Chapter 1

The air in the council longhouse felt heavy, thick with the scent of old woodsmoke and despair.

Outside, the bulldozers of Remington Mining were a dull, constant roar, closer each day to our sacred Sunbeam Ridge.

Three years.

That's how long the elders said I had.

Three years away from the Ridge, and the life force that tied me to the Sunbeam Vine, our tribe's heart, would wither. I would die.

But the tribe would die sooner if I did nothing.

"I will go to him," I said. My voice was flat in the dim light.

Old Man Hemlock, his face a roadmap of wrinkles, shook his head slowly. "He hates us, Ella. He believes we murdered his parents."

"I know."

"He will not listen."

"He might listen if I offer him what he truly wants: answers about his parents." And a way to stop him from destroying us all.

I clutched the small, worn leather pouch at my belt. It held nothing but dust from the last true Sunbeam Vine I'd managed to nurture with my fading strength.

The next day, I walked out of the mists of our hidden valley, down towards the sprawling city lights where Keller Remington lived.

His office was on the top floor of a steel and glass tower that scraped the sky. Cold.

His secretary, a woman with a painted-on smile, looked me up and down. My worn buckskin felt out of place on her plush carpet.

"Mr. Remington is busy."

"Tell him Ella Windrider is here. From the Eagle Eye Tribe. About his parents."

Her eyes widened a fraction. She spoke into an intercom.

Moments later, the massive oak door opened.

Keller Remington stood there. Taller than I remembered from childhood, broader. His eyes, once curious and bright when he'd visited the Ridge with his geologist parents, were now chips of ice.

He didn't speak. He just stared.

"I have information," I said, my throat dry. "About what happened to them."

A flicker of something unreadable crossed his face. Then it was gone.

"Come in."

His office was vast, a sterile landscape of chrome and black leather. A huge window showed the city sprawled below, a concrete scar on the land.

He gestured to a chair. I didn't take it.

"What do you know?" His voice was low, dangerous.

"They weren't killed by my people," I began. "There was... an accident. Others were involved."

He watched me, his face a mask.

"I can help you find the truth. But you have to call off your machines. Leave Sunbeam Ridge alone."

A muscle twitched in his jaw.

"Is that all?"

"My people are dying. The Ridge is all we have."

He walked to his desk, picked up a heavy crystal paperweight, turned it over and over in his hands.

"You come here, a filthy squatter, after all these years, expecting to bargain with me?"

His voice was soft, but it cut.

"I expect you to want justice for your parents."

He laughed then, a short, ugly sound. "Justice."

He put the paperweight down.

"I'll get my own justice."

He pressed a button on his desk.

The door opened again. Two large men in dark suits stepped in. They didn't look like corporate security.

"Take her to the estate," Keller said, his eyes never leaving mine. "She's going to tell me everything she knows. One way or another."

My heart hammered. This wasn't how I'd planned.

"Keller, please..."

He turned his back on me, looking out the window.

"You should have stayed hidden in your mountains, Ella."

The men grabbed my arms. Their grip was like iron.

They dragged me out.

I saw his reflection in the glass as they pulled me through the door.

His face was cold. Unmoving.

Like the stone of the mountain he was trying to tear down.