My chin tilts higher than I've ever allowed it when I stare up at Fire Mountain. There's nothing unique about it compared to the rest of the mountains bordering around Lona—extreme in its height but clean in its ways of jagged rocks to keep us down. Same as the rest.

This will be another journey up the side of a mountain, only this time, we won't have a steady trail to follow. From where we stand at the base, I spot hardly anything of a trail except for slick points that someone has either slipped off of or the rock is so fragile; it broke by itself. A mere wave of wind shrivels this mountain to dust, pieces chipping off like worn scales.

A similar wind cuts through our clothes and warns us of the travels ahead. It will be a treacherous climb, one we must make. Without that crystal, we have no chance of getting Silas back. It's too risky to attempt kidnapping him without a proper plan afterward. The king's control will drive him crazy, and this crystal, bonded to the Marron blood, will free him from that hold.

Renit will be the sole wielder of freedom for these soldiers. The last thing I wanted was to involve him in this more than he already is. I've already lost Celestine, and to heal soldiers, Renit must be close enough to share breath. Close enough to face the slice of a weapon. Through my power, witch and strength alike, I'll keep him safe.

Then again, I promised myself the same with Celestine. She's dead now; I couldn't protect her. It was my own foolish thought to think my sister wouldn't help the injured and the lost. It was my fault.

Fire Mountain, named such by the red sunrise and sunset reflecting off the surface of sharp stone, reaches a sharp tip that disappears into the clouds. The snow that covers the surface in winter is long gone, summer has taken its toll and even Fire Mountain, reaching higher than the rest, can't protect itself from the impending warmth.

Somewhere on this mountain is the crystal we're searching for. According to the book, the writing being much clearer than the one Renit and I looked through to find the other crystals, our treasure nestles within a cave somewhere along the side of the mountain. It's a small cave, hardly big enough for someone to crawl through—and the horror stories and warnings left behind on the page make my stomach churn.

Spiders, bats, the presence of an ancient witch waiting to cut off your head. Weak stone, sharp points in the shape of daggers impaling through your back. I shiver. These are all risks we must take and Renit, being the largest of the two, will merely have to wait outside the cave while I crawl in. The banished prince, although wanting to provide his services, has never been fond of tight spaces.

I cast a wary glance in Renit's direction. Noticing my attention while still staring up at the mountain, he purses his lips together in what I can only claim to be a form of disappointment. Neither of us wants to do this, but after everything Silas went through over these months; we can't kill him or leave him in that condition. He deserves more than that.

As much gold as there is in that castle, Silas's heart is more than what anyone can touch. The only difference is—the visible gold, the beautiful and expensive creation you can touch—is favored more compared to the beauty of the crown prince's love for his kingdom. Every man for himself, even against his future king.

Our supplies, although hardly anything, will help us scale the side of Fire Mountain. Ropes, ice axes, and iron stakes for footholds on the slicker stretches. It was all we could purchase and the rope we found in a back alley was left untouched. No one chased after us upon realizing we had it...though they stared at us and wondered whether it was their rope rather than one we simply found.

"The longer we stand here, the less daylight we have," Renit mutters. The satchel slung over his chest holds the book containing all the information we need, as well as apples and stolen cheese. For as dangerous as Lona is, they don't pay close enough attention to their wares. Likely to catch thieves in the act.

"I know," I sigh pathetically. "But the longer we stand here...it means we're not climbing."

I scrunch up my nose and Renit smirks. "Come on, spitfire. Either we do it now under decent weather, or we wait until a storm rolls in and we're trapped on the side of the mountain."

Shifting my hands to my hips, I examine the mountain one last time. "You don't think my power can just lift us to the cave, do you?"

Renit turns from where he'd started to walk towards the mountain, the ropes wrapped around his shoulders. He raises his brows at me in question, silently asking me whether I'm serious or not. "If you want to take down the entire side of the mountain and take us along with it, be my guest. For now, let's try climbing. If that doesn't work, we'll use your power instead."

Groaning through my teeth, I make the final, unwanted decision to follow him. My shoulders slump forward and my feet shuffle along the loose, dry dirt at the base of the mountain that quickly turns into loose rock tumbled from the side of the mountain and found its final resting place down here, breaking into pointed tips and dust. The sight of it reminds me of my power, the little bits that must form together to exert such a strength. The sound it mimics is that of glass shards underneath my boots, rather than rocks and dust scraping together to clump as one.

Fire Mountain differs from the others. The rock is slicker; the wind is swifter; the terrain is steeper. The horror stories my mother used to tell about climbers attempting to scale the mountain come back to me as Renit places his foot in the first hold on the side of the mountain. There's a trail up ahead, about ten feet, and if we can reach that, we won't face the necessity of climbing the entire way.

But as soon as Renit applies pressure onto the hold, his foot slips and he stumbles back. The rock completely crumbles underneath his boot and overhead, loose pebbles and rock trickle down onto the ground. I managed to stifle my gasp but...not again. My heart is already beating rapidly in my chest and watching him fall again might do me in.

"I'll go first," I offer.

The banished prince, pissed at his foolish attempt, doesn't bother with a retort. I step forward and place both my hands against the mountainside. My power searches through the ancient structure that was here before the kings, the original witches, and any other life other than what was planted here. These mountains...they're older than time itself.

My power senses a weak spot in the mountain, directly where Renit placed his boot. Shifting my hands left, further down the way, I find the rock is stronger and more secure. But, at a fault, it's slicker. With one slight tug out of my power, loose rock tumbles down and I leap back to avoid it crashing against the top of my head.

"I told you that won't work," Renit says. He shakes his head and unfurls the rope. "We must think of another way."

"No," I retort immediately. "Give me a chance first and then we'll try something else. Using my power might be our only way."

Without another word, aware of my fragile condition and temptation to throw another chair, Renit steps back. My eyes search over the side of the mountain like two lovers eyeing each other from across the room. I step back to get a better look, finding the slick rock to be my best bet. I press my palm flat against the side, feel the security underneath, and push in.

The rock caves, following my hand into the cold depths of the unseen and untouched rock underneath the surface. With my other hand, I create another, directly in line with the first. Since learning to control it, my power has amazed me in more ways than one—this is one of those occasions.

I smile to myself when no rock tumbles down from the sudden change in the structure. The changes are minor, they're only footholds to get us higher.

"There," I say, whirling back to face Renit. "As I climb, I'll make more footholds."

He narrows his eyes. "I'm finding out how much your power is at an advantage compared to mine." Chewing on his lip, he avoids my mocking smirk and hands over an ice axe along with a few metal stakes in case I need them. They're shoved into the pockets of my tunic and the ice axe is strapped at my hip.

They're more weights, but those alone will not contest to Renit's mass. The true test will be when he attempts to scale the side of the mountain. The footholds, deep enough for me to reach as far as half my forearm, should be strong enough to hold his weight.

The remainder of the mountains surrounding us serves as a blockade for the wind as we climb. I go first, mimicking my movements and creating more footholds for us to step in. The higher and higher we climb, the rougher the wind becomes. It attempts to yank us off the side of the mountain, taking our clothes and tools with us, but I grip tight onto each new foothold and hope for the best.

Renit follows closely behind and waits patiently while I gently press my power into the side of the mountain, whispering reassurance all the while. One wrong move and we tumble down the side. We don't speak, we hardly breathe, and my power does all the negotiations.

I find that the majority of the time, I'm forced to lean back from the sharp incline of the mountain. There's no give, no forward lean—mostly a lean back—and my legs shake harder than I can stop. If we manage to make it out of here alive...it'll be a miracle. My life does not mean nearly as much as Renit's does; if anything happens, I'll catch him before he falls. Even if I have to take the entire mountain with me to do it.

"How are you doing?" Renit calls out. The wind takes his voice, and it's merely an echo in my ears.

Pushing in another foothold, I say, "I'm fine. Everything is fine."

"If you need a break—"

"I don't need a break." The wind swirls around my hair and the strands stick to my dry lips. Of course I need a break. My legs are shaking, my arms are burning, but this is nothing compared to the training the king made me go through. He pushed me to the point of being unable to walk, all for the reason of not being embarrassed when I couldn't stand up to the strongest of guards. The skill was there—the muscle wasn't.

After not claiming to want a break, I stop for a second to catch my breath. Daring a glance down, I find we're higher than I thought. The ground looms below and my entire body quivers with fear until Renit reaches up and braces a hand against my ankle. "We're fine." His tone holds reassurance. "Your footholds are strong enough to keep us from falling."

Sidestepping his comment, I stare back towards the side of the mountain. Dark stone the color of mud stares back. "Where...where is the cave?" I ask, trying and failing to convey the tone of boredom. Not a chance, not here.

"According to the book, it's towards the center of the mountain when facing it where we stood. We won't see it until we're on the same level, but it's there."

"Shit," I mutter underneath my breath. I didn't start in the middle, that part was too weak to hold either of us so I chose this route instead. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"I didn't—"

Renit's voice is cut off by the sound of stone crumbling. I whirl to him, looking down, and his foot slips through the hold. The rock crumbles. His weight was too much. My hand flies down immediately towards him as Renit slips, grappling for anything—the side of the mountain, my ankle, my hand—anything. But his fingers slip through everything.

Silver eyes wide with fear, Renit falls. There is nothing below but the ground to catch him. I scream, my terror drowned out by the wind of the mountain, and I jump off the footholds, falling after him. His arms extend out towards me, legs flailing in search for any security underneath his feet. There won't be any.

The wind rips at my hair and, not caring about the mountain any longer, I cleft a large chunk from the side and cocoon it around Renit's body. I don't hear his scream, warning me to brace myself against the ground, but I won't until he's safely on the surface. We'll have to climb again—I don't care. As long as Renit makes it out of this alive. As long as Renit doesn't die.

In the split flash of a second, quicker than I can calculate, Celestine's pale and bloodless face is there. I close my eyes as we fall closer, Renit completely out of my sight. Instead, a chunk of stone the size of his body, pieced together by loose rock from the side of Fire Mountain is staring back at me. My power. It'll be what saves him.

From inside that cocoon, Renit tugs so hard on the Grounding bond that I gasp for air. As gently as I can, still falling at such a pace that if I slam against the ground, I won't rise again, I rest Renit's body on the surface of the ground.

He tumbles out from the cocoon, clean and untouched, and faster than any bolt of lightning he can create, I force the remnants of the stone up towards me in a spiral. The last thing I feel is the slam of stone against my side and I brace against it. Bone cracks and the entire world, it blackens into nothing.