“Well it’s just as crazy as when they asked me to lead the armada. They should be looking to Eurek or Ferez or Hysan—”
“Who told us about the Dark Matter?” she demands. “Who told us about Ophiuchus? Who told us about the master?”
“If not me, someone else would have uncovered this stuff—”
“But it was you, Rho.” Sirna’s ebony face fills with light, and I’ve never seen her look so hopeful.
“And to be clear, I saw how wrong I was about you two minutes into our first conversation.”
I frown. “That’s not true—”
“It is. We were in my office, and I’d just told you that your dad and brother were lost again. Then I cruelly pressed on with the political agenda, and I waited for you to fall apart so I could be proven right in time to spare Cancer the humiliation of you standing on that podium and name-dropping Ochus. I remember you shut your eyes, and I was sure you would break down. But when you opened them again, I didn’t see a girl in pain. I saw a Guardian.”
Her eyes are still bright as she rests a hand on my shoulder and brings her face so close that I feel her warm breath on my skin. “You plowed forward with our agenda, and in your voice I heard Holy Mother Origene’s resolve. And I knew then that you would always protect us, even when you had nothing left for yourself.
“I may not have agreed with all your choices, and I will probably continue to disagree with you from time to time. But I had the same relationship with Mother Origene—as you’ve seen, I’m not one to keep my doubts to myself.” She allows herself a small smile, and it makes her look so much younger. “But I have no doubts you’re our true Holy Mother, Rho. And neither should you.”
As if to prove it, she takes something out of her pocket.
It’s the Cancrian Star Stone.
“This belongs to you now.”
I don’t want to accept it, and yet just like the first time I laid eyes on it, I can’t help myself from wanting to touch it. She sets the smooth black opal in my hand, and goose bumps race across my arm.
It feels fated to be standing here, having my Guardianship restored in the same spot where it was once stripped from me. After all, every Holy Mother’s ceremony must be blessed by the Cancer Sea.
“We leave for planet Ophiuchus tonight, and we’re counting on the Thirteenth Guardian to close the portal,” she says, reverting to her all-business demeanor. “We anticipate the enemy knows our plan and will do whatever they can to stop us. Ophiuchus has the strength of a mortal now, so if they kill him, it’s over. We need you in this fight.”
“I’m not a fighter, Sirna.”
“No, but you’re our best seer. And when we get to that world, we’re going to need our Guardians to work together to pick up the Psynergy trail to Ophiuchus’s crash site.”
“I haven’t accessed the Psy in a long while,” I admit.
“Then I suggest you use this time wisely and go square things up with the stars.”
? ? ?
Black opal in hand, I visit the reading room on the top floor of the third bungalow, where I helped Mathias find his Center again after his capture.
I feel along the Talisman’s ridges to unscramble the constellation puzzle and unlock it.
The Archer. Sagittarius.
Nishi drowns my thoughts, and I immediately descend to my Center. I didn’t think it’d be this easy, but at the mere thought of my best friend, it’s practically unavoidable. She is my soul.
Now that Aquarius is gone, I’m not afraid to enter the astral plane—but the Psynergy is still erratic. I have a feeling the only way to heal the Psy is to heal ourselves.
I stare at the stars and try pushing down my pain so I can See something. Only instead of my eyes registering movement, it’s my ears that hear a sound. It’s indistinct muttering . . . and it’s coming from Helios.
As I approach the holographic sun, I flash back to when I met Ophiuchus in the slipstream and I hesitate. But curiosity gets the best of me, and I reach out to touch it.
The reading room disappears, and I’m transported to a vast, grassy field that extends endlessly in every direction. I take a few befuddled steps forward and gaze in awe at the greenery around me.
No time to dawdle, we don’t have long.
I spin around to see a familiar wizened face.
Moira!
You sure took your time finding me. I don’t know how much longer I could have held on.
But you’re—
In a coma, yes, but my spirit is free in the astral plane. It’s strange seeing her without her Perfectionary in hand. Before I move on to Empyrean, I have a message for you from the Luminaries, and I don’t have long.
There are Luminaries with me, I cut in, frowning. Why couldn’t they tell me?
Because they don’t know this information, and if you continue interrupting me, you won’t either. She knits her eyebrows, adding more wrinkles to her olive face, and I determine the best course of action is to stay quiet.
The Luminaries were formed by Empress Virgo, my House’s Original Guardian. She Saw the Last Prophecy, and she suspected one of her brethren to be behind the vision, so she couldn’t confide in any of them. Instead, she broke off a piece of her Talisman and gave it to her most trusted Advisor and instructed her to form the Luminaries.
The Virgo Star Stone contains a true Psy Veil, so the person using it can enter the Psy invisibly, without being seen by anyone—including Aquarius. That’s how the Luminaries have kept their location secret this whole time.
Moira’s mossy eyes fix on mine with deadly focus, and since she’s usually a multitasker, it feels like a lot of pressure to hold her full attention.
We are the last outpost of the astral plane, she says heavily. We’re why the Last Prophecy vision has never gone away. As long as we’ve been here to anchor the Psy, he couldn’t twist it too far. That’s why it’s imperative no one ever know where we are—we are the only safety net the astral plane has. Of course, it’s all moot if the Zodiac dies.
Remembering what Aquarius wanted from them, I ask, Where does the portal lead?
Moira dismisses my question with a curt wave of her hand. The stars of the Zodiac cannot See beyond their own existence.
But Aquarius said the Luminaries were hiding a prophecy from him—
That’s because we wanted him to think that, she says with a note of pride.
You were baiting him? I ask, staring at her in shock.
The Luminaries have always hoped to prevent the Last Prophecy by uncovering the Guardian’s identity before he could set it in motion, so we tried luring him out. But when he realized we were searching for him as hard as he was searching for us, he stopped chasing our fake vision, and—
She seems to sense something in the air because she starts speaking faster than usual. You need to know that it will take the same amount of energy to close the portal as to open it. So without the Unity Talisman, you must find the spot where Ophiuchus crashed onto his planet, as the soil there will still retain remnants of his Star Stone—