“Is this a joke?” It sounded like Nathan. Ridley looked around but couldn’t see him.
“Can you keep your voice down?” came a whispered response in Saoirse’s distinctive accent. “And no, this isn’t a joke.” Ridley turned again, following the sound of their voices. They were out of sight, just around the side of the cabin.
“Why didn’t you tell me as soon as we returned here with them?” Nathan hissed. “You’ve been holding onto this information for two weeks.”
Ridley frowned as she stared at the floorboards. This sounded like a conversation she probably shouldn’t overhear. She reached for the cabin’s front door, but Saoirse’s next words froze her hand in place: “Because Maverick didn’t want me saying anything. You know it’s going to complicate things for him.”
Nathan heaved a deep sigh. “Right. Of course.”
“You can understand why he doesn’t want anyone to know.”
“I can, but what we’re working toward is so much bigger than this. We’re talking about changing the world for every single elemental who’s been forced into hiding. Surely Maverick has to understand—”
“He does, but he says he needs more time. He just … he needs to figure out how to tell Ridley.”
Ice shot through Ridley’s veins at the mention of her name. She’d suspected there was something going on between her father and Saoirse, but she hadn’t wanted to even think about it, let alone ask Dad. Because whatever it was, it couldn’t be new. There had been some sort of weird vibe between them since the moment Ridley and her companions had arrived here and Dad discovered that his old friends, Saoirse and Cam and their daughter Bria, were still alive. Something must have been going on between Saoirse and Dad years ago.
When Mom was still alive.
Once again, Ridley shoved the thought aside. It made her sick to think her father could be capable of that kind of betrayal. Maybe it was something else. After all, why would Saoirse need to talk to Nathan about it? Why did it have anything to do with Nathan’s big plans to return magic to society? From what Ridley could tell, Saoirse was closely involved in helping Nathan figure out the precise details the plan. So maybe … maybe whatever was going on with Dad was distracting her, pulling her focus away from more important work?
Ridley shivered, physically recoiling from the idea of whatever might be happening between Saoirse and Dad that was so distracting.
“He needs to tell her soon,” Nathan said, pulling Ridley from her disturbing thoughts. “Very soon.”
Ridley shook her head, tiptoeing away from the door. Nope, no, this was not something she wanted to talk to Dad about. As long as she didn’t know exactly what was going on, she could continue to think the best of her father, rather than—
A floorboard creaked beneath her foot. She froze as Saoirse’s words cut off.
Silence.
Then Nathan’s voice: “Did you hear that?”
In an instant, Ridley became air, twisting away from the porch and up into the night sky as fast as possible, afraid Saoirse or Nathan might do the same and follow her. They would sense her if they did. They would know she’d been close enough to hear them. She shot higher and higher into the sky, faster and faster, reaching for the stars that seemed close enough to touch. It was silly to be so afraid. After all, Nathan and Saoirse were the ones having a whispered conversation about other people. If anything, they should be embarrassed, not Ridley. But that still didn’t mean she wanted to deal with any of this—whatever this was.
When she’d soared so far and so high that she could barely see the lights of the settlement, she thought of Nathan and Saoirse and sensed them somewhere far below. They hadn’t followed her. She headed back, swirling around to the other side of her cabin and slipping through the open window into the bedroom she shared with Callie. The room was empty; Callie was probably hanging out with the school principal she most definitely had a crush on.
Ridley returned to human form, let out a breath, and dropped onto her bed. She pressed one hand over the stone pendant that rested against her chest. She hadn’t removed the necklace since Saoirse gave it to her earlier in the day. She liked having something that was once her mother’s sitting so close to her heart. Dad loved you, Mom, she thought. I know that. He couldn’t possibly have cheated on you. With that final thought, she banished all thoughts of her father’s possible betrayal from her mind.
5
Ridley dreamed of fire. She dreamed of smoke and screams and a body on the ground, limbs unmoving and eyes unseeing. She tried to look closer, to see who it was, but instead her attention snagged on the bell that stood tall and still and ageless beside the body. Suddenly she was right next to it, her hand reaching for the rope, her fingers wrapping around it, tugging it down—
Ridley jerked awake, her heart a frightened bird in her chest and silence pressing on her ears where there should have been the ringing of a bell. She took a calming breath, reminding herself it was only a dream. But the fear and urgency remained. She touched the stone pendant lying against her sweaty chest, seeking comfort from it. Her gaze moved across the room to Callie’s sleeping form. Her breaths were deep, slow, peaceful, while Ridley’s heart still thrashed against her ribcage. Fear wormed its way into her bones. Fear that made no sense.
A gale screamed past the window, startling Ridley as it shook the pane. For a moment, all she could think of was Archer joking about her desire for him stirring up the elements. But she knew magic didn’t work that way. Something wasn’t right. She wasn’t sure what, precisely, but the longer she sat in bed, her heart still racing, the sicker she felt.
She shut her eyes, breathed out slowly, and let her human form vanish into air. Immediately, her terror intensified.
THEY’RE COMING!
The thought pressed in on her from all sides, so loud, despite there being no words, no sound. Her mind flooded with knowledge: The Shadow Society was coming. They were almost here. They would kill everyone.
FLEE!
Magic screamed in Ridley’s mind as lightning split the sky and rain thrashed against the window. The sense of urgent motion was so overpowering that even though she hung in the still air of her bedroom, she imagined she could feel a swift current dragging her away.
Callie stirred and mumbled, “Is that … a storm?”
Ridley’s attention turned to Callie as she lifted her head and squinted at the window through one half-open eye. Abruptly, Ridley was human again. “They’re coming,” she said. “We have to go!” There was no time to explain further. She rushed to the window and opened it.
“Hey!” Callie yelped. “What are you—” But the rest of her words were lost as Ridley dove headlong into the stormy night, her air form tangling with the gale-force wind. She thought of the emergency bell a moment before realizing the wind was already carrying her that way. Cabins rushed by beneath her, then trees, a playground area, the school, and then she was whirling down toward the stone arch where the weatherworn bell hung.
Someone was already there.
Ridley released her magic, and her feet, clad in nothing but socks, stumbled across the uneven ground. Rain pummeled her from every direction, drenching her almost immediately. “Saoirse?” she gasped, her heart pounding as if she’d run all the way here.