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“The key is telling you that?” Matthias asked.

“Yes,” Hannah said.

“Right, then we need you and Marian to scry out exactly where they are so we can jump in.”

“Do I have to work with her?” Hannah muttered as she glared over at Marian.

Matthias muttered something under his breath and nodded. “You really do,” he said. “We need an exact location on Huldre before we jump in. Your bind to the key can be used to scry it, but…”

“But I’m not much good at clairvoyance and she is,” Hannah said reluctantly. “I know that. It’s just…”

“I understand, but this is far too important. You understand that, don’t you, Hannah?”

Hannah scowled at him and blinked away tears. She wanted to argue but couldn’t. “I know.” Her shoulders slumped. “I do know.” She bit her lip and looked over at Marian. “I’ll try.”

Matthias squeezed her shoulder. “I know you’re grieving and it’s really too soon to ask this but it’s necessary. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll try,” Hannah repeated and swallowed the lump of misery in throat but she couldn’t quell the anger boiling in her stomach as she tried to clear her mind. The memory of Simon Laverne’s ribcage exploding kept playing over and over in her mind.

Another hand took hers and she looked up to find her father standing there. “You can do this, Han. I know you can. Let me help.”

Hannah nodded and a soothing calm spread over her, dulling both anger and grief to managable levels. Unfortunately, clarity revealed how unreasonable she’d been being and she had to repress the guilt from that as well before she could reach out to Marian’s mind.

I’m sorry, she said. I’ve been being an idiot.

No! Marian’s response was sharp. After what I did to your mother you’re right to be angry. I more than deserve it.

Hannah hesitated and swallowed back another wave of grief before replying. You deserve something but… Look let’s get on with this. Right now it’s way more important.

It is, Marian said. Let’s try then. Feel for your link with this thing.

Hannah did as Marian asked. It wasn’t hard given how the key was tugging at the corner of her mind that was bound to it and screaming for attention.

Woah, Marian said. It’s not often Sarah’s wrong about something like this but that thing definitely has a rudimentary consciousness. I think he stuck a fragment of his consciousness in it somehow.

Like an imp? Hannah asked. When Marian broadcast incomprehension, Hannah showed her what an imp was.

Ah! Yes, like that. My family don’t call them imps. He’s entwined one with the clay somehow. I wish I was going to be around to study it.

I don’t think they’ll kill you, Hannah said.

Maybe not. That seemed to make Marian more depressed not less. Hannah felt an unexpected clenching in her stomach and decided to mention it to the others when she had the chance. For now, they had to do this scrying.

So how do we do this?

I do it, Marian said. You just have to keep me on course until I have a full link with it and can start scrying.

Okay. Hannah reached for the key again and imagined herself as a bridge. A shining orange thread connecting Marian to it. There was a long pause.

I’ve got it, Marian said. You can relax now.

Hannah gave a sigh of relief, dropped the contact and laid her head on her arms. “That was hard.”

“But it worked,” Matthias said. “That’s what matters.” He looked over at Marian. “Show us the layout then.”

Marian nodded and suddenly they seemed to be standing in the air looking over a mountain top. Emms was sat crossed legged below them with the key in his hands. The whole setup looked exactly like in the premonitions Tara had clarified. The troll, Huldre, was hiding among the rocks not far away.

“I can give you an exact place to jump,” Marian said. “But I feel like there’s someone else there. I can’t get a fix on them. I don’t think they’re a danger, though.” She frowned. “It feels like there’s two of them but only one?”

“That will be Laxmi,” Matthias said. “Don’t worry about it.” The scrying vision faded and he turned to the others. “Let’s go.”

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