When Faith next awoke, it was still morning. The back of her neck was sore, but no longer bleeding. There were two more feathers. Vallen came back not long later, with two bottles of water and two sandwiches. They ate in silence. Faith tried to drink the water slowly, but she was parched.

“How’s your neck?” Vallen asked.

“It stopped bleeding,” Faith said. “There’s two more feathers.”

“Just don’t pull them out,” Vallen said. “It will spread slower if you don’t.”

“Did you pull yours out?” Faith asked. Last night it had sounded like he’d had experience with it.

Vallen frowned at the floor for a moment, then he nodded. “It was when I was at Sky and Sea. For some, the wyvern blood affected them in worse ways and they didn’t survive. The others who started to become like me were ended by other members of the group, or themselves. After the wings grew, the others decided it would be more merciful to kill me.

“I went up to the attic and blocked off the door. I had pulled out two feathers before then, the first ones that showed up. That was when I noticed they grew faster if I did that. I didn’t want them to kill me. I wanted to stop Quivis, and I thought I could still save Altunei. I pulled out many feathers and one or two scales. I’m not sure if it was that, or that I wanted it to finish, but it happened fast after that.”

“Then you escaped?” Faith asked.

Vallen nodded. “It took getting used to, but I flew away. When I came back, after realizing I couldn’t stop the beings on my own, the others were dead. All of this happened after Quivis killed my wife and daughter. I was twenty at the time.” He frowned. “Sometimes it seems like it was only yesterday, but it was so long ago.” He looked at Faith. “When you told me the wyvern blood went into you, I knew you would become like me. For the ones who didn’t survive, it affected them right away. For those like me, it was slower.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

“We’ll go to the lake tonight,” Vallen said. “It’s likely Altunei and Hew will be there.” He stood and put his coat on. “We should look for the two of them and Suzie, though I doubt we’ll find them before tonight.”

The two of them left the hotel together. Sills was small, but it wasn’t until late in the day that they had seen the whole town. The hotel was at the edge of Sills and looked as old and worn on the outside as it did on the inside. It was a warm day, with many people out. They all gave Vallen odd looks as he was bundled up in his scarf, gloves, and coat. Faith didn’t see Hew, Altunei, or Suzie. Where would they stay until night? And where was Riley?

The sun was setting when Faith and Vallen got sandwiches and returned to the hotel. They ate in silence again and waited for the sun to finish setting. As soon as it set, the two of them left for the lake.

“How do I put her to sleep?” Faith asked. Would it be different without the pendant?

“You’ll know,” Vallen said.

She hoped he was right.

It started to rain hard just before they reached the lake. Vallen had put his coat back on, but not the scarf, sunglasses, or gloves. Faith didn’t see anyone else out on the way to the lake, not with the dark and the rain. At least the rain was warm. The lake was just outside of town. The water tossed and stirred, and there was no one in sight. No Altunei, Hew, Suzie, or Riley. Faith and Vallen moved closer to the water slowly.

The area around the lake was open and grassy. Faith didn’t see any messengers. The water of the lake tossed against the rocky shore harder. Messengers pulled themselves out of the lake. They stood between Faith and Vallen and the water, not moving.

“I’ll hold them off,” Vallen said, taking his coat off and letting it fall to the ground. He spread out his wings.

Vallen ran at the messengers, cutting through them with his sharp nails. Faith ran toward the lake, avoiding the messengers who reached for her. She dived into the water, which was calm under the surface. Her muscles clenched against the unexpected cold of the water. She forced herself to move, to swim down toward the bottom of the lake. Something came into sight through the dark water.

The water was darker ahead. That was how Ninivus had appeared when she’d first seen him. She didn’t see any messengers, but they could be a part of the water. Faith swam closer to the dark mass, feeling the warmth of the wyvern blood inside of her. She reached the rocky bottom of the lake and stood on it. There was air in her lungs that hadn’t been there before. Was it from the wyvern blood?

Faith stared at the dark mass that was Vibis, but Vibis didn’t open her eyes. Faith had seen Ninivus’s eyes when he almost woke up. Vibis wasn’t as close to waking up as Ninivus had been. The warmth inside of Faith became stronger. She took a step closer to Vibis, having a feeling she should. Something shot through the water, landing between Faith and Vibis. Faith took a step back quickly, but Hew moved fast as he came closer. Faith backed away further.

Hew’s white hair stood out in the water, a faint light from above shining off his blue scales. Some moonlight must have made it through the storm clouds. Hew lunged, reaching for Faith. She moved to the side, one of his hands brushing past her shoulder. She needed a weapon. Faith was just about to reach for a sizable rock when partly rotted hands grabbed her from behind. She pulled against Altunei, but he was stronger than a messenger.

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Faith pulled against him harder, but to no avail. Hew turned away, moving closer to the dark mass of Vibis. One of Altunei’s hands left Faith’s shoulder. She pulled against him harder, but he was too strong. She felt him grab her feathers. Sharp pain cut across the back of her neck. It came again, worse this time. A feather floated down in front of her, red staining the water around her.

Faith pulled against Altunei again, weaker this time. He pulled out another feather, then another. Faith’s lungs burned, the air from before vanishing, along with the feeling she could put Vibis to sleep. Pale blue eyes shone in the darkness of Vibis. She was awake. The water around Faith became redder. Altunei let go, swimming toward the surface. Faith felt rocks beneath her hands, her surroundings blurring.

She looked up and Hew was gone. Vibis stared at her. Darkness reached toward Faith, taking the shape of a tentacle. It pulled back sharply when it reached the red in the water. She was afraid of Faith’s blood. This was her chance to escape, her only chance. Faith gathered what strength she had left. It took everything she had to continue to hold her breath, despite there being no breath left to hold.

Faith pushed off from the bottom of the lake, swimming toward the surface. The surface seemed impossibly far away. Darkness closed in around her, but it wasn’t a part of Vibis. The surface broke over her. Faith gasped, the rainy air freezing cold. A wave tossed her back under. She fought back to the surface, swimming toward the shore as hard as she could. Vallen pulled her out of the water and they ran, the messengers running after them.

Faith didn’t see Altunei or Hew. The rain came down harder than any she’d seen. The messengers stopped following before Faith and Vallen reached the hotel. Vallen hadn’t let go of Faith. She wasn’t sure she could have stayed on her feet if he did. They made it up to the room. Faith sat on the edge of the bed, unable to stop shivering. Vallen put his dripping coat over the back of the chair. Faith hesitated, then reached up and touched the back of her neck. Her hand was slick with red when she pulled it away.

“You’re bleeding.” Vallen grabbed his scarf and pressed it over the back of Faith’s neck.

Faith reached up and took the scarf, pressing harder. “Vibis is awake. I don’t think I can put her to sleep anymore.”

Vallen sat in the chair, leaning back against his soaked coat. Water dripped from his feathers. “Altunei pulled out your feathers, didn’t he?”

Faith nodded.

Vallen frowned hard. He shook water from his wings. “He must have known what would happen, that you wouldn’t be able to put Vibis to sleep at a certain point. Altunei and Vibis would have an aversion to your blood though.”

“I think that’s how I escaped,” Faith said.

Vallen seemed deep in thought.

Rain pounded against the window without end. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but Faith didn’t see any lightning. She looked away from the boarded up window, at the rotting carpet. The carpet had come up in places, showing the damaged floorboards beneath. There were odd stains on the carpet. Why had this place closed? Maybe she didn’t want to know.

“We have to find Riley,” Vallen said.

“How?” Faith asked. They had to be keeping him somewhere, but where? How would she and Vallen find out?

“There’s a building out in the marsh, in the forest,” Vallen said. “It flooded a while back. I heard about it in town, that they’ve been thinking of tearing it down but haven’t. Riley could be there. They have to be keeping him somewhere, and Suzie wasn’t with Altunei and Hew. She has to be somewhere too.”

“Altunei and Hew could be waiting there,” Faith said.

Vallen nodded. “Even so, we have to try.”

Faith wanted to get Riley back, to get Suzie back, but what hope she’d had seemed to have gone. Maybe Altunei had ripped it out along with her feathers.

“They’re too strong,” Faith said, the words coming out quiet. “The two of us alone can’t stop them. Even with Riley…”

Vallen frowned hard at her. “We can stop them. We will stop them.”

“Quivis had to be put to sleep,” Faith said. “He wasn’t defeated.”

Vallen stood swiftly and joined her on the edge of the bed. He stared at her. “We will stop him.” He looked away for a moment, then back at her. “My father used to tell me that even a drop in the sea makes ripples.”

Those ripples wouldn’t go far, not with how vast the sea was. Faith knew that wasn’t the point.

“We’ll stop him,” Vallen said quietly. “And we’ll get your daughter back.”

The rain had slowed, and Faith didn’t hear any more thunder. Lightning struck far in the distance, but it didn’t come again.

“How could Quivis’s will have gotten into Suzie?” Faith asked.

“It could have been in her a long time and just woken up,” Vallen said. “Has she ever been out to sea near Gull Bay?”

“She went out with Collin sometimes.” Faith hesitated. “Why her? There were so many others who went out there.”

Vallen didn’t answer for a moment, staring at the carpet. He didn’t look away from it. “Maybe it wasn’t intentional. Or maybe Quivis knew your husband knew about him.”

Faith didn’t know which of those was worse, only that she shouldn’t think about it any longer. “Can we go where Quivis is and end him somehow before he wakes up?”

“No.” Vallen said it without hesitation, looking at her again. “Quivis will have ways of protecting himself. Fighting him while he’s asleep would be just as dangerous as fighting him when he’s awake. The sea followed his will before. We might not even be able to reach him until he wakes up.”

“When do we go to the marsh?” Faith asked.

Vallen smiled. “In the morning. Get some rest, I’ll watch for messengers.”