“Until Ren takes her to bed,” Sabine purred.
Fey’s laugh was like a roar. Even Cosette’s muffled giggles floated up from under the layers of fabric.
“Shut up, Sabine.” Bryn kicked her and I grinned.
“Honestly, girls.” My mother put her hands on her hips. “You’re acting like barbarians.”
She reached up and held my face between her palms. “Calla, the ceremony is beautiful. We’ll wait for you in the sacred grove—except for Bryn, who will guide you to the ritual site. She’ll leave you alone. Drums will raise the forest spirits, and the warrior’s song is the last thing you’ll hear before you’re called to join us.”
“Who calls me?”
“You’ll know,” she murmured, smiling. “I don’t want to give everything away. The mystery of the ritual makes it special.”
Special? I stared into her misty eyes, not feeling special, only anxious. “What about the kill?” This is what my parents were worried about.
She took her hands from my face, folding them in front of her. “It’s a trial, a public demonstration that you and Ren have the mutual skill to lead your pack.”
“We hunt together?” I couldn’t imagine how that would work. “And the Keepers watch?”
“Your prey will be presented at the end of the ceremony,” she said, smoothing the front of my gown. I winced when another pin pricked me.
“What’s the prey?” Bryn took my hand, her own fingers shaking.
“You won’t know until that night,” my mother said. “The surprise is part of the challenge.”
“What was it when you were united to Stephen?” Sabine asked. I was startled to see her fingers laced tightly together, as if the news about a kill frightened her as much as me.
My mother walked to the dresser and picked up a brush. She was quiet as she came behind me and began pulling the bristles through my hair.
Just when I was certain she wouldn’t tell us, she said, “A Searcher. One we’d captured.”
“Oh,” I said. The face of the Searcher I’d fought outside Eden flashed in my mind. I remembered his screams in Efron’s office. Could he still be alive?
Would the Keepers drag him out of some secret prison only to throw him at our feet at the ceremony?
A buzzing sound came from my bed. Fey dug under a heap of crinoline until she found my phone. “Should I answer it?”
“Who is it?” I asked.
She glanced at the screen. “Shay.”
The brush stopped mid-stroke. “Who’s Shay?” my mother asked.
“The human kid we’re babysitting for Logan.” Fey tossed the phone to me.
“Mom!” I yelped, barely managing to catch my phone as she jerked a fistful of my hair.
I heard the brush hit the ground, and in the next moment my mother stood before me. Her face was paler than the rumpled sheets on my bed. “The
Keepers’ human is calling you? Why?”
“You know about Shay?” The phone was still vibrating in my hand.
“I—” She bent down, picking up the brush. “I may have heard something from Lumine. I didn’t know the boy’s name.”
“What did Lumine say about him?” I watched as she busied herself tidying my nightstand.
“It’s not important.” She didn’t look up. “I didn’t realize you were on familiar terms.”
“Too familiar,” Sabine muttered.
“What do you mean?” My mother looked at her and then at me. “Are you fraternizing with young men other than Ren? That’s shameful!”
I tried to kick Sabine and would have tipped over if Bryn hadn’t caught me.
“Of course she isn’t, Naomi,” Bryn said. “Logan has asked Calla to watch over Shay. Keep him safe.”
My mother’s face went even whiter. “Why would he—”
She fell silent and started to fluff the pillows. I glanced at my buzzing phone, unsure what to do.
“Naomi, didn’t you say we’d have dessert and presents soon?” Bryn asked. “I think we could use a break.”
“Yes, yes!” My mother looked relieved, heading for the door. “I’ve prepared tea and petit fours. We’ll enjoy refreshments in the parlor.”
“Thanks, Bryn,” I whispered as the other girls followed my mother out the door.
She squeezed my arm before running to catch Fey, who turned to her with a frown. “What the hell is a petit four?”
I flipped open the phone. “Hey.”
“Calla.” Shay sounded surprised. “I didn’t think you’d pick up.”
“Yeah.” The sound of my mother giving instructions on the correct placement of china and silver drifted up the stairs. “I only have a couple minutes.”
“This will be quick,” he said. “I think I realized why we can’t find anything useful in the library.”
“Why?”
“Something was bugging me about those alchemy symbols,” he said. “You know the ones in the picture with the cross?”
“Uh-huh.”
“So I did some hunting, and that’s not the only place they are.” I heard the rustling of pages. “There’s a triangle on the map. The one I used to get up the mountain. Right on the cave.”
“There’s a triangle on Haldis Cavern?”