It had been a few weeks since Thaddeus had tried to abduct Maj from the oasis, and she was still reeling at the thought of it. Questions ran through her mind constantly about why he wanted her, what he was going to do with her. Shudders still ran down her spine thinking of the Brute hefting her over his shoulders, all the while salivating over the thought of tasting human flesh. She didn’t witness her rescue from Thaddeus’s clutches. Truth be told, she didn’t really remember very much of anything that had happened that night. Still, she was thankful for Nishaven’s efforts in the matter. It appeared that he wasn’t the only one involved, but he kept pretty quiet on the details of the other acolytes’ deaths. He only said that they died with honor and that they fought hard to protect her.

Her father had been equally mysterious. Ever since returning from Mount Aran a week ago he had been in his study pouring over spellbooks looking for something. He never said what it was, but he would skip meals trying to find it. When asked about it, he gave the same response he did when he found out about Thaddeus’s betrayal. The Shadow spreads. He wouldn’t be distracted.

Maj sighed and continued to watch Serena attempting to cut her large brass plate into smaller pieces. Serena was a little more vocal about the trip she and her father had taken. A disaster, she had called it. Apparently, when they got there, King Alandros’s army had set up a perimeter around the entrance to the cave that Nishaven found and were aggressively turning away curious travelers. Serena had managed to sweet talk one of the soldiers, a square-jawed man named Victor, into taking her as far as the entrance to the cave. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to get him to allow her any farther than that, let alone get close enough to collect a Crystal. So, they returned empty-handed. Her father began his research, and Serena returned to hers.

The only person who seemed to not want anything to do with studying lately was Maj herself. Even Nishaven began studying hard with the remaining acolytes of the school, making quick headway with his Talent. Maj just sat and fretted to herself. On more than one occasion, Maj caught herself chewing on her fingernails—an old childhood habit—while staring at nothing in particular, though her mind raced with questions about the night of her abduction.

“We can always get you some bitterleaf if you’re back to chewing your nails, you know,” Serena said passively as she set some of her tools down, once again failing to make a cut through the plate. “Mom used to say that putting a little underneath them was the best solution.”

Sourly, Maj dropped her hand from her mouth and stalked away from her sister. On the way out, she asked one of the acolytes where Nishaven was, and she responded that he was in the fields working with the crops. Maybe Maj could find out more about what happened the night of her attempted abduction. She walked out the doors of the school and headed down the path towards the fields. As she walked, she gazed at the three fresh graves dug at the side of the school containing the bodies of Pader, Chan, and Bale. She shook her head in disbelief and kept walking down the path.

When she had made her way down to the fields, she started looking for Nishaven among all of the acolytes tending the crops. Soon enough, she found him standing over a small hole in the ground, the dirt from the hole cupped in his hands and the look on his face lost in thought. As she approached him, he simply looked up at her and then back down at the dirt in his hands contemplatively. Maj wanted to ask him questions but didn’t really know where to begin. So, she stood at his side silently waited for him to speak.

“I think,” Nishaven began finally, “that there is nothing more tragic in life than having to bury your own children. What a great irony to outlive those who were born to you.” He shook his head. “Oh Elana, how I envy you some days!”

“Elana,” Maj responded. “Is that your wife? She died to the plague, didn’t she?”

Nishaven nodded solemnly and continued to stare at the dirt in his hands.

“It must be painful,” Maj said consolingly, and Nishaven turned his head to look her in the eyes. “To have seen and caused so much death, I mean. It seems to have followed you ever since you had that first dream.”

“Yes,” he sighed, and then he shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “Death is a part of life, though.”

Nishaven then spoke a soft incantation to the dirt in his hands and placed in back into the hole.

“The interesting thing about it is that death didn’t always follow me as it seems to now,” Nishaven said as he lifted his hands from the ground, and as he did so the leaves of a small plant sprouted up from the ground.

“Death need not be the end, you know,” said a voice behind Maj. She turned to look at whoever had joined them and was shocked to see her father standing there.

“My studies in the service of the King helped me discover a number of ways to communicate with the dead,” Ronam continued. “If it would help you gain some closure, I know of a spell that would allow you to speak with your wife again. It would require both your and Maj’s help, of course.”

Nishaven squinted at him thoughtfully for a moment. “Was it not your studies that eventually led to your exile?” he asked finally.

“That is true,” Ronam admitted. “My experiments did not do what I expected, and the plague that came from them exacted its costs from me heavily. I would like nothing more than to see that mistake corrected. Still, I feel that there is much that could be learned from the dead and what they know. My experiments have continued on since then. I think it could serve both you and I simultaneously should this spell succeed.”

“But what if it fails again?”

“The nature of this spell is… different from what I was trying to accomplish when the plague was formed. Just this morning I believe to have found the key to its success. It will require the aid of both your Talent and the Shadow Crystal you possess.

Nishaven looked hesitant and uneasy.

“Think of the opportunity to see your wife again,” Ronam pressed. “You would do me a great honor, Nishaven, in assisting me in this work.”

“Agreed,” Nishaven said after a moment of silence. “It would be the least I could do for your kindness in taking me in amongst your acolytes.”

“And what is to be my part in this, Father?” Maj asked.

“Well, my dear,” he said with what must certainly have been a smile on his bandage-covered face, “you will be the Host.”