One last time.

I have nothing to say.

Josh

The car lurched and we stopped moving.

I couldn’t hear what Harper and Aiden were saying, but I could hear their doors opening and then slapping shut. I prayed they wouldn’t open the trunk.

Then there was silence for what felt like about ten minutes, had they left the car? Then another vibration. I saw a beam of light, I burrowed further under the blankets and covered my face, if they had really bad eyesight and didn’t look too closely, they might not be able to tell I was there.

I could tell what they were saying this time, “Well, what do we have here?”

Oh no. Ohnoohnoohnoohnoohno.

“Getting far, far away from you.”

Wait. Who was that?

“Get in the trunk or we kill you now.”

“You can’t kill me now. You need me alive.”

“Get. In. The. Trunk.”

“Make me.”

Livia

Great. It’s not much better to be the tie-ee than the tie-er. I can now confidently say that from experience having been tied up in a car by Joslyn and Cayla.

“So you’re not gonna kill me.”

“Not yet,” Cayla said.

“Livia Ward. Are you a Raven?”

In the past I had wanted Joslyn to quit it with that question. But now I looked down at my necklace. There wasn’t a knot anymore. Instead there was a tree. A tree of silver instead of gold. Silver for the second option I had had. Silver for Sierra Cove. Silver for a life’s worth of mistakes and for an hour’s worth of reform. And this time I could speak without any shadow of a doubt in my mind.

“No. Not anymore.”

Arianna

I was tied against a pillar. Where? I don’t know. I think it was underground though (oh! I rhymed!) because it was cold and dark and damp.

“Arianna Hough.”

“What do you want with me?”

“First, questioning, then, death.”

That was bleak.

“What do you want me to say?”

“You know that isn’t how it works.”

“Hmm.” I muttered.

“Name.”

“Arianna Caroline Westphal.”

“Age and date of birth.”

Date of birth sounds so bland compared to birthday. I answered anyways. “Sixteen, June 12, 2004.”

“Blood status.”

“25% Evermorian, 75% mortal.”

“Current place of residence.”

“Um, it was Sierra Cove Academy, but it was kinda destroyed, so...”

“Do you know where you are?”

“No.”

 At least I wasn't lying.

“Woodland Arianna Westphal. Remember that.” He went on, “Immediate family.”

“Mother: Luna Meriweather Westphal, father: Ted Aspen Westphal.”

Aspen does not sound like a masculine name.

“When was the last time you saw Cassia Sierra?”

“I don’t actually remember what day it was.”

“When was the last time you saw Cassia Sierra?”

“I told you, I’ve lost track of the days!”

“Answer. The. Question.”

“Maybe... two days ago? Three?”

It seemed like so much more.

“What is your relationship to Renee Whitaker?”

“Former student.”

“Relationship to Aiden Wood.”

“Cousin.”

"Relationship to Cassia Sierra."

"None."

“Hmm. Why are you here Arianna Westphal?”

“I’m here because I will protect Cassia Sierra with my life.”

“You most certainly will.”

Cassia

Ohmygoodness. Something in the blankets next to me was moving. I would scream, but then Harper and Aiden might stop the truck and take me out and then kill me and then-

Yeah, I was kinda losing it. I took a deep breath, a tentatively poked at the blanketed mass.

“Josh?”

“Cassia!” he whisper-shouted back.

I took a deep breath. Maybe I was losing it.

“Why are you in here?” we both asked at the same time.

I took a deep breath. “You go first.”

“Ok,” he said, “Amy is dead-”

“Wait, what?!”

“Yeah, so I left the house and then-”

“Amy is dead?!”

“Ah-huh, so then I got on a bike-”

“Amy died and you didn’t think to text me?!”

“I texted you 27 times!”

“No you di-” I reached in my pocket to pull my phone out.

It wasn’t there. Great.

“Ok, so what happened then?”

“Then I rode a bike over to Shadow Creek where I saw Harper and Aiden getting into this truck, and I knew that if they were leaving than you weren’t there and-”

“Wait, how did you know I wasn’t there?”

“Because they were leaving, if you were there, they would have had all Ravens on deck. Then I got into the back of the truck and hid under these blankets and now you’re here. Oh. And I have a wand.”

“Ok.”

That was a lot.

“What happened to you?”

“Arianna and Lacy are-” I bit back the sudden tears, even though Josh wouldn’t be able to see them. “-Dead.”

“What?!”

“Ah-huh. I saw a note that said ‘This is proof the Lacy and Arianna have been killed in the lava pits of Shadow Creek. Then I was tied up with Livia, then I ended up in this chest-thing and Livia knocked out Joslyn and then she took me in a car that probably wasn’t hers and then Ravens started chasing us and they took Livia but didn’t find me and then I got a message from Livia that said I needed to run and get out of there, so I ran and got out of there, but I didn’t get very far before these people found me.”

I said that second sentence all in one breath.

“One, was Livia kidnapping you or saving you? Two, is Livia on our side now? Three, how did you get a message from her if you didn’t have your phone?”

“Livia was saving me, and she’s on our side now, and then this random note appeared in my pocket from her.”

“Ok. Wow.”

“Yeah.”

There was a kind-of awkward silence. We were both sitting in an almost pitch-dark trunk while our possible future murderers drove though, so I guess that’s to be expected.

“Cassia, I found some things I need to tell you about.”

“Ok.”

“Kirsten wrote both the articles in the newspaper.”

“What newspaper?”

“Oh, you might want to read these.” He muttered some word to a wand he dug out of a bag and immediately the trunk was flooded with light.

“The final Sierra shall save us all.” I read the rest to myself.

I sat there, staring at my hands while Josh talked to me.

“Kirsten, a waiter at a diner right by the cliff, wrote both of those articles. Which means she knows things.

“They’re taking us to their leader. Which means they’re taking us there for a battle.

“You’re the heir of Sierra Cove. Which means you’ll fight for us all, and we’ll fight with you.”

I looked up at Josh.

“I could die.”

"If you do, you won’t die alone. We’re with you Cassia.” He leaned in and kissed me. “I’m with you to the end.”

-Ivy-