“Came with the wings.” Matt jabbed a thumb toward his back.
“Ah. Heard about that.” Tyrez scanned Matt as though he expected the Dire to sprout wings at any moment. “See you have scale issues,” he noted.
I glanced at Matt. He did indeed have stray scales dusting his forearms.
“Yeah, bleedin’ lizard skin keeps popping up in uncomfortable places,” Matt admitted.
We weren’t here to talk about scales. “What’s the plan?” I asked.
Cody and Tyrez exchanged a look, but the big Dragon answered. “The council has collaborated with the Liberis and Dragons. It has given them sufficient resources to attack Galeran when he attempts to obliterate the three towns that Talakai has earmarked as targets.”
I looked to Cara. “What about Sebastian?”
The Watcher’s expression remained grim. “We will do our best to save him, Anna. But the thrust of this initiative is to stop Galeran.”
My heart twisted. Sebastian might end up in the middle of this battle, ridden into it from thewrong side. Without his power, he’d be vulnerable. “Isn’t there something we can do?”
I read the answer in her eyes. “I will have Cass and Eli and a handful of our best Bellati tasked with finding him. If they can get to him, we will bring him back here and try the reattachment. But I must be honest, Anna. They may not be successful.”
“But I have a connection to him—”
“It will have limited application during a battle,” she said gently.
“Talakai is being retained as a scout during the initiative,” Tyrez rumbled. “If Sebastian contacts you, relay it through him. He can get the message where it needs to be.”
So that was it, then. We’d be forced to sit this out on the sidelines, waiting to see if our Bellati came home. And Talakai too.
But if they agreed to let us go with them—and that would be difficult to achieve—that would put us right into the battle.
Suddenly, I was painfully aware of Matt standing by my side. Silent. Waiting for my decision. He was only halfway through his transformation to Dragon. He couldn’t be less ready to do battle with Galeran. But he would go with me if I went.
Cody and Tyrez had already moved on, discussing the technical difficulties associated with the marsh between the towns and the gate location. Jacques regarded me with regret written on his long features, as though he empathized with the decision I faced.
I met Cara’s gaze and the wealth of understanding within them. She spoke before I could.
“I have a task for you,” she said, gesturing for us to follow her down the hall. On the way, she opened a cupboard and handed Matt a large jar.
“Crystal dust,” she explained. “Take two tablespoons four times a day, until we get you topped up.”
Matt looked uncomfortable as he took it from her, and we continued on to her spare bedroom. When she opened the door, it glowed with crystalline energy.
In the center of the bed, lay the horn.
“We’ve infused it with as much as we can,” she said. “But the bond you share with him will energize it as well. If we find him, and I cannot get him back here—I will send for you.” She rolled the horn in the silk cloth, tucking crystals in as she did so, and then pulled a pack from beneath the bed and put it inside. It barely fit—the tip pushed up against the flap.
She handed me the pack. “Keep it with you. Your energy will help sustain it. And stay at the academy. If we can’t signal you through Talakai, I may have to send Sparkle looking for you. So don’t go running off somewhere.”
I slung it over my shoulder. She meant more than just running into the forest.
The Watcher fastened her vivid-blue eyes on me. “Promise me, Anna. Please. You can lose far more than you know.”
My heart twisted because Iknew. Matt. She was talking about Matt. “You’ve seen it?” my voice was hoarse.
She nodded. “Ash has. Not in all the timelines, but enough that he has said that this is not your battle. But he also said that your fight will come.”
Matt had to clear his throat to force the words out. “Did he say that Sebastian would survive?”
Her lips compressed. “Interpreting the timelines is difficult. Those around Sebastian are complex, and he wouldn’t comment further on them. But he was right about Talakai. Without him, we would never have been given this opportunity.”
