"Yeah, I know," said Finn. "The others were the Spear of Lugh, the Stone of Fal, and the Sword of Nuada."

  Kai leaned forward. "What the stories don't tell is what happened to the treasures when the Tuatha retreated from the mortal world. Most believe they took the treasures with them to the Otherworld, but..." He paused." But some say the treasures were too powerful to exist in either realm alone," he continued. "So they were hidden at the boundaries between worlds, guarded by chosen Weavers sworn to protect them."

  Finn's inner eye immediately flashed back to the Ancestor Lantern he'd carried just a few hours ago. "Guardians," he whispered. "The parchment. It said that Rowan Madden was a Guardian of Western Waters."

  "Yes," Kai confirmed. "Four families, each tied to one of the treasures. The guardianship was passed from generation to generation. But something happened about thirteen years ago. A breach of some kind. The records are surprisingly vague."

  "You think we're related?" Finn asked. "That I'm from a Guardian family? Finn Madden of the Western Waters?" he chuckled. "I'm with Sophie on this. There's god knows how many Maddens out there, and I'm a terrible swimmer. It's a coincidence."

  "Could be coincidence," Kai said, bobbing his head. "But it would explain a few things. Not an everyday thing that a bog sprite and a Faer grace a first-year with any attention at all. And Morrigan bringing you in personally..."

  Finn reached into his pocket, his fingers closing around the silver pendant. After a moment's hesitation, he pulled it out, holding it up to the firelight.

  "The Far Darrig gave me this. Said it was 'a fragment' and told me to 'seek its siblings'. Whatever that means." The pendant swung lazily in front of his eyes.

  "I feel... connected to it," Finn continued. "Like with the Heart-seed, but stronger."

  Kai leaned closer, studying the fragment without touching it. "Looks ancient. We have a lot of things back home that look similar. The craftsmanship reminds me of artefacts from shrines built thousands of years ago."

  Sophie's eyes widened. "Do you think... could it be a piece of the Cauldron?"

  An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

  Finn stared at the pendant, wondering if it could really belong to the cauldron from his dreams. "I don't know," he said finally. "But Professor Myrddin offered to meet me tomorrow before breakfast. He might have some answers."

  "We'll come with you," Sophie declared immediately.

  "He didn't say anything about bringing friends," Finn replied, unsure if it'd be a good idea to ambush Myrddin with Sophie and Kai. "He said something about the walls having ears."

  "That's exactly the kind of cryptic nonsense adults say when they're hiding something important," Sophie argued. "Besides, you already shared everything with us."

  Finn grimaced. "I guess so, but I also don't want to destroy whatever little trust he has in me. Let me sleep on it, and I'll let you know tomorrow."

  They talked late into the night, trying to piece together what little information they had. At one point, Sophie suggested that Finn might actually be a piece of the Cauldron magically transformed into a person, which prompted Kai to ask if she really thought Finn was a sentient piece of ancient cookware. Sophie argued it would explain why the pendant reacted so strongly to Finn - it was reuniting with its sibling. "The only thing it'd explain is why I feel so empty inside sometimes," was the only response Finn had, and the three dissolved into sleep-deprived laughter. After Sophie had nodded off twice, she had decided to return to her own chamber, and Kai, preparing for bed, arranged protective charms of rowan and hazel around his pillow. "Just in case," he explained. "The veil is thinnest at midnight."

  Finn lay awake long after Kai's breathing suggested that his friend had fallen asleep, trying to absorb all of what had happened today, what he'd learned from Sophie and Kai. All his life, he'd been a nobody, an unwanted orphan passed from one foster home to another. The idea that he might come from someone important, someone with purpose, felt wrong and fabricated, like a bad prank the whole world around him was in on - except for him. But if it's true, he thought, what happened to my family? Why did they leave me?

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  After what felt like hours, Finn was finally drifting toward sleep, exhaustion overpowering the turmoil of his thoughts. His grip on consciousness loosened, and he slipped into the realm of dreams, finding himself back in his chamber. Kai slept peacefully beside him. Had he woken again, or was this still a dream? The room was bathed in the soft glow of moonlight filtering through the leaded glass window, casting familiar shadows across the stone walls.

  Suddenly, a flicker of blue light, small at first, like a distant star, but quickly growing brighter. The will-o'-the-wisp that had disappeared after his arrival at the Grove materialized near the ceiling, its flame dancing with the same bobbing rhythm. It descended toward him, its blue flame pulsing hypnotically, and as it drew closer, something on his chest began to warm, barely noticeable at first, but intensifying rapidly like sunlight concentrated on a small patch of skin. The world around Finn shimmered and dissolved. He was no longer in his room. Instead, he stood in the vast tomb-like chamber from the bog sprite's vision - the same dark stone walls, the same flickering torches, the same raised dais at its center. But this time, the scene was different.

  Gone were the six weavers who had stood around the platform in defiant formation. Gone was the sense of desperate battle, of sacred space under siege. The chamber was quiet now, filled only with the soft whisper of torch flames and the gentle pulse of Aether. The Cauldron stood where it had before, but it too felt different, looked different. Instead of its magnificent silver glory, it was broken, cracks and fissures running from base to rim, some small and fine, others ragged and gaping.

  Instead of blue-white light stirring within it, emanating from it, there was nothing. And before it, back towards Finn, stood a single figure, his cloak black as a moonless night, his face hidden beneath a long, draped hood.

  "At last, the pieces align. The last fragment has awakened." The voice was more of a low hiss than a whisper. "We will have what was scattered. What was broken will be made whole. What was lost..."

  The figure raised its hands toward the Cauldron, and Finn could see pale fingers extending from the dark sleeves. "...will be brought back."

  The voice grew stronger, more fervent. "Every piece calls to its siblings. Every fragment yearns to return home."

  The dream shattered.

  Finn gasped awake in his bed, his heart pounding, the pendant still warm against his skin. The will-o'-the-wisp was nowhere to be seen.

  "Did you see that?" he whispered, though he knew Kai was deep asleep. He sat up, clutching the pendant through his shirt, and stared out at the moonlit grounds of the Grove Academy. Had this been just another one of his weird dreams? It had felt different, more vivid, more real, more like the vision that the bog sprite had shown him. But who was that person?

  As Finn struggled to make sense of his dream, something outside caught his attention. On the oak tree closest to his window sat a raven, its blue-black feathers gleaming in the moonlight. This one was beautiful, much bigger than most of the other ravens Finn had seen around the Academy, its long talons wrapping fully around the thick branch it was sitting on. As Finn watched, he noticed its eyes. They, too, were different from the other birds he'd seen around the Grove. They glowed ember-red.

  The raven turned its head to look directly at him, and Finn felt an icy prickle zap down his spine. It felt as if the bird was studying him with the same intensity he was studying it, a creeping, unnerving sensation of being watched. For several long minutes, Finn and the raven regarded each other through the leaded glass. Finally, the raven released a single, harsh croak, spread its wings, and took flight, disappearing into the darkness.

  Finn stared at the empty branch, then shook his head and walked back to his bed. After a long, exhausting day and a more or less sleepless night, his tired mind was surely playing tricks on him. He settled back onto his pillow, pulling the covers up to his chin. Tomorrow, he would meet with Myrddin and hopefully get some answers. But for now, he desperately needed a few more hours of sleep.