As Thea had said, they’d spent a few more nights in the forest and traveled another half a day before it had begun thinning out considerably. The terrain started to shift and Rowena began to catch glimpses of mountains in the distance, with whitish stones ranging in size from the massive to ones no bigger than her head beginning to dot the landscape. She knew Arcania was nestled close to a large mountain range– called the Arcanian Mountains, though Rowena had no idea which was named first: the mountains, the city, or the University– and she was eager to finally see them.

Strange how one could live one’s whole life so relatively close to something, yet never see it.

The first night she’d had a very welcome surprise when she looked in the bag Thea had packed them full of provisions– she’d included a large packet of ground coffee with a small piece of parchment describing how to boil it in the smaller of the two travel pots she’d also gifted them. And fortunately, no one else seemed to like the beverage much, so it was entirely Rowena’s treat, much as there was licorice that only Kieran found particularly enjoyable. Rowena was also happy to let Mattie and Sorel share a bag of dried exotic fruits, sweet and tart.

By far the most interesting thing was the map Thea had stuck into the bag. As she’d said, it was old and worn, but Kieran’s eyes had lit up when he saw it– he said it was suffused as thickly with magic as Leo’s necklace. Over the last few days, he’d been deeply immersed in studying it.

It didn’t fully make up for the attempted theft of Kieran’s necklace and Rowena’s traumatizing counterattack, but it did help. The unanswered question as to why the thieves had tried to take the necklace disturbed her, and she wished she’d pressed Thea for more information about that as well as Damon Conjuror. Some Secretseeker she was turning out to be…

Along with the thinning of the forest, however, returned the inexplicable anxiety Rowena had felt at the outset of their journey in the open hills around Tunehlan. A seemingly endless sky stretched above them, and soon they would be able to see for long distances ahead and around. Her heart began to pound in anticipation of the vast emptiness that threatened. Strange, how in all of the stories the heroes welcomed and sang of the beauty and freedom of the open road. Rowena found it nearly as terrifying as the thieves.

She focused on her Calm Person Ability and sighed with relief as a gentle calm suffused her body. Kieran frowned as he played with Leo’s necklace and looked at her, but she turned away, pretending like she hadn’t seen him.

“Why don’t we set up camp here for the night?” she asked. They had come upon a particularly thick patch of the large stones, some almost as tall as a grown woman and others stacked to be even higher. Here, they looked almost intentionally placed in a horseshoe shaped layout. Rowena wondered briefly if this had been a land of giants, back when there was said to have been such a thing.

Sorel inspected the campsite for a few moments and frowned. “This is almost too good of a campsite.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Mattie asked, already putting her bag down. She looked weary.

“Means others might use it,” Sorel shrugged. “There’s signs of… something. I’m no Tracker. But I can stand watch.”

“We all can,” Rowena said. She, too, was rather exhausted, all of the refreshed energy from the bath, meal, and relatively decent sleep at the Wandering Vine gone after a few more nights and days on the road.

Kieran brought his pack over to set it down next to Rowena’s on a broad, flat stone. “Hey, what’s going on?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?” she asked with a touch of exasperation.

“I can see you using it, you know,” Kieran said pointedly. “Your Ability. I can’t tell which one, but since you only have Calm Person and Detect Secret, and we’re here–” at that he gestured around the dusk-bathed, rather empty landscape– “I can’t imagine you’re using the latter.”

Rowena looked away, a little embarrassed. “It’s nothing.”

“Come on, Ro,” he pressed. “You’re like the calmest person I know. You’d have to be, to put up with me and Calla for so many years.”

She sighed, and looked around. Sorel and Mattie were a few feet away– probably within earshot, but they were behaving as though they could hear nothing, for which Rowena was grateful.

“I just–” Rowena’s eyes glanced up at the sky. She was grateful for the dimming light, though she felt she could sense the openness above and around her anyway. “It’s so empty.”

Kieran frowned. “What do you mean?”

“When I look up at the sky, or around at the hills in the distance. I can’t really explain it,” her breath was shallow and her voice a little shaky as she tried to put words to her anxiety. She increased the use of Calm Person. “I feel so exposed; like… like I might break apart without anything to hold me together.”

“I had no idea,” Kieran said softly after a moment’s pause.

“Me neither,” she said with a touch of bitterness.

“So you’re using Calm Person to control it?”

Rowena nodded.

“Umm–” Mattie’s voice was thin and embarrassed. “I’m so sorry. I don’t mean to– I’m not eavesdropping, I–”

Rowena’s stomach turned. “It’s okay, Mattie. I guess we don’t have a lot of secrets from each other anymore.”

“Not that I’m trying to tell you what to do or anything. But. Calm Person is an external use Ability,” Mattie said quickly.

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Rowena said, although she did have an inkling– the Fog had protested her use of the Ability early on, though lately it just sat back in sullen silence when it was clear that Rowena wasn’t going to stop.

“Didn’t anybody else pay attention in Martha’s classes?” Mattie said with a shake of her head.

“Not everyone is as interested in academic subjects as you,” Kieran laughed. “I know I had better things to be thinking about with the six weeks before the Selection Ceremony.”

Probably already dreaming up the adventures he was planning without telling me, Rowena thought rather unfairly.

“Abilities can be external use, internal use, or dual use,” Mattie replied matter-of-factly, sounding like she was reciting from a book or parchment. “Using an Ability contrary to its intended use can have unforeseen consequences.”

“‘Unforeseen consequences’?” Kieran asked skeptically. “That’s pretty vague.”

Somewhere deep within the annals of her memory, Rowena thought she recalled this particular lesson. Still, a potential, undefined consequence was better than facing the nerves, shaking, and sweat she’d experienced on the first day. “I think I’ll take my chances.”

“What if we tried another solution?” Mattie said thoughtfully.

“You think you can heal me, somehow?” Rowena raised an eyebrow. Not that she didn’t trust Mattie, but the last time the young woman had used her Abilities, it hadn’t gone so well for little Ayla.

Mattie quickly shook her head and held up a hand. “No, no. I’m nowhere near able to even think about-- I haven’t even used my Abilities at all since we left Tunehlan. And I'm not even sure a Healer can heal things like that. No, I’m thinking much simpler than that.”

She turned and picked up her cloak from underneath her bag and, giving it a shake, held it out to Rowena. It was a dark brownish green, nearly black, and at first Rowena just stared at it in confusion. “I have a cloak.”

Mattie smiled. “Not like this one.”

“Did you enchant it somehow?” Kieran asked curiously, excitement rising in his voice.

“Nope. It’s a plain old cloak.” Mattie sometimes got a clever little glint in her eye when she was excited to share a bit of knowledge with someone, and with her golden red eyes set against her freckled skin and copper hair it was even more emphasized.

Rowena stared at the cloak thoughtfully for a moment and then exclaimed, “Oh! I think I see.”

Mattie pushed the cloak at her eagerly, and Rowena slipped hers off and lay it on one of the rocks.

“I don’t get it,” Kieran said, disappointed that the cloak was, apparently, not enchanted.

Sorel snorted and tossed her dark, curly hair. She was leaning against one of the tall white rocks, arms crossed. “It’s not that complicated, Townie.”

Rowena quickly threw the cloak around her shoulders. It was getting darker– she’d forgotten how quickly the sun set in these later autumn evenings– and she wanted to check to see if Mattie’s hypothesis could help her.

With a quick jerk, she flicked up the hood, and looked around.

“Ohhhhh,” Kieran said finally, looking from Mattie’s hooded cloak to the hoodless one Rowena had lain on the stone.

When she looked toward the horizon, she now saw it in an enclosed little patch– nothing to either side, and nothing above. She could still see uncomfortably far into the distance, but her field of vision was now rather limited by the cloak. This was originally one of the reasons she’d chosen a hoodless one for herself, but Rowena had to admit that while not perfect, this did seem like it would help her. She’d have to see tomorrow, without Calm Person activated, to be sure, but… she grinned.

Mattie gave a big smile back and clapped her hands together.

“Just like a noble’s horse,” Sorel said, and Kieran laughed.

Rowena was opening her mouth to protest being compared to a horse when suddenly, a horrific shriek rang through the air, an ethereal sound that combined the terrified neigh of a horse and the terrifying baying of hunting hounds.

Sorel immediately adopted a defensive position, looking around for the source of the unearthly sound, while Mattie let out a surprised and fearful cry. Kieran reached out and grabbed Rowena’s shoulder.

“What in the blazes was that?” He yelled as the sound erupted again. He clasped his hands over his ears.

Yet another sound, a low but steady whomping, began, and Rowena looked around frantically for the source. She saw nothing, only the rocks on the landscape as far as the eye could see.

“Look up!” Sorel suddenly shouted, her hand shading her eyes from the blaze of the setting sun, now almost touching the horizon. Her mouth was open with shock and she staggered slightly as though she had been stunned.

With a quick gesture, Rowena tugged the hood of the cloak Mattie had given her so that it fell on her back, and she turned her attention to the skies.

“Oh, my…” she gasped, unable to reconcile what she saw with what she knew.

No one had seen one in decades. They weren’t supposed to exist! And yet…

Rowena was looking up at a dragon.