Captain Saldene snaps his fingers towards the fireplace. Little red and orange sparks fly from his fingertips and fill the dark logs. Pink rose petals catch the flames and quickly turn to ash releasing their fragrance. Orange and red light dances across the wood. Smoke rises in little streams. The captain snaps his fingers again. The fire vanishes leaving a trail of fragrant smoke. My room will smell of rose and cedar for hours.

I think of Shadow’s name, his real name, none of us speak. Shadow’s power allows him to walk through darkness. If he isn’t careful he could get lost. His name can summon him anywhere, which is why none of us speak it. With his name formed in my mind I flick my fingers towards the plumes of smoke in the fireplace. A silver spark flies from my fingertips and forms the letters of Shadow’s name. The glowing symbols converge into a silver-blue butterfly made of light. The butterfly flitters into the dark streams of smoke and disappears.

We wait a moment and then another. The darkness in the fireplace expands and fills with embers. Shadow and Hikari appear, their heads bowed. Hikari looks even smaller than I last remember standing next to Shadow, who has sprouted up in the past year. It’s hard to believe they are nearly the same age. Both far too young to do what they are doing.

Hikari’s tawny fox-ears poke through the top of her black hair. She lifts her head and her pink eyes twinkle with mischievous excitement.

“You summoned us, my lord.” She eyes Captain Saldene before taking in the room. Her cheeks deepen in red blush as she drops into a curtsey and adds, “Your highness, Captain.”

“Report,” Captain Saldene commands.

“We located the attackers’ family, and discovered two areas of further investigation, one being the elderly woman from the attacker’s memories and the second a floating island with ancient ruins that the Order appears to be excavating,” Hikari reports with a bow. “I have isolated Yaga, the elderly woman who I believe recruited the attacker. I am learning as much as I can from her in order to mimic her and infiltrate the Order.

“Shadow has been observing the Order’s activities on the floating island. I will let him report.” She nods for Shadow to continue.

Shadow’s golden irises meet mine. His memories flow with blue skies and wispy clouds. Floating islands dot the sky. Their undersides caverns of rock. The tops are green lush gardens lined with fallen cities. Abandoned when those who could fly lost their magic and their wings. Not yet inhabited, because steam flyers are expensive and difficult to control this high up.

I recognize the island in Shadow’s memories. My stomach sinks as I realize what he will find.

“We believe the people excavating an ancient library are working with the Order of Lilith,” he says. “I managed to recover a few books, but many are ruined or in pieces. None of them are in any language I can read.”

Shadow’s memories are full of a city with Gryphon and Pegasus statues. Actual Pegasus and Gryphons, with feathers and hooves and beaks, not their human descendants. Moss clings to the exposed sides of forgotten buildings. People-shaped shadows move in the distance. My heart hammers unsteadily within. I want to reach for my ponytail. I know this city and this structure. I know these buildings and this place of lost books.

“It’s my fault.” My voice is weak as the images fade.

Everyone’s eyes find me. I stare down at my hands and rope my hair through my fingers. The attacks. The blood-magic woman. It’s all my fault. I led the Order right to the door of the oldest library in all of Shilon.

“What do you mean?” Artunnus’ voice deepens with concern.

“I’ve spent the last two years scouring the floating islands. I found bits and pieces of ancient civilizations, but this discovery was huge. I’ve been hiding the books on my estate in the Towering Heights. The Elders don’t know.” I address the last comment to Captain Saldene, whose eyes could fry me like the eggs he ate minutes ago.

“The books are written in a mixture of Ancient Languages, both Gryphon, and Pegai. I hired linguists to help decipher them in pieces. I gave a few pages here, a few there, keeping the books apart like a puzzle. The Order must have found some of the pages, or seen me flying to the island.”

“You didn’t tell us.” Artunnus eyes me with surprise. He’s not the only one with secrets.

“I was afraid the Elders would burn them,” I confess my chest heavy with guilt. “I’m pretty sure they contain ancient rituals the Order probably used.”

“That could explain the sudden appearance of two magically-poisoned attacks,” Captain Saldene rumbles. “We’ll have to make sure the books you’re keeping are still hidden. Shadow, excavate the library and hide whatever you find. You can store the books in the Briga’s extra bunks and Chanel’s chambers. She won’t be using them.”

We all look up at him. His face tightens with our curiosity. He lets out a restrained sigh. “Chanel will be moving into the tower to keep watch over Styre, Elders’ orders.”

“In Amora’s rooms?” I’m both aghast and a bit happy. No one has entered those chambers since Amora was kidnapped. I feel worried about having them used, but if it’s Chanel, it would be okay. I’ve never mentioned Amora to her.

“You’re going to the gala with her, correct?” The captain eyes me then Artunnus. His thoughts rumble with images of the two of us covered in blood sitting in the Elders’ Study.

I nod.

“Good,” he glances at Artunnus. “She will offer protection and healing if anything should happen, that should keep both your minds at ease.”

I turn to Artunnus. He crosses his arms and gives a tight nod to the captain. “I can’t object the Elders’ orders.” His thoughts flicker with images of Chanel and I laughing together. I think he might be jealous.

“Hikari, continue learning all you can from the old woman, but be careful.” Captain Saldene commands. “We have reason to believe there might be a traitor on our end. Only infiltrate when you are rested and strong. Go in small bursts until you are confident in maintaining your disguise.”

Hikari bows with a, “Yes sir.”

The captain’s magic scurries across his skin, a glowing lizard racing to find prey revealing his unease. “There is something else I need from you, Hikari.”

She stares up at him, her face tight with anticipation.

“Have you mastered that trick with the leaf yet?”

Hikari’s eyes glow as she pulls a green leaf broad enough to wear as a hat from her uniform pocket. “It works for an hour or two at most.”

“Good. We need to use it for an extremely delicate and secret mission.” Captain Saldene’s glowing lizard ropes itself under his chin. “Show it to Prince Alastyre and Prince Artunnus.”

The leaf trembles in Hikari’s fingers as she turns to face me.

“Prince Alastyre. Prince Artunnus,” the formal way she says my name sounds strange coming from her little lips. A flash of our first meeting dances behind her eyes. I was younger. My mouth curled into a kind smile as I offered my hand. Captain Saldene stood in the corner looking both intimidating and strangely welcoming with a smile that lit up his whole face. A smile we do not see much of these days.

She curtseys again offering a quick glance to Artunnus. “I have recently learned to harness a bit of my power into leaves or paper to change an object or person to look like something else. It’s something legends say my ancestors were able to do.”

My heart rattles with possibilities. I motion for her to demonstrate. She holds the leaf out. Her magic spirals in little pink curls from her fingertips. The leaf sparkles and changes from crisp green to cherry blossom pink. The color deepens into heavier shades of pink, until it is the color of Hikari’s eyes. She bows her head and holds the leaf for Artunnus to take. He smirks and gently clasps the thin foliage between his fingers. The moment his skin touches it Hikari’s magic flies from the leaf and covers him.

I blink back the strange illusion. There are two images. Artunnus sits like a ghost inside a paper thin shell. The shell is a startling likeness of me. He raises his arm inside the shell, and the outer me raises the same arm.

“Great Mother,” Captain Saldene’s voice cuts in like a roar. “Which is the real one?”

“I am.” We say in unison. I glare at the smirk spreading on Artunnus’ chin within my chin.

I pull the leaf from Artunnus’ hand, breaking the strange double image and hand it back to Hikari. “Do Prince Artunnus.”

Hikari nods and looks at the leaf. I stare at her fingers as they gently move across the lines of spells which run like pink veins across the leaf. At her touch words uncurl and reform themselves. Magic spills like a waterfall out of her fingertips. It’s alive, like inch worms wiggling around in combinations. The language is foreign, yet I find a pattern emerging. There in the folds of lines is his chin and his chest.

Hikari hands me the leaf. I feel strange as the pink magic trickles out of the leaf and flows over me like a shower of petals.

“Great Mother,” Artunnus breathes.

They gape at me. I stare at their faces, their eyes. I find Artunnus where I should be. He’s wearing my clothes. I look away from their eyes and stare down at my arm. A layer of pink magic glimmers against my skin.

“It’s like a mirror,” Artunnus says as he reaches out and tousles my hair.

I shove the leaf into Captain Saldene’s hand. The magic disappears from my skin and quickly spreads across him like creeping ice.

“Well?” He looks at us. But it’s the prince’s emerald eyes we see.

“Can you make more of these?” I ask Hikari, worried it might take a toll on her.

“I have a small stack saved,” she answers pulling more from her pocket. “If you want a specific person I have to adjust the spell. When you hold them they will activate. Each one will last up to an hour, but if the leaf is damaged, the spell will break.”

“It could work,” Artunnus says. “I just have to break up my schedule into hour long chunks.”

Captain Saldene grunts with the prince’s voice. The Captain sets the leaf on an empty chair and suddenly the prince’s image springs from the leaf, arms crossed with a vacant look on his face. His clothes are the ones Captain Saldene was wearing.

“Excellent.” The grin stitched on the real Artunnus’ face seals our fates.