Page 37 of Iridian

Shivers ran down my back.

“It was in your pocket. Take it if you want,” she continued.

I did. Of course, I did—even if that ring was no longer my anchor, it was stillmine.My father’s. I inspected the golden band and the red ruby in the middle, and my heart ached. It was too big for my fingers, so I put it in my pocket again, just for good luck. Maybe it was time to finally take it to a jeweler and make it my size. I wanted it on my finger the whole time. Just as soon as this was over, I figured.

“There’s a good chance you’ll die if this thing actually works and we find David,” she said when she realized she wasn’t going to get athank youany time soon.

“And what—you want me to leave you my money?” Goddess forbid that she would care aboutme,and we both knew it.

“This isn’t about money,” she said. “I am not a good person, Rosabel. I couldn’t be one to achieve the things I wanted, and I’ve made my peace with it. This isn’t about me, either. But if this works, you really might die soon. If you do, I’ll bury you next to my daughter, and if you don’t…”

Her voice trailed off and I resisted the urge to rub the goose bumps from my arms. Taland must have noticed her approaching me so his eyes were on me, on her, watching us intently as he pretended to be focused on the parchments.

“If I don’t, what?” I spit because how dare she speak about my mothernow? Call herher daughternow?

“If you don’t, you will take the position of the IDD Director when you come back. Withmyguidance.”

“No.” I said the word so fast it was a miracle I didn’t scream it. But she must have been out of her goddamn mind if she thought I was going to ever return to the IDD as anything ever again.

“Yes, you will,” she said. “Under my guidance, you will continue to keep the power in our family.”

This time I laughed. Out loud, and people heard me, but most were busy with the parchments so they didn’t stare for long. Except for Taland.

“You really are a piece of work, you know that?”

“Yes,” said Madeline, hands folded, her hair perfectly combed and her eyes burning amber with the fresh light of the morning. “I understand what having power means, even if you don’t yet.”

“I understand?—”

“Nothing,Rosabel. Not yet,” she cut me off. “And to paint the picture for you, had you not hadpower,you wouldn’t have been in a position to do something against…well, the threat of the end of the world, now, is it not?” I clamped my mouth shut. “You would have been in your room, reading or watching a movie or doing whatever it is that you would be doing, clueless that it was even happening until it was too late. It’spowerthat has brought you here.”

I shook my head because I actually couldn’t find it in me to argue with her about this, not now.

“Our family will continue tobethe power in the front lines and trust me when I tell you that I tried to prepare Poppy for this role—I tried.” She gave me a look. “However, she doesn’t have what it takes. You do, as much as it pains me to admit it. You’re made for this.”

Made for this,she said, and it took me a good moment to understand that she wasn’t kidding. Madeline wasnotjoking—she meant everything.

“Never,” I said because I wasn’t going to waste a single second more with this. That she would think I wanted tobe in powerso thatshecould be in power with me was too absurd a concept to engage in right now, so that word would suffice.

Her eyes widened.

A few feet behind her, Natasha watched me like a damn snake, her eyes as green as the grass we stood on. She had heard us, I was sure—and I was glad for it. Let everybody hear because I had nothing to hide.

Luckily, before Madeline could try to say something else, Aurelia Mergenbach shouted, “It’s working!”

My heart leaped. I rushed forward, Madeline and her dreams of power forgotten, to see the parchments on the ground in the way that they’d arranged them under the sunlight. And I saw with my own eyes how the ink, once almost translucent, was gaining color little by little, line by line, becoming a dark blue, the shimmer still there, like stars in the night sky.

Until it revealed the whole image to us, and it was a map, indeed.

It had no names and addresses, only shapes, but shapes that made sense now. The image had become whole, and the people were already trying to guess where the mountains and the curved roads and the towns that were depicted in that strange dark blue ink were—or were they cities? I, for one, had no clue what any of it was, and I didn’t even have an idea to offer.Meanwhile, Seth had his phone in his hands, reaching up his arms as far as he could, standing on his tiptoes, taking pictures of the map.

Taland came to stand by my side again. “This could be anywhere,” he said, almost like he was talking to himself more.

“We’ll figure it out,” I said, taking his hand in mine. “We’ll take the day and figure out where this place is.”

I had a mind to go grab a pad and a pen like George was doing to draw the shapes so that we could see the whole thing on a smaller format, when…

“Got it!”

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