The trouble began, as trouble often does, with a whisper.
Finn heard it first from Theo, who heard it from the thoughts of a Council messenger: someone in the Council was working for Corvus. Someone with access to secrets, to defenses, to the very heart of Lumina's power.
"It's true," Theo said, his grey eyes wide. "I've been feeling it for weeks—a shadow in the Council's thoughts. Someone who thinks about Corvus with something other than fear. Someone who—" He stopped, shaking his head. "I can't get closer. Their mind is shielded. But it's there."
Finn thought of the Council members he'd met. The Ember woman, fierce and proud. The Tide man, serene and watchful. The Zephyr girl, sharp and intuitive. The Stone man, solid and kind. And High Chancellor Vex, cold and unknowable.
Any of them could be the spy. None of them seemed likely.
"We need proof," Elara said. "Accusations without proof will only make things worse."
"How do we get proof?" Briar asked.
Finn was silent for a moment, thinking. Then he said, "We watch. We wait. We use what we have." He looked at Theo. "Can you get close enough to sense more?"
"I can try." Theo's voice was uncertain. "But if their shield is strong—"
"Then we find another way." Finn touched his crystal. "The Source called to me last night. In a dream. It wants me to find it. Maybe that's the key."
"Finding the Source won't help us catch a spy," Elara pointed out.
"No. But it might give us the power we need to fight whatever comes next." Finn looked at his friends. "I'm going to find it. With or without the Council's permission. And when I do—"
"When you do, we'll be with you." Elara's voice was firm. "All of us. Wherever the Source is, whatever it takes, we're not letting you go alone."
Finn felt warmth spread through his chest—not from the crystal, but from something deeper. Love. Connection. Trust.
"Together," he said.
"Together," they echoed.
The opportunity came three days later, during a Council session Finn had been summoned to attend.
The topic was the Source. High Chancellor Vex had proposed an expedition to find it, arguing that Lumina needed its power to face the coming threat. The Ember woman supported her. The Tide man was cautious but willing. The Zephyr girl was enthusiastic. The Stone man was skeptical but open.
And as they debated, Finn watched.
He watched the way Vex's icy eyes flickered when the Source was mentioned. He watched the way the Ember woman's flame-coloured hair seemed to dim, just slightly, at certain words. He watched the way the Tide man's serene expression never changed, never faltered, never revealed anything at all.
And then he saw it.
The Tide man's hand—just for an instant, just barely—moved in a pattern Finn recognized. A pattern his mother had taught him, from her years in Corvus's prison. A pattern the Corvites used to communicate in secret.
Finn's blood ran cold.
He looked at Theo, who was sitting in the back of the chamber, ostensibly taking notes. Theo's grey eyes met his, and Finn saw confirmation there. Theo had seen it too.
The Tide man. The serene, cautious, reasonable Tide man. He was the spy.
The meeting ended without incident. Finn waited until the Council members dispersed, then followed the Tide man through the corridors of the crystal tree. He moved silently, using the shadows as cover, the crystal's light dimmed to nothing.
The Tide man led him to a private chamber deep in the Tide quarter, a place where the canals ran dark and the buildings were old and forgotten. He entered alone, and Finn pressed himself against the wall outside, listening.
"—reporting as ordered." The Tide man's voice, stripped of its serenity, hard and cold.
"And?" Another voice—one Finn recognized with a chill that went to his bones.
Corvus.
"The Council suspects nothing. The Crystal Heir trains, but he is young, untested. The Source expedition is approved. When they go, we will be ready."
"Good. The master is pleased." Corvus's voice was silk over steel. "When the Crystal Heir finds the Source, we will take it. And with its power, we will destroy Lumina once and for all."
Finn's hand moved to his crystal. It blazed with light, responding to his rage, his fear, his determination. He wanted to burst through the door, to confront them both, to end this here and now.
But he remembered his mother's words. Patience. Wisdom. Trust.
He slipped away into the shadows, his mind racing, his heart pounding. He had the proof they needed. Now he just had to survive long enough to use it.