The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Xan follows the rock path up to the volcano’s crater. There used to be a big Tower, but the Tower is gone and the castle is rubble. The circle of stones from the courtyard is gone except for one, and it takes Xan hours to find it. When she does, she finds a message that Zosimos carved: “Don’t forget. I mean it.” It’s disappointing, and Xan doesn’t know what she’s supposed to remember. As she puts her forehead against the stone and apologizes to Zosimos, a surge of magic hits her and the stone opens to reveal steps. Suddenly, Xan remembers Zosimos warning her that sorrow was dangerous because “she” was still around, so Xan swallowed her sorrow and her memories.

Xan remembers how everyone in the castle ran into the forest when the volcano exploded. She put protective spells on them as Zosimos hid the castle within the stones and told her to not forget. She assured him that she wouldn’t, but he insisted that she would. Zosimos told her that he was going to save people and hoped that Xan would go on to make sure they’re thankful, though he knew she wouldn’t. Then, he and Fyrian’s mother, a Simply Enormous Dragon, leapt into the volcano and stopped the eruption. Xan realizes now that she did nothing to keep Zosimos’s memory alive. She forgot him within a year and never found it strange. She wonders why her memories disappeared and why Zosimos hid the castle.