“We’ll get the healers to help you with that too.” Ash pointed at my leg. “And when we get back and things settle down, we are going to deal with your block.”

My eyes snapped to his. “You think you can help me?”

“I’ve seen the results of your power, Lark.” His eyes were distant. “You don’t need to be an Ender to be a part of this family, but you need to find the key that will unlock your abilities. Or it won’t matter what place you have in the family.”

“Why would you help me?” I didn’t understand him, or his motivation. All I kept seeing in my head was Granite’s words scrawled on the paper. Cassava owns him.

Ash lifted a hand and I clamped my mouth shut. The sound of running footsteps, heavy breathing, and a soft voice I knew too well.

“Lark?”

I stepped around Ash.

“Cactus.”

A glimpse of green eyes and deep auburn hair were all I saw before he swept me into his arms, spinning me around. “Goddess have mercy, Lark, I thought I’d never see you again.”

I hugged him hard, and he set me down. He stood only a little shorter than me, tall for both sides of his family. “Cactus, we need to get to the healers.”

His eyes looked from me to Ash and then back to me as if seeing me for the first time. “You’re an . . . Ender?”

A grin flickered over my lips. “Kinda. Can you help? Please, there are so many lives on the line.”

His mouth twitched. “Does this mean we’re about to get into trouble again?”

A laugh bubbled up, but I kept it in, my words as solemn as I could keep them. “Yeah, I think so.”

He grinned wide, his eyes lighting up. “It’s about time.”

Chapter 16

It appeared that Cactus had kept up with his troublemaking ways once he was shipped off to the Pit for training. “Come on, I’ve got some stuff stashed that’ll work to hide you.”

In his room, he pulled out two cloaks made of shimmering black that could only be Ender cloaks.

“Just happened to have them?” Ash asked as he traded his cloak for the black one.

Cactus shrugged. “Never know when they might come in handy.”

We slipped them on, and then Ash scooped me into his arms as if I weren’t six feet tall and a solid eleven stones—one hundred and fifty pounds.

“I can walk.” I twisted in a vain attempt to get him to put me down, embarrassment coursing through me. “I’m not a feeble girl.”

Cactus stopped me. “We can move faster and if it looks like you’re hurt, we can get you in with ease to see the healers.”

Begrudgingly I stopped wrestling with Ash. I didn’t want to give him any more reasons to believe I couldn’t be an Ender. That I couldn’t do it. Because I knew that even if we managed to unblock my power, I still wanted to be an Ender.

I fit in the barracks, like I’d fit nowhere else.

Cactus led us through the Pit, which was a damn good thing. The fire sanctuary was set up like a beehive, the hallways and doors branching off each section. The number of intersections and entranceways we passed were mind-bogglingly numerous. “Are there that many Salamanders?” I tightened one arm around Ash’s neck as we started down yet another set of stairs.

Cactus didn’t turn around. “No, it’s a safety measure. Hard to find the queen if you can’t even find your way out. And some of the doors open into things you’d really rather not deal with.”

“Like what?”

“Drops straight into the heart of the Pit. Fire demons. Netting that will drop on your head and burn through your skin to pin your bones to the floor. The usual stuff.”

I glanced at Ash who gave a slight shrug. “The reason why I wanted a guide to the healers. One wrong turn and the rest of our family would have no one to take them the cure.”

“The cure? For what?” Cactus asked and I opened my mouth to answer, then slowly closed it, rethinking my words. If he knew the lung burrowers were rampant, even though he was my friend, he might not help us.

“The healers will know, they are the ones who will be able to figure this out.”

Ash tightened his arms around me, a nod of approval of sorts. Cactus half-turned, trotting down the stairs sideways. “Ender secrets?”

“Something like that.” I gave him what felt like a weak grin.

He shrugged. “That’s okay, I’m used to being left out of the loop. That’s the way it is here, especially for the half-breeds.”

Minutes passed, more turns, more twists, and twice we had to backtrack because of other elementals coming our way. I was breathing harder than Ash, who seemed to be no worse for the wear packing me around, despite the wound in his arm.

“Almost there,” Cactus whispered, peeking around a corner.

We crept forward, eyes and ears peeled for any sound that we’d been found out. I knew we didn’t have a lot of time left, there was no way Maggie and the other Ender would stay frozen forever. And when they woke up . . . a shudder rippled through me. I didn’t want to be close enough for Maggie to get her hands on me. The image of Mal in the training pool as it began to bubble was all too clear in my head. She was ruthless when training; coming after us when she had a reason . . . I could only imagine how bad it would be.

The door in front of us was blood red, the edges marked in gold slashes. In the center of the door, a snake wrapped around a single rod was etched deeply into the door. Cactus gave a sweeping bow. “The rod of Asclepius, Princess. The healers await.”