Page 166 of The Trials of Ophelia

“So we can kill her,” I affirmed, returning his devilish grin.

“Ophelia!” Barrett picked me up, spinning me around. “This is ingenious!”

Perhaps not ingenious, but for the first time, I felt like I was counting on something besides my own desperation, my own vengeance. I was relying on a true plan that was concrete and discernible. It fed the hope I’d been afraid to let flourish.

When Barrett set me down, I whirled toward the Bodymelders and Rina who were discussing in hushed voices. “Do you think it will work?”

Esmond dragged a hand down his face. “I think it’s possible, but we can’t guarantee it. Not without knowing the proportions and how she prepared it exactly.”

“But we can try?” I asked. I fought the optimistic smile that wanted to beam across my face.

“We can try,” Rina confirmed. She brushed her hands on her apron, reaching for her notebook and turning to a blank page. “Tell us everything you remember, and we’ll work on it before you leave.”

“Thank you, Rina.” I scurried around the end of the table and hugged her. “Thank you.”

This was a light in the darkness. A chance.

Vale cleared her throat. “Why am I here?”

“Because of this.” I flipped through Lucidius’s journal until I reached the entry on Starsearchers and shoved it at her. Her eyes widened as she read the familiar words.

“That’s what I read during?—”

“The interrogation, yes!” I couldn’t help myself from smiling now. “Vale, this confirms that somehow, your readings are tied to this. This idea of living magic—I think Kakias has it somehow. Maybe it refers to her immortality, maybe there was something else Lucidius knew, but it all connects. How else could Lucidius have used the exact words your session gave to you? It’s too big to be a coincidence.”

“That doesn’t tell us what it means, though,” Barrett said. “Lucidius rambled on and on about living magic in those pages.”

“It’s about Kakias,” I asserted, nodding. “I know it is.”

Because I remembered what her power felt like tugging against my own. How that magic ate away at me like it was alive.

“What do you need from me?” Vale asked, decidedly snapping the journal closed.

“If there is anything else you remember,” I nearly begged, “from that reading or any of the others, will you tell us while Santorina, Esmond, and Gatrielle prepare this? Every kernel of information could be imperative.”

Vale hesitated, whether it was because she couldn’t remember much or because she didn’t know what to share, I wasn’t sure. But finally, she lifted her chin and swore, “I’ll tell you everything I can.”

Gatrielle laid out a long leather roll, like one that might hold knives and daggers, only this one was stocked with an assortment of vials and pouches.

Esmond pulled a curtain around our space.

Santorina stepped up to the table. “Let’s get to work.”

Chapter Fifty-Six

Tolek

“Ria?” I knocked on my sister’s front door and peeked my head inside when I didn’t hear an answer.

She was hunched over the table, rearranging sigils and muttering to herself. My steps were hollow in the empty cabin, and still she didn’t look up. Bracing my hands on the back of a chair, I looked between her and the maps.

“What are you working on?”

Lyria’s head snapped up. Her eyes were dazed for a moment, then they settled. She smiled at me, and I couldn’t tell if it was forced or not. “Tolek. Hi.” The smile quickly faltered as her gaze fell back to the maps. She chewed her lip, her eyes roving the table.

“What’s happening here?” I asked, tentatively.

“Running all the numbers again. Making sure…making sure everyone is where they’ll be the most useful. That we don’t have too many units in unnecessary positions, and we’re not leaving spaces open.”

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