He supposed that if it all came to that, he could use it on them. But after all the years training Baywolf, turning him to ash would be such a tragedy.

  Dax and the woman, not so much. Then it occurred to him that perhaps Baywolf was bringing Dax to him so that he could kill him, and let Baywolf take his place.

  With that thought, Aaron relaxed a little. That would explain what they were doing here. How they had gotten into the Palace was another question, though. How did they get past the Warrior Monks? Why weren’t the Monks reacting to their presence?

  So many questions needed to be answered, but Aaron was sure that Baywolf would fill him in.

  Aaron turned to the Blessed One, waiting to be told what to do, and ordered him out of the room. He didn’t want anyone to hear what was going to happen.

  Besides, he was running low on Blessed Ones, and he couldn’t get out of the Palace to find more. Because of the Warrior Monks keeping guard, he hadn’t even been able to search for his women. Perhaps Baywolf could help with that.

  There was a gentle knock on the throne room door. The Blessed One opened the door, as Aaron arranged himself on his throne. Yes, Dax and the woman were going to see him, but they wouldn’t be living long anyway.

  His three guests moved into the room as the Blessed One closed the door behind him, hiding a small gasp of surprise at what he saw.

  Yes, he could see. Before leaving, Udore had restored as many Blessed One’s sight that he could. He had been one of the lucky ones.

  Ruth turned to him as the door shut and nodded. He knew the sign. It was time. He had to get to the rest of the Blessed Ones. They all had to do what Udore had told them to do. Pray.

  Pray for the light to be stronger than the darkness. Send strength to the Chosen One, even now making a decision that would impact all of Thamon.

  No longer pretending to be blind, he ran, not afraid, straight through the Warrior Monks who never saw him. Baywolf was right. Without the ring, and without his fear, they didn’t know what to do.

  In the room, Dax, Ruth, and Baywolf stood in front of Aaron. Only Baywolf was smiling. It was only then that Aaron realized that he might have been wrong. About all of it.

  But before he could raise his arm, Ruth shifted into a raven and plucked the bracelet off his wrist and dropped it into Baywolf’s hand.

  Even then, Aaron could not believe that anyone would confront a god, and he was God. He refused to bow down to fear.

  Dax turned to Baywolf and said, “Is it time?”

  “Yes,” Baywolf responded, “But not for what you think.”

  Fifty-Seven

  Time had stopped. The pendant pieces hung in the air. Meg stood, her hand extended, the pendant piece in her hand burning, waiting.

  Stryker, still on his knees, stared in horror at Meg. Stared at the two pieces of the pendant hanging in the air. Two pieces on the way to snapping together with the third piece in Meg’s hand. When that happened, Meg would have the power that he had searched for and desired all his life.

  Above Meg, five dragons were frozen in the air. Sawdi’s ring was glowing, his face was distorted with the desire to stop Meg.

  Meg didn’t see any of that. She only felt the opposing desires fighting within her. The desire to be all-powerful and the desire to remember something. But what?

  Unknown to Meg, across Thamon, people had gathered to support this moment. Most of them didn’t know Meg or the battle that was now frozen in time.

  Instead, they had heard the call to stand together in light. To proclaim the overreaching power of good to overcome anything unlike itself.

  Not everyone heard that call in the same way. For some, it was a pause in their day to be grateful for the blessings in their life. For others, it was the moment they chose to love instead of hate.

  But others knew what was going on in Turva. They felt the intense fear of what could happen and what it would mean to the people of Thamon, and they overcame that fear with love.

  On the Islands, Ibris opened his arms to the men rushing the stage.

  In the palace, Aaron was frozen in place.

  Udore stood in the field, holding time still.

  All of them, waiting.

  Out of the stillness, a shriek rose from the woods, piercing the sky and Meg’s heart, and releasing her from the frozen time.

  Hand still reaching for the pendant, the pendant pieces still hanging in the air between her and Stryker, Meg turned her gaze to the sky.

  Streaking across the blue sky, was her beloved sister, who always protected her, flying as Lady the dragon straight at the five dragons above her.

  And on one of those dragons sat a man, who, like Stryker, had only one thing on his mind. Get the pendant.

  *******

  Bolong heard Suzanne’s call. She had come. Still frozen in time, Bolong could feel Sawdi and the ring pulling at the pendant. Bolong knew that if the ring and the pendant came together, all would be lost.

  It was the moment that they had waited for. Using the energy Suzanne was sending, Bolong unfroze himself and the other four dragons. They had a plan in place, and it was time to do it.

  Bolong rolled. Sawdi screamed and held on.

  Below him, Bolong glanced down and saw the pendant fly into Meg’s hand and snap itself together. It was as if what had slowed down time, now sped it up.

  Meg stood with the pendant in her hand, feeling the power that it gave her. And she was glad. She loved it. She never thought she would feel this way. Nothing could ever harm her again. One thought, and she could control everyone and have anything she wanted.

  She smiled. She knew exactly what she wanted.

  Meg turned to her friends running to her and froze them in their tracks with just one thought. She didn’t need them.

  She watched as the dragon she knew to be Bolong turned over and over again, trying to throw that man Sawdi off of him.

  Sawdi’s ring was fighting, aiming red beams at the dragons that surrounded Bolong, ready to keep Sawdi from getting to her.

  Meg smiled. That sister of hers, what a fighter.

  As she watched, Sawdi’s ring shot two dragons, and silently they started falling out of the sky.

  That’s enough, Meg thought. Give me the ring.

  A split second later, the ring was in her hand. All she heard was Sawdi screaming, her sister crying, the world’s heart breaking.

  In that split second, when Meg grasped the ring, Udore thought, not again. Not again. He closed his eyes, waiting for what he knew was coming.

  Meg, the wild-child from Erda, would unwittingly destroy every living thing on Thamon as she chose power over love.

  Tarek stood beside his father watching the love of his life close her hands over the ring and the pendant, and smile one last time before bursting into flames.

  “Now,” Karn yelled and ran towards Meg. Wren, Tarek, Silke, and Udore followed, forming a circle around her, standing so close their clothes and hair started to smoke. Still, they stood.

  Tarek could see Meg standing in the flames with her eyes closed, hands clenched, the ring in one hand. The pendant in another.

  “You can do it, Meg,” Tarek whispered.

  A split second later, the fire transformed into a beam of light. It shot out from Meg and branched out across the sky, through the trees, down in the canyon.

  It found the falling dragons and held them.

  It touched Sawdi, and he screamed and fell off Bolong, and the light let him go.

  Stryker, seeing the light coming for him, covered his eyes, trying to escape, fearing what it would do. Instead, it passed gently through him, leaving him lying on his back, staring at the sky as if he had never seen it before.

  On the Islands, the men rushing Ibris fell to their knees along with everyone else, as the light streaked through the sky just as Etar and Trin crossed paths. The resulting flash of light was seen all over Thamon.

  Outside the Palace, the white mass of Warrior Monks melted, but not before releasing a deep sigh that sounded to those who heard it like a sigh of relief.

  Inside the throne room, both wrist bands fell onto the gold floor, merging with the rainbows of light passing through the stained glass windows. Rainbows danced off the walls.

  Aaron sat down. It was over. No one needed to tell him. His heart seized, and he fell off the throne.

  Dax fell to his knees and wept.

  Hidden away, in a cave, Jori watched as the book of prophecies burst into flames. It was over.

  Fifty-Eight

  Meg collapsed into Tarek’s arms. In her hands, the pieces of the pendant and the ring had turned to ashes. Her hair had turned white.

  “She’s not breathing,” Tarek screamed.

  It was Wren who pulled Meg from Tarek and said, “Go back to the Islands, Tarek,” before flashing away with Meg.

  Tarek screamed, “No!”

  It was Karn and Udore holding on to him that kept Tarek from throwing himself over the cliff, trying to follow where Wren had gone.

  It was only after he calmed down that Tarek realized that Silke was gone too. “Now, what do I do?” Tarek moaned to Udore and Karn as they looked over the canyon.

  All the dragons had disappeared from the sky, including Suzanne. There was nothing to see. Sawdi had fallen to the bottom of the gorge, and Stryker was lying lifeless on the grass.

  “She saved Thamon, but did she have to die doing it?” Tarek cried.

  Udore didn’t have the heart to answer him. There was nothing he could say, anyway. He was just as much in the dark as his son was.

  The prophecy had never gone past warnings. All they could do was follow what Wren had told them to do. Go back to the Islands.

  But first, they needed to check on the Sanctuary and then the Temple.

  Udore turned to his son and said, “If Meg were here, what would she have you do?”

  Tarek didn’t answer him. Instead, he thought back to the first time that he had seen Meg. He relived the moments they had spent together and how he had grown to love and admire her as she transformed herself.

  As hard as it had been for her, Meg had as gracefully as possible let go of all that she had once valued about herself. And in the process become who she was.

  In his heart, Tarek knew that she would tell him to do what he was meant to do. He had gone to the Islands to stop Aaron-Lem from taking away the freedom of the people.

  Now that their liberty had been restored, the least he could do was help them rebuild their lives, rejoice in the ability to think for themselves, and choose the lives they wanted to live.”

  “She would want me to be helpful and feel joy.”

  Udore smiled and said, “Shall we go see our families?”

  “Are you telling me that the people in the Sanctuary survived?”

  “Of course they did,” Karn answered. “Don’t you think we had plans in place? The prophecies didn’t tell us what would happen, but it did warn us.

  “Besides, Bolong’s dragons would never have set people on fire. My guess is that our friends and family are on the way to Yeal Thalor. Shall we go?”

  It wasn’t until they were on the Islands that Tarek stopped to think that Karn didn’t seem that upset that Wren was gone too. It took many months before he knew why.

  *******

  Before leaving the clearing, Tarek, Karn, and Udore buried the body of Stryker. All three prayed that Stryker had found peace at the last minute so that his next life would be one filled with love rather than the need for power.

  As Karn predicted, all the people from the Sanctuary were in Yeal Thalor, and the town was in a state of celebration. As the three men approached the village, a great roar went up from the people as they rushed to embrace them.

  Tarek and Udore united with their families who had learned that they were still alive when Gelon and the Mages arrived months before. More news had come with Leon and the men from the ships. Everyone in the Sanctuary had prayed for their safety.

  For days the families and the rebels stayed and talked together. Stories of their years apart were shared. But as little time as possible was spent talking about the things that had separated them.

  Finally, at the end of the week, Captain Lira said he was ready to leave. He had stayed off the seas long enough. The sea was where he belonged, and now that Thamon was free, he wanted to return to it.

  On his first trip, he would go to the Islands and take everyone who wanted to go with him.

  The next morning everyone gathered in the harbor where the Eos was waiting for them. All of Lira’s crew was ready to go, except one who decided to stay, having fallen for a local girl.

  Although Joseph and Fionn were returning to the Islands, Leon and the rest of the men were staying with their families.

  All of Tarek’s family, including his father Udore, was staying on Turva. Udore said that he never wanted to leave his wife’s side again. Tarek understood.

  Now that Thamon was free, Udore said that they would come to visit when they could. They knew that Tarek needed to return to the Islands.

  Most of the refugees from the Islands were returning on the Eos. However, Gelon and his family decided to stay, having fallen in love with Turva, too.

  Jori, Ian, and Rose were torn between going to the Islands, or back to Edes. Tarek suggested they come with him. They could go to Edes after that if Dax and Iris weren’t there.

  Tarek thought that if Ruth, Roar, and Dax had survived their encounter with Aaron, they would return to the Islands and bring Iris with them. After a little persuasion, Jori, Ian, and Rose had agreed.

  It was a time of both rejoicing and sorrow as they said goodbye and boarded the ship. Udore had hoped that the missing people would return before they left. But they didn’t.

  Sawdi’s dragons and Suzanne were also still missing. Did the death of Sawdi kill them too?

  In the quiet nights, as they made their way back to the Islands, Tarek prayed that he would find all of them where they were going. He knew that Suzanne loved the Islands, and would return there if she were alive. He wondered if Suzanne knew that her sister was gone.

  Although Tarek was determined to fulfill Meg’s desire for him to be happy, his heart was still broken. And to make matters worse, the string that tied him to Silke was no longer there.

  The best way he could describe how he felt was untethered and empty. He thought he would never feel grounded again.

  But perhaps if Suzanne was on the Islands, they could comfort each other.

  It was that thought, and the stars at night that Meg had loved, that kept him going through the weeks as they made their way back to the Islands.

  That and the small hope that Karn knew something Tarek didn’t know, and that was why Karn only seemed lonely, not broken, like himself.

  Fifty-Nine

  The three men sat on the bench on Hetale’s beach. Not the three men who had wanted to rule the world. Three men who had done what they could to save it.

  As they did every morning, Tarek, Ibris, and Karn sat together, watching as Trin and Erda moved across the sky. Watching the waves roll in and out as they had always done, as if nothing had changed. And yet everything had.

  Months had gone by since Meg’s light had flashed across Thamon. Months since Meg, Wren, Silke, Suzanne, and the dragons had disappeared.

  Months where Tarek wept at night, knowing he shouldn’t, that he knew better. But it was as if a piece of himself had broken off and fallen into the canyon that day.

  Jori, Ian, and Rose had come to the Islands, but the ship they expected never arrived. Dax, Ruth, and Roar had not returned. They could only hope that they, and Iris, were safe.

  Because although the dark force that had fallen over Thamon was lifted, no one on the Islands knew what had happened to Aaron in Edes. Was he still alive?

  Falcon, who used to bring the news, was missing, too. Ibris wondered if he and the dragons were dead or transformed back to who they used to be. Either way, no one knew where all of them had gone.

  Captain Lira had remained on the Islands for months, waiting for the Soleis. But now that the cold season was returning, Lira said that he and his men had to go. They would take Jori, Ian, and Rose to Edes. It was time. They couldn’t wait any longer. They would leave the next day.

  None of the men sitting on the bench watching the waves move in and out said anything to each other. All three of them were lost in their thoughts.

  Tarek had tried countless times to ask Karn why he didn’t seem broken, but Karn would only shake his head and walk away. Sometimes Karn would remind Tarek that Wren told them to meet her on the Islands. But that was all he would say.

  Karn’s belief that Wren would return gave Tarek the little hope that sustained him each day. That and the work that they had done together to help the people of the Islands.

  The three men had supervised the building of a new Temple, but not for any specific religion. It was open to anyone to worship any god that they wished to. Ibris still preached, but he taught how to use the power of imagination towards positive outcomes and not to control others as Aaron-Lem had done.

  The Temple was full every day. Everyone was welcome, even those who still worshiped Aaron.

  It was a beautiful day, not quite cold, but a brisk wind warned of the coming cold season.

  As the suns crossed and the blue light flashed, Karn stood. Tarek looked at him and was astonished to see tears running down his face. Never, after all that had happened, had Karn cried. Not once.

  “What’s wrong?” Tarek asked.

  It was Ibris who pointed out what Karn had seen. Something in the distance. Tarek’s heart started beating faster, but he didn’t know why. Squinting against the suns, Ibris saw something that seemed impossible. Seven dragons.