Kalden leaned on Akari as they stumbled toward the shore. Well, he stumbled. She played the role of a coiled spring, pressed down by the weight of his body. They’d made a few bandages with scraps of clothing, and Kalden kept pressure on his shoulder with his free hand. Meanwhile, a makeshift tourniquet stopped the bleeding in his leg.

“We don’t have time for that,” Akari had said while he twisted the tourniquet in place. She’d taken the time to find Frostblade’s keys and unlock her cuffs, but that was the extent of her patience.

He glanced up at her. “You’re a healing expert now?”

She shrugged.

“I’ve already lost too much blood. What will you do if I pass out? Carry me to shore like a princess?”

Akari glanced back toward the sea. “We’ll need someone to carry us both if Elend sails away.”

They reached the bottom of the ridge, but the forest was empty in every direction. No sound but the wind in the trees and the distant waves as they crashed over the beach.

“What happened to the soldiers?” Kalden asked. “I saw at least ten head this way.”

“I saw six,” Akari muttered. She almost sounded guilty, which wasn’t very Akari-like. He read between the lines, though. Not just in her tone, but in the tension in her muscles. She’d fought those soldiers the same way she’d fought Agent Frostblade.

Killing was never easy, even when it was necessary or justified. He’d learned that same lesson tonight.

They limped on, and the scent of gunpowder filled his nostrils. Bodies lay in the undergrowth a dozen paces to their right, and he saw splatters of crimson against the trees.

Akari kept her eyes focused straight ahead, and Kalden squeezed her shoulder.

“Thanks,” he told her.

She nodded, still pulling him along. It was hard to keep up with his wounded leg, but he forced down the pain. He could rest on the boat.

“So . . .” Kalden kept talking to distract himself. “Silver, huh?” Hopefully, that was a safer subject.

“Yeah.” Her lip curled up at the corner. “Must be some invisible Construct around the island. Advancing was easy once we got past the shore.”

Easy. Relia had said the same thing. In her world, even children could advance within the Novice realm.

“Only the Golds had clearance to come out here,” Kalden mused. “That’s why they never figured it out.”

Advancing within the Novice realm might be easy, but the Apprentice realm was another story. You had to rebuild your entire body, digging new channels into every cell. Someone had erased that knowledge here, along with anything else regarding advancement. No doubt their so-called ‘benefactors’ were responsible.

He and Akari reached the shore a minute later, and they let out a long, collective sigh of relief. The boat still floated in the cove’s shallow waters, rocking back and forth in the tides.

Four more Martials lay in the sand. Unlike Akari’s victims, these were still breathing, with no visible wounds. Definitely Elend’s work.

Kalden turned to Akari, but she looked as surprised as he felt.

“Hey.” Elend waved from the boat. “Glad you could join us.”

Relia climbed down the short staircase on the back, wading toward them in the water. She looked a little unsteady, but her face was full of life again.

“You guys okay?” she asked as she took Kalden’s other arm.

Kalden forced out a smile. “I’d take some healing, if you’re up for it.”

“Still recharging.” Relia patted the center of her chest. “But I found a first aid kit on board. That’ll have to do.”

They waded through the cold water until it reached their knees. Relia held the boat in place while Akari and Kalden took turns climbing the back staircase.

The Grandmaster offered them each a hand when they reached the top, pulling them the rest of the way.

“Thanks for waiting,” Kalden said.

Elend grinned. “Better get below deck this time, lad. The tides are a lot nastier than the Martials.”

“No arguments here,” Kalden said as Akari and Relia grabbed his arms again. Elend returned to the helm and took hold of the steering wheel. The motor roared, and the deck shifted beneath their feet.

Kalden felt the wind on his face as they finally sailed toward their freedom.

~~~

Akari wasted no time before she raided the pantry. There wasn’t much down here, but she did find some protein bars and water bottles.

The kitchen was barely big enough for one person, but they had an oven, a microwave, a sink, and a mini-fridge. The bathroom was even smaller. If Akari stretched out her arms to either side, she could almost reach both walls with her elbows. Most of the furniture was bolted down, and everything else lay in piles on the floor, including a few lamps and pillows in the living room.

Kalden lay shirtless on the room’s only sofa while Relia cleaned his shoulder wound. Akari handed him the water bottle and got a good long look at his abs. Then she stole a second glance while he was drinking.

“Thanks,” Kalden said once he’d finished half the bottle.

Akari nodded as she turned to Relia. “I saw some liquid mana in the fridge. Might help fill up your tank.”

“Thanks,” Relia said, “but I’ve never liked the taste.”

Akari raised an eyebrow. “You’re a mana artist who doesn’t drink mana?”

She shrugged as she applied some translucent gel to Kalden’s shoulder. “I’d have to drink a whole bottle to recharge, and my stomach would hate me for that.” The boat rocked to the side, and her lips pulled back in a grimace. “It already hates the sea.”

That made sense. They probably had much stronger liquid mana on the mainland. And if the people were stronger, then maybe the plants and animals were too.

Grandmaster-level mana beasts . . . now there was some nightmare fuel. She’d finally reached Silver, and now she was going to feel weaker than ever. But at least she would have allies and resources this time. She wouldn’t have to train in secret, or cross national borders to advance.

They spent the next half-hour catching up. Relia apologized several times for getting caught, and they told her about their journey from Mt. Khasa to Keylas. She just nodded along as if this were a normal day, even when Kalden described the boat flying through the mana wall.

The conversation died down after a while, and Akari made her way back on deck to see the Grandmaster.

The sun was a haze of fire on the horizon, and the waves sparkled like a pane of broken glass. Akari had seen sunrises before, but never ones like this. This felt so much closer—practically level with her eyes.

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“How’s your boyfriend?” Elend asked when she crested the staircase.

“Nonexistent,” she replied. “But Kalden’s fine.”

“Good to hear. Grab a tether if you’re sightseeing.”

“Huh?” She glanced down and noticed a mess of ropes on the floor near the gravity generator. They’d used those to tie Relia down before.

“Attach one to your belt,” he said. “Can’t have you falling in.”

She grabbed the nearest one and clipped it to the belt loop on her pants. Hardly seemed necessary with how calm the sea was, though. Speaking of which . . .

“I thought the waves were like skyscrapers out here.”

Elend chuckled and shook his head. “If we’re talking world records, sure. But your average tides don’t get much higher than a few hundred feet.” He pointed a finger to the north. “See that chain of islands?”

Akari squinted at the horizon. She didn’t see anything but clouds and water, but she still nodded along.

“Most tides and mana storms come from the center of the sea. Those landmasses protect us like a shield.”

“What’s in the center?” she asked.

“No one knows. Not even a Mystic can survive out there. Some say there’s an ancient mana spirit called Storm’s Eye, and the tides are the echoes of its techniques. Others say there’s a portal to Eternity, and the Angels send the storms to test us.”

“What do the smart people say?” Akari asked.

“I don’t know.”

She frowned. “You don’t know what they say?”

“No, that’s literally what we say.”

She glanced back out at the horizon. “But we’re safe as long as we hide behind the islands?”

He chuckled. “Oh no, lass. We’ll have plenty of open water between here and Cadria. Don’t worry—you’ll see some real waves before this trip is done. Then you’ll wish you hadn’t.”

Akari nodded as she sat down on the bench near the helm.

“You should sleep,” he said. “Little Silvers like you need at least ten hours per night.”

Akari snorted. She would sleep soon, but first, she had a question that couldn’t wait. Well, technically, she had a thousand questions, but only one that would keep her up.

She took a deep breath. “You called me Emeri when you first woke up.”

“Apologies,” he said with a dismissive wave. “Must’ve been the ice chamber loosening my tongue.”

“Did you know someone named Emeri?”

“Sure. I’ve been a professor for forty years. I’ve known plenty of Akaris, too.”

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Emeri was my mom’s name. Emeri Zeller.”

“Zeller.” He tasted the word, then shook his head. “Sorry, lass. That one doesn’t ring any bells.”

“Oh.” Akari stared down at the wooden deck. So much for that idea.

“But you do remind me of another young lady I knew. Her name was Emeri Clifton.”

“What?” Akari snapped her head back up. Her mother’s first name, and her father’s clan name? What were the odds of that? She searched Elend’s face, but he seemed more interested in the sea.

“Was she married?” Akari asked.

“Aye. She married a student of mine. A boy named Mazren.”

“What the hell?”

“I agree. It’s a strange name. His friends called him maze runner.”

“Mazren Clifton,” she repeated in a daze. “That’s my dad’s name.”

Elend shifted in his seat to face her. For the first time, she actually had his full attention. “Your parents were Mazren and Emeri Clifton?”

“Yeah,” Akari said. “I mean, no. My mom never took his name. They weren’t married. And they never left the Archipelago.”

Elend considered that for a moment. “How do you know?”

“I . . .” She trailed off. “Which part?”

“Emeri was Shokenese, right? Short black hair? Glasses? Looked kind of like you?”

“Sure,” Akari said. That sounded right, but it could also describe thousands of other Shokenese women.

“And Mazren was Espirian,” he continued. “Brown hair, blue eyes? Hand or so shorter than me?”

She nodded. But once again, that described tons of Espirian men, if not most of them.

“And they were both mana artists,” Elend said.

“No.” Akari deflated. “Mazren’s a Construct technician. My mom just waited tables at a diner.”

“Aye,” Elend said. “And you were supposedly a student with no combat training. But Relia tells me you fight like someone with years of experience. And your actions tonight seem to prove that.”

“Those weren’t fair fights,” Akari said. “I got by with—”

“No such thing as a fair fight, lass.” He leaned forward. “Tricks or no tricks, those Martials shouldn’t have lost to an untrained civilian.”

Talek. He wasn’t wrong about that. She’d gotten lucky tonight—especially with Frostblade and the gun. But she’d also been calm and clear during the fights themselves. Despite the whirlwind of emotions in her brain, her body had known exactly what to do. You didn’t get those results without years of training.

Elend scraped the gray stubble on his chin. “You weren’t born on this island, were you?”

Akari blinked. Was he even listening to her? She’d just said her parents had never left this place. Hard to be born somewhere without your mom around.

Then again, she’d seen Espiria in her dreams. So had Kalden, Mazren, and probably countless others.

The Martials’ benefactors had lied about mana arts and advancement. They’d lied about the outside world, and they’d lied about Relia and Elend. Why not lie about this too? If they could destroy centuries of knowledge in this prison, then why not destroy the prisoners’ memories, too?

“I don’t know,” she finally said.

“You don’t remember leaving,” Elend said, “but you have dreams. Dreams of being a different person, in a different place.”

Chills raced up her arms, and she hung on every word he said.

“Mazren and Emeri had a daughter,” he continued. “I never met her, but my memories of them are hazy enough. And I’ve spent decades searching through my dreams for answers.”

“But why?” she asked. “How did we get here? And how did we forget?”

“I can only speculate,” he replied. “That’s why I came here. To learn, and to help whoever I could.” He raised his left hand, shaking the black cuff on his wrist. “Didn’t go so well.”

“I’ll take theories.”

Elend hummed in consideration. “I believe someone forced you here against your will. Powerful knowledge artists could have altered your memories of the outside world, making you believe it was destroyed. They could have done the same thing to us, making us forget about you.”

She and Kalden had shared a similar theory once, but they’d dismissed it as improbable. Once an idea got that absurd, it seemed easier to believe the dreams were just dreams.

“Can knowledge artists really do that?”

He shrugged. “We can make people believe things that aren’t true, and forget things that are. But on a global scale?” He shook his head. “I doubt even a hundred Mystics could pull that off. Even then, there should be more evidence. Records, photos, recordings, possessions . . . you can’t erase everything.”

“You can make illusions,” Akari noted. Changing some words on a page seemed a hell of a lot easier than making helicopters from scratch.

Elend raised a finger. “Temporarily. Each of my techniques needs a constant flow of mana to sustain itself. And these techniques are never permanent. They weaken with distance and time.”

She chewed on that. “And if someone took memories, then what’s up with the dreams?”

“Aye.” Elend nodded. “Here’s the thing about memories—they don’t just sit in a vault waiting to be retrieved. Memories are recreated each time you access them. A knowledge artist can place blocks in your mind to prevent certain neurons from firing, but your subconscious can always carve new paths. Especially when you let it wander, like when you’re sleeping, or when you’re deep in the heat of battle. And when your subconscious realizes what’s going on, those lost memories can manifest as obsessions.”

“And that’s why you’re here,” Akari said. It was the same reason Mazren had found her and taken her into his home. The same reason she and Kalden had become mana artists. They’d all known in their bones that something was wrong, even if they couldn’t put the feelings into words.

Elend nodded. “If my theory were stronger, I might have brought an army to liberate this island. But my dreams were my only evidence.” He shot her a meaningful look. “Until now. We don’t have all the answers, but several things are clear. You and your family were once mana artists, and someone stole your power.”

Family. The word left her dizzy. Akari had already suspected she’d been a mana artist before. But this? If Elend was right, then her parents had once been married. They’d loved each other, and they’d loved her. They’d been a real family, and someone had ripped them apart.

Akari and Mazren had been living a lie with an invisible wall between them. What if he’d never chosen to marry Noella? What if ‘their’ daughter wasn’t even his?

And her mother . . . Talek. Emeri had been a mana artist once, too. And then someone had stripped her of her power, sending her to a place where she’d be murdered by thugs.

Her eyes burned, but she didn’t stop the tears. The memories of her family were gone, but the feelings were all she had left.

Worst of all, they hadn’t just broken Akari’s family. There were over a quarter-million people in the Archipelago. How many of them were victims, caught in the same web?

The ice turned to fire in her blood, swirling into a raging inferno. She’d felt guilty for killing those Martials in the forest, and those were just ordinary soldiers following orders.

But somewhere out there, powerful mana artists lurked in the shadows, stealing their power, their memories, and their very identities. Why? She couldn’t say. But one day, Akari would return to this island. She’d free Mazren, and all the others they’d left behind.

And she wouldn’t stop there. She would find the people who did this. She would train for every waking moment until she was strong enough to defeat them.

“Well.” Akari let out a long, shaky breath. “Too bad you’re no closer to finding the truth.”

Elend gave her a sympathetic look. He didn’t pry, but he could probably read between the lines. “That’s not true. I have you and Kalden.”

She shrugged. “Sounds like we know even less than you.”

“Oh, I disagree. You have your dreams, and those dreams are the key to all of this.”

“But dreams aren’t real memories. How do we know we’re not making this stuff up?”

“Because.” Elend turned back toward the horizon, guiding their vessel around the waves. “My aspect is good for more than just party tricks. I can help you unlock your mind and the memories you’ve lost. Separate the fact from the fiction. Then we can untangle this web of secrets once and for all.”