She was gone. One moment she was there, fingers digging into the blistering hot stone, and the next moment she was gone. I’d wanted to stop her, but I knew I couldn’t. I’d been raised by a Lightness—I understood there were things only they could do, just like there were things only they could see.

I remembered the first time I’d experienced that helpless feeling I’d been no more than five years old, and my mother had started screaming out in pain. I’d run to her only to have her yell at me to get away. I’d felt weak—helpless back then but my father had explained the truth.

But maybe this time I should have run to Hailey. There was a bright flash of light followed by complete and utter darkness.

“Hailey?” I whispered her name, unsure of why her light went out. I reached out for her but felt nothing but air. “Hailey!” I yelled her name this time. Where was she? Panic seized me and my breathing became shallow. I was drowning. “Hailey? Where are you?”

“Where is she?” Eloise steadied herself with a hand on my arm as she searched around the ground. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know.” I tried to push off the panic. It wasn’t going to help me find her. She couldn’t have just disappeared. I crawled around on my hands and knees, hoping I’d find the touch of her skin but simultaneously hoping I wouldn’t, because the only reason she wouldn’t answer would be if she was hurt. I wasn’t entirely sure how I could handle things if she were hurt—or worse.

“You know exactly what happened.” Troy was so calm. There was absolutely no concern in his voice. It made me snap.

I stood up and found him in the dark. I pushed into his chest. “Shut the hell up, Troy. I know you don’t care about her, but she is everything to me. Everything.”

“You’re wrong,” he spat out. “I do care about her, but I’m not lying. If you really think about it, you know what happened. You were raised by a Lightness, you idiot.”

“What are you talking about?” The surge of adrenaline faded out, leaving me with only the fear and helplessness—and the panic, pure and raw panic.

“How could you think I didn’t care? You are my brother. Our bond cannot be that easily broken.” He didn’t mean a brother by blood. Our connection was of a different sort. A brotherhood. “Besides, I need her help as much as anyone.”

“To get your fire back.”

“This goes far beyond my fire. The Elders are playing Randolph. Can you imagine what they really have planned?”

If I hadn’t already been panicked over Hailey I may have shuddered, but I didn’t. Instead I focused on the most important issue at hand. “You don’t really think she opened a portal?”

“A portal?” Cade gasped. “What are you talking about?”

“A light portal. Only the most powerful Lightnesses can do it, but if Jesalyn truly transferred her power…” Troy started.

“Then she could do it.” I wasn’t sure if I should be panicked or relieved by his revelation. I went with relieved. It meant she could be completely fine.

“Ok. Anyone going to explain what a light portal is?” Cade asked.

“A portal through the light I’d think.” Eloise bumped into me. “Sorry.”

“Oh yes, that’s right. A portal through the light. I see them every day. Of course.” Cade went heavy with the sarcasm.

“I’ve never seen one before.” Eloise grabbed onto my arm as if to steady herself again. “But if Hailey has full power over light she can do anything with it. But I think we all know that isn’t what happened.”

“What do you mean?” Cade asked. “They just said…”

“There is no way she knowingly left us behind. You heard how worried she was about me, and then of course there’s also Wyatt. She wouldn’t purposely leave him.”

True. Very true. “Eloise is right.”

“Then where is she? Are you saying she accidentally made a light portal?” Cade’s voice held the same exasperation I felt.

“It’s possible,” Troy murmured. “But it complicates things.”

“What about this isn’t complicated?” Cade groaned.

“If she didn’t do this on purpose, then she isn’t coming back…” Eloise’s voice was low. “Right? Isn’t that what you mean, Troy?”

“Yes… that’s exactly what I mean.”

“So where does that leave us now?” That was really the question. “How do we find her?”

“It leaves you with me,” a new male voice spoke. The next moment there was the sound of a match lighting, and I blinked as my eyes struggled to adjust to the new yellow-orange light.

“Sol?” I took in the Seer—and ex-husband of Veronica.

“In the flesh.” He touched the match to a candle and shook out the match. “I take it you could use some help.”

“Is that a joke?” Troy sneered. “Do you think we have time for a joke?”

“Is he with you?” Sol glanced at me.

“Yes.” Even if my frustration with him was at it’s highest level ever.

“Ok. Maybe tell him to lay off. We’re on the same side here.”

“Why don’t you tell him yourself?” I wasn’t quite sure why he’d want an intermediary.

“He dislikes me. He’s with you. You can save us both time.”

“Troy, deal with Sol. Okay?” I hoped Troy understood now wasn’t the time for a pissing contest.

“Fine.”

“Ok, then.” Sol pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. Even in a dark dungeon he had them on. At least he meant he wasn’t looking into my head—my past or my future. “I take it Hailey disappeared?”

“Yes. Do you know where she is?” Could I even hope that much?

“No.” Sol shook his head.

I waited for him to say more. He didn’t. “Then how are you going to be any help to us at all?”

“Because I can help you find her.”

“This whole searching for people thing is getting old. First Anastasia, then Hunter and Anastasia, now Anastasia, Hunter, and Hailey. Please, no one else run off.” Cade sat with his back pressed against the wall.

“Been an interesting few hours I take it?” Sol nodded in Cade’s direction.

“Interesting is probably the wrong word, and I have no clue how much time has passed.”

“What was she doing when she disappeared? Hailey, I mean.” Sol pulled several more candles from his pocket and used the first one to light another. He handed that to me and then proceeded to light another.

“She was trying to break through the floor.” Eloise accepted a candle. “That’s where she saw the light.”

“Great. Give him all the information.” Troy glared at Eloise.

“What else are we supposed to do?” Eloise marched over to Troy and stuck her candle in his face. “Sit around?”

“Okay now. I think you all need some therapy when this is over. Intense.” Sol held out a candle to Troy.

Troy pulled the candle from his hand. “What we need is to get out of this godforsaken place.”

“How come your candles are staying lit?” Cade reached out for one of the remaining ones Sol held. “I thought the cat said they wouldn’t.”

“The cat? Glendale, you mean?” Sol grinned. “Why am I not surprised he’s involved in all this?”

“Because he always seems to show up.” Speaking of which. Why hadn’t he showed up now? For someone who supposedly wanted Hailey to live he wasn’t being particularly helpful.

“Very true.” Sol put the last, unused candle back inside his leather jacket. “Okay, so Hailey was trying to break through the floor? Using what?”

“Her hands…” I trailed off. What was he getting at?

He narrowed his eyes. “Why were you letting her do it? I’m all for women’s empowerment, but why would you let her do it on her own?”

“Wait. How long have you been listening?” Eloise asked.

“Not long. I don’t usually eavesdrop on people in imminent danger.”

“Then you don’t know what she is now.” Cade glanced at me.

I nodded. Sol was going to know sooner than later. “She’s part Lightness.”

“Oh, my.” Sol laughed. “Hailey a Lightness? She was already a spunky one.”

“Yes.” I smiled at that. Hailey would have probably preferred a different word, but the sentiment was correct.

“Okay. So she was following a light then? Isn’t that what Lightnesses do best?”

“She likely opened a light portal.” Troy yawned. “Might as well get it all out there since we’ve spilled everything else to this guy.”

“Oh wow. You think she’s that powerful already?”

“Yes.” Eloise nodded. “But we don’t think she meant to open it. There’s no way she would have left us all alone down here.”

“I agree with that assessment. Hailey doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to abandon her allies. Let us assume she opened this portal accidentally.”

“That was where we were when you showed up.” I truly hoped he had something to add.

“Then we need to find someone who knows how to track light portals.”

“And who are we going to find who can do that?”

“An Elder, of course.”

“No. Absolutely not.” Troy shook his head. “They’ve already taken my fire. They’ll probably take my wings next.”

“Who exactly took your fire?”

“Abraham and Maxwell.”

“We go to Arabella. She likes me sometimes.” Sol ran his teeth over his bottom lip.

“Sometimes? What if this isn’t one of those times?” I had no desire to see the Elders, but I’d do whatever it took to find Hailey.

“Then we still don’t know how to find Hailey. Doesn’t change anything.”

“I’m not going near her. Any of them.” Troy gritted his teeth.

“Why did they take your fire?” Sol zipped up his jacket.

“So your wife could keep me prisoner.”

“Ex. She isn’t my wife anymore.”

“Whatever. You did marry her once.”

“Yes, when she was entirely different.”

“So she was good once?” Eloise asked tentatively. “Before she was resurrected by Randolph?”

“I’d like to think so, but she’d lost her mind before she disappeared. I should have seen the signs, but I missed them.” Sol seemed to be considering his own set of memories. “But what your information tells me is the Elders only did it for a deal. They must have gotten what they wanted already, so they won’t hesitate to give you the fire back in exchange for something else. At least Arabella would. She is easily bought off.”

“With what?” Eloise looked around. “What do we have that she’d want?”

“We’ll think of something.” A slow smile spread across Sol’s lips immediately putting me ill at ease.

“What are you getting at?” I couldn’t let that offhand comment sit in the air unchallenged.

“You want Hailey back?” Sol pointed to me.

“Yes.”

“Then trust me.”

“Wait.” Eloise’s brows drew together. “You never answered Cade’s question. Why do these candles work down here?” She held up her candle, the wax already starting to drip down the side.

“Because they are resistant to the spells. I had these candles specifically made when we made this dungeon.”

“You knew about this dungeon?” Eloise gasped. “You had a hand in creating it?”

“Yes… of course I never imagined it would be used on the likes of you. It was to be used on our enemies.”

“Too bad Veronica views us as her enemies.” Eloise sighed.

“No. She doesn’t.”

“Of course she does.”

“No. She views you as useful. If she knew she could get you fully on her side she’d be your best friend. She’s obsessed with turning Hailey. She would never hurt a hair on her head. Hailey reminds her of herself when she was younger.”

“Hailey is nothing like her.”

“Not now. But there was a time when Veronica had that same spunk, that same drive. She wanted to change things—to change the worlds.”

“But then she went dark… either before or after Randolph’s influence.”

“Yes. It’s depressing how easy it is for someone to turn. I probably would have too if I wasn’t already a mix of the two sides.”

“You admit you have an evil side?” Eloise took a step back.

“Not evil. But dark. It’s impossible to be a Seer without it. But fear me not. When my interests align with someone, I never hurt them.”

“You sound like the cat.” Cade sighed. “But at least you stand on two feet.”

“Yes, we might as well be thankful for small things.” Sol winked.