Wanting to reassure Rayna, Kai tried again to glean the area—but he saw nothing. No light beaming from the foliage, animals, or earth. There was absolutely nothing. He thought of the skillset of the Katori. The only one that fit was the Lumens—Haygan had said they could manipulate the energy that flowed within all life. Davi had also told him to expect to lose his magical sight.
Kai felt blind. Everyone was right—gleaning would provide him no benefits. They would need to navigate another way. The only landmark he trusted was the river, and they were leaving it behind. What other tricks could they expect along the way?
Each step took them away from the only indicator that they were on the right trail. Over rotten hollow logs and around dense foliage, they pressed on. Thicker leaves and thorny brambles closed in around the fading path. Creaky trees swayed in the breeze. Kai felt uneasy. Dark foreboding sounds echoed through the hillside. Low overhanging branches grew closer, and their trail was gone.
If he didn’t know better, he’d swear he heard whispers on the wind. Voices that warned them to go back. Rayna squeezed his hand. “We’ve lost the path. Should we go back to the falls and start again?” she questioned, stepping in close.
Kai pointed to a felled tree near some large boulders. “We should stop, eat, and get our bearings before we continue. We have been walking for over an hour. I can’t tell which way we are headed—” he pointed at the clouded sky above “—but something feels wrong. At every turn, more obstacles block our path. We take more steps down the mountain than we do up. It seems to me that the path is forcing us southwest. Down the mountain.”
“You’re right,” Rayna agreed. “They have us outmatched. The Katori have skills we do not understand, and they’ve had a lifetime to perfect their gifts, not to mention design this trial.”
Rayna handed Kai a bundle of food. The dried meat, cheese, and bread helped lift Kai’s spirits. He drank some of the cold mountain water they had collected at the falls before passing it back to her.
“We need to…” Kai let his voice fade.
He had no idea what to do. They were lost and basically blind. The landscape seemed to be designed to push them off course. He felt infuriated. His pulse quickened. Were the Guardians this difficult on others who tried to complete their Conhaspriga? He let out a heavy sigh and clenched his fists. He felt his insides boil with fury. Then he felt Rayna’s hand touch his knee. His breathing steadied, and he relaxed, softened by her reassuring smile.
She lowered her head next to Smoke’s ear. She gazed at the delicate ferns and holly bushes. “We must change our perspective,” she said quietly. “We are thinking too small. When I practice gleaning at home, I am limited to the palace and a small portion of the city. But Kai, when you focus, you can reach well outside the city.”
He thought about her words and nodded in agreement. “You’re right, I have been thinking small. The Lumens cannot blot out the whole world. Nor do they need to. They only need to hide the way east, closer to Katori. Back at the second waterfall, I sensed Shane and Philip’s departure. But they were going west. Down the mountain. We need to be more strategic.” He paused. “The Katori use their gifts against us, effecting our surroundings, but they cannot change us. Nor can they change the nature of everything around us.”
Kai closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The world around him fell silent as he sank deep into his inner self. Strength bubbled within his core. Raw power. Quietly focused within, he felt the threads of energy, the fabric of life that connected him to the world—and, more importantly, to the things around him.
He reached out with his mind. Nothing. Blackness surrounded everything. Concentrating on the emptiness, he felt a drain on the energy. Rayna’s light seemed to be muted, pushed deep inside of her. In his mind, he ventured further west from their present location. He reached out, searching for life. A white light bloomed and assaulted his senses. It was as if all the light from this area had been shoveled away like snow from a path. He pushed farther, and the energy subsided of its own accord. Iridescent light emanated within the plant life, animals, and river.
The Lumens had not stolen the light—merely pushed it away, and hidden some deeper within itself. Kai followed the border of light and dark. An empty void surrounded them. It was as if a thick blanket covered their location, enveloping the river and the surrounding landscape. High in the hills, he found the third waterfall free and clear of the blackout. Mentally he drew a line between the river he could sense on his level behind them and traced it east upriver to the third set of falls.
He knew where they were and where they needed to go. They needed to head back north. Back toward the river. They had made no progress. On the boat, Yulia showed them how to pull at the energy from the storm. Weaken it. There was no storm from which to draw power. There had to be another answer.
Could he pull at the magic around the blackout? He wanted to try, but the idea of revealing his new-found clarity held him back. If he weakened the border, the Guardians might know he had discovered their illusion. No, he could not risk giving them any information.
Focused on Smoke, Kai pushed his energy specifically at his wolf. A faint white glow emanated through the blackness. He saw Smoke’s outline. He felt their connection. Thrilled, he opened his
