“Liz?” Quell whips around, looking for her in every direction. “Liz!”

For a moment I think I hear a returning call, broken words snatched up and tossed away by the wind. Quell scrambles up the back of Poppy for a better look. “Darian! Liz! Anyone!”

A gust of wind buffets against us, and Quell is nearly blown from Poppy’s back. He falls to her saddle, clutching the reins and hunching against the wind. I wait for the gust to pass, then grab Quell and pull him down.

“We should use her as a windbreak,” I say, keeping close to the drake’s side. Or at least, a sand-break. “We have to get out of here.”

“Not without Liz!” he says, voice tight with panic. “What even happened? I couldn’t see anything! They were just gone! Are they—they have to be okay, right?”

“They’ll be fine,” I say, hoping that’s the truth. “I don’t know what happened, but those four are a tough group. Liz will be safe with Darian, right?”

Quell nods, but his face is still pinched in fear. “Right. Thanks.”

“Besides, if something ate them, there would have been blood everywhere; I would have smelled it.”

Quell looks horrified. “That’s significantly less comforting!”

“And we would have seen it if they’d gotten swallowed by a giant sandworm or something,” I add.

“Nye, please!”

“I’m saying they’re probably fine.”

“Just stop talking!”

Quell rakes his fingers through his braids, grimacing against the sand.

“Okay,” he says, letting out a breath. “Okay. You’re right. There’s nothing I can do, anyway. We just have to find shelter somewhere to wait out the storm.”

Good. I thought he was about to have a panic attack. I might be able to fight soldiers and wyverns and carnivorous cacti, but I can’t beat back sand and wind. We just need to keep our cool and wait for this to blow over.

“I think Darian said she could see something ahead.” I gesture to where we’d last seen their group. “We should go that way. Maybe we’ll find what she did.”

“Yes,” Quell says. “Yes, of course. Maybe they’re just ahead of us, only a little out of sight! Come on, we should go quick, before they move any farther away!”

Quell starts to strike out ahead of Poppy before I catch his cloak and haul him back. “Stay next to Poppy,” I repeat. “We have to stick together. No matter what, don’t let go.” I hand him her reins, and he reluctantly takes them. I get that he’s eager, and maybe desperate, but him and I getting separated as well is the last thing we need.

Heads bowed against the storm, we move forward. What was once clay has been covered in sand once more, and though it doesn’t seem very deep, it causes us to slip and slide over the firm ground beneath. That, with the wind, belabors every step. I squint against the sand as it pelts against my face, but I can’t make anything out. Not rocks, not people, not shadowy forms. Whatever shelter Darian must have seen is too far away, or our field of view too restricted. We’d have to stumble over the top of it before we’d even notice it was there. Is searching for shelter our best bet, then? What if we’re only getting more lost in the storm? Maybe we could throw a canvas over the top of us and huddle against Poppy until it passes.

“Nye?”

I freeze, whipping my head to the side. The wind howls, but nothing is there. Was that my imagination playing tricks on me? I stand there for a moment longer, peering into the shadowy storm. Nothing.

I start walking once more.

“Nye!”

My heart skips a beat. This time the voice is distant but unmistakable. I spin around, searching for which direction the voice had come from. “Álvaro?” I call. “Álvaro! Where are you?”

Quell stops and turns back. “What is it?”

“My brother,” I say, looking around desperately. My heart squeezes in my chest. “I heard him. I know it was him!”

Quell squints through the dim. “I didn’t hear anything.”

The storm shifts, and a curtain of sand parts, just for a moment. There, not thirty feet away, is the silhouette of my brother.

“Álvaro!” I squeeze the strangled words from my throat, relief and pain and love all crashing through me in a desperate wave. I lurch toward him, tears prickling my eyes. “I’m here! I’m here.”

“Nye, wait!” Quell calls.

The sand closes around him once more, and I race ahead, desperate to not let him pass from sight. I can’t let him go now. I can’t—

My stomach lurches as I pitch forward in abrupt free-fall. The ground vanishes before me, a crevasse is suddenly beneath me, and I’m falling. Terror grips my gut, and I twist around, trying to grap the ledge, but it’s too late. I’m already out of reach.

I summon the Crimson Aegis.

It bursts into existence above my head, and I fling my arm to the side as it latches itself to me. The tip of the shield cracks into stone, but doesn’t anchor. Fear lances through me—then the other end of the shield strikes something hard.

I slam to a halt, the shield wedged between two walls of rock, and I’m left hanging by my arm. Pain spikes down my shoulder, but it doesn’t dislocate, and the shield doesn’t slip. I’m alive.

My heartbeat thunders in my ears, drumming a mile a minute. Holy shit. What just happened? Where did this ravine come from? I almost died.

The Aegis is also confused. What are we doing, dangling over a cliff? This is no way to win fights!

Quell appears above me. “Nye! Nye, are you okay?”

“Hanging in there,” I grunt.

“Now’s not the time for jokes,” he cries.

“What?” It doesn’t matter. “Quick, help me up. I could slip any second.”

Quell leans over the edge, stretching a hand down.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“No!” I cry, horrified. If I grabbed him at this angle, I’d just pull him over the cliff. “Go get Poppy! Throw me her reins.”

“Oh,” Quell says, a little embarrassed. “Right. Of course.”

He disappears for a moment, and I clench my arm, attempting a one-armed pull-up to alleviate the strain the posture is pulling through my back. I’m suddenly very glad my shield is of the demonic variety; I wouldn’t have been able to do the same with a conventional one.

The Aegis scoffs. Of course I should be glad! It is the best shield in all of existence. Surely this should have been apparent by now.

I huff out a laugh, but it becomes a wince. You did save my butt, I think. Thanks.

The shield smugly accepts my gratitude.

Quell returns a moment later, getting Poppy to lean her head down and dropping the rein into the ravine. I grab it with my freehand, looping it around my wrist several times.

“Alright,” I grunt. “Back her up!”

Quell does, and the leather goes taut. I pull with all my might as the drake strains to back up. The Aegis scrapes across the stone, slipping free of its brace, as I’m pulled up and over the edge. Once I’m back on solid ground, I crawl a few feet from the edge, then collapse onto my back, spread-eagle. Even with the wind and sand biting into my flesh, the ground has never felt so good. The rush of adrenaline in my ears gradually fades.

Quell leans over me. “What was that about sticking together?”

“I saw my brother,” I say. “He was in the storm.”

“Why would he be out here?” Quell demands. “For him to be this close now, we would have seen him way before the storm reached us.”

He’s right. Rationally, I know he’s right. “But it was him. I’m sure of it.”

“You’re seeing what you want to see,” Quell says, his face softening with pity. “Just like me and Liz.”

I sigh, squeezing my eyes shut and forcing myself to let go of that brief spark of hope that had burned to life inside me. It hurts to let it go out. But it would have been a miracle to run into Álvaro out here. It can’t have been him.

Even though it had been so detailed. Could that really just have been a trick of the light?

Either way, it doesn’t change what needs to be done. I open my eyes and clench my teeth—which grinds sand between my molars. I turn and spit. Against all my instincts, we need to keep moving.

I keep the Aegis out as I roll to my feet, examining the ravine. It’s obvious now that I’m looking at it—I’d been so distracted by the figment of Álvaro that I hadn’t even noticed the giant gap in the ground. Or perhaps the sand had obscured it. Either way, it’s clear we’ll need to be more careful about where we walk from now on.

“You keep an eye out for signs of the others,” I tell him, not trusting myself to search for figures in the sand. “I’ll keep an eye on our footpath. Alright?”

“Alright,” Quell agrees. We both take a side of Poppy’s reins as we circle away from the cliff. “But, Nye, there’s something unnatural about all this.”

I watch the ground in front of us. “Xamireb said it was magical.”

“Yes, but magical how?” Quell wonders. “I can feel the magic in the air. But the Oasis spills life magic. How can a sandstorm be alive?” He shakes his head. “I think there’s a beast at the center of this, and it’s using the storm for cover. It strikes from our blind spots, and reveals just enough to lure us into danger.”

Like an anglerfish. Is that what I’d seen? It would make sense with what we’ve experienced so far, for the most part.

“No more chasing shadows,” I agree. “In fact, if you see any, we probably should head in the opposite direction.”

“Good point,” Quell says. “I’m not sure I want to know where it’s trying to actually direct us.”

“And with any luck, we don’t have to find out.”

I keep my eyes on the path in front of us as we walk. It’s only now sinking in how close I’d come to dying. If I want to find my brother, I need to be more careful. I can’t let my emotions control me like that. If I throw myself blindly into every situation I find myself in, eventually I’ll meet my match. And I can’t help anyone if I’m dead. Next time, I—

[Role Requirement,] Echo warns.

I grab the back of Quell’s shirt right as he begins to pitch forward, letting out a yelp. His foot appears to pass straight through the ground, and the slack in his shirt goes tight. I dig in my heels and yank him backward. Both of us fall back on the ground beneath Poppy as the sand before us slips away, revealing another ravine. The lizard gives a startled chirp.

“What was that!” Quell cries. “Where did it come from? How did we miss it?”

He’s sprawled half on top of me, our limbs tangled together and his back against my chest. I can feel heat rising in my cheeks. “I don’t know. Quell, could you…” I put a hand on his shoulder and give it a gentle nudge.

“Oh! Sorry.” He scrambles off of me, backing away from the ledge and up against Poppy. He nervously adjusts his glasses.

I pointedly look back to the cliff, forcing my thoughts on that embarrassing encounter aside. “I was watching the ground. It wasn’t there before. It looked like your foot went right through the ground, like it wasn’t even there.”

“What?” The question is so sharp, I look back at him. Far from being flustered, his brows have knotted in concentration. “Describe exactly what you saw.”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “It was like one moment the ground was there, but the second you stepped forward, it vanished.”

Quell turns his attention back toward the cliff, frowning. “Hold on. That sounds like…” He pauses a moment, then his eyes go wide. “Of course. Oh, gods, Nye, you’re going to think me such a fool!”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” I say.

Quell stands up, and I cautiously follow suit, eyeing the nearby ledge. He’s too close for my liking. I surreptitiously grab a corner of his cloak, just in case.

Quell takes a steadying breath, closing his eyes. Then he raises his hands like an orchestra conductor, and an ethereal purple glow flickers around his fingers. He slowly exhales, and an aurora of magic leaves with his breath. The light is caught on the wind and swirls around him, growing brighter and thicker by the second. Then he snaps his palms forward, and the magic pulses away from us. As it does, reality ripples.

The sandstorm shimmers. The ground undulates like a stone cast into a lake. Overhead, moonlight breaks through the storm. Then, all at once, the illusion shatters.

It’s like someone’s removed a pane of distorted glass from before my face. Large sections of ground fizzle away; the wind’s howl dies, and its force dissipates. It’s not completely gone, the sand still stinging our skin, but it’s also no longer obscuring our sight. We’re standing on a rocky plateau, surrounded by snaking canyons.

Awed, my gaze returns to Quell. His eyes are still closed, but his expression is one of serious concentration. The slouch in his shoulders is gone. Whatever he did just affected miles of land around us. How could he ever have thought he’s a useless?

He’s amazing.

Quell opens his eyes, then lets out a little squeal and backpedals from the cliff’s edge.

And, moment gone.

“It was all an illusion?” I ask.

“Mostly,” he says, back up to slump against Poppy’s hide. He pauses for a moment, as if out of breath. “The sandstorm is real, though the illusion made it seem much worse than it was. Illusions aren’t just visual, but can be audial as well, and the really strong ones can have a slight tactile element. Gods, would you look at all these gorges! We’re lucky we didn’t fall in.”

I carefully edge up to the side of the cliff, peering over. “I don’t think luck was any part of it.”

“What do you mean?” he asks.

There are bones at the bottom of the cliff. White sticks and stones scattered all across the canyon floor. “I think this is where the illusions were trying to lure us.”

“There wasn’t a monster,” Quell realizes. “When Darian and Liz’s star drake vanished, it must have fallen off an invisible ledge. Gone in an instant.”

My stomach churns. The very same had nearly happened to Quell and I. Which means the others… I look around the plateau, and my heart sinks. We’re alone up here.

Quell must have reached the same conclusion. “We have to find them. They can’t be far. Actually, hold on.” He climbs up on Poppy’s back and looks behind us. He squints, tracing his finger over the land. Then he takes her reins and beckons me to join him.

“Based on the way we’ve headed, I think I know where we lost them,” he tells me.

I climb up behind him, mildly impressed. “That’s a good sense of direction.”

“Oh, it’s not that good,” he says, urging Poppy on. “We just went left when we lost the group, then right when you nearly got lured off a cliff, then we went straight and a bit left again after that.”

I snort. “Quell, take the compliment.”

“Oh.” He glances back at me. “I’m not really used to getting compliments. Ah. Thanks.”

“You also just dispelled a sandstorm-sized illusion,” I add.

He huffs. “Now you’re just trying to make me uncomfortable.”

“Maybe.” I smile at his back.

Quell leads us through the maze of ravines, finally pulling us over to stop. We both climb down.

“Okay,” he says. “If I’m right, they probably fell somewhere around here.”

The image of those bones at the bottom of the cliff float to the forefront of my mind. “Maybe I should look,” I offer. “You can stay here.”

“No,” he says firmly. “Like you said: They’re going to be fine.”

He turns and cups his hands to his mouth. “Liz!”

His voice echoes back at us from several different ravines.

“Anyone!”

We wait. His echoes die out, and my heart sinks.

Then, distantly, we hear a returning call. “Quell! Quell, we’re here!”

He turns to me and grins, his smile as bright as the sun. Much like the sun, it warms me.