Page 96 of When the Wicked Sing
“My dream. It spoke of the Banishment.”
Aurora didn’t respond, but Mariana felt her sister’s hand on her shoulder, offering the support she desperately needed.
“I had a dream just before I entered Aurelia,” she said, clearing her tight throat. “It said things I didn’t understand at the time, but now I get it. Whoever it was, they were leading me here. To Sirenia.”
“You don’t think …” Aurora’s small voice trailed off, and Mariana lifted her eyes to meet her sister’s gaze.
“Astra,” she whispered. Was she dead? Had she been the one leading Mariana to the amulet all along? Had something gone wrong after she escaped Aurelia?
Mariana covered her face, shaking her head.No. No, that can’t be true.
She stood up, wiping her eyes, refusing to believe it. “No, Astra is here somewhere, and we need to find her.” She took a deep breath and gave Aurora a determined nod. “C’mon.”
As they continued navigating the rubble, Mariana asked, “Where do you think the amulet would be?”
Aurora shrugged. “I’d guess the temple. It was over here.”
Her sister led her to a massive pile of large boulders and stones with faint carvings worn down over centuries of erosion. “How do we—”
Then they both heard it; the faintest sound of a female voice calling for help. Mariana whipped her head around, her heart tugging her forward.
Astra.
As fast as her feet could carry her, Mariana raced toward the sound of Astra’s cries. The urgency in her sister’s voice propelled her forward, her heart pounding in her chest like a war drum.
“Here!” Aurora shouted from between the remnants of a broken stone archway. The ancient language carved into the weathered stone revealed it was the entrance to Seraphina’s temple, a place of legend and mystery.
Mariana ran over to her, gasping as she reached the edge of a deep chasm. Aurora grabbed her arm just in time to keep them both from toppling over. Astra lay on the ground far below, at least two stories down, amidst the crushed stone and collapsed marble pillars, reaching a weak hand up at them.
Panting, Mariana asked, “How do we get down there?”
Aurora glanced around, scanning the area for any possible descent route. Without the water that once filled the temple, making it possible to swim toward the bottom, how were they supposed to get to her? The temple, now drained and desolate, offered no easy path.
“The vines,” Aurora murmured, her voice a mix of hope and determination. She approached a thick cluster of vines thatsnaked their way down into the depths. “We have to climb down.”
The sisters descended into the ruins, their fingers gripping the vines tightly. Aurora landed first, crouching beside Astra and lifting her head gently into her lap.
“Rora,” Astra murmured through chapped lips, as pale as the bones scattered amongst the rubble.
Mariana quickly finished the climb and joined her sisters. Sitting down, she grasped Astra’s cold hand, trying to warm it with her own. The touch sent a shiver through her; Astra’s skin was as cold as the stone surrounding them.
“Mari, I’m so glad you made it.” Astra’s voice was strained, as if it took all her strength to speak. “You found my letter?”
“You mean the novel?” Mariana joked, trying to ignore the unnaturally dark veins running up Astra’s neck through her ashen skin. The attempt at humor felt hollow in the grim surroundings.
Astra managed a guilty smile, but it faded quickly. Her lips thinned, her expression turning serious.
“There’s still so much to tell you,” Astra whispered, her voice barely audible.
Mariana had to push back tears as she inspected Astra. Her normally pale blue eyes were muted, dull, rapidly blinking as though she were fighting tears too.
Gripping her frail hand tighter, she said, “We’ll have time to speak later, but we have to get you out of here—”
“No,” Astra stated firmly, shaking her head with surprising force.
“We have to get you back home, to Luna,” Aurora tried, but Astra just kept shaking her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she began to cry. The sobs were obviously not just from sadness but also from pain, deep and relentless.
“Astra, what happened to you?” Mariana asked softly, noticing the bruises all along her sister’s body. She still wore the delicate, soft robes she’d donned when she first left Aurelia, now tattered and stained. Her enchanted armor was gone, but the fog seemed to protect her from the sun’s harmful rays.
