He was the only elemental I’d ever met who was able to contain not one or even two elements like I did, but all five. All five elements, and he was powerful with every one of them.

In the past, I would have told him to go to hell . . . but I’d had time to mellow in the oubliette. He would make a strong ally, if I could figure out what he was up to. “Why do I need your help, exactly?”

“Because the demon hordes will wipe out this world if we don’t all step up and take our place in the battle.” His words were deadly serious, and they chilled me through and through. He said what I already knew, but still, it was hard to hear the truth from him after all the lies he’d spewed.

“You’re offering to fight against them?”

His head bobbed. “Yes. But I want Rylee’s sword when it’s over.”

I thought about the sword. I’d made it, and with the making of it had unintentionally imbued it with a few abilities I shouldn’t have. In particular, the ability to open and close the Veil like a key.

“I can’t make that deal. You’ll have to ask her.”

“She’ll be dead, we both know that.” He came to a stop over a patch of wildflowers. A softly bobbing cluster of white and blue petals: larkspur, my namesake.

Blackbird folded his arms over his chest. “Aww, how sweet, he planted your flower for you.”

“How do I know you will keep your word and help?”

Blackbird held a hand out. “A simple handshake. When this is done, we will go back to being enemies.”

I reached out and took his hand, clamping down hard as I wove Spirit over his fingers.

“Say it then, make a vow.”

He tried to pull away from me, and while he was stronger in the elements, he was not physically stronger than me. A sigh slipped out of him. “I swear to help you in the fight against the demons, Larkspur.”

It would have to be enough. I let him go and dropped to one knee.

My jaw tightened as I put a hand to the earth, feeling the sword encased in cement about thirty feet down. Like its own miniature oubliette.

There were spells around it for sure, but beside me, Blackbird did his thing, breaking them up. A spell for every element and he disabled them. Which left me wondering why he’d waited on me.

I closed my eyes and worked the earth around the sword, bringing it up with a speed that rumbled the ground.

“Impressive,” Blackbird muttered.

“You couldn’t manage it?”

“I could. But you and I are probably the only two who could, except for perhaps Basileus.” His words were light, but there was a hesitancy in his voice that gave light to his lie. There was something he wasn’t telling me.

I didn’t say anything more. He might be working with me for the moment, but I had no doubt we’d be on opposing sides soon enough.

The cement box spit up out of the ground, and with it came something I didn’t expect.

The reason Blackbird had waited on me.

Sandlings. Creatures made from the earth, like animated golems, that were quite literally un-killable because they weren’t truly alive. They looked human, moved like humans, but were faster and stronger. They had teeth made of sharpened stones and their hands were tipped with nails made of old bone filed to points. Normally they were used for training in the Enders Barracks.

But this was not the first time I’d encountered them in a situation that was most definitely not training.

Blackbird took a step back. “You think your friend set this up?”

“No.” I breathed out, counting the Sandlings as they continued to emerge from the ground. More and more, until the ranks filled the clearing.

“You think they want to be friends?”

I stared at Blackbird. “This is not the time for jokes, you idiot. Even you can’t kill them.”

Whoever made the Sandlings had to un-make them; that was the only way.

Which meant we were screwed.

“Keep them off me!” I bent and put my hands to the cement box, knowing that whatever kick-back it had wouldn’t be aimed at me. The power of the earth roared through me and into the cement. I broke the molecules apart, tearing the stone away to reveal the prize I sought.

Around me, Blackbird whirled, his cloak swirling around his legs as he protected my back. Fire and ice, earth and wind, ripped through the clearing, blowing the Sandlings to their knees. But they slid into the earth only to reemerge a few feet behind Blackbird.

For a breath of a moment I stared at the sword laying on the dirt in front of me. A katana, made with hundreds of folds of steel to create a hardened and yet flexible blade. The edge was tipped in silver, and the handle was a perfect fit for Rylee’s hand. Three diamonds were inset in the handle and a large chunk of blue amber finished the touch at the end of it. I picked it up and cut through the Sandling closest to me. The blade whooshed through him, sparking against the rough material the Sandling was made up of.

But even with the sword, the creature reformed at my feet, clawing itself out of the ground.

“Larkspur, while this had been fun, it truly is time for me to go. I will be there, on the battlefield. That is all I can tell you.”

Blackbird lifted a hand to me and then shot into the air as a violent snap of wind lifted him out of harm’s way.

“Coward!” The world went silent and I stared at the Sandlings. They stared back at me for a heartbeat, and then they ran at me.

I spun and bolted from the clearing, the sound of crashing underbrush behind me. Pumping my arms and legs, I called the power of the earth to me, sending it out behind me in a wave. The earthquake rippled backward, the strength of it shaking the foundation of the trees around us, sending leaves and branches flying to the ground.