“Anastasia!” Cade called again. It felt as though we’d been walking for hours. Maybe we had been. I was losing all sense of time. My growing hunger and thirst made me wonder what time of day it even was. In the scheme of things, that shouldn’t have mattered, but it made me so disoriented I wondered if it would be possible for us to lose our minds down here.

This time she didn’t answer. I yelled again. Maybe my voice could project further. “Anastasia!” I waited, listening to the echo of my voice and straining to hear any bare hint of her reply.

Nothing. Nothing at all. The stone prison was silent save for the sound of our feet on the stone below. I couldn’t even imagine what we looked like. A motley crew fumbling our way through some crazy grey maze.

Cade sighed. “Great. Either she’s passed out, or we’ve gone in the wrong direction.”

He said what I didn’t want to. It wasn’t like me to care about making Cade feel bad. Maybe Eloise was having an influence on me or something.

“That only makes it more important that we find her.” Hunter clenched his teeth. “I promised her we’d get out of this together.”

“We will.” I wished I were confident but faking it would have to do for now. “We just might need a new plan.”

“Another new plan?” Troy whined. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“I wish I was.” I wiped sweat off my brow. “Anyone else suddenly hot?”

“It has gotten warmer…” Eloise trailed off. The look of alarm on her face probably matched the one on my face. The random temperature changes didn’t seem normal.

“It suddenly got cold earlier, so it may be nothing.” Cade continued walking.

“No. This is something.” Troy wrapped his hand around my arm. “This is something big.”

Considering Troy had done nothing but complain the entire time I took his words seriously. “What do you mean?”

“I sense something… something ancient. It makes no sense.”

“Something ancient?” Hunter rubbed the back of his neck. “What kind of thing?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Troy looked up at the ceiling and then down at the ground.

“No matter how hard it is to explain, you need to try.” I was running out of patience. I was exhausted, which meant even more time had passed than I thought. Pterons barely needed sleep.

“I mean I really can’t explain it. It’s nearly impossible.”

“Wonderful.” I bit back a groan.

“Save the sarcasm.” Troy narrowed his eyes.

“I’m trying here.” I was. I was doing everything I could and doing what I believed was the right thing, but nothing was working. Everything had been moving downhill since arriving at the conference.

“None of this is your fault.” Eloise spoke in a soothing voice “None of it.”

“Some of it is.” I was all about her intention, but I wasn’t going to pretend my decisions hadn’t played a role. They had, and there was nothing I could do to change that. Just like there was nothing I could do to get us out of here sooner. The ceiling felt closer now. The walls too. I needed more air—I needed access to the sky.

“Hailey, turn off your light.” Troy paled.

“What?” I watched him warily. “Why?”

“Turn off the light.” He grabbed my arm again. “Now.”

“How do I do that?” It’s not like the Lightness abilities came with a manual. My companions were well aware of that by now.

“Figure it out. Fast.” The terror in his eyes said more than his words did.

I felt something a tug in my heart. Wyatt. Was he nearby? I felt conflicting emotions. Relief he was near, and unquestionable panic that he too might be in danger.

“Hailey. Please,” Troy practically begged. “You need to shut it off.”

The begging made something snap. I closed my eyes and focused on emptiness and darkness, and when I opened my eyes again my hands were no longer glowing.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Cade asked. “I mean there’s something ancient that scares you, and we can’t see it now.” He didn’t sound like cool, collected Cade. Every time the darkness returned he lost his usual edge. I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t understand my new abilities, but I was grateful I could see even in complete and utter darkness.

“Shut up!” Troy snapped. “Hailey can see. That’s good enough. We need to shut up and hope it doesn’t find us.”

We stood in silence huddled together in the stone prison. No one dared to call out to Anastasia again, but I sincerely hoped she was okay. I hoped we were all okay.

A whiff of something burning wafted our way. I was about to ask if anyone else smelled anything, but I thought better of it. Troy had been serious about staying hidden. Whatever it was he sensed wasn’t something I was in a hurry to confront.

The temperature returned to its normal level for a few minutes, and the burning smell subsided. Maybe we were home free. Even as I tried to feel some relief, I knew it was premature. We weren’t escaping whatever this was so easily.

“Don’t move,” Troy whispered in my ear.

I startled. Hadn’t he been the one to tell us to keep our mouths shut? I assumed he had a reason for specifically warning me, but that in itself was a worry. Was this ancient thing after me? Was I unwittingly putting the others in more danger? I didn’t want to listen to him. I wanted to walk far away and save the others. I thought about it, but as soon as I did Eloise stepped on my foot. I choked down the words that wanted to come out of my mouth. I had the feeling her movement hadn’t been an accident. Had she realized I’d planned to run?

And then I felt Wyatt. He was close. So close. My heart soared. My heart rate accelerated. But how was he here? Had he been thrown into the basement prison too?

Troy imprisoned my hands in his. He was serious about keeping me there. A horrible thought crossed my mind: what if Troy was in on this? Hadn’t he tried to dissuade us from helping Anastasia? Hadn’t he been the naysayer the whole day, or whatever amount of time had passed? Maybe asking me to extinguish my light and stay still was for a darker reason. But that didn’t feel right. Troy had been a jerk, but aside from his suggestion we leave Anastasia behind, his actions hadn’t been all that unusual.

The ground beneath us began to tremble, and then the walls shook. I looked up at the ceiling hoping it wasn’t going to fall on us again. It did. Large stones hurtled toward us, boxing us into the small alcove. We huddled together even closer. All of us silently agreeing to do our best to ensure our survival. No one ran. No one spoke.

The air grew warmer again, and this time I heard a loud whoosh and saw a flash of bright light and felt the warmth of fire. Moments later through the gaping holes in the crumbling ceiling we saw a large green dragon step into view.