Valerie awoke lying on a cot in the healing center at Foxfire. She jerked up, causing pain to pulse through her body. She gasped.

Elwin appeared from his office and rushed over to her, forcing her to lay back down. "Your body's still healing. Be patient."

Valerie let him ease her down. She didn't care about herself right now. There was only one thought running through her mind. "Sophie and Edaline?"

"Are fine." Elwin assured her. "They made it out of the tower with minor injuries." He sighed. "Others weren't so lucky."

Valerie looked at him curiously.

He took a deep breath. "We lost a lot of goblins and Councilor Terik lost a leg. Otherwise, we got pretty lucky."

Valerie nodded.

"Oh and I figured you would want to know that Brant was killed during this endeavor as well." Elwin walked over to his alchemy table and started messing with nobs and mixing chemicals.

Valerie stared at the ceiling in disbelief. Could this be possible? Could Brant really be gone? She lay there for who knew how long until Tam, Lihn, Dex, Keefe, Fitz, Biana, and Sophie all came to see her, hammering her with a million questions about her fight with the Neverseen.
————
Valerie sat under the Panakes thinking about what had happened in Luminaria. The pain she had felt that had given Fintan the upper hand made no sense. It felt like the work of an Inflictor, but the only one who could be one was the strange woman and Valerie had been keeping her immobilized because she didn't know what she could do. It was impossible for it to be her. So, where did it come from? There must have been a fifth member there, but where. Why would they know to hide? Where would they hide? They were on a flat beach with little to no places to conceal themselves.

She sighed, leaning her head back against the tree. None of this made sense. She stared out over the pastures and suddenly Sophie burst out of the house.

Valerie dashed across the field to catch up with her. "Sophie, what's wrong?"

She wouldn't answer for a moment. Then, she met Valerie's gaze, pure terror in her eyes. "I think something happened to my family."

Valerie grabbed her shoulders. "What do mean? Grady and Edaline are..."

"I don't mean them." Sophie's voice was panicked. "My human family. I think something's wrong."

"How would you know?"

"I have a spyball. The Blackswan gave it to me along with my family's new names, but when I tried to check on them, the screen said 'not found.'" Sophie was becoming historical.

Valerie pulled her into a hug. "It's okay. I'm sure they're fine."

"I need to check on them. I need to know for sure."

"Okay," Valerie pulled away, "But you're not going alone."