My mind raced as I paced the room. All eyes were on me, waiting for a verdict.

“We have to find them.” Rachel said quietly.

I didn’t answer, but just continued pacing. Then I stopped, “The hills!” I cried.

Surprised by my sudden outburst, Uthera jumped, “Wh-what about the hills?” She asked curiously.

“I mean, where else can you hide an army of horse-sized wolves?” I asked, “She must be hiding in one of the caves up there…”

Tanner nodded, “Pack a bag.” He ordered, looking at all the royals, “We’re going camping.”

“I’m coming with you!” Uthera announced.

Instantly, Tanner looked wary, “You can’t bring any of your crew.”

Uthera’s face fell, “Oh…fine…”

I looked at Tanner, “Do you still have it?” I asked.

He nodded.

“I can figure it out, somehow…ohh why didn’t Serah ever teach me how to use it?”

“Because it’s dangerous?” Henry replied.

“What?” Kate asked, “What’s dangerous?”

“The emerald.” I replied.

Immediately, Uthera scrambled away from us, her eyes wide in fear, “You have the emerald, Tanner?”

He nodded again.

Uthera’s jaw dropped, “Get rid of it!”

“No!” I cried, “It can help us find Serah and Elizabeth. If I can figure it out…”

“It’s too dangerous!” Uthera cried, “I mean, look what happened to Serah when she used it!”

“Nothing happened to her…” Tanner muttered.

“Uh, yes! She got that scar.” Uthera snapped.

“You gave her that scar because you cut her across the face in that fight that we had! That’s on you.”

Uthera blinked, “Oh. But we still shouldn’t risk it!”

“Serah and Elizabeth would both sacrifice their lives to make sure we were okay.” I snapped, “So we’re going to do it for them.”

My mind was made up, so I turned out of the living room and made my way to my room.

Only an hour later, we were all ready to go. Henry’s servants brought horses from the stables and we prepared to set off. Colten, Scarlett and Kat offered to stay behind and watch the house in case Serah or Elizabeth came back.

We set off through the town and out through an alleyway.

We came to a small cliff.

Tanner circled the top suspiciously.

“What?” I asked.

But he shook his head, “Never mind.”

Perryn finished his thought for him, “This is the cliff that Serah comes to. He’s looking to see if she might’ve left a clue.”

I looked at him incredulously.

He shrugged sheepishly, “What?”

I turned back to Tanner, “Is there anything?”

He shook his head again, “No. Let’s keep going.”

I nodded and we continued on our way.

We tromped through the forest, stopping beside a stream when nightfall came.

We tied our horses to trees and built a small fire. Huddling together around it, no one spoke. Everyone was tired, but no one wanted to go to sleep.

A low wolf howl made us all jerk up.

Tanner threw dirt over the fire, and we all huddled closer, chilled by the absence of heat and fear of what was in the dark.

The howl came again, closer this time. Two more howls joined it in song. We listened to the eerie but beautiful song.

“We must be in her territory.” I murmured, “They’re hunting.”

“But they’re humans…” Amber whispered.

“With wolf instincts.” Uthera replied, “They hunt to eat.”

The horses began to paw the ground nervously when the howls came closer.

A sudden snarl to our left made us jump to our feet.

A large she-wolf, with pale fur and blue eyes snarled at us, she had appeared just out of the thick brush of the forest.

“Serah?” I asked.

Uthera shook her head, “Serah was smaller, with completely white fur. And her eyes were more turquoise than just blue.”

I swallowed, “That’s comforting.”

She approached, her eyes hungry and intense, her teeth bared threateningly.

Then she lunged.

I ducked as she lunged, but realized it wasn’t necessary. She effortlessly jumped over us, instead targeting one of the horses.

The fearful mare reared, snapped her lead rope, and vanished into the woods. We heard the hunting howl of the she-wolf fade as she followed the mare.

“That was my horse.” Kate whimpered.

“No.” Henry said grumpily, “You just rode her. She was my horse.”

“You have like a hundred.” Tanner grumbled.

After the she-wolf left, we finally settled down again.

I listened to the howling of wolves in the night. When I was at home, I would often hear them. But this was different. Now, they were closer, they seemed more real and in that, even more beautiful.

I finally fell asleep under Tanner’s watchful eye.

“Lydia.” A voice said, “Lydia!” The voice was becoming more urgent.

“Lydia!!”

I jerked awake. I sat straight up, my head hitting Robin’s. He yelped as he fell backwards, “Ow!”

“Sorry.” I mumbled.

“Lydia, let’s go.” Tanner said suddenly, pulling me to my feet. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him glaring at Robin, who blinked back at him innocently. I smirked, even though Robin had not yet made any moves towards me, Tanner still felt like making sure that Robin knew that he was to never mess with me or Tanner himself.

We saddled up and started off through the woods again.

Henry, much to Kate’s bewilderment, allowed her to ride on his own horse behind him. He didn’t seem bothered, but Kate’s face held a permanent blush.

“How much longer?” Kate asked after a few hours.

“Why? Are you in a rush?” Henry asked, smirking back at her.

Her blush intensified, “No! I mean, well…uh…”

“Shouldn’t be much longer.” I said, deciding to put her out of her misery, “We should be at the cave by noon.”