve recalibrated Bowie. It should work now as a mini-command center,” he added, then handed each of us a small earpiece. “These work on radio waves. They’re linked to one another, and they also feed into Bowie, over a three-mile radius. As long as you can hear each other, you’re good.”

“They link back to Calliope, too,” Phoenix added. “We’ve set up a comms base here on Mount Zur.”

Jovi nodded, then pointed at my earpiece. “That’s right. You’ve got two channels there. Press the small green button to talk locally, on Strava, and the blue one to reach out to us. Every message is recorded in case we’re not around.”

I put the earpiece on. It fit and settled perfectly. Jovi then brought over a couple of satellite phones.

“What are those for?” Rose asked.

“We modified them. They’re earthly satellite phones,” Jovi explained. “You can use these to send SOS signals back to Calliope if the earpiece and Bowie fail. They’re kind of old-timey, but they’re supposed to work seamlessly across such a distance if you stick to Morse code. Use the one key for the line, and the zero key for the dot.”

“I know Morse code,” Dmitri replied with a nod. “I’ve got it.”

He stuffed both phones in his backpack. Shayla and Mom stepped forward.

“We’ll have the second telescope up and running by morning,” Shayla said.

Mom came over with a handful of small hypodermic syringes. “I need to collect blood samples from each of you,” she said. “We’re fitting the lenses with a swamp witch tracking spell, and we require something from you.”

Dmitri sighed. “A lock of hair wasn’t good enough? You have to puncture me?”

“Scared of needles?” I shot back with a grin.

He shuddered, then put his arm out. “Just make it quick.”

I chuckled, watching as Mom drew a bit of blood from Dmitri first, then from the rest of us, storing the syringes in a small, cylindrical cooling box. We’d been bringing some of the human technology to Calliope, as it was easier to maintain and reproduce manually than magic and swamp witch charms. Cooling systems were going to be gradually introduced into the Eritopian society over the next couple of years, anyway, as part of GASP’s effort to help the galaxy evolve.

“Okay, I think we’re ready to go,” Ben said. “We will be gone for a couple of days, tops, but you’ve got eyes on us, and comms are all working.”

I hugged Mom. She covered my face in kisses. “You be good up there,” she whispered. “And don’t do anything you’re not sure you can pull off, okay?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She gave me a weak smile. “I know something happened the other day, during your swamp witch trials,” she murmured. “I also know you won’t talk to me about it. But I’m not blind, either. It’s done something to you, though I can’t tell what, exactly. All I’m asking is that you be careful, honey. That’s all. Don’t get carried away. Stay on top of the magic.”

My stomach churned. I’d felt horrible for not being able to talk to her about what I’d experienced in my sensory-deprivation capsule. It would’ve been hard to describe, anyway. I was still looking for words myself.

All I could do was nod slowly.

“I promise, Mom,” I said to her. “I’ll be careful.”

I was carrying a difficult and heavy burden. The Word had spoken to me, but I’d yet to decipher its message. I carried it with me, seared into my brain. It haunted me in my sleep, and it applied painful pressure on my shoulders. I had a feeling it would get easier, once I understood what the message was. Until then, however, I was sworn to secrecy and due to resume my training once we got back from Strava.

An hour later, Lumi and Viola prepared an interplanetary travel spell around the four space pods, which had been brought up to the launch pad on top of our Mount Zur base. The purpose was to go in via swamp witch magic, then use the pods for flights around Strava, if needed. Lumi had fitted the travel spell with additional protections, making sure it would pierce any type of atmosphere and that it would resist any magic shield.

“The planet is safe, though,” Rose said, watching as Ben and the boys in our group loaded our backpacks and gear into the pods. “I doubt we’ll have issues.”

“Some things can change in a matter of hours or days,” Lumi replied. “It’s best if you’re all safe and prepared for whatever comes at you. It’s also imperative that you all get to Strava in one piece.”

“Like Phoenix says, it’s better to have it and not need it than desperately need it and not have it,” Viola chimed in, smiling as she added the last symbol to the pentagram.

The others in my crew bid their families farewell. My mom and dad stood back, keeping Shayla company. Lumi came up to me and took my hands in hers.

“Kailani,” she said quietly. “Your mother gave you good advice earlier.”

“You heard that?! Where were you?” I gasped, since no one was supposed to have heard what my mother had said to me in the meeting room. Especially since Lumi had been nowhere nearby at the time.

Lumi smirked. “Darling, I hear everything within ten miles,” she said. “I’ve made a habit of shutting it all off, but ever since I’ve taken you under my wing, I admit… I’ve been eavesdropping a little bit, just to make sure you’re safe.”

“Wow,” I murmured. “That’s quite an invasion of privacy.”

She sighed. “Maybe. But my lips are sealed, and I make no judgments. Ever. Anyway, that’s not the point. Your mother is right. Do not exert yourself. You’ve just made contact with the Word. That’s like holding the power of a thousand active volcanoes in the palm of your hand. You must be careful with that.”

Lumi had been there for me when I broke free from the sensory deprivation pod. She’d held me tight as I convulsed and shivered like crazy, as my body readjusted to the real world. She’d been the first to hear me recite the Word’s message, in a language I didn’t understand, even though I could pronounce every word perfectly. She’d told me that the message was for me, personally, and that I should take my time to understand it on my own, as part of my trials. She, too, had seen the changes that I’d experienced after that moment.

“I didn’t think I’d have to be careful with my swamp witch magic,” I replied. “I mean, I do feel different, but not in the way you described it. I feel overloaded. Heavy.”

“Which is normal. Your very being is getting used to the surge of power,” Lumi said. “What I’m trying to say is that this power will now be quite volatile during this adjustment period. So use your swamp witch magic wisely. Don’t overdo it.”

I nodded. “I won’t go nuclear, I promise.”

“It might impact your natural witch abilities, too,” she added. “Our coven has never had a supernatural witch join our ranks, so we have no precedent for how the Word reacts to a creature such as yourself. Which, again, makes me ask you to be careful.”

“Okay,” I breathed.

“Meditate for a minimum of two hours every day,” Lumi then said. “Keep your link to the Word active. You’ll figure out the message this way. You’ll uncover secrets and improve your skills. The Word wants you. And that, my dear, is a great thing.”

I sighed, then gave her a hug. Her body stiffened. Lumi wasn’t used to physical affection, but I couldn’t help it, either. She was, by far, one of the weirdest creatures in Eritopia, but also one of the most powerful, right after the Daughters.

Rose and Ben hugged their sons and daughters, then came over and got in one of the pods, joined by Dmitri. Ridan went in the second pod, followed by Zeriel and Nevis. Elonora, Vesta, Hunter, and I took the other two—I went with Hunter in the third, leaving the girls with the fourth.

Once we were all strapped in and ready to go, Viola and Lumi activated the interplanetary travel spell. White light swallowed us whole, as the incandescent orb hummed and lifted us off the ground.

Part of me was excited to go to Strava again. It was truly a stunning place. But my concerns about my grandparents and their group took center stage, weighing heavily on my shoulders along with my newly formed connection to the Word.

As we shot through the midday sky, I took several deep breaths and prepared for the hours-long journey ahead.

“Nervous flyer?” Hunter asked.

This was the first time we were actually talking since I’d found him smooching that succubus. I’d been avoiding him like the plague over the past couple of weeks, thankful to have Lumi to keep me busy. He’d left me a few messages, but I hadn’t called him back. I’d sent him a couple of texts, saying that I’d been busy and whatnot. My feelings for him weren’t going away, either.

I couldn’t object to him sharing a pod with me, though. The last thing I wanted was for anyone to notice the tension between us—for which I was personally responsible, since we were only supposed to be friends, dammit.

“Yeah, it’s been a while,” I replied, staring ahead at the vast universe unfolding before us.

Billions of stars shot past us as the spell zoomed through the In-Between toward Strava. I could feel him staring at me, but I didn’t have the courage to look him in the eyes.

“It’ll be fine,” he said. “Just focus on the stars.”

“Mm-hmm.” I nodded slowly.

My cheeks were burning. My heart was racing.

The longer I spent in Hunter’s presence, the hotter and more awkward it got for me.

This is going to be a long trip.