“He’s weaving blood magic?” Cynnia gasped, mindlessly taking a step backward. I roughly grabbed her arm and jerked her forward to keep her from getting burned by the fire that continued to circle us. She didn’t seem to notice. “That’s forbidden.”

“I’m willing to guess that he’s desperate and doesn’t really care what is forbidden at this point.”

“But if I’m to teach you earth magic, you’ll have to remove these,” she said, raising her manacles to me yet again.

I simply chuckled and shook my head. “Nice try. No, you’ll be instructing me through the lovely Shelly here,” I said, motioning toward the earth witch hovering on the edge of the patio, watching the entire conversation. “She was hired to help me with a little earth magic, and now we’re both going to get a crash course in how to use earth magic, naturi style. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll kill you.”

Cynnia glanced over at Shelly, who flashed her a somewhat sheepish grin while wagging her fingers at the naturi. There was nothing intimidating about Shelly, which was disheartening because I needed her to be an intimidating figure right now. Instead she came off looking like that sweet college roommate everyone loves.

“I—I don’t know,” Cynnia stammered, her gaze shifting from Shelly to me to the ground.

“You’ve got some time to think about it. We fly to Peru in two nights. We begin lessons before we leave or I kill you in Cuzco.”

I turned my attention to Shelly, who was staring at me with a stunned look on her face. She had just realized that my plan not only included her after her major screw-up on the island, but that she was now traveling to Peru to help me with the naturi. I wasn’t pleased with the plan so far, but I hoped to keep her as far from the fighting as I could. I needed a tutor, and Cynnia and Shelly would just have to do.

With a wave of my hand, the fire that had been circling Cynnia and me disappeared. “Shelly, take Cynnia inside and put her back in the sleep spell. You are not to wake her until either Danaus or I say so.”

I watched as the two walked across the patio, a new thought beginning to gnaw at the back of my brain when I caught a glimpse of Cynnia’s solemn profile.

“Wait!” I called out, stopping Cynnia at the door. “Your sister, Nyx. Is she here as well?”

“Nyx? I…I don’t think so,” she slowly replied. She paused, nibbling on her lower lip in thought before she spoke again. “I arrived here with only the spell weaver. Nyx and Aurora didn’t know anything about my coming here. Do you think she’s come for me?”

“Would she side with you or Aurora?” Danaus inquired, slipping his hands into his trouser pockets.

“Aurora,” she whispered. “My sister Nyx is the defender of our people. She would follow Aurora to the ends of the earth to protect my people and do what is best for them.”

“Does she look like you?”

“Why? Have you seen her?” Cynnia demanded, coming back down a stair toward me.

“How can I have seen her if I don’t know what she looks like? I want to know in case we meet up with her in Peru.”

Cynnia paused, a frown playing on her lips. She finally sighed and walked back toward the door into the house. “No, she doesn’t look much like me, and nothing like Aurora. Tall and thin like a willow, with perfect white skin and midnight black hair. Her eyes are slate gray like the color of storm clouds.”

“And is she of the wind clan? Like you?”

“How did you know I was—”

“Your coloring and build. It was also a guess.”

“Yes, we’re both from the wind clan. Aurora is of the light and Nerian was from the animal clan,” Cynnia tightly said, finally becoming irritated by my invasive questions. “Anything else?”

“How is it possible that four siblings were born of three different clans?” Danaus demanded. “Did you all have different parents?”

“No!” Cynnia gasped, her lovely features twisting momentarily in anger. “My father was of the earth clan and my mother was of the light clan. Which clan we are born into is not determined by our parentage. It’s determined by the need of the earth. If mother earth is in need of more wind clan members, then the next children born will be of the wind clan and so on.”

“That will do. Sweet dreams,” I taunted.

Danaus and I stood in silence outside that house as we listened to Shelly and Cynnia moving to one of the bedrooms on the second floor. I kept my focus tightly on Shelly, my mind a shadow in her thoughts, which were racing a mile a minute as she reviewed everything that had happened to her that evening. Since I couldn’t sense the naturi, this was the safest way for me to keep an eye on Cynnia while Shelly cast the spell. At the same time, I knew that Danaus was focused on Cynnia, making sure the naturi didn’t try to pull a fast one.

“Is taking either of them that good of an idea?” Danaus asked after Shelly had completed her spell, knocking Cynnia safely out for a while.

“We’ll try to keep them both in the city, out of the Sacred Valley. Shelly might be able to teach me a few things before the sacrifice. At this point, any new knowledge will help me when it comes to dealing with the power swell at Machu Picchu.”

“And the naturi?”

“Bait for Rowe.”

“You think she’s going to actually teach you anything?” he asked, shoving one hand through his shoulder-length hair, pushing it out of his face. His brilliant blue eyes reflected some of the light coming from inside the house, reminding me of the first night we met. I had not expected our association to last this long.

“Not really. Even if she does want peace for her people, she’s not going to risk making a stronger enemy for them to face.”

Danaus dropped his hand back to his side and stared up at the stars for a moment. The night was nearly done. I needed to get back to the safety of my home. As it was, I was exhausted and the blood lust was gnawing at my insides like the fires of hell.

“Do you believe her?” Danaus asked, pushing aside my thoughts of blood and sleep.

“About wanting peace?”

The hunter gave a soft grunt that I took for a yes.

“It doesn’t matter whether I believe her or not. Our plan is set for when we arrive at the sacrifice at Machu Picchu in a few nights. We stop Rowe. We stop the sacrifice. We finally reform the seal. Thoughts of peace and war—we don’t have the luxury of debating such things. We have to stop Rowe.”

“I agree, but you didn’t answer my question. Do you believe her?” he repeated.

It was my turn to stare up at the stars that were winking out above me as daylight approached. Dawn was coming. Did I believe Cynnia?

“No, I don’t,” I murmured.

But the problem wasn’t that I didn’t believe her. It was that for the first time in my life I truly wished I could believe that the naturi was telling the truth. I wished she did want peace and was seeking a way for naturi and nightwalkers to coexist on this planet without the constant fighting. I wished it were a possibility. But it wasn’t. Not so long as creatures like Aurora and Rowe existed. Not so long as I existed would there ever be peace between the nightwalkers and the naturi.