He turned to me, his expression too mixed to read. When his gaze traveled briefly to my lips, a blush reddened his face, and he stared at his hands like they were the coolest things he'd ever seen.

"One, Two, and Three will together have enough power to free Gretchen from inside the earth. This will unleash terrible chaos on its surface."

I decided to ignore the fact he'd not answered my question. For now. "Who's Gretchen?"

"A dark Sorceress," he said and ...