"Willow!"
She saw them.
So did Tadewi.
We couldn't fight twenty individually.
Not before more arrived.
I looked at Willow.
She looked at the road.
Then me.
Understanding.
"Can you do it?"
I looked at my hands.
Violet fire flickered.
Could I?
No idea.
"Probably."
Tadewi appeared beside us.
"That is not reassuring."
"It's the answer I have."
The dead advanced.
Behind them, living soldiers regrouped.
Too many.
I could burn everything.
But not without hitting the living.
And despite them trying to kill us—
I wasn't burning living men alive.
"Tadewi."
"I know."
Wind gathered.
For the first time since entering the Air Nation—
real wind.
Strong.
It whipped through her dark hair.
Orange light flickered in her eyes.
"Willow."
"Already moving."
Earth shook.
The living soldiers stumbled.
Stone erupted between them and the dead.
Not trapping both.
Separating.
The corrupted beast lunged.
Willow punched one hand forward.
Stone struck it from below.
It flew sideways.
Tadewi's wind caught the living soldiers.
Threw them clear.
The dead remained.
Twenty.
Maybe more.
Packed into the narrow road.
Every blackened face turned toward me.
I stepped forward.
Violet fire climbed my hands.
Then my wrists.
The dead charged.
I hesitated.
Too many.
The fire was too close to Willow.
Too close to Tadewi.
"Lyra!"
I looked at Tadewi.
Blood on her face.
Wind twisting around her.
"Trust us."
Something inside me settled.
Trust.
The mountain.
Raiden.
Trust me.
My chest hurt.
Not now.
I looked at Willow.
She slammed both hands against the ground.
Stone walls erupted on either side of the dead.
A corridor.
A cage.
Tadewi raised her staff.
Wind tore toward me.
Then around me.
Not touching the fire.
Shaping it.
Controlling where it could go.
Oh.
I understood.
I smiled.
"That's clever."
"Lyra!"
"Right."
The dead were almost on me.
I raised both hands.
Violet fire answered.
More than before.
More than I'd ever deliberately called.
It climbed my arms.
My shoulders.
Heat surrounded me.
But beneath the heat—
something else.
Warm.
Bright.
Familiar in a way I couldn't explain.
The dead reached the edge of Willow's stone corridor.
Darkness poured from their bodies.
Shadows stretched toward me.
The violet flame surged.
Almost eager.
My breath caught.
Then I released it.
"Burn."
The world became violet.
Fire tore through the corridor.
Tadewi's wind carried it.
Willow's walls contained it.
The dead disappeared inside.
No screams.
No bodies falling.
Just—
darkness.
For one impossible moment, I saw it.
Black shapes tearing free.
Not from flesh.
From somewhere deeper.
The violet fire found every one.
Consumed them.
One after another.
Until there was nothing left to consume.
Then—
white.
A flash.
So fast I almost missed it.
At the very center of the violet flame.
Pure.
Brilliant.
White.
Then gone.
The fire vanished.
Ash drifted down.
Nothing moved.
I stared.
My hands were shaking.
"Lyra?"
Willow's voice sounded far away.
I looked at my palms.
Nothing.
No white.
Only the last traces of violet disappearing beneath my skin.
Had I imagined it?
Maybe.
Probably.
I swayed.
Willow caught me.
"Easy."
"I'm fine."
Tadewi appeared on my other side.
"Don't."
I looked at her.
"What?"
"Say you're fine."
I closed my mouth.
Fair.
My knees gave up.
I sat.
Not gracefully.
Willow sat beside me.
Tadewi remained standing.
Blood still ran down her temple.
I pointed.
"You're bleeding."
"So are you."
I looked down.
My knee had reopened from the bridge.
"That's barely blood."
"Still blood."
Willow's sleeve was torn.
A long cut ran across her upper arm.
I frowned.
"You're bleeding too."
She looked.
"Huh."
"Huh?"
"I hadn't noticed."
I stared at both of them.
"We're terrible at this."
Tadewi laughed.
Quietly.
Tired.
"Girls' trip."
I looked up.
She smiled.
I smiled back.
"You're learning."
Then something touched my cheek.
I froze.
Wind.
Soft.
Barely there.
But—
wind.
Tadewi felt it too.
Her smile disappeared.
She turned toward the stairs.
The breeze moved past us.
Upward.
Toward the ridge.
Almost like—
an invitation.
Tadewi picked up her staff.
"We're close."
The stairs nearly killed me.
Not literally.
Probably.
There were more than a thousand.
I stopped counting after four hundred.
Willow stopped after threatening to throw me off the mountain if I asked how many remained again.
Tadewi didn't complain once.
Which was deeply suspicious.
The higher we climbed—
the stronger the wind became.
Not violent.
Not corrupted.
Clean.
It moved through my hair.
Across my skin.
The first real wind I'd felt since entering the Air Nation.
Tadewi slowed.
Her eyes closed.
For a moment—
she looked peaceful.
Then we reached the ridge.
And stopped.
Aerie Temple rose from the mountain.
White stone.
Ancient.
Massive.
Built directly into the cliff as though the mountain had grown around it.
Tall pillars disappeared into cloud.
Bridges stretched between towers.
Orange banners hung from the highest points.
Old.
Faded.
But intact.
And moving.
Wind rushed through them.
I forgot how tired I was.
How much everything hurt.
Willow stepped beside me.
"Gods."
"Hopefully."
She looked at me.
I smiled.
"That's why we're here."
Tadewi didn't move.
Her eyes shone.
Not tears.
Almost.
"Aerie."
The word sounded like prayer.
Everything we'd passed—
burned villages.
Dead soldiers.
Corrupted animals.
Silence.
And here—
wind.
Life.
Untouched.
Almost.
I followed the path toward the entrance.
Two enormous stone doors waited beneath an arch carved with symbols I didn't recognize.
Tadewi approached first.
Her hand touched the center.
Nothing.
She frowned.
Pressed harder.
Orange light moved beneath her fingers.
The doors remained closed.
"What?"
Willow approached.
Tadewi stepped back.
"The temple sealed itself."
"Can you open it?"
"I should be able to."
She tried again.
Nothing.
Her expression tightened.
"I am Air."
"Maybe it doesn't know that."
She looked at me.
I raised both hands.
"Just suggesting."
Willow examined the carvings.
"Could Mortimer have sealed it?"
"No."
Tadewi's answer was immediate.
"This is Air magic."
I stepped closer.
The symbols covered the entire doorway.
Four patterns caught my attention.
Flame.
Water.
Stone.
Wind.
My stomach tightened.
"Tadewi."
She followed my gaze.
Her expression changed.
"Those shouldn't be there."
"What?"
"Fire."
Her fingers traced without touching.
"Water."
Then Earth.
"This is an Air temple."
Willow stepped closer.
"Why would the other elements be carved into its doors?"
Nobody answered.
Of course.
I looked at the center.
There was another symbol.
Almost worn away.
A circle.
No.
Not a circle.
A moon.
My heartbeat stopped.
"Oh."
Tadewi looked at me.
"What?"
I reached.
"Lyra—"
My fingers touched the stone.
Light exploded beneath my hand.
I jerked.
The doors didn't open.
But the carvings awakened.
Fire glowed.
Then Water.
Earth.
Wind remained dark.
And finally—
the moon.
Silver.
Bright.
Ancient.
The entire mountain seemed to inhale.
Tadewi stared.
Willow didn't move.
Neither did I.
We'd crossed an occupied kingdom.
Fought the dead.
Survived things that should never have existed.
Bled our way through Mortimer's soldiers.
All for a door.
And somewhere beyond it—
were the records four gods apparently didn't want me to find.
I stared at the glowing symbols beneath my hand.
Slowly...
I smiled.
"Found you."