"Maps?" Lyra repeated, the word tasting like ash on her tongue. She stared at Caleb, her mind struggling to process the sheer audacity of his demand. "You want me to steal Vane’s border patrol maps?"

"Keep your voice down!" Caleb hissed, his eyes darting frantically toward the heavy wooden door. He

The roar that shook the obsidian walls of the ice fortress did not sound like it came from a living creature. It sounded like a mountain tearing itself apart.

Lyra slammed her fists against the heavy iron-wrought door of her tower prison, the unforgiving metal bruising her knuckles. She didn't car

The iron hinges of the tower door groaned in protest before a localized explosive charge blew them cleanly out of the stone frame.

The heavy oak and metal door crashed inward, throwing up a blinding cloud of dust, smoke, and splintered wood. Lyra shielded her face, coughing as the acrid smell of s