Nessa, beautiful, peaceful Nessa, how she screamed Attin's name in her sleep that night, terrified. And how her scream woke her family, their hearts racing like prized stallions.

"Good heavens." Granny stirred in her dark cot in a dark corner, closest to the entrance of the ruin.

Mawsie woke worried and clutched his mother, forgetting all about being a brave little prince.

Ursa woke and shielded Vanylla, thinking they were under an attack, but Mama? Mama shook Nessa next to her, trying to wake the poor thing. "Nessa, dear, it's just a dream."

"No, Attin!" Nessa continued, deep in her fraught, feverish slumber.

Mama took the girl in her arms, limp as she was, and felt her forehead. "She's burning up." She looked to Ursa for help.

"Mama, you know I can't heal her here. This is not earth realm." Ursa regretted to say.

"Attin," Nessa's voice broke into a sob as she finally opened her eyes; her shirt drenched in sweat.

By then, Granny was hovering over the duo, staring at the young one. "What did you see, child?"

Nessa blinked up at her. "Attin's hurt, Granny. And Papa—"

"Papa?" Mama jumped in, pulling Nessa up to sit. "You saw Papa?"

"And Amer," Nessa said quietly.

Granny crouched low and stared in awe. "What did you see? What were they doing?"

Nessa coughed severely before she spoke, spittle laced with blood flying out of her mouth, dark that no one noticed much in the poor light. "Papa was screaming at Amer to weave the man away."

"What man?" Mama tugged at her chin gently.

Nessa shook her head, struggling to breathe. "I don't know, Mama, but Attin's stuck in a world that is neither here nor there, or—"

"—bound to land or air." Mama turned to Granny in utter disbelief. "How did he end up there? It's impossible. We bound that world, you and I, so none could enter."

"Or leave," Granny's lips twitched nervously. "They can't leave, Rita. It took four strong weavers to cast that hold. It shall take the same to break them out."

"Mama?" Ursa urged from her corner, inching closer as fear gripped her, but not for what her elders talked of. It was Nessa who concerned her, Nessa who'd gone as pale as the silver night.

"Nessa has the sight," Granny stated in partial glee. "Of all the Chymers—a rare gift it is. Far too rare."

"You think she saw the boys? She really saw the boys, Mother?" Rita asked, rather hopefully.

"What else can it be? A feverish dream, and she knows things we have not taught her."

"Mama?" Both Vanylla and Ursa tried together.

"A seer? She's a seer?" Rita nervously chuckled. "There hasn't been a seer in hundreds of years—they're a myth."

"Mama!"

But the women were far too distracted by the discovery to notice Nessa slipping into oblivion.

"But if she sees the present and the future, then Mama, the boys are in a realm they shouldn't be in. How did Attin end up there? In Maine's prison? If he gets their powers, he can set himself free," Rita rambled feverishly. "We can't let that happen."

"Mama?" Ursa tried again. "Granny?" But neither woman heard her whispered plea.

"No, it can't happen again, ever." Granny turned swiftly to Nessa. "What did you see happen to Attin, child? Child?"

But Nessa lay in her mother's arm, as limp as can be.

"Nessa!" Rita shook her child again, but Nessa was as if asleep. "Nessa?"

"Get away from her!" Ursa moved quickly, pushing aside her mother and granny. "Nessie!" She felt for Nessa's pulse, strong, though it faintly fluttered now and again. She spied the colour of her eyes, bloodshot around the edges. And she listened to her lungs — at the gurgling whoosh of air — and concluded, "She's dying, Mama. Nessa is dying," just as she held her sister's hand tenderly and tried to weave a little healing, knowing it was futile to try. "Come on, Nessie, hold on."

"No, no, no!" Mama cried finally. "She can't do this, not now."

"She's not doing anything," Ursa threw back bitterly.

"Mama!" Mawsie cried. "What is happening?" But Mama had eyes only for Nessa then.

"She can't die, Ursa. Do something! She can't die. Not now." Mama hysterically clawed at Ursa and Nessa.

Granny tried to hold her back, saying, "Give her room."

"You should have thought about that the last few days!" Ursa fired up, pushing away her mother's clawing arms. "I've been telling you from day one, let's go find father's friend, let's go get Nessie some help... she's losing her strength..."

Mama sobbed and reached out again. "No, Nessie."

"Don't touch her!" Ursa turned, fire burning in her eyes. "Enough! I've had enough of you. Kids, pack everything we have. We are leaving this instant for Rea and the waters of Cerulean."

Mama shook her head, unable to utter words other than, "You can't move her."

And that is when the most unexpected thing occurred, the one thing neither Granny nor Mama had dreamed of. Their quiet, and usually level-headed daughter, Ursa, lost her cool.

"You will not tell me what to do anymore, Mother!" Ursa Silvertongue rose to her feet—nay, levitated—her dark hair unloose flew about her head like flames, the tips even burning ember hot. As Ursa stared down at her mother and screamed—"We are leaving. NOW!"—the brightest beam of light burst forth from her and shot into the sky, like a beacon. And for a moment, the dark sky was lit as if it was day.

Vanylla stood gawking. Mawsie's sob stuck in his throat, and he dug his fingernails into his gawking sister. Granny slowly got to her feet, and Rita fell to her knees, in awe and perhaps stupefied.

Within moments, Ursa was back to her normal; grey dress and white pillowy blouse beneath. Her hair, dark and limp, fell by her face, and her feet touched the ground. She turned to her mother with the sternest face. "We are leaving now. I will not let your whims kill my sister. She still has life in her, and I shall die before I lose her in this wasteland."

Calmly, Ursa picked up her mother by her shoulders till they came face to face. "We leave now, while the blanket of the night can still hide us. Or"—her eyes hardened for a moment—"if you wish to stay behind and wait for Papa, I won't stop you, but I'm taking the others to safety as I promised."

Ursa turned to pick up Nessa and put her in Granny's cot, off the hard ground where she lay.

"Let us hope no one saw that," Granny whispered in shock. "But alas, we have found your successor, Commander." She turned to Rita. "A commander and a seer all in one day? Pinch me, Rita, so I know I'm not dreaming."

Rita patted Granny's arm, unable to comprehend it either. "She's a seer. Nessie is a seer? This means something. We must save her... we must go. Pack, Mama."

With that, Rita followed her daughter Ursa as if her feet had a mind of their own. In the next few moments, she moved about as if on a mission, packing their camp as fast as she could. She clothed the young ones in extra layers; she wound the cots and the blankets, and she filled the moleskins with fresh water from the well. Rita did all she could to be ready. After all, her commander had ordered her to, and those words were hard to disobey.

But as the Silvertongues packed their camp and made Nessa comfortable in Granny's cot; as they discussed how to move her—Granny voted to weave wagons and horses, Mama wanted something less obvious—somewhere far away, out in the open, a traveling duo peered at the dark horizon towards the ruin of Castlegrave. At the place where a moment ago, the brightest beam of light, like fire, had shot up into the night sky.

"A commander's beacon at the Moor of Castlegrave?" One heavily armed traveller asked, inching his hands towards the hilt of his long sword. "I thought it abandoned."

"It is." The other furrowed his brows and kicked the side of his prized, pearl-coated mare, sending her into a gallop. "We shall soon find out."