The liquid form of this powerful cell regenerator is relatively easy to find—but the solid form is incredibly rare, and can tackle the strongest infections.

RUCKLEBERRIES

Also used in alchemy (for metal purification), ingesting these small yellow-orange berries causes the body to bloat and the skin to wrinkle, drastically altering someone’s appearance and making them unrecognizable.

SLUMBERBERRY TEA

This special purple-tinted tea is brewed from slumberberries and is used by many as a mild sedative before bed.

SOMNALENE

The nectar from the starglass flower can be used as eye drops, creating a unique effect called “midnighting,” which can calm the mind and encourage sleep.

SQUELCHBERRIES

Purplish, reddish, fuzzy fruits that resemble dead caterpillars. Each bite contains an entire meal’s worth of nutrients—but they must be eaten slowly. Squelchberry juice is incredibly sticky and can glue the jaw shut if too many berries are consumed at once.

YETI PEE

This strong-smelling golden sludge can be hard to find—and even harder to wash off. And it’s not particularly pleasant to use. But it’s the best way to treat serious burns.

 

 

THE PRIME SOURCES

THERE ARE THREE:

SUNLIGHT

MOONLIGHT

STARLIGHT

And they aren’t studied or discussed as often as they should be in the Lost Cities—particularly since they’re considered to be the elves’ true source of power. But Councillor Bronte may be working to change that.

At least once a year, the Councillors visit the Point of Purity—a place at the edge of Earth’s atmosphere, where the Sources are all equal and unimpeded by any contamination or filtering—and leap back to the Lost Cities using a beam made from all three Sources.

The leap is a test, meant to remind the Council where their power comes from and help them better comprehend each Source’s unique attributes to harness.

Together, the Prime Sources provide a perfect example of how to lead without dominating, which is why the Council used them as a symbol for Team Valiant. The three spiraling lines of gold, silver, and white unite evenly, demonstrating the need for proper balance in Team Valiant’s collaboration.

SOURCE

COLOR

ATTRIBUTES

 

SUNLIGHT

GOLD

Sunlight is the easiest Source to identify—an invisible fire that always has more to give. Harnessing its power is about respect and restraint.

 

MOONLIGHT

SILVER

Moonlight is the ever-changing Source—there in the darkest hours, but sometimes elusive. Harnessing its power is about managing expectations.

 

STARLIGHT

WHITE

Starlight is the most varied of all the Sources, since each star is different. So harnessing the power of the stars is about choice—and utilizing them takes both knowledge and wisdom.

 

 

THE UNMAPPED STARS

GIVEN THAT STARLIGHT IS ONE of the Prime Sources, it’s no surprise that the elves spend a great deal of time mapping, naming, and studying the stars—even bottling their light.

But there are five stars that are treated very differently.

The “unmapped stars” are kept secret from all except the Council (and former Councillors). Knowing their locations is illegal—as is bottling their light. In fact, most elves have never even heard the stars’ names:

ELEMENTINE

MARQUISEIRE

PHOSFORIEN

LUCILLIANT

CANDESIA

The reason for the secrecy is that light from the unmapped stars is actually quintessence—the highly volatile, potentially dangerous fifth element.

Each star’s quintessence is a different color and texture and has unique qualities and capabilities. And understanding those differences may prove vital in the days ahead.

Which is likely why the Black Swan made sure their moonlark knew where to find every one of the unmapped stars. They’ve also had her leap with each of the stars’ quintessences. What that knowledge might be used for is unclear—but given the connection between quintessence and the Neverseen’s mysterious stellarlune project, it’s likely to be significant.

 

 

WARNING:

The information on the next page can get you in serious trouble (trust me, I would know).

Read at your own risk!

—Sophie

 

 

Rebel Groups

 

 

AUTHOR’S NOTE

UNLIKE IN STORIES WHERE THE hero is clearly on the side of good, fighting against a villain who is clearly on the side of bad, Sophie has found herself caught in the middle of multiple rebellions. In fact, in the early books in the series, she even struggles to figure out who the “bad guys” are—the Council? The Black Swan? Someone else entirely?

Only as the story progresses does she discover the existence of the Neverseen and realize who she’s truly fighting.

That was one of the things that fascinated me about this story. The good guys and the bad guys are technically both rebels, responding to the same “flaws” in the Lost Cities. (You probably noticed several of those flaws in the previous sections of this guide—and also when you read the books themselves.) The Council has been ignoring major injustices for millennia, and their world finally reached a point where someone had to step in and do something.

That’s where the Black Swan and the Neverseen come in.

Yes, one group is definitely bad, and the other strives to be good—but they’re both right about the problems their world is facing. They just have drastically different plans to fix the situation.

And their plans are always changing—which was another thing that made me want to write this story. To me, the scariest villains are the ones that grow and adapt, abandoning things that aren’t working and changing the game again and again. And the smartest heroes are the ones who are always trying new things.

But I do realize that it can be hard to keep everything straight (especially since the books are quite lengthy). So the next section of this guide is sort of a cheat sheet, to catch you up on what each of the rebel groups has been up to—or what Sophie knows, at least. Since she’s the one stuck in the center of it all, it seemed only fair to let her be the one to explain everything.

Think of the next few pages as her notes to herself, trying to make sense of what she’s learned—so she’s ready for what comes next.

 

 

THE BLACK SWAN

 

This is the “sign of the swan,” which is the Black Swan’s fancy symbol

(though sometimes they only use the head/neck portion ).

I guess they picked their name because a really long time ago, humans used black swans as an example of “something impossible,” since they thought swans were always white. Aaaaaaand then they discovered that black swans were a thing, so black swans became a symbol of “something that shouldn’t exist, but does.” Which, I guess, is pretty fitting for the Black Swan, since they’re a group of rebels in a world that thought it was too perfect to ever have a rebellion.

Plus, it gives them an excuse to use phrases like “swan song” for when they’re about to take a big risk or make a sacrifice, and to put dwarven poems about swans into the little notes they give me, and use the Cygnus constellation as clues, and all kinds of other swan-related stuff.