Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. The voice hung in the doorway like it was supposed to be. Arias fingers gripped the patient log tightly. Her mind refused to accept what she had heard. It couldn't be. It shouldn't be.. Her instincts told her the voice was real."Aria, " Rowan said softly. She didn't respond.Footsteps started again.. Steady. A figure emerged from the darkness. He wore a gray coat with stains from years of travel. His beard had silver streaks and deep lines were on his face. Time had changed him. Not enough to hide who he was.Aria recognized his eyes first. The same calm gray eyes that looked down at her when she was a child. The same eyes she remembered from dreams she thought weren't real."Elias..." Rowan whispered.The man nodded once. "I see you've kept your promise." Rowan's jaw clenched. "Barely."Nyra looked from one man to the other confused. "Someone explain why everyone looks like they've seen a ghost." No one answered.Aria stared at the stranger. Her father

The floor shook under Arias' feet.She was standing in her boots. The ground was moving.A low rumble echoed through the room.It was coming from the stones.They were groaning like they were tired.Then Aria heard the sound of water.It was not a little drip.It was a roar.The water was rushing through the walls somewhere.It was getting louder every second.Nyra held the iron lantern tight.She said "I liked it better when people were only trying to kill us."Nobody laughed.Elias walked towards the tunnel.He said "They've opened the flood system."Rowan looked worried.He said "Can we stop it?"Elias said "Not from here."Adrian was very calm.He said "You always make an exit Elias."Rowan said "You did this."Adrian just shrugged.He said "I took away your choices."His friends spread out. Blocked the way.Adrian said "If Elias dies today the Blood Key dies with him."Arias' heart skipped a beat.She thought about the Blood Key again.Before she could ask what it meant Elias tur

The words hung in the air for a long time after they were spoken.The last Voss.Aria looked at her father.Elias stood a few feet away.He was alive.He was breathing.He was watching the hooded stranger with a look on his face that Aria couldn't understand.There was confusion.There was regret.There was recognition."That's impossible, " Aria said.The young woman stepped forward before the hooded archer could answer."It sounds impossible."". It's not."The woman seemed a few years older than Aria.She wore travel-worn boots.She had a green cloak with dust on it.The silver pendant on her chest had a tree engraved on it.The same tree was on the handle of Arias brass key.Not the serpent.The tree.Aria was starting to think that the tree symbol meant people were trying to help her not hurt her."Who are you?" Aria asked."My name is Mira, " the woman said."And him?"Mira looked at the archer."He speaks when he wants to."Nyra crossed her arms."I don't like him already."The

The song floated through the dark.It was soft and gentle.The sound of water was all around them but the song was still loud enough to hear.Aria stopped moving.Her whole body went stiff.She knew that song.It was not because she had heard it a lot.It was because she had not heard it in a while.Her mother used to hum it when Liam could not sleep.Aria was old enough to remember it. She was also old enough to pretend she was not listening.Nyra almost ran into Aria."What is wrong?" she asked.Aria raised her hand.It was shaking."Listen, " she said.Everyone was quiet.The song came again.It was slow and familiar.It was also very sad.Elias looked down."I have not heard that song in years, " he said.Aria asked him "You know that song too?"Elias said, "It was your mothers song."Arias' throat felt tight.Her mother only sang that song for Liam.The hooded archer looked into the tunnel."Whoever is singing wants you to follow them, " he said.Nyra did not like that idea."Tha

The whistles sound faded away into silence. Nobody moved. Aria was still holding the wooden whistle in her hands. They were shaking. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around the whistle. It was like she thought that if she let go the sound would disappear from her memory.Nyra was the one to speak up."That was not an echo."Rowan agreed with her."No it was not.""It came from ahead of us, " he said.Cassian looked down the passage that went beyond the lake. The darkness there seemed different now. It did not seem like a tunnel anymore. It seemed like something was waiting for them."Someone heard us, " Cassian said."Or something, " Nyra said quietly.The hooded archer tilted his head to the side. He was listening to something."They are moving, " he said."Who is moving?" Aria asked him."The ones who're beyond the river, " he replied.Before Aria could ask him any questions, the silver compass that was inside the wooden box started to vibrate.Mira picked it up carefully.The needl