Making it to the temple during summer was so much easier. No roads were blocked off by snow and we didn't only have few hours of sunlight. It was actually a nice trip. We had the windows rolled down in the doors, cool winds hitting my face.

Pavia was sitting in the back seat, looking like he was enjoying the jazzy rhythms flowing out of the radio. Huck was sleeping, or more like he was dozing off, only to wake up whenever one of his sister's songs came on. The newly made radio station played her loud and often – also because mostly all of her songs were political. I loved listening to her.

"Are we there soon?" Huck asked, looking rather groggy. He took his glasses off to rub his eye.

"Yeah, it's not far now. We'll have to stop soon and then walk a bit. But it's not far. The road is just not for driving closer to the temple," Dy explained after having turned the volume on the radio down.

We stopped by the side of the road, all three cars and got out, the gravel crunching under my shoes.

"Alright, Pavia, you're coming with us. The rest of you, stay behind. We need as few people down there as possible, in case something goes wrong," Dy said, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm going with for protection." She grabbed a rifle from the boot of the car and loaded it with loud clicks. She looked like a total badass and I had to snap out of ogling her. We had serious spirit business to attend to.

Pavia, Dy and I took the short walk down to the old temple. It looked the same. Abandoned and old, but I felt the spiritual energy bubbling up to the surface.

"I feel something," I said and glanced up at Pavia.

"The spiritual connection is strong here," he agreed and nodded.

I went to the shrine I had been laying on the last time I had connected with Quinn. It was as something jumped alive in my stomach. Or maybe my chest? It felt weird but also strangely like coming home. The tattoo in my palm was stinging a bit.

I pulled myself up on the shrine and looked up to find we were not alone. Pavia looked over his shoulder and smiled.

"Karuu," he said softly.

"Pavia," the spirit replied. He looked like Nila and Barr. His skin had the same dark blue shade, and his eyes were black with drops of blue in them. His hair was as black as Barr's as well. He was just as handsome as Barr too.

His eyes swung to me and he touched his forehead, bowing it in the process. I did as well.

"You are Alvina," he said softly. "Nila has spoken fondly of you. As has Àlvar. He sends his love."

"Thank you," I said, a lump growing in my throat.

"Nila sent me. She thought I'd be a better guide to what you're looking for, as I have spent more time in this realm than any of the other spirits. With the exception of Barr."

"Can you help us?" Pavia asked.

"What's happening?" Dy asked and looked from me to Pavia. "Is there a spirit here or?"

"Yes," Pavia said and snorted. "Sorry, Dy. Karuu has joined us."

"Oh, I always forget." Karuu walked towards Dy and touched her forehead. She inhaled sharply and then looked straight at Karuu.

"What the fuck..."

"I have opened a connection to you. We are connected now." Karuu smiled widely and looked very proud of himself.

"Maybe ask next time," Dy growled.

"How can I ask if you cannot hear me?" Karuu shot back and arched a brow at my girlfriend, before he turned back towards me. He sat down next to me on the altar, looking up at the sky. "Give me your hand, Alvina."

I hesitantly put my hand in his outstretched one. The skin on the back of my hand started burning and another mark appeared. This one was a triangle, sort of, with a dot in the middle.

"I was one of your ancestor's spirit. When you carry my mark, you have a direct line to me. I can help you with your quest."

"We're trying to find the block. The one that prevents the spiritual energy to run freely in Andaheim."

"Ah yes, one of your ancestors built that. I was his spirit. He wanted all the power, all of the spiritual ones. You see, we each carry our own power, which we pass on to one in your family. Quinn has Barr's power and you carry Nila's. Your ancestor carried mine. I have the power of healing. He didn't see the point in it as it would win him no wars. He wanted the power that Nila carries. It can become a great weapon in the wrong hands. When he realised it wasn't possible, he wanted nothing to do with the spirits anymore. He cut us off. Wanted no one in the future to become greater than him."

I frowned. "So, because he couldn't become the greatest, he cut everyone off from the spirit world."

Karuu nodded. "Yes. He also ruined his chances of coming to the spirit world after his passing. And many of those who came after him."

"How did we get this connection then? I know Àlvar was granted access to the spirit world because he was in Bursaaq."

"Because I found him." Karuu smiled again. "Barr and Nila had felt a closer connection at yours and Quinn's birth. Just like I had when Àlvar came into this world. Just like how I feel the same connection to Quinn's son. He will heal his fathers in more way than one."

"You want the block removed as well," I said, realising there were ulterior motives behind his actions. He wanted to connect to Quinn's son.

"We might be spirits but we still have motivations of our own, Alvina. Barr didn't want to vanish, and he would have, if Quinn's spirit vanished. They are more closely connected than anyone has ever been to one in your family. He is also very young, Barr. His desire to connect was stronger because he hadn't done it before."

"I don't understand any of this," I admitted. "How come our connection is stronger than my father's?"

"Because your father found the block. And he tried to destroy it, but failed. There are cracks in it now, cracks we used to get to you. But we're still very limited and the block is slowly crushing your brother still. It is for him and his son I want the block to be destroyed. Especially for his son. He is still too young to know how connected he is to me, and he won't miss me for a while. But the older he gets, the more he'll notice that something is missing. Just like you, yes?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I didn't feel right until I connected fully with Nila."

"And the same will happen to the boy. Let's not make another generation go through the loss, you've felt."

"That's why I came. We need to find the block."

"Yes. I know where to find it."

"Where is it?"

"It's within the stronghold in Andaheim. I saw your ancestor build it."

I looked up at Dy. Her eyes were wide and then she rubbed them. "Fuck," she muttered under her breath. "We need to take the city then."

"So, the block is within the stronghold," Huck said, pinching the space between his eyes.

"Yeah," I said with a deep sigh.

"Right, and how do we get there, when the city is still impossible to take?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

Karuu raised his hand. "I have an idea."

He had followed us back to the cars, getting more and more transparent, the further away we got from the temple.

"Karuu has an idea," I said and glanced up at him.

"If you can get a message to Barr, he will be able to destroy it at the right time. And then you can take the city with your powers."

I repeated what Karuu had said to our little team. Aleks frowned, his big arms folded across his chest.

"It will reveal him as a spirit," he said.

"Yes, which is why it needs to be done at a certain time. We need to be ready to take the city, the minute the block is destroyed. Then the least of their worries will be a spirit within their walls."

Aleks nodded but didn't look completely convinced.

"What keeps this from turning into what happened last time?" Rakiili asked and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"Me. Having proper access to my powers."

"And you think you can take the city?"

"Al could obliterate it if she wanted to. I wasn't kidding when I said we needed to not do any of this in a populated area," Dy chimed in. "I've seen her use them. And I'm not the type to exaggerate."

"You don't seem like the type, no," Rakiili said thoughtfully. "We need a way to shoot down their aeroplanes."

"I'm working on that," Huck said and rummaged through his satchel, finding his notebook. He flipped a couple of pages and then showed us a drawing of what looked like a canon. "We'll place these babies on the blimps. And they'll be able to shoot down the aeroplanes, if we can hit them. I doubt they've had enough time to actually practice flight enough to avoid the bombs."

"I like you, kid," the Bursaaq woman said and snickered. "We need to get back to Paasmut, brief everyone on our plans and somehow get a message inside of the stronghold."

"That'll be the biggest hindrance. We haven't had any ways of reaching the royal family for months now. The people we have planted within the stronghold are all kept away from them. It's very limited who gets access."

I frowned a little. "Quinn has had the same servant since he was little. It's some lesser noble who was sent to the stronghold to be Quinn's servant. It's a whole thing. I doubt he'd be on the rebels' side. If we can get to him, we can get to my brother."

"Did you have one of those?" Dy asked.

My face flared up, heat spreading faster than a field fire. "Uh, yeah."

"What happened to her?"

"Uhm..." I swallowed hard. "It's not relevant."

We had slept together. And she had been sent away by my mother. If I were to flaunt around like that, I could do it with someone she chose. Princesses from other nations. Definitely not some lesser noble servant. I had been heartbroken when she was sent away. She was my first girlfriend.

Dy raised an eyebrow at me but didn't say anything. Maybe she could see I didn't wanna talk about this in front of everyone.

"Right so we'll try and get access to the servant first. Maybe someone can get access to Barr too, but they've reported back they still don't know who he is. He has managed to hide a little too well." Aleks ran a hand over his bald head.

"No, the fewer who knows who he is, the better," I said. "We can't afford anyone accidentally making his presence known to the rebels. It'd ruin everything."

We all agreed there, by the looks of it. No one interjected anyways. Which was always a good sign. The more we agreed, the better.