I frowned, though her story lined up with what I knew. Of course, I was the tool she’d been waiting for. The elemental who would be obedient even when it took power from me. “And the curse? What was it?”

“That she could not attack another elemental. She couldn’t use her power to directly influence anything.” She smiled at me, and gave a slow wink. “That will change now. I needed you and Raven both in the beginning, Lark. I played you both, using you to do my work for me. But now that I have the stones, I can take my rightful place. I do not need you anymore.”

I took a step back and reached for my two elements. They slid through my fingers like water through sand. A block, she’d put a block on me. I took another step back.

The mother goddess smiled at me. “If you’d been more obedient, I’d let you live. But you are a typical child of Spirit. Always looking for trouble. Helping the supernaturals, stopping the demons with them. I’m sorry, Lark, but you are going to die now. Raven, of course, will take the blame. Or perhaps Talan, since you so dislike him.”

She said it all so matter-of-factly. Like we were discussing the weather.

“Why would you give Peta to me, then? Why would you help me?” I took another step back.

She waved a hand at me and jiggled the leather bag with the other. “I needed you to survive long enough to do what I needed you to do. Peta is the only familiar that has the training to keep you alive.” She paused and tipped her head. “You were my backup plan in case Raven fell through.”

“You mean so I could find the stones.”

Viv, I suppose she was never the mother goddess after all, nodded. “And you threw the families into disarray which was an added bonus. The chaos you provide will be a perfect catalyst for me to step in. I am known as the mother goddess. Which family will turn from me?”

“So all that crap about me being a chosen one?”

“You had no confidence, and I needed strength from you. I needed you to believe in yourself. Only you took it a tad bit too far; you grew far stronger than I thought you would.”

The crack of a branch whipped me around. I had my spear up and poised for an attack before I registered who it was.

Talan stepped into the clearing, and though he approached me his eyes were trained on Viv. “You don’t want to tell her the rest?”

She glared at him. “You have been a thorn in my side for too long, Talan. Perhaps you should die with her. Suiting, since you so cared for Ulani, that you should die at her daughter’s side.”

He grinned at her. “I think you’re about to gain a new thorn.” He glanced at me. “Smart move.”

I kept my face carefully blank, as if I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. Idiot, he was going to blow my ruse. If he’d noticed what I’d done, the only question was, would she?

Viv lifted a hand. “She is going to die, Talan. And you will be next if you care to stand there and vex me.”

He laughed softly. “Oh, I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as you think. You broke the bond between Peta and me on purpose. Why?”

Peta gasped. “No, that can’t be.”

I stood there with my mouth hanging open. “She could do that?”

“Yes, she can. If I’d been able to find Peta, I would have gone after her. Viv broke my ability to do that, though, and for many years, I thought Peta was dead. As she thought I was.” He didn’t take his eyes off Viv. “You see, she believed that without my loyal cat, I would be open to danger and easier to kill. Spirit walkers are nothing if not prone to an early death. All the charges Peta was sent to . . . they were marked for death. So that she would believe she was a poor familiar. You changed all that for her, Lark.”

Viv glared at him, and the glamor I’d always associated with her slowly drifted away, the last of my belief system collapsing around me. Her long dark brown hair and deep brown eyes were those of a Terraling. She looked disturbingly like Cassava.

That wasn’t what bothered me, though.

The truth fell on me, crushing a piece of my heart and spirit. We were alone then in this world; there was no mother goddess to turn to, no gentle love to guide us. No, that was not true. There was something out there. I just wasn’t sure exactly what the voice of the mountain was.

Talan stood to the left of me, his hands tucked behind his back. “Lark, what she doesn’t want you to know is she is not a mix of elements like Raven. She is a true hybrid, like you. She is—”

“Shut your mouth!” She flung a hand at him, I saw the lines of power over her arms. White and blue twinned across her skin. The intent was clear as day. She was going to kill him.

I may not have liked him, but I couldn’t let him die. Not if he wasn’t what I thought. I leapt at him, tackling him to the ground as the power ripped over our heads. Talan rolled and we were both on our knees in a flash.

“Come on, Viv. Let’s see what you’ve got.” He taunted her, beckoning with his one hand with a wiggle of his fingers.

“Are you crazy?”

“No, I trust you.”

His words shocked me. He trusted me? I didn’t trust him any further than I would trust Raven. Well, maybe a bit more than I trusted Raven.

Viv raised her hand a second time and Talan held a hand out to me. “Stay back. In case I’m wrong.”

She snarled. “You are done. But I’m killing her first. To be sure that she does not interfere, yet again.” The power built in the air, the small hairs on my arms stood at attention. Time slowed. Peta leapt into my arms, her body covering mine.