Cyrene spent the next four days regaining her strength, generally avoiding more important conversations, and learning everything she needed to know about these wraiths. Truth be told, there wasn’t much to glean from the villagers’ accounts. No one had ever actually faced one. The village was secluded in the curve of the Taken Mountains and the start of the forest. If attacks were coming, it was purposeful.

No one tried to deter her from her decision after her announcement of her life debt, but she knew more than one person was anxious for her. If all Matilde and Vera had said was true, then she should not be alive.

More worrisome, she might have lost part of her soul. A fact that frightened her so much, she had to block it out of her mind.

One task at a time.

Find the wraith.

Kill the wraith.

Save Ahlvie’s people.

At midday, she caught a break. Not the kind she wanted, but the one she expected. A wraith attacked, but its victim managed to escape.

Cyrene hurried over to find out what had happened. She was unsurprised to see the girl from the lone wolf ceremony standing with her arms over her chest, looking defiant.

“You were sneaking out to try to join the boys again?” her mother shrieked at her. “Can’t you accept that you are a girl? Not a boy?”

“I accept that I can do everything they do and more. I accept that I have Nana Mana’s gifts. I accept that I am old enough to make my own choices.”

“You are fourteen years old, Caldreva Anamarya!” her mother cried. “While you live under my roof, you’ll follow my rules. Now, get inside, and change out of those clothes!”

“Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt,” Cyrene said.

The woman went pale. “Bloodbreaker,” she whispered.

Cyrene startled at that name. “May I speak with Caldreva, please?”

“You can call me Cal,” the girl said, shooting past her mom and toward Cyrene. “All my friends do.”

“Creator above!” Her mother cursed before stomping inside.

“Cal, nice to meet you. I’m Cyrene.”

“I know who you are. My nana helped you during your blood curse.”

“That was very kind of her.”

“Do you want to know about the wraith that attacked me?” Cal asked.

Her bright green eyes were wide with excitement. Her hair was the color of wheat and fell past her shoulders. And, though Cyrene could see she was slight, she had definition in her arms and legs that came from intense labor. She didn’t doubt every word that Cal had said to her mother. In another village, another world, she would have been a skilled warrior by fourteen.

“Yes,” Cyrene said. “You can show me, can’t you?”

“Absolutely! Let me get my bow!”

Cyrene laughed. Her enthusiasm was infectious.

Cyrene had tugged on her bond with Avoca, and by the time Cal was back outside, Avoca appeared with Ahlvie and, to Cyrene’s dismay, Dean in tow. He nodded at her as he stood by her side, and she cut her eyes away from him.

“Ahlvie!” Cal cried, breaking the tension.

“Hey, squirt,” he said, nudging her. “Still getting in trouble?”

“Trouble? You were the one who taught me how to fight, how to ride, how to shoot! You’re the troublemaker.”

“Well, I enjoyed watching you outshine Aubron.”

“He’s still awful with a bow,” Cal said, scrunching her nose.

“It’s already nearly midday,” Cyrene interrupted. “I’d like to track the wraith that attacked Cal and see if we can find its lair. If we don’t find anything, we’ll circle back before last light and regroup with the others.”

“Excellent,” Cal said with a wide smile.

“Cal, after you.”

She trotted forward with enthusiasm.

“You’ve released a monster,” Ahlvie muttered in her ear.

“With pleasure.”

Cyrene wasn’t a natural tracker. She had learned much of her skills from getting lost in the Hidden Forest in Aurum while on their way to Eleysia. Now, after seeing Ahlvie’s home, she understood why he was always good at it. Avoca was self-explanatory. This was her life. But Dean…she didn’t know why he’d ever had the need to track, but even he seemed to have more skill at it than her.

But it didn’t matter to her. She followed in Cal’s graceful footsteps and kept her eyes open for whatever this wraith was. She knew that it was a distraction from her real problems, but she needed to do something to prove useful once more. And this problem seemed like such a small thing she could do for them. Something she could actually fix.

“It’s probably about two miles ahead,” Cal said. “I ran like the wind when it tried to grab me. I know they say, if it touches you, you’re done.”

“What did this wraith look like?” Cyrene asked. “All of the accounts I’ve gotten have been…well, ghost stories.”

“That’s because you don’t see them until they touch you.”

“But you said—”

“I didn’t see the thing. I felt it.”

Cyrene frowned. “Okay. What did it feel like?”

Cal stopped for a second and then nodded her head to the right. “Cold and wrong. I don’t know. Like, you know, when you’re completely alone, and then you feel eyes on you even though it’s impossible?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s like that but worse. You’ll know it when you feel it. Just don’t let it touch you.”

“Got it. No touching. Think you can handle that, Ahlvie?” Cyrene asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Did you just make a joke, Bloodbreaker?” he teased.

Cyrene stuck her tongue out at him. Something about this place and these woods and Cal made her feel younger than she had in so long.

“So, Ahlvie, who are your friends?” Cal asked, eyeing Avoca and Dean. “Is this your girlfriend?”

Avoca raised her eyebrow at Ahlvie. “Be careful how you answer that.”

Ahlvie actually choked. “She’s my…she’s…well, she’s more than that.”

“Are you married?” Cal gasped.

Ahlvie’s eyes rounded. “No. Nope. Not that I’m…opposed. I mean…well, we have a lot going on.”

“I’m bound to Cyrene,” Avoca clarified.

“Oh,” Cal said, as if she understood what that meant. Then, she nodded at Dean. “And who are you?”

“Dean.”

“How do you fit in? Are you bound to Cyrene, too?”

Dean glanced over at Cyrene, and a small frown touched his lips. “Something like that.”

“Well, cool,” Cal said, “I like you lot.”

Cyrene laughed softly. She wanted to keep Cal talking. She found that she felt lighter with the casual conversation rather than all the heavy silences. “What happened with the lone wolves? I saw you stand up with the boys.”

Cal ground her teeth. “Nana wouldn’t let me go.”

“Hmm…that doesn’t seem right. What is it exactly? Ahlvie said it was a ceremony.”

“It is,” she announced.

“It’s our rite of passage,” Ahlvie explained.

“I can tell it,” Cal muttered.

“Then, tell it, squirt.”

“Look, we’re not actually descended from wolves,” Cal said with an eye roll. “It’s just a story explaining that our people were abandoned, and they found this land. And they made it here through the dead of winter with nothing but a book and their last arrow. So, every fall, a week before the harvest, all of the boys go out into the mountains as—like Ahlvie said—a rite of passage. If they can survive, then they become men.” She rolled her eyes again.

“And you wanted to do it to prove what?” Cyrene asked.

“That I can do anything! I can go into those mountains, blindfolded, without a stupid book or arrow and come out stronger and better than any of those lone wolves.”

“Take it from me,” Dean said, “no matter what you do and how much you try to be better to prove your worth to your family, it will never be enough. Accept who you are in your heart, and you’ll learn that is what matters.”

“Yes,” Avoca said with a rare smile for Dean, “that is true. You can only truly prove your worth to yourself.”

“Yeah, well, in the meantime, it sucks,” Cal muttered. Then, she froze. “I…I think we’re here.”

“Fan out,” Avoca said, taking the lead. She had been a sort of general in the Leif army before she gave her life over to Cyrene. She knew what she was doing.

Cyrene, however, did not. So, she just tried to stay out of the way. That essentially meant wandering around the woods and trying not to step on anything. Plans were her thing. Action was her thing. Wandering around in the woods, not so much.

“I was right here,” Cal said with a sigh. “I think…maybe there’s no trail.”

Cyrene stepped over to her and glanced at the ground. It didn’t seem any different than anywhere else. Then, she took two steps behind Cal and froze. “Do you feel that?”

Cal’s green eyes widened, and she moved into the exact location Cyrene had been a second ago. “Yeah,” she said with a shiver. “That’s it.”

Dean moved next to them and shook his head. “I don’t feel anything.”

Ahlvie tried, too. “Nope. Avoca?”

“It’s faint but there. Do you have magic?” Avoca asked Cal.

“Oh my God, I knew it!” Cal cried, pounding her fist into her hand. “I knew I had Nana’s gifts, but she said I wouldn’t know until I was seventeen.”

“Looks like you have some innate ability,” Avoca confirmed. “Because, whatever we’re dealing with, it reeks of magic.”

“That’s encouraging,” Ahlvie grumbled.

“So, what do we do?” Dean asked. “Head back and try to figure out what kind of wraith has magic?”

Avoca shook her head. “No, the trail will be lost by then. We should follow it and see where it leads us. Form up, and stay sharp. We have the advantage here. We do not want to lose it.”

Avoca took the lead with Cal on her heels. Cyrene and Dean followed behind her with Ahlvie taking up the rear. Whatever magic was emanating from this wraith, it was definitely cold and wrong. Cyrene could sense its otherworldliness. And, for a second, she felt as if she had known this feeling before, but she didn’t know where or when.

So, they soldiered on. And on.

When they came to a small stream, Avoca feared that it was the end of the trail, but once she was across, it took her only about fifteen minutes to find where it had gotten out of the water.

Avoca waved them on. Cyrene was glad that she had taken a drink from the stream while they had had a small break because this was turning into an endeavor she had not anticipated. She’d thought they’d find the clearing and then reconvene later to discuss what to do. But she knew that this was the right move.

Cyrene’s eyes veered to the horizon where she saw the sun sinking lower and lower. They had already been gone for hours. If they didn’t turn back soon, then they would have to camp out here with next to no supplies and these wraiths in the woods.

Abruptly, Avoca came to a halt. “No,” she breathed.

“What’s going on?” Cal asked.

She skirted around her, but Avoca reached out and grabbed her shirt.

“Hey, let me go,” Cal said.

“Do not take another step forward,” Avoca warned.

Cyrene moved to stand beside Avoca. “What is it?”

“We’re at the edge of the forest,” Ahlvie told them. “You know where we are, Avoca.”

Avoca’s eyes twinkled in the light. “Truly?”

He nodded. “I wasn’t sure we were going in that direction, but it makes sense that the wraiths would use it as their home base.”

“Can someone fill us in?” Cyrene asked.

Avoca took a deep breath and nodded. Then, she pulled back a branch that had obscured the valley. Below them was a giant pile of rubble and the blackened and charred tree that still stood as tall as the eye could see.

“Whoa!” Cal said. “What is this place?”

“Aonia,” Avoca said. “The home of my northern kin.”