After that dreadful experience, Sol takes the control and decides to head back to academy. This revelation has changed everything, they all wanted an opinion about certain someone who would surely help.

Tension filled the room like a brewing storm.

The headmistress sat behind her grand oak desk, fingers steepled as she listened to Evie explain what she had felt.

"She's close," Evie repeated, trying to steady her voice. "I can feel her. She's—she's not far from here."

Callista let out a slow, measured breath. "Then Alaric has started moving. He knows you'll come looking for her."

Duke scoffed. "Like hell we're gonna let him use her as a pawn."

Rowan crossed his arms. "If Evie can track her, we need to follow that lead."

The headmistress didn't respond right away. Instead, she studied them with an unreadable expression before saying, "And what happens when you find her?"

The room fell silent.

Because no one wanted to say the truth.

Seth was the first to break it. "If she's completely given in to darkness, we'll have no choice but to stop her."

The words slammed into Evie like a punch to the chest.

Stop her? Kill her?

She wasn't sure she could do that.

Headmistress leaned forward, voice calm but firm. "Before you do anything, you need to be prepared. Your twin is not the same girl who was taken as a child. Alaric has poisoned her mind. He has had years to shape her into something dark, something dangerous. She may not want to be saved."

Evie swallowed hard. Then I have to reach her before it's too late. ______________________________

Back in their dorm, Evie sat cross-legged on the floor, her hands resting on her knees as she closed her eyes. The princes stood around her, watching, waiting.

She took a deep breath and focused.

The connection was there—a thread of energy linking her to the other half of her soul.

It yanked her forward.

A flash of images flooded her mind:

A ruined temple cloaked in shadows. Dark mist curling through the air, suffocating, unnatural. A piercing pair of golden eyes glaring at her through the darkness. Her twin.

Evie gasped, her body jerking as she snapped back to reality.

"She's—" she whispered. "A temple... somewhere in the northern mountains."

Rowan nodded. "Then that's where we go."

Duke cracked his knuckles. "No time to waste."

Seth placed a steadying hand on her back. "You okay, Spark?"

Evie swallowed past the knot in her throat. "Yeah. I just—" She exhaled shakily. "She felt me too. She knew I was looking."

Sol's expression darkened. "Then we need to be careful."

For a moment, she met his gaze, and the weight of what was coming settled deep in her bones.

Alaric had her sister.

And whether her twin wanted to be saved or not, Evie wasn't going to let him win. ______________________________

The air was thick with tension as the princes and Evie prepared for their journey. A storm was coming. They could feel it in their bones.

As they packed supplies, weapons, and enchanted artifacts, Evie couldn't shake the image of her twin's golden eyes burning with rage in the vision.

She wasn't just lost.

She was consumed.

That night, Evie sat by the window, watching the stars.

She should have been resting, but how could she?

A warm presence settled beside her, and she turned to find Rowan.

"You're thinking too much," he murmured, nudging her shoulder lightly.

"How can I not?" she whispered. "She's my sister, Rowan. My blood. And I'm supposed to... what? Fight her? Stop her? What if she doesn't want to be saved?"

Rowan's emerald eyes softened. "Then we make her want to be saved."

Evie let out a shaky laugh. "It's not that easy."

He reached out, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Neither was getting you to accept us, but look at where we are now."

Her heart clenched. He always knew how to reach her.

Before she could say anything, he gently took her hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "You're not alone in this, Evie. We'll face whatever comes—together." The next morning, they stood at the academy gates, staring at the looming mountain range in the distance.

"Are you sure about this?" The headmistress stood beside them, worry etched into her features.

Evie nodded. "We have no choice."

She sighed. "I can't stop you, but at least take these."

She handed each of them enchanted medallions—protective charms that would shield them from dark energy.

Rowan clasped his around his neck. Duke shoved his in his pocket. Sol studied his with quiet focus. Seth muttered something about it clashing with his style but still put it on.

And then they were off. ______________________________

The first few hours of travel were spent in silence, the weight of what they were about to face pressing down on them.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the cold winds of the mountains greeted them.

"We should stop for the night," Sol suggested.

"No fires," Duke added. "We don't want to announce our presence."

Evie nodded, but a sinking feeling settled in her gut.

They weren't alone out here.

Something was watching.

Evie barely drifted off before the sound of whispers pulled her awake.

She bolted upright, her heart hammering.

A shadow moved at the edge of their camp.

"Wake up," she whispered, shaking Seth beside her.

Before he could respond, a cold gust of wind blasted through their camp, extinguishing the little light they had.

And then she heard it.

A voice—low, dangerous, dripping with malice.

"You should have stayed hidden, sister."

Evie's blood ran cold.

Her twin had found them first. ______________________________