When the earth settled and the sound faded, Emilia saw that the soccer ball glowed vibrant leaf green. She edged her way around the sinkhole looking within to find no sign of Vernon, just a muddy hole ten or fifteen feet deep. She picked up the ball. It was warm and soft in her hands, and as she watched, it shifted like molded clay until she held a large, copper green key with thick teeth and a cubic pommel.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to be here.”

Emilia looked up to find Maria on the other side of the sinkhole. She gestured and Emilia realized this end of this field, where Vernon had buckled the earth, was roped off with bright pink and yellow caution tape. Off to her left was an enthusiastic soccer game, but this field was empty. Emilia edged around the sinkhole again to join Maria.

“Was this always here?” Emilia gestured at the caution tape.

Maria shook her head and shrugged. “We were using this field yesterday. But now it looks like this barrier has been here a while.”

Emilia nodded. “What about Alexandria and Nadia?”

Maria gestured at the soccer game on the next field over. “I guess they’ve been over there the whole time. They were really pissed at those guys and were hoping to beat them at their own game, but...” Maria shrugged.

Emilia hefted the copper key. It was at once thick and heavy but also light as a blade of grass. She tucked into her shorts pocket and felt it solid against her thigh but not so heavy it would interfere with running, passing, and shooting.

“What do you say we go over there and give them a hand?”

Maria grinned and Emilia felt a stutter of excitement in her chest.

• • •

It was tough to say who won the soccer game that morning. There was no score keeper and people joined and left the game haphazardly. Still, the girls of cabin 12 didn’t give up in the face of the four fiends. The boys were taller and stronger than anyone else on the field, but Nadia and Alexandria were fast and athletic and filled with righteous indignation. Emilia followed their lead, and by the time the game broke up for lunch, the four felt they’d made a good accounting of themselves.

Emilia kept an eye out for Vernon, but he showed no sign of having been an elemental fiend with glowing eyes or having disappeared into a sinkhole. She wondered what would happen if she brought it up. Would he recoil as Aaron and Bryce had?

That seemed unnecessarily mean, so she left it alone.

As soon as she entered the cafeteria, Emilia found Eddie sitting by himself in the corner furthest form the door and the kitchen. A pang of regret cut through her buoyed spirits and she resolved to apologize even though she didn’t think she was in the wrong. Besides, she wanted to catch him up on what had happened out at the soccerfield.

Once through the line, she made for where Eddie sat, but as she got closer, he looked up at her and his eyes glowed a baleful red. Emilia stopped abruptly and nearly dropped her tray before she realized she’d imagined it. His eyes weren’t glowing, but were red and puffy. Allergies, she knew he’d claim, but she could tell he’d been crying. She took a deep breath to stiffen her resolve, but Eddie met her gaze and shook his head.

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Emilia bit her tongue. She’d stopped trying to make friends in the fifth grade. She’d never felt especially lonely. She had her parents and her family and was comfortable being alone. But having had Eddie to be with these last few weeks had been nice. To have him reject her now hurt more than she’d expected.

Emilia decided she wasn’t hungry anymore.

She took her tray back to the kitchen and left it on the counter. Feeling the weight of the copper key in her pocket, she hurried upstairs to Mrs. Fir’s office.

When she arrived, the office was empty. She considered going to look for the head councilor, but she didn’t want to be around people. She felt tired and uncertain and she didn’t want to be anywhere someone might see her and ask, even well-meaningly, if something was wrong.

• • •

She woke to the sound of footfalls down the hallway. She sat up on the couch just as Mrs. Fir came in. It was significantly dimmer than when she’d sat down. Mrs. Fir looked at her, surprised.

“Ms. McIntyre. Have you been waiting long?”

Emilia shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Did something happen with…”

Emilia nodded. She withdrew the copper green key from her shorts pocket.

Mrs. Fir’s eyes went wide. “I never thought I’d see this.” She began to reach out a hand and stopped herself. “May I?”

Emilia stood and handed the key over. Mrs. Fir turned it over in her hands, inspecting it closely.

“How many…”

“This is the third. The key of earth, I suppose.”

“Thank you for showing me. Are you going to use it now? I’d like to observe if you don’t mind.”

It was strange to Emilia that an adult, one she respected, was asking her permission. It made her feel responsible for more than she deserved. She wasn’t qualified to decide who could and could not watch a magical key inserted into a stone box. She felt like an imposter. Nevertheless, she nodded.

“Will your friend, Mr. Brand, be joining us?”

Emilia shook her head. “I don’t think we’re friends anymore.”

“I understand he’s angry, but I wouldn’t be so quick to write off your friendship. Give it time.”

Emilia nodded again, but she remembered the anger in his red-rimmed eyes and was certain their short friendship was over.

“Everybody’s at dinner,” Mrs. Fir said. “The courtyard should be empty. Unless you object, would you use the key now?”

Emilia nodded. No longer supported by the adrenaline of competition, she felt sore, drained, and delicate. Nevertheless, she followed Mrs. Fir down the hallway to a set of backstairs she hadn’t known about. They led down to an alcove off the kitchen and they used the kitchen entrance to the courtyard.

As Mrs. Fir had suggested, the courtyard was empty.

Emilia approached the keyhole side of the stone box, key in hand. She paused and looked at Mrs. Fir.

“I don’t suppose you’d like to…”

Mrs. Fir clasped her hands firmly behind her back. “Oh, no. This is your privilege. I’m just an observer.”

Emilia bit her tongue on an objection and nodded. The third keyhole glowed leaf green and she inserted the key, giving it a firm turn. The scent of honey, fresh-turned dirt, and new grass filled the air. The ground trembled, a faint roar through time and distance. Emilia felt it in her bones.

Green light shone from the groove separating the lid from the box, and a sixteen-point star, a compass rose to show the way, lit upon the lid—bright green shifted to ice blue shifted to pale yellow, then faded entirely.

Emilia flexed her fingers then took a few steps back to look at Mrs. Fir. The woman’s expression was wide and startled.

“Mrs. Fir?”

“I’m going to call The Union, the Campions, and any other group who might have someone who knows what this is.” She shifted her wide-eyed gaze from the box to Emilia. “I strongly recommend you don’t collect the fourth key until we get expert advice.”

Emilia shrugged. “I don’t think I’ll have any choice. The trials just sort of happen. And I think it’d be far more dangerous to leave a fiend somewhere in the past to wreak havoc.”

Mrs. Fir blinked at her. “In the past?”

Emilia nodded. “I’m fairly certain. The Fiend of Air was last autumn and the Fiend of Water last winter. And just this morning, at the soccerfield, there’s a sinkhole that wasn’t there yesterday.”

“That sinkhole opened a few months ago.”

“Right. That’s my point.”

Mrs. Fir held up a hand. “I’ll take your word for it. In the meantime, please be careful.”