Year of the Chameleon 3
Date: 2021-05-18 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Magic; Young Adult; Urban Fantasy; Paranormal; Romance; Vampires; Supernatural; Action; Shapeshifters
Description: You Don’t Choose the Academy. The Academy Chooses You. Broken, bruised, and battered beyond anything else, I’ve survived what I shouldn’t have. But my day isn’t done yet. We finally have the key to stopping Frost—literally. Even if we don’t know how to use it. One last time my friends and I have to scour not only the city but the supernatural world to find the pieces of this final puzzle—and we have three days to do it. One final showdown brings us back to where it all began, and I face off against the woman who killed my brother. Who hunted my mother down. Who broke my uncle’s spirit. If I ca
Publisher: Hijinks Ink Publishing
Rights: Copyright 2021 shannon mayer. All rights reserved.

Shadowspell Academy: Year of the Chameleon

Book 6

shannon mayer

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

About the Author

Also by shannon mayer

© 2021 Shannon Mayer

All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, write to the publisher, at "Attention: Permissions Coordinator," at the address below.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Hijinks Ink LTD

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Created with Vellum

Acknowledgments

To my readers who stayed with me through BOTH very naughty cliffhangers. There isn’t one at the end of this book. Unless you keep complaining in which case, I’ll re-write the ending and everyone will die. :)

#HappyReading

1

“There is no such thing as cheating in the game of survival.”

“That is exactly what your brother said . . . right before I killed him.”

Frost’s words echoed through the air between us, her smile wicked, her eyes laughing at me.

She’d killed Tommy.

On the floor of the Shadowspell Island Prison Penitentiary I stood, but the world swayed and for just a moment I thought . . . I thought I saw Tommy again. Wavering in and out of existence right beside Frost, his eyes locked on her, brows furrowed, and fists clenched at his side. Something that should be impossible for me without touching a necromancer.

“He was snooping—” She continued to smile, not the least bit disturbed to admit she’d killed an eighteen-year-old boy. Then again, I knew he was far from the only kid she’d killed. She killed them for their power, for their silence, and to make a statement. Maybe she did it just for fun. “—and like you, he found himself in a great deal of trouble.”

I forced my head to turn and look behind me. My friends were being held on their knees, their heads lowered. I had no doubt what was coming next. Frost would kill my friends, just like she’d killed Tommy. Maybe not today, but it would happen eventually. I knew that like I knew a rattler would strike if you disturbed it.

I could feel my crew around me, inside my head. Wally, Pete, Ethan, Gregory and Orin. They were scared.

But they were also fiercely angry on my behalf, and that anger helped me lock my knees and stay standing.

Frost smiled, her eyes as icy as her name. “Nothing to say? I find that hard to believe.”

Nicholas stood beside her, opposite to where Tommy’s ghost wavered. But no Ash. Where was the gargoyle who had for a moment been someone I trusted?

Surrounding them were members of Frost’s crew. Ethan’s father was there. As was Wally’s, though her dad looked as though he was going to be sick.

Maybe not everyone wanted to be part of Frost’s crew after all.

My eyes slid over the scene as I struggled to find the right words—which yes, for me was a shocker. But that anger that swelled and bounced around in me, and to my crew and back again, was building in a way that I’d never felt before.

A sudden thump came from low inside the prison, like a machine caught in the throes of giving up its last coughing gag.

“What the hell was that?” Helix barked as though he were in charge. Frost rolled her eyes, though he couldn’t see her obvious disdain for him. Helix snapped his fingers. “Jason, Olive, Sandra, check it out.”

Wally’s dad—Jason—tipped his head and locked eyes with Wally for a split second before he turned away with two women, leaving us with Frost, Nicholas, Helix and four other adults I didn’t recognize.

The ground rumbled, the floor sinking as tiles cracked like gunshots. More than a few people swayed where they stood. Frost looked unperturbed. But just to the left of her, right at the height of her head a glimmer of something dark crawled up the wall. Glittering as though speckled with stars.

Eating away the wall with a speed that was all wrong.

A flicker of hope lit inside of me as the vicious spell I’d set loose to save Gregory from the chains ate away at a support beam, chewing away like a beaver on speed as it buzzed through a hunk of wood.

I just needed a little bit of time, and if I was lucky for once . . .

“You aren’t afraid of me?” Frost said, her voice silky, drawing my attention away from the glittering black spell.

I looked back at her and let my anger swell upward. I wasn’t afraid for myself—I was afraid for my friends. But I wasn’t going to let her see that. “Maybe I’m more like my uncle than you realized. Maybe I’m just a hard-nosed killer who doesn’t give two bunny hops who lives or dies. Maybe, just maybe you’ve met your match.”

A few of the adults sucked in big breaths that echoed through the big space and Frost’s eyes didn’t give away a single ounce of her feelings.

Her pale eyebrows rose upward. “Truly? You think there is a familial connection that you cannot deny? A need for blood that you will bend to no matter what?”

The bonds of the spell that held me tight and kept me from moving loosened a little, and Nicholas stepped into my line of vision. “As I suggested, pushing my niece and her crew into a dangerous situation was enough to intensify their abilities. The fear drove them, did it not? Does that not make her more valuable now?”

“Yes, but why?” Frost tipped her head. “It never worked with you. Every time I put your crew in danger, they died. Pity, I did like your mage. And that Unmentionable, he was interesting for a goblin. Even Mel could have been of use.”

My uncle closed his eyes. “My crew chose to die rather than be tied to you, Frost.”

Holy sheep shit.

And the spell binding me loosened further.

“Don’t you dare,” I muttered to my friends though I couldn’t even turn my head to look at them. “Don’t even think about it. Not for a second!”

Tommy had died trying to figure out Frost’s end game. She had killed him, and if it was the last thing that I did, I would make her pay for cutting his life short.

For stealing my best friend from me, long before he should have died.

For playing a part in Colt’s death too.

I wiggled my good hand toward my belt and the wand that was stuffed there. If I could get to it, I could do . . . something.

The hold on my head was suddenly gone and I turned to see Orin just behind me and to my right. He flicked his eyes toward the door we’d come through.

And a thought came through loud and clear.

The vampires in the other room are ravenous. Nothing would stop them from feeding on people in here. And the one that had been Jared . . . maybe seeing him would shock her?

“Frost,” I said as I stretched against the spell Nicholas still had on me. And that spell? It loosened a little more. He was either getting sloppy or trying to help us. I didn’t know which was more believable.

“Yes?”

“The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?” I said, deliberately lowering my voice. I needed to keep her busy just a few more minutes. Just long enough for my spell to keep eating away at the prison walls.

She frowned. “A riddle? I’m about to bind you to me for eternity so that I can drain your power and strength to fuel my own, and you want to share a riddle with me? What are you up to?”

I shook my head and my fingers inched closer to the wand, brushing the end of it. “Not my riddle. It’s Barnaby’s riddle, and even I, a slow-witted Shade, managed to solve it. Surely you should be able to manage?”

Frost’s face tightened as though she’d stuffed a lemon in her mouth. Yes, it looked like pissing off my elders was a talent. If only ol’ Sunshine were here to see me in action. He’d be proud.

“Who is Barnaby?” She snapped the question out, and I realized the not knowing truly bothered her. Knowledge was a power she usually had in spades. I smiled and let out a laugh.

“You haven’t met? You really must meet him. He’s a gem.”

I grabbed my wand and flung my hand backward as I shouted the spell, “Lavium braken!” Magic curled around me, and the flick of my wrist sent it splattering across the wall beside us. The black droplets spread, hissing and snapping as they ate away at the stone and steel, revealing the room we’d left in a cloud of dust.

Four vampires stood watching us. Four vampires and a pissed-off undead ram that stomped one of his hooves against the stone floor.

Barnaby was the first through the opening, his rags catching the edge of the spell, but he didn’t seem to notice that his clothes were being eaten away as he shot toward me, fingers and fangs outstretched. A glimmer of gold appeared, strapped to his chest.

I was banking on the slim chance that maybe, just maybe, Nicholas didn’t really want me dead, or in Frost’s hands.

Banking on the man known as the Shadowkiller to not throw me to the wolves. But I had a hard time believing that he accidently let the bonds on me slip as much as he had.

I also had a feeling Wally would tell me the odds weren’t great.

Less than five percent. Her thought whispered through me, deep and classic Walter Cronkite.

Barnaby reached for me. “SO HUNGRY!”

I couldn’t move.

And then just as suddenly, the bonds of the spell holding me were gone, and I dropped to my knees, spinning to the side and pushing Barnaby straight for Frost.

On instinct as he slid past me, I reached up to his chest and grabbed for the glimmering item. I didn’t know what it was, only that I’d seen it twice now. A shimmer that drew my eye like a crow looking at tinfoil had to be something important. And if not, I’d toss it in the drink.

Metallic item in hand, I turned in time to see Barnaby and Frost go down in a tangled heap of limbs and screeching. But for how long?

“Hurry,” Nicholas urged. “Call your mounts. You have seconds at best.”

I’d come prepared for an escape—inasmuch as I ever prepared for anything—and the alicorns were waiting nearby, ready to swoop us away. I didn’t argue, just called out the leader’s name. “Amalthea!”

Ethan shot a blast of something at his father. “Tswasha!”

Helix senior ducked and flung his wand up, barely blocking the blow, his wand swirling toward us all.

Gregory stepped up beside me and clapped his hands. A backwash of power rolled out from him and the stone around us pulled away from the walls, spinning slowly at first and then faster and faster as it blocked us from sight. “That should buy us more time.”

Nicholas flung his hand toward the roof, and a blitz of magic swirled from his wand, taking out the ceiling in an eye-watering burst of bright white light.

There was a sharp whinny and the rustle of wings as the alicorns swept in through the brand spanking new hole in the roof, cutting through the smoke and the bits of still-falling debris.

Gregory flicked his fingers and pushed the swirling chunks of stone out of the way. Amalthea was in the lead, and I leapt up as she drew close, grabbing her mane and pulling myself onto her back before her hooves even touched down. Pete, Orin, Ethan and Wally managed to catch their previous mounts from the challenge we’d aced in the Culling Trials. At the time, Gregory had been a prisoner—Frost’s prisoner, in fact—so he was the only one without an established mount.

I held out my hand to him as Amalthea banked hard to the left, her wings brushing the ground.

“Gregory, jump!” I yelled as the alicorn’s hind end pushed off the floor of the prison with a clang. He leapt for me, and I caught his hand, pulling him up behind me, barely hanging on with my legs. Amalthea shot me a look out of the corner of her eye. “I can’t leave him behind!” I said. “So don’t give me the stink eye.”

She blew out a long snort as she powered up and out of the prison, the other alicorns right behind us, wings wide, the slap of rain on our faces as we shot through the opening.

For just a moment we were free . . . nothing but the rush of the wind and the pounding of the rain as it washed away the smoke and dirt and blood.

The sound of leathery wings gaining on us turned my head sharply to the right. Ash flew hard to catch us, until he was soaring right next to me. Where had he been? Hiding from Frost? So that she didn’t kill him like she’d killed the others in Nicholas’s crew?

His eyes were filled with pain, and I couldn’t look away as he spoke. “You must find the rest of the keys, Wild. And when you do, you must go back to the beginning. You must.”

There was another blast of light—a spell shooting out from the prison straight toward us— and Ash spun so that it hit him instead of me, a black hole scorching through one wing. His eyes widened—and then closed as he fell. Spinning faster and faster, he lost altitude until he crashed back through the roof of the prison.

“Holy cats!” Pete hollered. “I thought we were done for!”

My friend’s jubilation at being alive and having escaped from Frost filled me up, and I wanted to take part in it, I really did.

“Fly.” I leaned into Amalthea and she cranked up the speed, taking us far out over the water, away from the island, away from Frost and everyone trying to kill us.

Except Professor Ash hadn’t been that bad in the end, and if he was dead, it was one more death Frost had caused. Like Tommy. Frost had killed him for looking for . . .

“What keys?” I whispered to myself.

Gregory tightened his arms around my middle. “Like the one Tommy gave you? That kind of key?”

I looked over my shoulder at him. “You think Ash meant that literally?”

Gregory frowned while the others whooped it up, enjoying the ride. “In our world, the literal and figurative sometimes intersect. The best spells are usually a blend of the two. So perhaps the literal is the keys, and the figurative is that they unlock something that isn’t physical?”

“That’s weirdly specific,” I said.

“Professor Ash had a class with just the House of Unmentionables, before the whole explosion, Shadowkiller kidnapping you, run from the bombs situation.” He shrugged as if it were no big deal, but I could see the strain in his eyes. “He talked a lot about the hidden strengths that lay within each of us. Our . . . house wasn’t always the Unmentionables. We used to be the House of Stone.”

I gave a slow nod. “For the gargoyles that makes sense, but—”

“Because of the gargoyles, yes, but also because many of us can manipulate the earth. Goblins can do it, and so can trolls.” He looked past me. “Professor Ash could do it.”

Yes, he was right about that. When Nicholas and Ash had been chasing me through the city streets, Ash had softened the ground below me with that ability, throwing me into an unused tunnel.

I patted his hand that was clinging to me. “And so can you. That was amazing back there.”

Despite the dark, the blush staining his pale cheeks was visible. “You should be proud, Gregory. You are making history, I think,” I said.

He stared hard at me and then looked at the others in my crew. “I think we all are.”

Ethan urged his mount closer to us, and Amalthea pinned her ears flat to her head and snaked her neck across to bite at the other alicorn. It dropped low, and Ethan was nearly unseated.

“I think that’s close enough,” I hollered at him.

“Where are we going?” he shouted up to me.

I put my bad hand on Amalthea’s neck, the broken fingers swollen and at terrible angles, the hurt of the break throbbing now that the adrenaline was fading. It seemed already forever ago that I’d snapped them clinging to the chains, trying to save Gregory. Amalthea’s warmth sunk into my palm and I scratched her with my index finger, about the only one that didn’t hurt.

“I’ve got a suggestion for a temporary hideout,” Ethan said, and his mount swept upward, a little closer. “It’s ballsy, though, and you might not like it.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Sounds terrible. What is it?”

“I don’t think Frost would think to look for us there. It would give us a chance to take a breather,” he said.

“Quit drawing things out, Ethan,” I shouted, “it’s not a surprise party. Just say the words.”

Ethan’s face screwed up. “My mother’s penthouse. It’s totally separate from my father’s world, he doesn’t even know about it. The alicorns could land on the roof—I could cover them with a spell. It’s on the top floor, so there aren’t a lot of spells between the roof and the suite. We can slip in past the couple that are there. If we’re careful, we won’t trip any.”

I wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea. I also thought what a shitty marriage that you have a penthouse your husband is totally unaware of. Even if it did work in our favor.

I motioned for him to back up, and amazingly he did. Or maybe it was just the other alicorn reacting to my movement. Ethan certainly didn’t make a habit of listening.

Tapping Gregory’s hand, I spoke quietly to him. “What do you think?”

“Why are you asking me?” Gregory said. “Why not the others?”

“Because you are . . . our grounding force. I trust your judgment, and you balance out Ethan,” I said, and in my gut, I knew it was true. Gregory was as vital to our group as any of us. There was magic binding us together that we still didn’t understand, but I got occasional flashes of clarity, and this was one of them.

He was quiet for a few minutes. “If the alicorns stay put to give us a quick escape, I think it could work. I hate admitting Ethan is right about anything, but . . . I don’t think anyone would expect us to stay in the city. And if his father really doesn’t know about it, he’s probably right. We would be safe. The only thing is, can they track you? Wally said that was why you shut down your link to us.”

I closed my eyes and felt for the threads that tied me to Ash and my uncle.

The blue mist that had tied me to Ash was gone, and so was the thin red thread tethering me to Nicholas. I had no doubt that Ash had removed his hold on me on purpose, but my uncle . . .was it even possible to remove a family tie like that? I wasn’t sure. I felt like if I searched for it, I could find it, but I didn’t want to. “Gone for now, from what I can see.” I took a breath. “Ethan, can you cover us all now? So they can’t see where we go?”

’Cause call me crazy, but five alicorns flying through the night sky weren’t what I would call inconspicuous.

His wand swept through the air, and although I thought about listening to the words he used so I could repeat them later, I decided against it. Not because I didn’t want to learn, but because nearly everything I had done with my magic turned out ass backward, and it was probably a shit idea for me to try it. With my luck, I’d probably end up making people disappear for reals.

A shimmer of a warm breeze wrapped around us as the spell settled over the alicorns. Ethan and his mount took the lead, flying through the city. For just a moment I let myself enjoy the sensation of flying with Amalthea. I let myself breathe for the first time in days.

I let myself believe that we could do this.

We were together, and as a group we could figure this out.

Because the alternative was letting Frost win, and while I still didn’t know the rules of this game, I knew losing would cost us more than our freedom this time.

I twisted around and looked back the way we’d come, almost feeling her there. Feeling her looking for us.

For me.

“If she catches us again, she won’t be so kind,” I said into the wind. Nor would she waste time talking to us about all that she could do. She’d pin us down and bind us to her to start. But that wouldn’t be the end of it.

I could feel the certainty of that in every part of my body, to the marrow of my bones.

And as soon as she had all our energy, power, and magic? She’d kill us without a second thought.

2

Rory

The remembered thrust of a knife into my back, needle into my belly, clawed fingers tearing through my inner thigh—they rocketed through me.

Wild. They would go for Wild next. And I couldn’t let that happen.

Because now that I’d let myself see Wild—really see her—I knew that I could never lose her again.

The feel of her sitting with me, the press of her legs against mine, the smell of her skin. She was what I’d been looking for from the moment I’d left home.

It had taken me far too long to see it.

For a moment I could feel her hand on my face, hear her voice. Be safe, Rory. Don’t die.

My skin tingled the softest of warnings. I sat up hard, a fist snapping out to the person on my right. A person who caught my fist as though it were nothing. Very few people could do that, and I immediately relaxed, knowing who it must be.

“Easy,” Rufus said, his voice recognizable though I couldn’t seem to focus my eyes on him. “You’re not in danger any longer. We’ve got you in a bunker near what remains of the House of Shade.”

My body ached all over as if I’d been run over by a stampede of cows, but I had only one thought. “Where is Wild? Wally and the others? Are they okay?” My voice was scratchy as though I’d been sick.

A sensation of Wally inside my head was here, almost like I could hear her. What the hell was only five percent?

“AWOL,” Rufus said. “She left as soon as she had you locked down and not actively dying or dead.” Rufus shifted his position, and his partner, Mara, took his place at my side. Her hands were warm and gentle as she slid them over my skin, where I was sure there had been a knife wound not all that long ago, and took my temperature. “Fever is gone, and the injuries are healing. You were very lucky.”

I flipped the blankets off my legs, but she grabbed the edge and pulled them back over me, pushing me back down with a single finger. “Nice try, Rory. You are far from ready to run off after her. You have to rest for hours, or more likely a full day to heal properly.”

I blinked up at the healer, more than a little shocked that she could push me back so easily. “You want me to just stay here? While Wild and the others are out there facing Frost?”

“She has a radio.” Rufus stood at the foot of my bed, his usual aviators in place, hands tucked behind his back. “We wait. When we know where she is, then you can go after her. If you’re healed up enough.”

My jaw ticked, and I struggled to master my anger. Four years of working with Rufus had taught me control, had taught me to do what was right even when it was hard. When it came to Wild, though, all that carefully cultivated control went out the window, and right and wrong got mixed up with my heart.

She meant too much to me. I could still feel the beat of her heart against mine as we crouched in the dark, hiding from the Shadowkiller on the ground of the Culling Trials. I could still feel her mouth pressed just against my collarbone. My heart picked up speed even as my resolve hardened.

“Would you leave Mara out there?” I asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

No one else would have noticed the change in Rufus’s body, but I saw the slightest stiffening. “That is not the same thing.”

“No?” I slid my legs to the side of the bed and fought a wave of nausea that made my head feel as though it was trying to spin off my shoulders. “Why not? Because you’re older than me? Because you’ve been with Mara for a long time? Just because I’m not with Wild, doesn’t mean I don’t . . .” Love her? Jesus, I was in deep and I didn’t even care.

Rufus’s only reaction was to snort. “You want to get killed? What do you think that would do to her? You think Ruby and Frost targeted you because you were in the way? You aren’t even part of her crew, Rory.”

I blinked a few times, my head fuzzier than I wanted to admit. “Spit it out.”

My mentor didn’t reprimand me for being sharp with him. We were beyond that. We both knew I was nearly a match for him. Another year of training, and I’d surpass him in skill and speed. He leaned in close.

“If Ruby had killed you, Wild would have been satisfied by nothing short of burning the world to the ground, not caring who she took with her, because while you two nincompoops can’t see it, the rest of us know that you are a match for her in every way. But injuring you? Leaving you almost dead? They did that to throw her off her game. To make her worry, to distract her from doing what she had to do. She said it herself.” He folded his arms and leaned against the wall. Waiting for me to put the pieces together.

I stared hard at my feet. “But she doesn’t know—”

“How you feel?” Mara asked. “Don’t be so sure of that.”

“She saw me in a compromising position,” I said suddenly, rubbing at my forehead. At the time, I hadn’t understood the hurt on her face when she’d seen me holding Gen. I hadn’t put two and two together until too late, and then she had been snagged by the Shadowkiller.

Rufus laughed. “Jesus, boy, what the hell did you do? And why?”

“I was with Gen and . . . shit, it looked like I was kissing her. I thought I would have time to explain later, but I’ve not been alone with her.” I glanced at him in time to see a glimmer of mirth in his eyes.

“I see. Well, that’s going to be awkward. I wonder which knife Wild will stick in you?” And the bastard smiled at me. Smiled.

I closed my eyes, and the world swam, sending me back onto the bed whether I wanted it or not. Damn it, Mara was right, I wouldn’t be useful to anyone like this—certainly not to Wild. Even as I lay there, unmoving, waves of nausea rolled through me as though I’d been on a three-day drinking binge.

“So, we wait?” I fought not to puke my guts out.

Mara put a small cardboard boat-looking thing near my head. It smelled vaguely of disinfectant. “Here, you’ll need this.”

“That won’t catch it all,” I said as I turned and my guts proceeded to remove everything inside of me, including that one shitty lunch I’d eaten in third grade. Dill pickles and colored marshmallows—yes, I’d made it myself. At least that was what it looked like when I stared into the swirling colors. “What—”

“The needle that Ruby stuck you with.” Mara took the bucket away. “The poison in it was designed to immediately reverse one of the healing spells I use regularly. Very tricky. Good thing Wild noticed before she left, or you’d have been dead seconds after I laid my hands on you.”

Eyes still closed, I flung an arm over my face as my guts roiled again, writhing through me like a basket of snakes.

Someone—Mara by the smell of her perfume—gave me another little cardboard gravy boat.

Gravy.

That single word in my head set me off. I turned and heaved again, not even bothering to look at the contents. Bad, it was bad, and that didn’t even take the smell into account.

“At least it isn’t slugs,” Rufus said. “Can you imagine puking slugs up?”

“Not helping.” I moaned and then heaved again as something thick and sludgy slid out of me, vaguely reminiscent of a slug. As if he’d known what would come out of me next.

He laughed. And at another time I would have laughed with him.

Wild would likely never believe it, but Rufus was a good friend. And a better mentor than anyone else in my life. Far better than my asshole father. His footsteps sounded in my ears, before he clapped me on the back. “She’ll radio when she’s ready to get help. Until then, we wait. You wait. And while you wait, you get stronger.”

I blinked, sweat dripping down the sides of my face. Wishing she’d hurry up. Because while she might be worrying about me, out there, with both Frost and the Shadowkiller on her tail, I was stuck in bed like an invalid, unable to even stand up. What good would that do her?

The minutes slid by, and I dozed in and out between sessions of filling the gravy boat.

An hour or more later, a squawk of the radio cut through the air, and I jerked upright, sending the world spinning once more. Mara was there with a fresh bucket as I dry heaved.

Rufus unclipped the radio from his belt.

“Johnson, that better be you. Alive.”

Static.

Then she came through loud and clear. “You sure you don’t want me dead yet? I’m kinda a pain in the ass if you haven’t noticed.”

I smiled.

Rufus tried not to. “Where the hell are you?”

“I don’t know if . . . no, make me the pepperoni pizza. With hot peppers.”

Rufus shot a look to me as if I would know where they were, and I shrugged. How the hell was I supposed to know what was going on?

“Johnson!” He barked her name into the radio, and she came back on.

“Look, we have a place to hunker down. It’s safe and we can catch our breath.”

He leaned into the radio, and I could see the shock on his face through his usual mask of stoicism. “You . . . you got them all out?”

“Yeah, bit of a cluster if you know what I mean, but we’re out. And we’re safe for the moment.”

He let the button go and let a muttered flow of curses roll from his mouth. “How did she do it? No one has ever . . . not in or out . . .”

“Wait.” I managed to sit without so much as gagging. Go me. “You didn’t think she’d get them out? Why didn’t you help her?”

Rufus sighed and pulled his aviators off to rub at his eyes. “I wasn’t sure. Chameleons are . . . they spin chaos, amongst other things, if you haven’t noticed. Their luck can swing from amazing to the shits in seconds, and they can connect with people without meaning to.” He paused and put his aviators back on.

The radio squawked again.

“How is he?”

Rufus threw the radio at me, and I caught it. “I’m alive,” I said.

Static.

A long ten seconds of static. “What the hell, Rory? You trying to actually die for real this time?”

Her reference to the zombie session back in the Culling Trials was not lost on me. I’d gone under a flood of zombies and then let her believe I was dead. Not to hurt her, but to keep people from looking my way as Rufus and I tried to pin down Frost. “Not this time. Are you okay?”

There was a click and then someone else came over the radio. Wally. “She has two broken fingers, a gash on her left forearm that should have stitches, something is going on with her left leg, and—” There was a scuffle, and then Wild came back on.

“I’m beat up, but no worse than when Whiskers ran me over.”

I winced. Whiskers was a huge-ass bull on her family farm in Texas. “Wild, that was pretty bad.”

“I was twelve, and he was just a baby who didn’t know any better.”

I rolled my eyes as I stood, and Rufus handed me a pair of pants. I pulled them on with one hand as I spoke. “A baby with horns.”

“Not the point.”

I smiled. “Actually, that was exactly the point Whiskers made. You still have a scar up your arm from that incident.”

Her laugh came over the speaker, and the dark fear in my gut eased a little. “Wild.”

“Rory.”

“Where are you? I’ll come to you.”

The pause and static were long. “I . . . I’m afraid to say. In case others are listening. We’re safe. I’ll call again when I can.”

And then she was gone.

I handed the radio back to Rufus and made my way slowly across the sparse room to where my clothes were laid across a chair.

“What exactly are you going to do?” Rufus asked. I noted that he wasn’t telling me not to go. He wasn’t telling me I was still weak, or would be a target for Frost, Ruby, and the Shadowkiller. We both knew all those things.

But I had to try. For Wild, I had to try. I pulled my shirt over my head and tucked it in my pants, fighting off a wobble in my legs. “I’m going to go find her.”

“Hmm. And how are you going to do that? Lie down like a speed bump and hope that slows down Frost and her crew?” Rufus shook his head.

He made a point that was as sharp as the tip of Whiskers’s horns.

My body was sluggish, slow, and my mind was so fuzzed over that even though something in it suggested I could find her, I couldn’t quite grasp the how of it.

“Then may I make a proposal?”

I let myself sink into the chair, exhaustion making it hard to stay upright. The nausea was gone, so that was good at least.

“Sleep.” Rufus put his hands on his hips and stared me down. “Wherever she is, she isn’t moving for at least a few hours. And despite me wanting to strangle her most days, I do think she’s . . . on the right track.” His hand tucked under my elbow and he hauled me to my feet, dragged me back to the bed and all but tossed me into it.

I closed my eyes as I sunk into the thin mattress. “Just a few hours.”

Again, I could feel something in the back of my head.

“I’ll wake you the second something happens,” he said.

Except he didn’t end up being the one to wake me.

The one to wake me was the one who’d come between me and Wild.

And she wasn’t there to play kissy face.

3

Wild

The smell of pizza filled the penthouse suite, and my mouth watered even though I didn’t have much of an appetite. I knew I should eat, though, to keep my strength up. Wally came up to stand next to me as I set the radio down on the granite countertop.

“Are you okay? I mean, I know you’re not okay, with all the breaks in your hand and such, but . . .” Her eyes were full of concern and, of course, she’d been in on my chat with Rory. She knew he was alive, and while that was good, there was still the little issue of him breaking my heart. God, I hated even thinking those words.

But not as much as I hated the memory of walking in on him with Gen, another first year Shade. Their arms had been around each other, and . . . ugh.

I cleared my throat and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just—it feels like we should still be running, you know? It feels like someone’s going to find us here, and we’re not going to get the break we need.” Or worse, we’d be in the middle of said break, our guard would be down, and we’d have nothing to fight with but slices of pepperoni pizza.

It was Wally’s turn to nod. “I know. But, for what it’s worth, I think Ethan’s right. Though I can’t speak confidently about the odds of anyone looking for us here, I’m going to estimate it would be less than ten percent. No one would think we’d dare to come to his mother’s penthouse. Not when his father is working for Frost.”

We both glanced at Ethan, his blond head disappearing as he pulled out another rack of pizza from the oven. He had on an apron that said ‘Kiss the cook,’ and he was serving up hot pies to the other three dudes. Homemade dough, and I had to say even I was impressed that he had the skills to make pizza from scratch.

Pete had made short work of one pizza all on his own, and through the connection between us his contentment—and, more importantly, the contentment of his honey badger—all but hummed.

“Who’d have thought he’d make a good chef?” I shook my head.

“Ethan could always start his own pizza place after this.” Wally grinned at me. “I’m sure Pete would approve, judging by the amount he’s eaten so far.”

Pete gave us a thumbs-up. “A yes to that!”

Ethan lifted his head and looked at us, as if he knew he was the center of our conversation even though he couldn’t hear over the clanging of the pots and pans. Of course, with the bond between all of us, it was quite possible he could feel our emotions pinging back and forth. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that. The connections were good, but . . . they could be embarrassing. Everyone in the crew had felt my heartbreak over Rory.

“Where did you learn to cook?” Gregory asked, and I could feel him trying to smooth things over with Ethan. That was good.

“My mother. She was a baker before she met my father.” He shrugged as if it was nothing and then flipped another batch of dough around using a mixture of his wand, magic, and good old-fashioned hand flipping. I found myself staring instead of eating.

The magic of this world still had me starstruck from time to time. Then again, a few weeks ago I’d believed magic was something people wrote about in books. Because my parents had wanted to protect us from . . . well, from this.

A snapping of fingers drew my eyes away from the kitchen, to where Pete stood over in the far corner of the main living area, staring at Ethan’s mother’s cat.

“This is really cool,” Pete said. “I mean I always said holy cats, but I didn’t think—I mean, really, holy cats! I can hear what this cat is thinking. She says you named her Skittles, is that right?”

Ethan coughed. “Yeah, I was like ten years old. It’s a stupid name.”

“She likes it,” Pete said.

I had to double blink and shake my head. “What did you just say, Pete?”

He grinned at me. “I can hear what this cat is thinking, and she’s pissed, man. She does not want us in here.” His grin widened. “But she knows that she’ll get in trouble if she pees on anything in retaliation. My mom is a cat shifter, so maybe that’s why I can talk to her?”

At his feet the smoky gray tabby cat was giving him a serious side eye, and her lashing tail said it all.

None of these people belong here except my boy. He is lucky I don’t claw their faces off and poop in their shoes.

Pete grinned and my jaw dropped. Because I was pretty sure I’d just heard the cat’s thoughts.

“This is really cool,” he said. “I mean, I’ve heard of shifters being able to hear other animals’ thoughts, but I never thought I’d be one of them. This is some high-end stuff here.”

I shared a look with Gregory. This fed into our earlier discussion. Our individual strengths seemed to grow the longer we were together as a crew. How much time had passed from the start of the Culling Trials till now? Ten days, maybe? Only ten days had passed, and we were all already growing in leaps and bounds, reaching what we knew to be the upper end of the spectrum of power and abilities within each of the houses.

Like Wally pulling Colt’s ghost from the House of Wonder to speak with him.

Gregory using his connection to the earth.

Pete talking to the cat.

Orin controlling other vampires.

And of course, Ethan using spells that should be beyond his abilities.

Wally disappeared from my side, went and grabbed a plate, then loaded it up with pizza and brought it back to me. “I can walk,” I said.

She glanced at my thigh. “Not well. And you have broken fingers. We have no one to heal you up, which means you’re the invalid of the group now. You need to eat. The best thing we can do is make sure that your energy is good.” She frowned and her voice shifted to the lower baritone. “Ninety-nine percent chance we’ll have to leave at a run.” She blinked. “So you might as well try to eat up.”

Another time I would’ve told her to leave off, that I was fine. But she was right. The best I could do was exactly as she wanted me to. I took a bite of pizza, and a moan slipped out of me. This was good. Like stupid good with the perfect amount of sauce, spices, and the crust was perfect . . .

“Ethan, if you weren’t such a dick all the time, I’d marry . . .” Nope, that was a terrible idea. Had I really just almost said I’d marry him for pizza?

I glanced around in order to avoid the startled look on Ethan’s face. “Where did Orin go?” Movement caught my eye, and I tipped my head up to see Orin floating near the top of the twelve-foot ceiling. Huh. Cross-legged, fingers resting on his knees, he looked down at us. “This is wild. I mean, you’re Wild, but this is wild. It’s amazing.”

I’d never heard him sound so excited, and although his face didn’t show much emotion, I felt it.

Another new thing. I should have been happy, but the more I saw, the more my nerves jangled a warning. “Let me guess,” I asked, “something only really old or really strong vampires can do?”

Orin grinned, flashing his baby fangs. “Something like that. Not all vampires have the ability to levitate, and certainly not ones that aren’t already dead. This isn’t—shouldn’t—be possible.”

“Anything else you think you can do?” I asked. “You know, read people’s minds? I mean, people who aren’t already in your crew?”

Orin shook his head. “I don’t know. Honestly, this is a surprise to me. Even the ability to hold those other vampires back in the prison came as a shock. I shouldn’t have been able to do that.”

Gregory was at the window staring into the night sky, and he tapped a finger on the glass. “You know, we should really cover these. They’re huge, and they let people see clearly that the penthouse is occupied with all these lights on.”

He was right. The windows were twelve feet tall, and they encompassed the entire side wall of the penthouse, making for a dazzling—and, in our case, dangerous—view of the city.

Ethan scrambled around in one of the cupboards in the kitchen and pulled out a small remote, pressed the button, and a series of blinds that had been inside the windows slid downward, blocking off the light. “That’s better,” he said, “that’ll keep anyone from seeing us.”

But my eyes were still on Gregory. “What about you, Gregory?” I asked. “Anything new besides those abilities with metal and stone?”

He shrugged his slim shoulders, then rolled them. “I think I could probably do some damage with it if I had to. I mean, you saw how Ash was able to manipulate the ground, rumbling it like an earthquake. I think I could do the same now.”

No doubt about it—we were stronger together, just like I’d always thought. But our strength also made us more of a target. Assuming that we were able to deal with both Frost and the mysterious sickness that was raging through our world, we’d still have to deal with the fact that we stood out among everyone else.

In the cutthroat world of magic, that wasn’t a good thing.

I picked up another piece of pizza with my good hand and took a big bite, chewing as I thought over everything that had happened since I left the farm. From the moment I’d stepped into the Culling Trials, there’d been mysteries surrounding my family, my abilities, my friends, and the world of magic. And all of those things were coming to a head.

I could feel pressure building under my skin, like a storm in the distance. I’d always known when the storms were going to roll through the farm. You could see them sometimes over the flat prairie. The clouds tumbling over one another in the distance, dark and threatening as they spilled across the open plains, like waves from an ocean. You could smell them in the air, feel the hair on your arms stand up as the lightning began to charge through the clouds.

This was no different, except that there was no resting place that was safe from this storm. We were going to have to face it, head on. The penthouse was nothing but a waystation.

“The thunder is coming,” I said more to myself than to anyone else, but they all looked at me in expectation. I wanted to shrug off the attention, but the bonds that linked us fed my feelings to the others, and one by one they straightened.

I closed my eyes a moment. “I think a storm is coming, and in order to survive it, we . . . we need to be our own kind of storm. We need to build something that can stop Frost.”

They all nodded, and their certainty in one another, in me, was humbling. I made my way to the couch, trying not to limp. I sunk into the cushions and stretched my injured leg out.

Yeah, I needed to fix this up if I was going to be any good.

A few minutes later Ethan came to sit beside me. Not quite touching, which was good, because I wasn’t really up to looking at anyone in that way right now. Despite my faux pas with the whole ‘your pizza is so good I’d marry you’ comment.

Because Rory . . . even though I knew he didn’t like me that way, even though I’d seen him with Gen, I couldn’t push him out of my heart. There was too much history between us, too many memories.

I thought to even these last ten days, how every time he’d touched me my heart rate changed and I found myself wanting more.

“How’re you feeling?” Ethan asked, pulling me out of my Rory musings.

“Like I’ve been run over with a truck, then pulled through a knothole backward,” I said. “How about you?”

He picked up his pizza and then put it back down. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never not been controlled by my father. It’s a weird sense of freedom, especially since we’re on the run for our lives. So . . . good, I guess? The sickness is still at bay. Whatever Gordy gave me hasn’t worn off.”

It was my turn to nod, and then I froze with my pizza halfway to my mouth. Gordy . . . he’d given me a gift.

A way to gain information . . . I slapped a hand to my forehead. “Oh my God. I have something that can maybe help. Ethan, pass me my bag.”

Ethan reached across the couch where we sat and pulled out my backpack, which I’d filled up with goodies from Gordy the goblin’s shop.

The goblin had given me a scroll, tied up in a leather thong, with the instruction to open it. He’d said it would help me understand the chameleons I—we—were up against.

And had I opened it immediately? No. No, I had not.

“I’m an idiot,” I muttered under my breath.

At the bottom of the bag lay the rolled-up piece of parchment paper. I held it in my hand and then, weirdly, felt like it was something I shouldn’t open in front of everyone else. “You guys eat. I’ll . . . I’ll have a look at this and then maybe we’ll talk about it after.” Yeah, that wasn’t gonna fly—I could see it on their faces.

Ethan grabbed my arm and held on tight. “Wild, you have to remember we’re all in this together. Whether you like it or not.”

He was right. I knew he was, which was not something I was about to tell him, lest it inflate his already large ego. I undid the leather tie and unrolled the parchment paper. It crinkled several times, wanting to fold back in on itself.

At first, I wasn’t sure that I was reading it correctly, because the words seemed so impossible. I may have closed my eyes in an attempt to unsee the words.

Orin floated down from the ceiling, and Gregory drew close as well.

“What does it say?” Gregory asked. “Is it terrible? Like there’s going to be some sort of apocalyptic destruction of the world?”

“Or are we going to have to do more running?” Pete asked mournfully. “I really hate running.”

Wally patted his hand. “I’ll run next to you.”

Another time I would have smiled at the blush staining Pete’s cheeks or the way the two of them were staring at each other.

But right then, I was struggling to breathe. Terrible didn’t begin to explain the words I was looking at. I wanted to not tell them. I wanted to burn the parchment and let the ashes float away on the wind, to pretend it wasn’t real.

It was that bad.

Pete let out a low whistle. “Cats on fire. I can feel you freaking out, Wild.” The cat in his arms squirmed to get away from him, and he patted her on the head. “No, no, not you. It’s just a saying.”

“How bad is it?” Orin asked. He reached for the paper, and I reluctantly gave it to him. They’d find out everything soon enough. There were no secrets between us. There couldn’t be if we were going to survive.

Maybe it was best that Rory and I had never . . . because once he knew this, there was no way he’d want me. How could he? And that was only the smallest part of the ramifications of this little tidbit.

I shook my head, the ache in my hand and leg reminding me that I was not without the ability to be hurt, or even killed. And if I died, Frost would win. More people would die. “Bad, and I don’t even know how to feel about the rest of this.”

Orin’s eyes skimmed the paper and his mouth dropped open. He may have even gasped a little. Yeah. It was the kind of shocking that made a vampire who didn’t have to breathe all the time, gasp. He handed the sheet around the room, and I let the others read it as I turned my back and went to the windows. Not that I could see outside. I just couldn’t bear to look at them.

I stared at the blinds. Trying to process those first few words at the top of the paper was a struggle. I wasn’t sure I’d ever fully believe them.

Of course, what was there made sense. It made a lot of sense. It pulled many, many pieces of my story together, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.

Wally, Ethan, Gregory, Pete, and Orin all read the paper—I could feel Wally and Orin’s shock filter through me, followed by the confusion of Pete, Ethan, and Gregory.

Some of them knew and remembered my real name.

I turned, and Wally handed the curling paper back to me. As weird as it was, I read it out loud as if it’d be the first time they heard it.

“Maribel Frost Winters is the name of the chameleon we face,” I said.

Ethan looked at me. “I don’t understand.”

It was Orin, the one who always dug out everyone’s secrets, who answered. “Wild was named for her grandmother, Ethan. Her grandmother’s name was Maribel.”

They all looked at me, and I closed my eyes as the horror truly hit us all.

“It was,” I said softly. “But she died. And I remember her. She was timid and sweet.” I made myself look at my friends. “She was named for her mother too. It’s a family thing.”

Orin nodded and their horror sunk into me.

Frost was related to me. And she was quite possibly my great-grandmother.

4

Rory

My limbs twitched, and my eyelids fluttered as the tick of metal on metal drew me up from the darkness of my dreams. Something was waking me, whether or not I was ready. A gentle brush of fingers against my forearm, the soft skin of a woman’s cheek against my own, lips against my ear, and a whisper that pulled me fully out of my dreamland. “Hello, lover.”

I snapped a fist up, my eyes still closed, and caught her in the side of the head, driving her back from me. She didn’t scream—Shades don’t scream—but she let out a grunt and then was on me in a flash, straddling my hips on the bed and pinning my one arm down while she worked her knife out of its sheath, slashing it toward my face. I drove my free arm up and caught the blade on my forearm, the sharp edge digging deep into the bone.

I snarled through the pain, and we locked eyes in a moment of stillness.

“You didn’t think I was going to let you get away, did you? You thought that I was going to stay knocked out and wait for you back there?” Gen asked. Her smile was sharp, and her eyes narrowed as her blond hair slid over and tickled my face. “And you’re too weak to beat me now. Poor baby. What will Wild do with you dead, do you think?”

I twisted my wounded arm and jerked it away, throwing her blade across the room. I backhanded her in an attempt to dislodge her, but she just teetered a moment and then leaned in harder.

She found another blade and aimed for my jugular, but I snaked my neck to the side to keep it from going through my carotid. Snapping my knee to my chest, I drove my heel into her sternum and knocked her backward. She stabbed me in the calf with her dagger as we both rolled off the bed and hit the cement floor on either side. “So, you’re working for Frost? We never got that far in our last discussion.” I stayed there in a low crouch, watching her from under the bed.

“I work for the person who’s going to rule our world,” she snapped. She hopped straight up onto the bed, still in a crouch herself as she launched herself at me. “And if you won’t come quietly with me to see Frost then you can die nicely now, so I can take a picture for sweet Wild.”

I rolled with her and launched her with my foot across the room. “Frost doesn’t want me dead.”

“But I do,” she whispered. “So, I’ll just tell her you were being difficult. Oops, my knife slipped.” She lashed out at me and I easily sidestepped.

I didn’t know where Gen got her ego from, but it was quite something. “You really think you’re going to take me?” I asked, and I laughed at her. Sure, I was the one doing all the bleeding, but that didn’t matter. Not really. Who died was what mattered.

“You’re going to come with me of your own volition,” she said, but then she smiled and winked. As if I needed to be in on the secret that she was actually trying to kill me. Crazy, she was bonkers.

The fact was I could feel the need she had to kill me right there, the hope that I would keep fighting.

Another trick of the Shades was to read others’ true intentions.

But she was still a student, a first year. How could she possibly be as accomplished as anyone who’d graduated if she was only just starting her training? The truth of it hit me as hard as one of her fists.

“You aren’t really a first year, are you?”

She smiled at me. “No. I am no first year, and you are a fool to think that you can stop me.”

For just a moment, I wondered if she was Ruby in some sort of disguise. We circled round each other, her with a knife and me with my bare hands, but I was no slouch, and she should’ve realized that by now.

“I wonder what Wild thinks of you almost kissing me,” Gen asked, “do you think you broke her heart? Do you think she even cares anymore if you live or die? I wouldn’t if I were her.”

“That was no kiss,” I said. As she dodged in toward me and slashed at my middle, I grabbed her wrist, twisting it around, and drove her to her knees. She shot a fist out, catching my inner thigh and driving her knuckles into the bone. But I tightened my hold on her wrist, yanked her upright, and spun us sideways into the bed. It flipped over and sent a clatter through the room. A moment later, I had her back on her knees, her arm cranked hard behind her back. My free hand wrapped around her throat; my thumb pressed precariously tight against her windpipe.

The door flung open, and Rufus strode in. “What the hell is going on in here?”

I motioned with my head to Gen on her knees. “Just a visitor. Outside visiting hours though, I’d guess.”

The Sandman strode across the room, eyeing Gen up and down. “You aren’t a student. And she has a spell on her, it looks like, to hide her appearance.”

I shook my head. “Agreed, definitely not a first year as she was masquerading.”

Gen began to shake under my hand. Rage perhaps, but fear too. If she was a trained Shade, the Sandman would know her the minute her disguise slid away. And he would know how to break her.

He paused in front of her. “I have no doubt that you’re a fully trained Shade if you snuck past me and caught Rory unaware. But who are you?” He tipped her head sideways with his hand, revealing something behind her left ear. He nodded. “I see. You’ve been marked by Frost herself so she can keep track of you. Still, that doesn’t answer my question.”

I looked around to see a tiny tattoo of a snowflake etched into her skin. Small, very small, enough that her hair hanging down would’ve hidden it. Especially when no one was looking for it.

I’d seen the mark on others. Damn.

“What’re we going to do with her?” I asked the Sandman. “Killing her seems too easy, and I doubt she’ll give us any real information if Frost is watching her.”

My mentor crossed his arms as he stared down at Gen. “Who are you?” he asked again.

“Like I’m going to tell you anything, you idiot,” she snapped. “You think that I’m afraid of you because you’re the famous Sandman? I think not. You did not finish my training. Ruby did.”

Her bold words were betrayed by her trembling because, like all of us, she clearly knew the Sandman was a person who delivered on threats. He stared down at her, his aviators fully in place, hiding any emotion that may’ve flicked through his eyes, however subtle.

“That’s easy enough,” he said, “a good truth serum will do the trick.” She jerked against my hold, which only tightened the pressure on her arm, threatening to break it. “Keep her there, Rory. I’ll have Mara bring it. We’ll get answers in no time.”

As he left the room, Gen pushed against my hold again, this time in an attempt to look up at me. “Frost would make you stronger,” she said. “Stronger than anything the Sandman can give you. Stronger than anything Wild could do for you. Come with me, Rory.”

I didn’t loosen or tighten my grip, although blood was coursing down my arm from the stab wound. Nor did I say anything. We stood there and waited for the Sandman to come back as she whispered promises that I ignored. The thing was, the more you talked, the more you gave away, and I wasn’t going to give anything to this girl.

But she was desperate. “Rory,” she all but purred my name, “please. He would torture me.”

That was when I broke. “And you would deserve every moment of it,” I said softly, “for siding with Frost and trying to hurt Wild.”

A few moments later, the Sandman came back into the room, Mara behind him, a vial of something bubbling and red in her hands. Her eyes were not as wide or scared as I would have expected. They shone with determination.

The two of them balanced each other. I wondered if it would be the same for me and Wild, if I could convince her that I hadn’t been kissing Gen. I shook off my thoughts and tightened my hold again on Genevieve. If that was even her name.

“Frost often puts in a failsafe with her people, especially those she has marked,” the Sandman said as he walked toward us, his hands tucked behind his back, “and they die before they can say anything. So, what do you think, are you going to die on us before you speak, or are you going to cooperate, and we will see if we can remove the mark?”

Gen shook her head. “You can’t make me say anything. The truth serum won’t work. Not on me. Even if it did, I would be dead either way. The mark can’t be removed, if I even wanted it to be.”

The Sandman dragged a chair around to the center of the room and motioned for me to bring Gen closer. Using my leverage on her arm and hold on her neck, I forced her to her feet and over to the chair and lowered her down. We tied her arms behind her back, joints still at sharp angles, keeping her from moving too much. Of course, if we left her alone in this room, I had no doubt that she’d free herself, but this would do for the time being. I held her head, a handful of her long blond hair wrapped around my fingers, pulling it back so that Mara could pour the vial into her mouth.

With one hand I pinched her nose shut, holding her head tight and still.

She spluttered and choked, trying not to swallow it, but the need to breathe was there, and she finally took a gulp. I let her head go, and she stared across the room at the Sandman.

“I hate you,” Gen whispered with so much venom I could nearly taste it. “I hate you, Rufus.”

I could almost feel the satisfaction rumbling through the Sandman—he’d been right. That kind of hatred was reserved for people you’d actually known or dealt with, and he hadn’t worked with Gen beyond this year, that we were aware of. He’d only taken on a few students here and there over the last few years. Which meant she was from before maybe even my time despite how she looked.

“We shall find out soon enough just who you are,” he said, “and then we will know what is happening with Frost.”

Gen spat at the Sandman, catching him in the middle of his shirt. A bright glob of red saliva.

“Classy,” he murmured.

We waited in silence while she struggled against her bonds, and finally she began to relax. The Sandman approached her, stopping directly in front of her. “What is your name?”

“Jennie Walker,” she mumbled.

Mara sucked in a sharp breath, drawing my eyes to her. “Jennie Walker? She was your top student at one point a few years ago, wasn’t she?”

I knew Jennie but not well. She’d been ahead of me by two years when I’d first come to the academy. She’d been the Sandman’s favorite, from what I understood, until she wasn’t. No one actually knew what had happened, and I wasn’t sure I’d find out now, unless—

Jennie lolled her head to the side. “I loved you.”

In my head, all I could think was, Oh no. I do not need to be hearing this.

The Sandman didn’t move. “I am twice your age, and I’m married.”

Now, that little bit of information was news to me. I hadn’t realized that he and Mara were actually married. I’d only known they were a couple of long standing. They had hidden their relationship even better than I’d realized.

They’d had to in a world that didn’t like allowing houses to cross-pollinate.

Jennie’s head lolled to the other side. “I hate you. You broke me, you broke my heart.”

“I made you what you are,” Rufus said. “A killer, a Shade, an assassin. You would not have gotten this far without my training. Ruby wouldn’t have been able to bring you this far, Walker. She doesn’t have the skill.”

Last name only . . . ouch. Jennie flinched.

Mara put a hand on his shoulder. “Perhaps, dear, we should stick to the problem at hand, and not the problems that were. Jennie made her decisions, but there is another we need to save.”

He gave her a quick nod. “You’re right.” He crouched in front of Jennie. “What is Frost’s plan? Tell me everything from the beginning.”

Jennie gave a low laugh. “Why the hell not?” That was the serum working, I could see a film of red in her eyes. “I was to get close to Wild. She’s known about her for a long time, she’s been watching her for a long time. I led her into the first trial. I stayed in every single competition through the Culling Trials to make sure I could keep an eye on her, so that I could gain her confidence. It’s why I requested to room with her, but that didn’t work out. It’s why I requested to be on her team for the monthly games, but that didn’t work out either. And it’s why I made her think that Rory had kissed me, because I knew that, at least, would hurt her and make her weaker. That was my job, to put doubt into Wild.”

I moved around to the front of Jennie so she could see me. “But why does she want Wild so badly? Because of her abilities? Can’t she do the same things?”

Jennie smiled. “Because they’re family, you idiot. In Frost’s mind, that makes Wild hers to take. Just as she took the other one.”

My mind blanked, trying to process that information. She’d confirmed Frost had killed Tommy, but it was the other comment, the one about family, that caught me up short.

The Sandman stiffened ever so slightly.

“What do you mean they’re family?” Mara asked.

Jennie gave a shudder. “Family. Wild is related to Frost and the Shadowkiller.” Jennie’s head lolled again. “The chameleons . . . one big happy family.”

5

Wild

I waited with total and utterly detached calm for the condemnation that I was so sure would come from my friends. I was, apparently, Frost’s great-granddaughter by the looks of things. Or, at the very least, related to the psycho who was causing so many problems in our world.

Wally leaned over and put a hand on my arm, and I blinked up at her. “Wild, you’re not like Frost. You’ve done nothing but try and keep us safe, to keep your family safe. That’s, like, the opposite of everything Frost has done. And besides, whether you like it or not, we can kind of see your emotions.” She grinned. “We know you’re not a psycho. I mean, crazy good with weapons and mean as a rattler when you fight, but not a psycho.”

Her attempt to draw a smile out of me worked.

The boys all nodded with her.

“But if this is true, and we don’t know that it is,” Ethan said, “it helps explain why Frost has been hunting you all this time. She’s got Nicholas under her thumb. Well, partly at least. And now she wants you too. To power up?”

His words reverberated. “Nicholas is her grandson then,” I whispered and put a hand to my head. Seeing him take me out of the House of Wonder, away from Daniella and the others we knew were working for Frost. Helping me get to my friends at the prison, then helping us get away. What else had he set in motion?

Who else had he used to help us? “He’s been trying to help me stop her, I think.”

“Not to mention,” Gregory pointed out, “she said she killed Tommy. She killed her own great-grandson. The question is why? Because he wasn’t a chameleon? Or because he got in the way?”

Those were just some of the many questions that hung between us. What kind of a grandmother—great or otherwise—would kill her own family members? I mean, she was trying to kill me too, of course. Or was she?

I must have asked those questions out loud, because Gregory took it upon himself to answer me. “The kind of great-grandmother who knew Tommy was on to something. She’s looking for those five keys, and I’ll bet he was too,” Gregory said. “He had one of them. Those keys are, pardon the pun, the key to all of this. She wants to find them before you do, Wild.”

I pulled the one key we did have out of my pocket. The skull at the top of it, the thick flag at the bottom. I turned it over. The key had molded itself to fit the door that led us to Wally in the prison. And then I pulled out the thing I’d taken from Barnaby.

Another key. I held them both out, seeing the similarities in the make, even if the style was not the same.

The second key was shimmering gold, with tiny bits of bright jewels placed within it.

“Where did that come from?” Ethan leaned over. “It’s . . .”

“Another key,” I said. “I pulled it off the vampire as he ran by. What do you want to bet he’d been guarding it down in the crypts?” Which made a weird kind of sense. In the crypts below the House of Night, Barnaby said he’d not seen anyone for years and years.

He’d been put down there to guard it, and then had been forgotten about. On purpose.

“What do we know about it?” Orin asked. “Let’s start with what we’ve got so far.”

“This is a death key,” Wally said, taking the first one. “It’s made by the House of Night. I mean, I’ve never seen one before, but I’ve heard stories about them. They’re used to unlock all sorts of things.” She took the key and rolled it through her fingers. “They have the ability to morph.”

I shared a look with the guys. They’d seen the key in action—Wally had been on the other side of that cell door. “You mean like inside a lock?”

She nodded. “Yes. I mean, that’s what the stories say. These kinds of keys can unlock anything.”

Anything. I remembered what Gregory had told me earlier, about the keys being at once literal and figurative. What exactly did they open?

I took the key back from Wally and held it in my hand, palm up. “If this is one of the keys, then that means that there’s one for each of the other four houses. And I’d bet that this one,” I held up the golden key, “is set for the House of Wonder. If Tommy was looking for one of these when he was killed in the House of Wonder, then that suggests there’s at least one key there. There’s no way he would’ve taken a chance like that unless he thought there was a real possibility that he could find what he was looking for.” I glanced over at Wally, a thought rumbling through me. “Is Tommy here now?”

She closed her eyes a moment and then nodded. “Yes. He’s attached himself to me. Do you want to speak to him?”

I held my hand out to her, and she took it. The second our fingers touched, my brother popped into view, semi-transparent and very much dead, but at least I could see him. “What’s up, little sis?” He quirked an eyebrow. “Trying to figure out the mystery, are we? Any luck?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Tommy, this is not the time to be flippant. You could be helpful, you know.”

“Don’t use big words with me, I’m just a dumb Shade,” he said, his eyes smiling.

“Were you looking for one of the keys in the House of Wonder?” I asked, cutting to the chase. “Is that what got you killed?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I mean, my memories are sketchy, you know? Getting killed will do that to a man.”

“Boy,” I muttered under my breath.

He glared at me. “I’m a grown-up, even if I am dead, Wild, and I’m older than you.”

“Not by much anymore,” Wally pointed out, “seeing as you died when you were not too far into your training, and Wild was older when she came to the Culling Trials. Chances are—”

I put a hand up, stopping her. “Let it go for right now, Wally.”

Tommy gave a ghostly sigh. “Look. I think you’re right. It had something to do with a key, but I don’t remember where I was looking, or why I was looking there. The last thing I do recall is getting some sort of letter in the mail when I was in the House of Shade. Something that I read sent me to the House of Wonder.”

And that was where Frost had found and killed him.

“Thanks,” I said to Tommy. “Stick close, we may need to ask you more questions.”

Tommy saluted me, and I took my hand off of Wally’s. Not because I didn’t want to see my brother, but because he’d told us everything he remembered. At least for now.

“What we really need,” Ethan said, “is someone who’s been around a long time. Someone who knows this story from the beginning. We just keep picking up pieces of it here and there, and none of it quite fits together. If we had the starting thread that would make a difference.”

Gregory nodded. “While I’m loath to agree with anything you say, Wonder Bread, I have to concur. I think we need someone who’s been around a hell of a lot longer than eighteen years.”

Nicholas or Ash would be my first choices, but I knew from experience they seemed unable to say too much. Whatever spells Frost had them wrapped up in, well . . . they were doozies.

“Well,” Wally said, “I suppose we could talk to the Sandman. You still have your walkie-talkie, don’t you, Wild?”

I nodded. “I do, but he doesn’t seem to know what’s going on, either. I feel like he would’ve told us if he had information. And if he didn’t, Mara would have.” The healer had been looking out for us since the Culling Trials, and she’d saved my life more than once. Same with some of the others.

“Can you think of anything else?” Orin asked. “Any other people that might be connected to this?”

I closed my eyes, thinking. “Just a minute, it’s there on the tip of my mind.”

There was someone we could ask. Someone who’d helped us already. My eyes flew open, and I snapped my fingers. “Gordy.”

“You mean the goblin back at the youth shelter?” Wally asked. “Why him?”

I stood and paced the room, my thoughts spilling out of me as fast as I could speak. “Frost mentioned someone, who was part of my uncle’s crew, a mage who had died and ‘an interesting goblin.’” I paused as I let the information flow through my brain. “There was a man, someone who directed me to the shelter when I was stumbling around trying to get away from Ash and Nicholas. At the shelter I just so happened to meet Gordy, and he helped me more than he should have. I know it’s a long shot, but I think Gordy . . . I feel like he could be a key here.” No pun intended.

The others were quiet as I limped around the room, rubbing at my injured leg.

“Also, there was someone driving the SUV when my uncle took me from the House of Wonder . . .” I paused and looked at them, then went back to my pacing as my mind raced. “I couldn’t see the driver. I only knew that he was small. And then there was a crash—”

“Gordy had a bandage on his head,” Orin said. “And the wound was fresh, the blood still not coagulating. I think you could be onto something here.”

Pete gave him a look that was either impressed or grossed out. “Even I couldn’t smell that.”

“It’s blood. It works different than other scents for me.” Orin shrugged.

I waved my hands at them. “Frost thinks that these guys, whoever were attached to Nicholas, she thinks they’re both dead, but she’s clearly wrong. They both worked with Nicholas, and Nicholas . . .” I paused and let the pieces slide into place. “He’s been trying to stop her all along. He took his crew out of the equation so they could work against her when he couldn’t.”

My heart began to beat faster, adrenaline pulsing through me. Truth had a funny way of lighting one’s body up. And I knew I was right.

“We have to find Gordy,” I said. “And if we find him, I’d bet my last dollar we find Carson too.”

6

Rory

All I could do was stare at Jennie, tied to the chair in the bunker below the remains of the House of Shade, as the traitorous words left her mouth.

I put a hand on either side of her chair, unable to stop myself. “Wild is not related to Frost. I would know. I grew up with her. I knew her family. I even met her grandmother.” I shook my head. “That truth serum isn’t working, Rufus. Or she believes a lie.”

But the Sandman and Mara didn’t argue with Jennie. In fact, the Sandman nodded. “That makes sense. The chameleons all seem to come from a certain bloodline, and I wondered how it was possible that Wild could not be related to Frost. I was waiting to see if she was going to be like Frost or not.”

I whipped around to stare at him. “Wait, you knew?”

“No,” he said. “I knew it was a possibility. I knew that Wild was related to the Shadowkiller, Nicholas, if you will, and that Nicholas has a connection of some sort to Frost.” There was something in his words that told me he wasn’t giving me all the information.

“Wait, Nicholas?” I said. “The Shadowkiller’s name is Nicholas?” All this time that I’d been helping Rufus track the Shadowkiller and Frost, he’d never mentioned that he knew his actual name.

“Yes,” Mara said, “he is Wild’s uncle on her mother’s side, as best we can tell. The records were destroyed before I could be sure of it. We believe that Nicholas himself did it, in an attempt to keep his family safe.”

My world was coming undone. “So, what are you saying, that Wild’s mother was a chameleon as well?”

The Sandman shook his head. “No, she was a Shade, and a very good one. She trained with me, and she trained underneath Ruby. But she . . . she was always afraid.” He ran a hand over his head. “Looking back, I wonder if she knew even then that her family would hunt her—”

I waved a hand through the air, cutting him off. “Look, that’s all well and good. But what I don’t understand is why Frost would want to kill her own great-granddaughter, or, for that matter, why she would want to hurt anyone in their family. It doesn’t make sense.”

I understood that being blood-related didn’t mean you couldn’t hurt the other person—I didn’t have to look far to be disabused of that notion. My own father . . . well, that was what it was, and I knew that he would kill me if I ever went back to the farm—he’d said as much when I left four years ago. Or at least, he’d try. But for some reason I struggled to see how a grandmother type could be so . . . vicious.

Jennie let out a long giggle. “Oh my God. You all are so stupid. Yes, of course there is a part of Frost that wants to kill Wild, just as there is a part that wants to use her up for her strength. That’s in a chameleon’s nature. One chameleon at a time in the world. More than one, and we start to see problems. That’s what she’s let slip. She has outlived her natural life for a long time, stealing other people’s will . . . other people’s power. Eating up any chameleon that comes along.”

I stared at Jennie. “I don’t think the one chameleon at a time rule is true. I think that’s what you’ve been fed.”

“Tell us about the keys,” Rufus said. I stared hard at him. The keys that Tommy was looking for?

Jennie let out another long giggle and then snorted. “Listen, Frost knows that Wild’s mother had one of the keys. We don’t know which one, we don’t even know how she found it, we just know it’s in her possession and she hid it well. One of the people in the House of Night has another key. But that’s it.”

That was a lot of information that we hadn’t had just a moment before, yet it didn’t actually help us at all. Plus, there was a chance she was feeding us lies Frost had fed her. Frost might have planned for her to get captured. She might have planned for all this to happen exactly as it had.

“And those keys,” she mumbled, “those keys. That is what Frost wants. She can’t find them on her own and now it’s crunch time. That’s why she keeps driving Wild in all sorts of different directions. You know what they say about chameleons having strange luck. Besides, if Frost went searching for the keys herself, she would be found out. Everyone knows who she is. The Shadowkiller too. But not Wild.” Jennie shook her head several times. “She’s still under the radar, still a kid, no matter how strong she is. And Frost thinks she’s stronger than Nicholas ever was. At least, that’s what the boss says.” Her words began to slur at the end, as if she’d been drinking heavily.

I shared a quick look with the Sandman. My mentor gave me the slightest of nods. He believed what Jennie was saying. At least as much as he believed anything.

She drew in a deep breath and let it out with a sickening smile. “And none of it’s going to matter, anyway. I mean, you think you’re going to save Wild?” She snorted. “Please. You can’t stop Frost. She doesn’t have a few people in her crew. She has dozens, more than even I know of. Frost is pulling from more people to strengthen her than Nicholas or Wild would ever dream of, because they care about their crews. Frost does not. Her goal is to have every single person under her thumb. It’s why she took the kids from the Culling Trials. She wants them younger and younger. I know this, because I’m one of them.” Her eyes locked with Rufus. “I . . . wish it were different.” She blinked and mumbled, “Three days. You have three days to stop her.”

A moment of regret perhaps? Her eyelids fluttered closed, and a tear slipped down one cheek.

All of a sudden, her back arched and her mouth stretched open wide, a long, keening wail ripping from her throat. The bindings securing her to the chair stretched and cut into her flesh as she bucked against them, a trickle of blood dripping to the floor as she writhed under the power that gripped her.

“You have said enough.” The voice coming from her mouth was no longer her own. Jennie’s head twisted to the side, so she was looking at the Sandman, her jaw working strangely, as though she were a wooden puppet.

The Sandman didn’t move. He stood perfectly still, as if that voice could see him. I waited, and finally he spoke. “Frost. As I said to you before, my services are not for sale.”

A laugh rippled out of Jennie’s mouth, distorted and wet with blood. “Oh, Rufus. Such a strange, honorable man for being a Shade, for being a killer. I will not make this offer again. And if you do not give me what I want, I will make sure to take what you love.” Her eyes flicked to Mara, and she bared her teeth in what was less a smile than a grimace.

A threat if ever I saw one.

Jennie’s head turned toward me at a sharp angle, far too sharp for her to be comfortable, for sure. “Little Shade . . . you have no idea what Wild and I would be capable of together. Once she has done what I need her to do, then I will break her, just as I broke Nicholas.” Her head lolled from side to side, a horrible mimicry of a natural head shake. The puppeteer was not gentle with her puppet.

“Once Wild has completed her task and brought me my prizes, I will oversee this world once and for all. The House of Wonder will be at the top, and there will be no more clamoring for power, no more false beliefs. No one will be fool enough to suggest the Unmentionables or nulls should get any pride of placement within our realm other than as the servants they were born to be. This world will finally be in order.” Jennie’s throat spasmed, her vocal cords squeaked, and her head snapped hard to the right on its own, in a move I knew all too well. Snapping someone’s neck was no small thing. Jennie’s head lolled to her shoulder at an unnatural angle.

“That is the end of that,” Rufus said.

That’s what I would have thought too but for what happened next. The breaking of her bones and the halting of her heartbeat were not to be the end of her. Her head lifted unsteadily, wobbling on the broken pieces as she turned it all the way around until she was staring at me, directly behind her body.

Dead eyes regarded me, and her jaw hinged and unhinged over words she could barely produce. “I can find her anywhere, Shade. That is the power of bloodlines. I have always been able to find her. All this time, I have let her run free. And I will find her now.” When her head lolled this time, the last of the air whooshed out of her body, and she completely slumped.

I waited for a full minute before I spoke.

I asked Rufus, “Do you really think she can find Wild anywhere?”

The Sandman didn’t move from his spot. “I don’t know. Very little is known about chameleons, but I suppose it is possible they are connected in that way. I know that is the way of them and their crew.” He and Mara shared a quick look that I couldn’t decipher.

I walked across the room and scooped up a shirt laid across the dresser, pulled it on with a wince, and continued to dress, pulling on my boots and jacket. Weapons.

“Just where do you think you’re going?” Mara asked. “You’re barely healed. Your body is still suffering from the poisons, and you’re going to be no good to anyone if you drop over on your face. Certainly not to Wild.” She put her hands on me and healed up the gashes that Jen had inflicted on me.

“I cannot let Wild go through this alone.” I bent and laced my boots slowly, breathing hard around the knots of pain in my side and belly.

Mara sucked in a slow breath and then let it out in a heavy sigh. “I know you love her, Rory. I know it. I see it in the way you look at her. But, if you go to her now, do you not think they will follow you? Don’t you realize sending Gen here was probably a ruse to drive you out? Frost’s words were pointed at you. It could very well be that she can’t find Wild. Maybe she’s relying on you to lead the way.”

I closed my eyes. “So you would have me stay here? You would have me stay here, hiding, while Wild faces everything on her own?”

“She is not on her own,” Rufus said, “she has her crew with her.”

“I am part of her crew,” I snapped, my frustration spilling out of my mouth.

The Sandman looked at me. “You are not part of her crew. She’s connected to the five she has with her—she’s strengthening them through her own abilities and vice versa. You are not part of that, Rory.”

I stared hard at him, hating that he could be right, but feeling it in my gut that he was wrong. “I have always been able to find her,” I said softly. “Maybe that’s because I was part of her crew from the beginning. Maybe I was the first.” I shook my head, not even understanding what I was trying to say. That Wild had laid claim to me all those years ago? “Maybe for me and her it’s different because . . . I don’t know.” I did know, but I couldn’t say it. Because I loved her. I had since before I left the farm. I’d left because I knew she was afraid for Tommy.

“I wish you could have gone with him, to school.” Wild leaned her head on my shoulder as we sat in the field between our two farms, little dots of stars in the night sky our only light. “He’s not . . . he’s not strong the way you are. I’m afraid for him.”

I slid my arm around her waist and held her tight against me, the only place I ever felt at peace. “But then I’d be gone.”

“But you’d come back.” She yawned and didn’t even seem to realize how close we were. I put my cheek against the top of her head. “You’ll always come back, Rory.”

I closed my eyes and breathed her in. To her, I’d always come back to her. She’d had my heart for a long time, and I’d given it freely. I would always give it to her, no matter the cost.

And now maybe, just maybe she loved me back. “What I know is that I can’t stay here. I can’t just let her be out there on her own. Not when I could find her and help.” And maybe this time I could keep her safe? Maybe this time it would be different.

Rufus shared a look with Mara, who shrugged. “I could not have stopped you if you and I were in this situation, so I don’t know what makes you think you’re going to stop this boy.”

The Sandman sighed and pulled off his aviators so he could rub at his face some more. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. I knew how he felt.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” he said. “Mara’s right. If you’re going to go after Wild, then you need to know that you’re going to be followed. Because if Frost and her crew are struggling to find Wild, they set this up explicitly to drive you toward her.”

My jaw tightened, and I nodded. “I know. I’ll do everything I can to hide my tracks.”

The Sandman, my mentor, waved for me to go by him, handing me a small walkie-talkie and a bag of gear. “Then off you go. Find her, and when you find her, you keep her safe. No matter what it costs, Rory. You have to keep Wild safe. For all of us.”

He did not have to tell me that. I already knew it in my bones. Once I was with her, there would be no separating us again. I could only hope that I found her in time.

That I found her before Frost did.

And that we took care of Frost before the three days were up.

7

Wild

Despite knowing that we had to get to the Castoffs and Outcasts youth shelter and find Carson and Gordy, I also knew that we needed sleep. The pizza, no matter how tasty, would only take us so far in this journey.

Pete gave a jaw-cracking yawn, the cat Skittles still cradled in his arms. “I’m pooped.”

I took note that he set himself up next to Wally on the makeshift bed we’d piled up in the middle of the living room. A stack of blankets and pillows every which way, arranged so we were all close enough to touch.

“Why do you think we sleep better like this?” I mulled out loud.

“Oh, that’s easy.” Wally pulled her wild hair over one shoulder in an attempt to braid it. “We’re all connected right? So, it makes logical sense that when we share our strength and energy, we heal whatever exhaustion or wounds we have faster.”

I glanced at my fingers, a good solid purple now. “These aren’t healing on their own.”

“No, we need to find a mage,” Ethan said. “The break is too bad and I’m shit at healing things. Knowing your luck, I’d end up breaking the rest of your fingers by accident.” Another girl would have cringed. I laughed.

“Or a doctor,” Gregory pointed out. “A hospital could handle this.”

Orin shook his head. “No, there are too many eyes out there. Too many people that might report a group of kids to the authorities. It would get back to Frost for sure.”

I lay on my back, settling my injured hand on my belly. “Agreed. It won’t kill me, it’s a hell of a long way from my heart.”

Ethan grunted but didn’t say anything else. The others lay down too—Gregory at my back, Orin on his other side. Ethan’s back brushed against the top of my head. He’d lain perpendicular to the rest of us.

Orin waved a hand in the air. “How long? I can make sure we don’t oversleep.”

I thought for a moment. “Four hours,” I said. “That’ll get us to mid-morning. I don’t think we should sleep longer.”

“Roger that,” he said over a yawn.

My friends fell asleep within minutes, their deep breathing and slowing heartbeats confirming that they were indeed passed out.

I stared up at the ceiling as I counted each of their heartbeats, picking them out one at a time. Orin’s was the slowest, then Pete’s. Ethan’s and Wally’s hearts were close to the same speed, thumping along just under the edge of sleep, and Gregory’s was somewhere in the middle.

Wait. I was hearing their heartbeats. I lay there, my own heart picking up as theirs settled into slower rhythms yet as they went deeper into dreamland.

“Damn,” I muttered under my breath. I was changing every day, my abilities taking me by surprise as they unfurled. Hearing their heartbeats was definitely something new. Useful maybe? But it would be more useful if I could hear other people’s heartbeats if they were sneaking up on us.

Or if I could tell whether their pulses were picking up speed because they were scared.

A trickle of fear slid through me, but I put up a mental stop sign. Nope, that was a nope. I couldn’t be scared about a new tool that had been given to me. I just had to figure out how to use it. But not right then.

I rolled onto my side, trying to put this new thing aside for the moment, to put my mind to rest. Gregory bumped my leg, where the bruising was thick.

I rolled onto my back, wincing, and bit back a low groan. My broken fingers throbbed and ached in time with my own heartbeat.

Exhausted as I was, I knew when to give up the fight. Maybe there was some aspirin or something in the penthouse, anything that would help dull the pain enough so I could get some sleep. Hunger and adrenaline had not left a lot of room to think about things like pain killers earlier.

I carefully rose from my spot in the sleeping pile, making sure not to knock anyone—though Orin gave me a quick look, which I waved off with my good hand—and made my way through the penthouse to the darkened back bedroom.

Layered in forest green and black, the bedroom was stunning. I glanced at the massive four-poster bed, wondering just how they’d gotten it all the way up here to the top floor, then turned away and headed across the room to the en suite to flick the light on.

Like the bedroom, it was richly decorated—black tile, crystal chandelier, deep green towels, heated floor and a shower with three heads and multiple nooks and crannies in the wall. I stared at the shower for almost a solid minute, wondering why there were so many handholds, then shook it off.

“Drugs, I need drugs,” I mumbled, “not a kinky shower.”

Digging through the cupboards, I found more than I bargained for—boy butter, a flashlight that vibrated, and an outfit that looked like it was made of leather straps.

Yeah, the kinky shower was the least of my worries. In the last drawer I found a bottle of extra strength pain killer of some sort. Extra strength was good enough for me. I uncapped it and popped three into my mouth, washing them down with a swig from the faucet.

Staring at my face in the mirror, I wondered how I’d gotten myself into this situation so quickly. There were dark circles under my eyes, my hair was a mess, and I was filthy.

“Probably stink too.” I wrinkled up my nose as I lifted an arm and sniffed a pit. Yeah. That was bad.

I glanced over my shoulder at the shower.

How long had it been since I’d showered? With my good hand I flicked on the water, then shut the bathroom door and locked it.

Stripping down and stepping into the hot water, letting it wash away the dirt, the blood, and some of the aches, was exactly what I needed. I scrubbed my hair with my good hand and then, when I was as clean as I was getting, stood under the pounding hot water for several minutes.

I let it loosen my muscles and ease some of the aches, along with the extra strength whatever I’d taken.

And in that moment, I only wanted one thing or, more accurately, one person.

I put a hand to my chest as if I could push some of the hurt away. He . . . Rory had made his choice, I knew that. But I couldn’t help thinking he belonged with me. I couldn’t seem to make my heart be okay with accepting I’d never have him.

I wanted him with me, even now. And if that meant I had to share him with Gen, then so be it.

Flicking the water off, I grabbed a towel and quickly dried off. There was no hope for clean clothes unless . . . I blinked and looked at the back of the en suite, to the master closet.

“Hell, why not?” I made my way over and turned on the light. The closet was damn massive, stretching out at least twenty feet long. I made my way through it, moving past ball gowns and gossamer skirts to a very small, very plain section in the back.

Blue jeans. I pulled a pair off the top and checked the size. Not bad, not bad at all. I dug through until I found some underwear still with tags on, thank God, a clean sports bra, socks, and a plain blue long-sleeved shirt. I pulled the clothes on, wincing as my fingers brushed against the material, then put on my boots and weapons.

A look in the mirror showed me cleaner, and maybe a little refreshed.

Even if I didn’t sleep, I felt better.

My muscles still felt somewhat loose as I let myself out of the bathroom and went to stand in front of the bedroom window, which looked over the eastern side of the city. With my good hand, I pushed aside the paper-thin curtains to peer out.

The sun was just coming up, and I watched it as it lit up the world. As the rays brushed against the window, I finally let my guard down.

Fear clawed its way through my body as surely as a shifter’s claws, and slowly I went to my knees.

I finally let myself accept that all of us might not make it out of this alive.

My friends believed in me, so I’d tried to show them only confidence, but the whole time terror had ridden me like a wild horse—terror that I’d make a mistake, and that that mistake was going to get them, and me, or all of us killed.

I slid the rest of the way down to the floor, crossed my legs, and pressed my good hand to the glass.

My mother’s voice whispered through the stillness, an echo from my memory that made me feel less alone. She’d given me a sparring lesson, and I’d kept losing to her.

You are the one in the arena, Wild. You are the one fighting to win. Don’t worry about anything else but this moment. If you let it, fear will drain you of your strength—and to win a fight against a bigger foe, you need all the strength you can get.

A wash of emotion flowed over me. “Thanks, Mom,” I whispered.

I bowed my head to the glass, the cool surface furthering my calm. Strange though was a sense of loneliness that didn’t quite feel like my own.

I kept my eyes closed and my breathing even as I picked through the threads that tied me to my friends.

Ethan, Gregory, Pete, and Wally were sound asleep. Orin was not, but he was calm.

There was someone else now, someone . . . new? No, that wasn’t quite right. More like someone had opened up their end of a connection to me. Not new, though, not at all. He’d been with me all along.

My eyes flicked open as someone else’s worry flicked through me, followed by a burst of fear.

“What is this? Who are you?” I whispered as I struggled to understand what was happening.

This new-slash-old connection was different from the bonds I shared with my crew, or even from my interrupted connections to Nicholas and Ash.

This seemed to be wrapped around my heart, soft and light as a feather. Not tied, more like . . . a whisper of a promise.

Eyes still closed, I let my senses expand a little further.

Masculine for sure. It felt like a man, and he was moving, looking for something.

Looking for his . . . heart?

Because, stupid though it was, I hoped it was Rory. It felt like Rory. Wally had said he seemed connected to us, as if he were part of our crew, and I wanted to believe her. But if she was right, why hadn’t I been able to sense Rory earlier? Why had I been so blindsided about Genevieve?

He couldn’t find me though, not unless I reached back. I could feel that truth inside of me, even if I didn’t understand how I knew. But letting him in would mean giving him the power to hurt me again.

Those thoughts, those fears, spilled through me, and I let them. The emotions flowed in a way that I hadn’t allowed in a very long time, probably not since my mother had died. Because, from her death on, I’d had to be the strong one in the family, even before Tommy left for school. I’d had to be the one who looked after my father, my siblings, the farm. I had to be the one to go to the Culling Trials. To get my crew through them alive. I’d had to go toe to toe with Ruby, Frost, and my uncle.

A shudder rippled through me, and the world in front of me went watery.

There was a very small part of me that wished I could, for once, be the one who was rescued, and not always the one doing the rescuing.

But again, that would mean letting Rory in. It would mean accepting that he wasn’t in love with me and we’d only ever be just friends.

I blew out a slow breath and nodded or, more accurately, banged my head lightly on the glass. “Okay, Rory. Okay.”

And I let that feather-light touch settle over me.

I hiccupped back a laugh—maybe it was a sob, I don’t know—and took my hand off the glass. Scooting backward, I leaned my back against the massive four-poster bed, tilted my head back, and closed my eyes. Strangely enough, it was there, in the quiet, away from the others, that I fell into a very light sleep.

I groaned softly in my sleep, enough that it pulled me out of the light dozing. I blinked and looked around. The sun was partway through the sky. Two or three hours had passed, from what I could tell.

The urgency to move, to get going, had renewed itself in my blood.

I pushed to my feet, wobbled a little, and limped toward the main living area. Looking over my friends, I smiled. They’d curled more tightly around one another. Even Ethan had snuggled up to the back of Wally, who was snuggled to the front of Pete, all in a line.

Pete’s hand rested against Wally’s face and she had her arm wrapped around his middle. The cat slept on Pete’s hip and she peered at me from under one eyelid.

I suppose you are acceptable; you’ve not ruined my house. But don’t think you can pet me.

I held up my hands in mock surrender. Good rule of thumb: don’t argue with cats.

“All right, gang,” I said, smacking my good hand against my thigh and the fresh, clean jeans I’d filched. “Time to wake up. We’ve gotta go.”

There were a few grumbles, but they got up, and after stuffing some cold pizza into our faces, we were on our way. “Holy cats I’m tired,” Pete mumbled as we gathered in the entranceway to the penthouse. “I’m not sure whether that cat nap was good or bad.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “But it feels like we’re on some sort of time crunch.”

Ethan put his hand on the door, stopping us from stepping out. “So how are we going to get to Castoffs and Outcasts? I mean, we can’t really take the alicorns in the middle of the day. That’s a bit much, even for us.”

I leaned on the counter closest to me. “I think we need to travel on foot and hope we can avoid any of Frost’s people looking for us.”

“Hope?” Gregory questioned me, tipping his head to the side. “You mean you don’t have a plan?”

My earlier fears pushed down once more, I grinned over at him. “Listen. If anybody can get by them it’s us. We know this already. Sure, she’s probably got something up her sleeve, but the reality is, we won’t know until we’re out there. I just . . . I feel like this whole thing has been set up by my uncle. My gut says he’s tied to Gordy. Gordy gave me the scroll with information that Nicholas would have about my family. Who else would know?”

“No one,” Gregory said. “Or at least very few. And they wouldn’t write it down on a scroll to be handed to you.”

I nodded. “We have to find the other three keys, and the only people who might be able to help us now are Carson—if he’s who I think he is—and Gordy.”

Orin tapped a finger to his chin. “You know, we should be able to get there using the back alleys. We can use your Shade ability to cloak people. Maybe go a few at a time, where necessary.”

“What about the spells?” Ethan said. “This penthouse is not spelled, because it’s my mother’s, but everything’s spelled when you get farther down. The elevators, the doorways, everything. There are cameras, too. They’ll know where we are in minutes.”

He had a point, one that I’d already been considering. “I think we need to take any back stairwells we can. We’ll take out the cameras as we see them, and you’ll disengage any spells as we run into them. It’s that or we do the Spider-Man and climb down the outside wall of the building, and that’s something I have zero interest in trying.”

Gregory gave me a look. “But I could do that. The building is cement.”

Shit. He wasn’t kidding, he could do that. I thought for a moment.

Orin nodded. “And I could levitate my way down. I mean, we have these abilities now. Why not use them?”

That would leave just three of my crew for me to cover in shadows. I didn’t know if I could do it, but it was a better shot than trying to cover all five. I gave the two guys a nod. “All right, you two make your way down the outside of the building.” I seriously could not even believe I was saying this. “But be careful. If you get to the bottom before us, which you probably will, see what you can do to get rid of any cameras on the outside of the building. Then duck out of sight.”

Gregory gave me a choppy salute, and Orin dipped his head.

“You got it, Boss.” Gregory grinned as he jogged to the back bedroom, where the windows opened.

They were gone before I could protest the new nickname. “I don’t wanna be a boss,” I said under my breath.

Pete laughed at me. “Please, you’re in charge. Wally’s our second, and the rest of us follow you because we know that you’re the best equipped to lead us.”

Wally’s pleasure flowed through the connection. “I didn’t ask to be the second,” she said.

Ethan shrugged as he put his hand on the door. “You’re probably the strongest of us outside of Wild.”

Pete, Wally, and I stopped in our tracks and stared at him. “What?” I spat out the one-word question.

Ethan didn’t open the door, just looked over his shoulder. “It’s the truth. The rest of us are all at about the same level within our abilities, but Wally is like you. She’s stronger.”

“Thank you?” Wally whispered.

Ethan gave her a rare smile. “After you, oh strong ones.”

Wally stepped out the door, and I followed, Pete and Ethan pulling up the rear.

“What can we expect in terms of security?” I asked as we made our way down the main carpeted hall toward an emergency stairwell exit.

Ethan slipped to the front and made it to the door first.

“Pete, you got anything?” I asked quietly.

He gave a sniff and then shook his head, his voice just as low as mine. “Nothing that I can pick up on.”

I moved up next to Ethan, my bad hand tucked against my middle as I pressed my ear to the door. Breathing slowly, I let my connection to Orin strengthen and there it was . . . the soft thud of a heartbeat on the other side of the door. A heartbeat that was a similar speed to Pete’s.

A shifter then.

I held up a finger and stepped to the side, pulling Wally with me. I motioned for Ethan and Pete to go to the other side. I signaled for them to be ready, and we waited. No movement. Which meant that whoever was on the other side of that door was waiting for us.

8

Why, if we’d been found out, hadn’t Frost sent this shifter into the penthouse after us right away?

I motioned for us to go back to the penthouse. “Shifter,” I mouthed the word.

“What the hell are we going to do?” Ethan asked as we shut the door behind us.

I ran to the main bedroom and looked out the window, the wind catching my hair. Orin was about halfway down and, perhaps sensing me, looked up.

I motioned for him to come back. He tapped Gregory on the shoulder and they started back up to us.

Minutes later Gregory and Orin were back in the penthouse. Gregory was flushed and his eyes sparkled. “Damn, I feel like a superhero! That was amazing! And I’m hungry now.”

He ran and grabbed some of the pizza leftovers which Pete helped out with as if we hadn’t just had breakfast.

“Even more so in a minute,” I said. “We’ve got company. They must have figured out we were here. But why didn’t they—”

“My mother has some pretty heavy spells on this place,” Ethan said. “They’re set to recognize me, so I’m safe here, along with anyone I bring, but anyone trying to force their way in . . .” He flicked his fingers upward like an explosion.

I paced a small space, thinking fast. “We have to get out of here before they totally lock us down.”

Which meant we had to use the alicorns.

I said as much. “We need to climb out of the window, up to the roof. Gregory, you and Orin are going to spot the rest of us.”

Wally shook her head. “Falls from the tops of buildings over five stories high are ninety-three percent certain to cause death. This is a terrible idea. Terrible.”

“You can do it,” Pete said as he took her hand. “You totally can.”

I looked out the window and up to the roof’s edge. “It’s only twenty feet up, so not far as long as we don’t look down. Ethan and Wally, you two first in case someone’s waiting up there. You can blast them.”

I reached around and put my good hand to the concrete building, feeling my skin stick hard to the surface as I tapped into Gregory’s natural abilities. “Does that put a drain on you?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “Nope, we’re good.”

Pete looked us over. “So, I’m last?”

“You’re bringing up the rear guard. Orin, you come back for him,” I said as the first rattle of the penthouse door rippled through the space. Apparently, our pursuers had gotten past the spells. Definitely time to go.

Gregory worked with Wally to get her out the window, using the dips and valleys of the building to start climbing with one hand while he kept the other on her belt. She let out a whimper as her fear spiked through all of us, but she kept going.

Ethan was next, and Orin put a hand on his belt, taking some of his weight. The most impressive part was that Ethan didn’t flinch. Not once. He really was changing.

Pete looked at me. “I’m not waiting. I won’t fall.”

Ethan wasn’t the only one who’d changed. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Together, Pete and I stepped out onto the balcony and started up the sheer face of the building. Just like the tower challenge in the Culling Trials. My body loosened as we climbed, my hands sticking to the concrete. I kept my injured hand flat against the wall and did most of the climbing with the other. Pete kept up with me easily, and I realized he’d partially shifted, his hands more claws than fingers.

A shout above us, then a blitz of a spell lit up the air, and I moved as fast as I could with my one good—and sticky—palm.

“Wild!” Orin dropped down and all but grabbed me and hauled me up the last few feet, dumping me onto the roof before going back for Pete.

I took in the scene in a split second.

A pack of wolf shifters waited for us, and they’d pinned down the alicorns. They’d found them while they slept, and now were attacking the still-waking equines.

Drawing blood and cries of pain from Amalthea and her herd.

The wolves—seven of them—saw us and split away from the alicorns. Four gray wolves, one white and two solid black, skulked toward us across the roof.

You can’t escape us, or Frost. The words rippled through my mind, the voice strong, deep, and masculine. Pete could understand the shifters, so I could too. Kill the feathered horses. I could tell the communication came from the wolf in the lead, white with blue eyes. He didn’t even look back as three of his friends turned toward Amalthea.

A new voice, one that was equally strong but higher-pitched and royally pissed off, hit my mind as Amalthea trumpeted a challenge.

Then you have chosen your death! Amalthea’s voice was distinct.

A wolf leapt at her throat as she reared up, wings beating at the air. The trajectory was clear to me, and I knew in that split second that the wolf would have her by the throat if I didn’t do something. I pulled my knife without hesitation, throwing it as hard as I could.

End over end it flew, straight and true, before it drove through the back of the wolf’s skull with a thick thud, dropping it at Amalthea’s feet, where she pounded it into the roof with her hooves.

“The only ones dying today are you wolf shifters.” I pulled my other knife free with my good hand, my body aching, but I was there for this fight. I was there to defend our allies.

And so were my crew.

Ethan shot a spell at the wolf closest to him, wrapping it up in some sort of vine and pinning it to the ground. Wally snapped her fingers at two of the wolves, and they tumbled straight to the ground, as if their strings had been cut.

If I looked closely, I could almost see the vague outline of their human souls next to the downed animals.

Orin and Gregory worked back-to-back, Gregory pulling chunks of the building away as easily as if it were foam and tossing them at two wolves, and Orin darting in and around, slashing the wolves with his claws.

“On your left, Orin,” I pointed out as I leaned against the edge of the roof to give Pete a boost. “I think there’s one left for you if you want, Pete.”

The snarling honey badger came up and over the edge so fast his coat was a blur.

The remaining wolf was the white-coated leader, and its blue eyes widened as Pete launched at him.

I stood there, overseeing the fight for all intents and purposes.

It was . . . weird.

And yet, as I watched my crew fight off a whole damn pack of wolves, taking them out as if it was nothing, the weird slid into proud. I had amazing friends. I had friends that were fierce and loyal and didn’t back down from their fear.

I was hurt and couldn’t fight, and for the first time in a long time I knew that I could lean on someone else. They had my back.

And now my eyes were watering.

I dashed the traitorous liquid away as the last of the wolves were knocked out.

Pete didn’t shift back, but his thoughts were clear as he made his way back to my side.

I could’ve taken a couple more out, you know.

I grinned at him. “I know, Pete. You could’ve taken the whole pack.” And I wasn’t teasing. With a little practice and training, I believed he could.

I limped over to Amalthea and put a hand on her neck. A quick look over her and her herd suggested none of them had suffered life-threatening injuries.

“I’m sorry, I never wanted you to get hurt.”

She bowed her head and touched her horn to the top of my shoulder, and her thoughts were once again clear to me through my connection with Pete.

When the time comes, we will stand with you, young one. Do not fear for us. All die in their time, and far better to die when you fight for your family than for any other reason.

I touched her cheek and then stepped away, turning to look at my crew. Although the alicorns would recover, they weren’t in any shape to take flight with extra baggage on board. More than one had wings that looked like they’d been deliberately yanked on. Broken feathers littered the roof.

Yes, they wished to stop you from leaving. Amalthea’s voice was clear as a bell. You must find another way to escape this building. We will manage the wolves after you are gone. The alicorns bobbed their heads, horns flashing in the morning light.

I turned to my friends. “You up to fighting your way down the stairs? Amalthea and her people aren’t going to be able to get us out of here.”

Pete gave a snarl, and the others grinned. Grinned. “Savages,” I muttered, also smiling.

Wally laughed. “We’re tied to you, Wild, and some of your fierceness, well, it is at least fifty percent of what is driving me, at least.”

She stepped up beside me and headed toward the door that would lead down.

The upside? There were no wolves waiting for us in the stairwell. They’d all come to the roof to stop us there.

The other strange upside? All those spells that Ethan had thought would be there had been disabled.

On the tenth floor, he stopped in front of what had been a camera. “I recognize the spell work on this.”

I limped over to him. “Who is helping us?”

His smile was soft, and the look in his eyes made me want to hug him. Hug Ethan?

“My mom,” he said. “She cleared the way for us without my dad knowing.”

He touched the area around the dead camera, then rubbed his fingers together. “Come on, let’s go.”

I watched him head down the next flight of stairs, letting Pete, Gregory, and Orin follow before I slipped in behind them.

Wally brought up the rear.

I smiled to myself. We had come a long way in a very short time.

* * *

The bottom door wasn’t spelled any more than the others, and we slipped out into a back alley.

My crew was jubilant, and their excitement fed into me, covering some of the pain I felt from my jacked-up fingers and the bruises on my leg.

Orin grinned, his eyes lighting up. “Between levitating and taking out a wolf pack, this has got to be one of my favorite days. Ever. Top three at least.”

It was out of character for him to grin so openly, and I felt his happiness, just like I felt a flush of pride from each of the members of my crew. We were doing this—a.k.a. surviving against all odds. Even though we were hunted by the baddest of the bad.

Go team.

“Stop gloating. We’ve got to hurry.” I took a couple limping steps to check out the next alley. “There’s no doubt that somebody’s seen us, and we need to keep moving.”

We fell into a loose line as we made our way down the back alleys, using the shadows where we could. Not as easy in the middle of the day, but as we crossed open sections where there were lots of eyes, I did what I could to keep us hidden.

“You okay?” Gregory asked a half hour in. Pulling the shadows around us all was exhausting, and I was drenched in sweat and shaking.

“I can’t hide us for much longer. We need a quicker way,” I bit out.

“And we’re being followed,” Orin said.

I let out a heavy sigh and leaned against the wall of the building closest to us. Ethan stepped close and put one of his arms around my waist, taking some of my weight. “We need some form of transportation.”

Wally hurried out to the edge of the street and flagged down a taxi. “Come on,” she said, “let’s go. We can all fit in here. It’ll be tight, but we can do it.”

She scooped Pete up as though he were a lapdog. A lapdog with a snarling mouthful of teeth that I was pretty sure could cut through steel.

And, in a matter of minutes, the cab pulled up at the curb of Castoffs and Outcasts youth shelter. There were a few floating lines of yellow tape as if the police had been there, given up and walked away after a cursory look. Maybe they were too busy to look into an explosion, but I suspected it had more to do with the magical world not wanting to give up its secrets.

All in all, the place wasn’t looking so good. In fact, it was in such rough shape the taxi driver seemed reluctant to leave us behind. “You kids sure you’re okay?”

Ethan handed him a fifty. “We’re fine. Thanks. Keep the change.”

I stared at the shelter, the charred exterior, the crumbled walls, the sign hanging off its hinges, the bits of yellow tape floating around. “What the hell happened here?”

“Remember how I said we were attacked by mages?” Wally said. “They blew out the walls first. Talk about making a dramatic entrance.”

We stepped down into the stairwell, or where the stairwell had been, and then into the remainder of the shelter. Rubble was scattered around us, clicking softly as we stepped over and through it.

Orin put a hand to the middle of my back and whispered, “I got a whiff of somebody. They’re behind us. We didn’t lose them when we got in the taxicab.”

I had no choice but to pull the shadows hard. Wrapping my arms around my crew, I dragged them to the side of a semi-hollowed-out alcove and covered us with darkness. Sweat poured down my face, and my muscles shook as I held the darkness tightly.

A tall, slim, dark-haired man stepped into the room, a wand in his right hand. “I know him,” Ethan whispered. “That’s Levi, he’s one of my dad’s men.” And, before I could stop him, he stepped away from us.

“Levi,” he said, his voice sharp, “what are you doing here?”

Levi startled. “Shit, Ethan. I didn’t see you there. What’re you doing?”

“My dad sent me.” He put his hands on his hips and squared off against the other mage. “Why the hell are you here?”

“Maybe he doesn’t think you’re capable,” Levi shot back.

Ethan snorted. “I’m working directly with him. Get out of here. I don’t want you stealing my thunder, thanks.”

And, just like that, Levi turned and left, his eyes angry, but he didn’t argue. Nobody argued with a Helix. I waited as long as I could in case he turned back, then let the shadows drop and slumped, breathing heavily. Knees shaking, I trembled and went to the ground.

Orin scooped me up in a fireman’s carry. “I got ya.”

“Oh, so romantic,” I mumbled.

“What, you want romance from me, too? Don’t you have enough from Ethan and Rory?” He snickered, and Ethan mumbled something imperceptible under his breath.

Wally snapped her fingers. “This way, come on.” And, just like that, we were headed down the stairs inside the building that led to Gordy’s shop. The shop itself was in not bad condition, though the door had been blown off.

“He’s not going to be here,” Gregory said. “I mean, it would make no sense.”

Orin set me on my feet, and I wobbled. “It does make sense, if he knows that we would come looking for him. Nicholas set this up, I’m sure of it. He’s tried to help us find the keys. I’d bet my last dollar that Gordy is here somewhere.”

Wally nodded. “He had a hiding spot, over here.” She put a hand against the blank, hard wall. “Gregory, do you think you can—?”

“Yeah, I think I can.” He spread his hands wide and bowed his head as he touched his fingers to the stone. The wall dissolved into nothing, leaving a dark, open space and a pair of glittering eyes staring out at us.

“Well, well, well,” Gordy said, “you figured it out.”

9

Rory

Leaving Mara and the Sandman behind in the relative safety of the bunker beneath the House of Shade, I made my way up the long stairwell that led to the surface. There were two trapdoors, and I pushed through the first, flipping it open with a clang.

I took a quick glance at the next section of the stairwell.

A couple of dim lights burned steadily, revealing the steep grid iron stairs and the lack of a handrail.

My body didn’t like that I was moving, and a sharp pain rippled through my belly and down one leg reminding me just how close I’d been to dying.

“Keep moving,” I ground the words out as sweat popped free and trickled down the sides of my face. I was a mess. I knew it. The Sandman knew it. Mara knew it.

Frost’s crew likely knew it too.

The stairs made my thighs burn and the pain in my gut swirl upward. By the time I neared the top, I was pulling myself up as much as I was using my legs.

Above my head was a second trapdoor. Putting my shoulder against it, I recalled the Sandman’s instructions on how to open it.

I lifted with my shaking legs as I slid the heavy iron lid to the side. A steady stream of exhaust fumes flowed through the now-open space, and I scrambled to get out. My right foot was barely clear when the circular metal door slammed shut like a sideways guillotine.

“Move quickly indeed, old man,” I muttered under my breath. That had been the understatement of the year. The ground above the entrance didn’t look any different than the rest of the cement surrounding it, the entrance now completely concealed.

I took a few steps and then stood still for a moment as I centered myself, letting the sounds of the city wash over me. New York was no small place to go looking for someone. Finding Wild and the others was going to be an undertaking. I considered my words to the Sandman—that I’d always been able to find her.

It hadn’t been empty bragging. I’d always been able to find Wild. I possessed that ability as surely as I could manipulate the shadows around me.

In the beginning, when I’d first started at Shadowspell Academy, I’d assumed finding people was just one of the tricks of our trade. Now, standing near the blitzed-out House of Shade, taking in the honk and blare of horns and the screech of tires in the distance, I hoped to hell it was something different, something more.

It had to be.

It took everything I had to close off the world and look inward. To see if there was a pull in one direction, if there was a feeling of Wild out there.

Nothing but the feeling of being watched.

“Shit,” I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose as I headed toward a main street off the pier.

A trickle of unease coursed through me—I was being followed, I was sure of it—but I stopped by a brick building and leaned a shoulder into it. Followed or not, I had to find Wild.

I could lose whoever was on my tail on the way.

Still, it was hard to close my eyes again, feeling the weight of another’s gaze on my back. Watching.

Waiting for me to make a move.

Eyes still closed, I blocked out the sounds of the city and the feeling of being watched, focusing on the beating of my heart.

“Where are you?” I whispered to myself.

As if she’d answer me . . . I hung my head, trying to figure out how to find her. Maybe I’d gotten it wrong. Maybe I wasn’t part of her crew. Maybe . . . .

The sun rose behind me, and its warmth settled on my back for just a moment, sinking into me. Then, just as slowly, the sensation of a hand over my chest. The pressure of fingers on my pec.

And I knew.

Wild.

Her strength was in that touch, her fire, her . . .

God, did I say it even to myself? Love. Love was the tie between us. That was what I was feeling. That was how it worked between the two of us.

Even if neither of us knew how to admit it out loud.

“Sap,” I muttered even as I opened my eyes, a grin spreading across my face. Sap I may be, but damn, she was worth being sappy over.

The tug on me turned me to the left, taking me south. I pushed off the building, tucked my hands into my pockets and started walking, locking onto that bond. Through it I felt a wave of fear, of . . . despondency.

As though she were breaking under the strain of being what she was.

“Hang on, Wild.” I was no longer walking but jogging, weaving my way between pedestrians. More than ever, she needed me. Not because her crew wasn’t worthy. But because . . . because they didn’t know her like I did. She was so strong, so very strong, but she’d been holding together her shit and everyone else’s for so long, and that kind of strain took a toll.

The pressure of her hand on my chest faded, but the feeling of where she was did not.

And where she was synced up with the feeling of Wally that hovered just there, in the back of my head. They were together. That was good.

Now that I knew the direction, I headed quickly toward Wild, still remembering what the Sandman had said. Still remembering the feel of eyes on my back.

And so, even while I moved forward, I kept watch for my pursuers. This time of the morning was busy, with everyone heading to work, commuting on foot, by subway, or in their vehicles, and I was hard pressed to recognize patterns. It would be even harder to find anyone who had any ability to hide their appearance or change it from moment to moment.

Feigning fatigue, I leaned up against a wall and let a crush of people wash past me. Ducking down into the alley to my right, I hurried my steps. I could still track Wild, so my present concern was losing whoever followed me. I kept moving, ducking in and out of alleys, always moving south, but occasionally pausing and waiting for the people to wash past me, waiting to see if I could pinpoint my tracker.

Half an hour ticked past. Sweat coated my brow and slid down my spine. While the worst of my injuries had healed, I was far from one hundred percent. When I paused to lean against a building, it was true fatigue that kept me there, sucking wind. Hands on my knees, I tried to push away the nausea and force the world to stop spinning. But while I stood there, catching my breath, the sound of leathery wings cut through the air and snapped my head around in time to see a pair of talons the size of baling hooks coming straight for me.

I dropped to the ground, and the talons skimmed over my back, scratching at my clothes but not digging in. Jumping to my feet, I sprinted down the alley as the gargoyle swept upward for another pass at me. Exhaustion chased out by a wash of adrenaline, I ran straight down the alley until I hit the next intersection and hung a left, racing up the street, pushing my way through the crowds of people. People shouted and shook fists, but I ignored them all.

I knew from experience that the gargoyle would not be seen by any of the humans. The creatures knew how to magically conceal themselves, and so he swept after me with no fear of being pointed out to the masses. I, on the other hand, was very much catching everyone’s attention.

“Hey, stop that kid, he must’ve stolen something!” a voice called after me. A few others picked up the cry, and hands started grabbing at my arms, trying to slow me down as I raced past. In that moment, I wasn’t sure what was worse: being chased by the gargoyle or being pawed at by these people who had no idea what I could do to them if I used my skills to remove their hands from my body.

I managed to jerk myself away and dodged into traffic, weaving through cars like a true New Yorker, until I was on the far side and down yet another alleyway. The alleyway was not ideal—it would make it too easy for the gargoyle to pick me off—but I had no choice.

It was my one path, until it was not even that.

A dead end reared up ahead of me, the wall brick and easily thirty feet high. I spun in time to see those talons coming straight for me again, and then my pursuer landed in front of me. Professor Ash stood in front of me, his pebble-gray skin mottling and camouflaging to hide him against the buildings.

I pulled out two knives and held them at the ready. “Gargoyle, unless you want to die—”

Ash smiled at me and turned so I could see one wing had been stitched together with black thread. Dried blood spattered the leathery skin. “Young Shade, do you wish to save her, truly?”

His question shocked me, because he’d been working against Wild. Hadn’t he? “Who do you mean?”

“Wild, of course. We all know that you are part of her life—” he paused, “—and we all knew that you would go looking for her. Which is why I am here and not another of Frost’s crew.”

I smiled back at him, a mere baring of my teeth. “And how do you know that I am not leading you away from her?”

Ash laughed. “Because you are not capable of keeping away from that girl any more than you were capable of it when you were young. How many times did you stand guard outside her house? Because even then, you sought to protect her. She never knew, did she?”

The blood drained from my face and I stood there staring hard at him. How long had they been watching us? Because he wasn’t wrong, not even a little bit.

I’d stood guard below her bedroom window more nights than I could count. Because my father had threatened her, or her family, in a drunken stupor. Because I had a feeling that I couldn’t throw that she was in danger, and so I’d gone to where she was and stood watch.

Even then, she’d had my heart.

Ash held out a hand to me. “Come with me now, and you may have a chance to save her yet.”

“You’re working with the Shadowkiller,” I said. “How can you possibly imagine—?”

He cut me off. “The Shadowkiller is her uncle, as I believe you know now, and despite how things may look, he is doing what he can to save her. To save all of you. In the end, I believe it will cost him everything. And you will do what you must, as well. Come with me now or let the rest of Frost’s crew trace you right to her doorstep.” He paused. “She is wounded, is she not? I doubt Ethan has been able to heal her.”

I wanted to block out what he was saying, but the thought of Wild wounded cut through my doubts. There were not many choices in front of me, and I had to make a decision now. “I will come with you,” I said after a moment. “But no games.”

Ash shrugged. “This whole world is a game, young Shade. You should know that by now.”

And before I could react, he flew into the air, spun around, caught me up under the arms with his talons, and lifted me off the ground. His wide wings shaded me from the light for just a moment, and then I was staring down at the ground below. Easily fifty feet, then sixty, then seventy. I held my composure as he took me across the city, out near the water’s edge, not far from the financial district.

Swooping down on a blast of cool air, we landed, and I stumbled to keep my feet as he let me go. There in front of me was the Shadowkiller himself. His blond hair was ruffled, his face was drawn, and his eyes would not lift to meet my own. “Do you truly wish to save her?” he asked quietly.

“That’s a stupid question,” I said, my voice hard.

The Shadowkiller smiled and then laughed. “I suppose it is. But there aren’t many people I can trust. Some days I cannot even trust my own mind, and so I will make this brief.” The Shadowkiller looked out across the water. “She reminds me very much of my sister. I could not protect Lexi, and, in the end, she thought I was the demon chasing her. Her life was lost because of it.” He frowned and rubbed at the back of his neck. “All I can do now is try to save her remaining children; Wild, Sam, Billy.”

Hearing their names from his lips sent a chill down my spine. He knew them, which meant he probably knew where to find them, too. “Why didn’t you just tell her all of this from the beginning?”

He sighed. “Because, like so many, I am tied to Frost in ways that I cannot break. Moments like this, where she cannot find me, are few and far between. Take this.” He thrust a small, leatherbound journal at me.

I tucked it under my arm. “What is it?”

“It is a portion of the information she needs to get through these last few days.”

I blinked at him, not quite sure I’d heard him correctly. “What do you mean ‘these last few days’?”

Wait, what had Jennie said? That there were three days left to stop Frost?

The Shadowkiller finally looked me in the eyes, his bright blue eyes piercing. “What I mean is that time is running out. If we do not find all the keys within the next three days, then Frost will have won. The blood moon will be upon us, and there will be no stopping her.” The Shadowkiller turned away from me, giving me his back as if he trusted me.

I brushed a hand against one of my knives, thinking about how easy it would be to plunge it between the two vertebrae right above his shoulders. Too easy. And yet I didn’t.

“Give her the journal,” he said. “Give her the journal and hope that she can succeed.”

“You say all these things like you can see the future,” I said. “But you can’t. You don’t know.”

He gave a soft laugh. “True. But what I do know is that she is the only one who has a chance. I can only pray that it is enough to save us all.”

10

Wild

Gordy stepped fully out of the shadows and scratched at one oversized ear. “I wasn’t sure you’d put two and two together.”

I pointed at his head. “The bandage.”

A grin stretched slowly across his whole face. “Yeah, that big horny bugger sent us flying, didn’t he?”

He was referring to the rhino shifter that had thrown our car like a kid tossing a toy in the middle of a tantrum.

“You’re part of Nicholas’s crew, aren’t you?”

Gordy nodded. “Yes, though not tied tight to him like I once was. That’s what keeps me safe from Frost.”

I frowned, staring hard at him. “Frost wants me alive, but there have been full attempts on my life.”

He tapped the side of his nose and hopped up so he was sitting on one of his counters. “Frost isn’t the only one trying to run the show. You think Helix wants you alive?” He tipped his head to the side. “You think he wants another chameleon stronger than the one he is tied to?”

To my left, Ethan shifted his feet, drawing my eyes to him. “That makes sense. He always takes out the competition. It’s how he wins.”

I turned to him. “Even if it means pissing off Frost?”

“Factions within factions,” Gordy said. “That’s always been the way with Frost. It keeps everyone on their toes. They don’t just have to worry about her, but everyone around them.”

I felt Wally’s horror and she voiced it. “That sounds terrible.”

“It is.” Another voice came from the shadows, and a man I’d only briefly met stepped out of the shadows. His dark eyes were as kind as when I’d seen him in the alleyway, and he’d directed me to the youth shelter.

“Carson,” I said. “Also part of Nicholas’s crew, I take it?”

He smiled, flashing bright white teeth at me, and for a split second I thought ‘shifter’ before he pulled out a wand. “I am, and I see that you have some pretty good injuries. If you’ll let me, I can help you.”

I could have cried from relief at the thought of being freed from the constant pain. Instead, I lifted my hand with the broken, swollen fingers. “Oh, it’s just a flesh wound.”

Carson slid his hand under my own, and the warmth of his palm tingled. He whispered under his breath as he swirled his wand over the breaks.

“Gonna hurt,” Gordy said even as the bones began to realign. I locked my knees, and on my right Pete slipped my arm over his shoulder and took some of my weight. Behind me, Orin and Wally each put a hand to my back, and Ethan and Gregory also reached out without a word.

The sharp snap of bone echoed through the air. I gasped, but the pain was nothing more than that of the jab of a needle. Minor at best.

I let out a slow breath and flexed my fingers. “Nice.”

“Should have hurt more.” Carson did a slow panning glance over my friends. “Good crew you have here. Intuitive.”

Gordy snorted. “Not as good as us.”

Carson held out his hand and they slapped palms. “Nah, never as good as us, friend.”

I stared at them. “How did you . . . unhook from Nicholas?”

Wally grabbed my arm. “Don’t even think it. We aren’t going anywhere!”

The boys chimed in, saying variations of the same thing, and I held up a hand. “I’m not talking about getting rid of any of you. But they managed to either sever their bonds or hide them so that Frost couldn’t use them. I mean, I tried to get rid of Ethan, and he came back. Frost thinks these two here are dead.”

“Yeah, he came back, like a bad gold coin,” Gregory mumbled, but it felt more like habit than anything.

“Look, you need the full story,” Gordy said. “It will help make sense of some things.”

His eyes flicked to Carson, who nodded. “Agreed. If they understand, they have a better chance of surviving. And right now, this place is safe. You take a rest where you can, before the storm strikes.”

I wasn’t sure I liked that he used the same analogy as I had—storms were dangerous, and not everyone survived the worst of them.

Gordy cracked his knuckles, then pointed at the floor. “Might as well get comfy. It’s a beefy story.”

Not feeling any tingle of apprehension, I lowered myself to the floor. Wally and Pete followed, Ethan leaned up against a far wall, and Orin stationed himself near the door.

Gregory took a moment and then sat behind and to the right of me.

Gordy cleared his throat. “We all went through the Culling Trials together and, like you, were drawn to one another. Nicholas, myself, Carson, Rufus: we were all there at the beginning.”

“WHAT?” I blurted the word out. “The Sandman—”

“He was one of the first to get cut off from Nicholas,” Carson said. “He saw the writing on the wall before the rest of us and stepped away before Frost realized that he’d been friends with Nicholas.”

Shock was too mild a word. Pete leaned over and pushed my jaw up. “You might want to close that there.”

Rufus was tied to Nicholas.

And a few more pieces of the puzzle dropped into place. Like the way he’d watched me. Trained me. Known how I’d react.

Gordy waved a hand and I made myself focus. “Ruby was an instructor, and Brutus and Jasmina taught for the House of Claw and Night respectively—people you’ve met?” I nodded, and he went on. “Frost was director even then, though she looked far younger than she did when you met her.” He grimaced. “As kids, we didn’t see it, but even then, she was working to take over our world. We figured it out later. She didn’t want to work out in the open, not then, she wanted to use someone else to do her bidding. Someone like Nicholas who could take the fall. When things invariably went south . . .”

“He would take the rap,” Pete said. “Holy cats, that’s dark.”

“It is.” Carson picked up the thread. “But the way she did it is darker yet.”

Of course it was. I braced myself for what was coming. Wally reached over and wrapped her fingers around mine, a tremor rolling through her.

Carson’s eyes narrowed, and he ran a hand over his moustache. “We got through the trials and started our schooling. We’d remained friends, like you did, but we did our best to keep it quiet. Melanie, she was our shifter. A true lioness with a heart of gold, fierce like her namesake and incredibly loyal.”

A scuffle on the floor above us turned our heads. Soft, barely there, but noticeable.

We waited, breathing shallowly, heart rates picking up with each second and then slowing again when the sound was not repeated.

Still, Carson lowered his voice. “It was in one of the monthly games. A test of strength between Melanie and a bear shifter.” He lifted his wand and swooshed it through the air, sending a thin string of light curling from the tip to the floor and then stretching like taffy, summoning a scene in front of us to accompany his words.

The girl flickered to life first. She had deep golden hair like her animal, pulled back in an intricate braid that swayed as she strode into the arena. Her body was lithe and she moved like the predator she was, but her clothes had holes and scuffs in them. Clothes that could be ripped or torn. Across from her stood a man—not a boy, a man—who was well over seven feet tall and just about as wide. He had more hair on his head and face than I’d ever seen, his mouth not even visible when he spoke.

“You gonna get it, little girl,” he grumbled.

“I doubt that.” She shrugged and shifted to her lion form as quick as lightning. One blink she was on two legs, the next she was on four.

He was right behind her, shifting to his grizzly bear form, the hulking hair-covered body rippling with muscle. The bear roared and swatted at the ground, first with one front paw and then the other.

The lioness roared back, her tail lashing, and then leapt for him without any hesitation.

The fight was brutal, and it stretched on and on as she struggled to get behind him—to get her teeth into his neck. Back and forth they went, exchanging blows, drawing blood. The fight was not called even though there were screams from the people around the edge of the arena for it to end. That it wasn’t sanctioned.

Even knowing that it would not end well for her, I found myself cheering her on.

“Come on,” Pete whispered. “Get him.”

The lioness swept in for a slash to the bear’s hamstring, but she hesitated, turning to look into the crowd.

The bear took the opening. He bent, his jaws clamping around her neck as his claws dug into her body.

I couldn’t hear the crunch, but there was no denying the way her neck snapped to the side, the limpness that rolled through her from head to the tip of her tail. I held my breath.

He dropped her to the ground, stood on both back legs and bellowed out a roar, lips flapping in a complete and total challenge.

Across from him, the arena fence split open, peeling back as a spell ate into it. I shot a look at Ethan, and he nodded. It was the spell he’d used in the prison—the one I’d bungled, but in a way that had ultimately allowed our escape.

Watching the figure step through, for just a moment all I could see was Tommy, and then the image cleared, and it was Nicholas. His eyes were full of rage, and tears tracked down his cheeks as he raised his wand.

He pointed it at the bear. “Garrushim.”

The bear’s hide split in a thousand places, the shifter bleeding out but not dying right away.

Behind Nicholas a figure stepped into view, her eyes hard and her mouth a thin, tight line. She lifted her wand and whispered a word I could almost make out.

Bay-is-ion?

Carson flicked his wand, and the scene slid away, shrinking backward until there was nothing left but the faintest whisp of a spell, the barest whisper of the memory replaying. “You don’t need to see the rest. Frost took hold of his power—he didn’t know it then—and the next day she forced him to slaughter twenty kids. Kids he knew, his friends. He tried to untie himself from us, and he ran. He’s been running ever since.”

Wally cleared her throat. “He loved Melanie, didn’t he?”

Carson nodded. “You don’t often get a shot at true love; most people never find it. Never mind recognize it. They were lucky, they had a little time together.”

I thought about Rory. About how he’d been trying to protect me all along, even when I didn’t need it. That had to mean something, didn’t it?

Carson’s eyes swung to me. “The thing about this you need to understand, though, is that when a chameleon loses control, it opens them up for someone else to take over. It makes them vulnerable.”

Note to self. Don’t lose control.

All eyes in the room slid to me. Gregory spoke first. “That’s another reason why she was hunting us, pushing us to our limits. To see if she could break you, Wild.”

“And I’d bet my left fang that’s why Helix forced Ethan to kill Colt,” Orin said. “Not just because he was in the way, but because she wanted you to lose control.”

Ethan’s pain over that was immediate and Pete reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “Not your fault.”

A tremor of pain ran through me because I didn’t want to look too closely at the truth behind both those statements. Colt’s death, as hard as it was to accept, hadn’t broken me, because while I’d made him part of my crew, he’d been new to it. New to us.

Guilt rolled through me that I hadn’t cared enough, even though it had saved me.

And if it had been Rory? If Frost had truly realized that Rory’s death would have done to me what Melanie’s death had done to Nicholas?

A soft scuffle sounded on the stairs, just like the one from before, and we all froze. The door to Gordy’s place was gone, so it wasn’t like we could lock it and skedaddle through a different exit.

Someone was here, and we were going to have to deal with them.

I stood slowly and motioned for the others to spread out around the room. A quick glance at Gordy, and I mouthed a single word. Lights.

He nodded and snapped his fingers; the lights went out in an instant.

I dropped to a crouch and slid to the side of the room. Ethan and Orin stationed themselves to either side of the door, their bodies tense.

There were no more sounds that filtered down to us, no matter how I stretched my senses, which told me one thing. We had an assassin coming for us. A Shade and a damn good one.

Ruby? Had she somehow survived her fall? Call me crazy, but a part of me thought she was still out there.

A figure stepped into view, the light from behind illuminating their body.

A man.

He leaned his hand against one side of the wall and paused, listening.

I stared at the lines of his body, and when he turned his head, I stood up and breathed his name. “Rory.”

11

There was a pause after I said his name. No one moved, not even him. And then my feet were moving even as my heart thundered inside my chest. Part of me was horrified he was up and moving after nearly dying, the other part was beyond happy to see him.

I leaned into the horrified part. Because I couldn’t let myself forget he was with Genevieve.

“Rory, what the hell?” I strode toward him. “You’re supposed to be healing. You’re supposed to be—”

He grabbed me as I got close and pulled me hard into his arms. “Goddamn it, Wild.”

One of his hands slid up to the back of my neck, the other cinched around my waist, and suddenly his lips were on mine, and I wasn’t sure I hadn’t died right then and there for the explosion of emotions that rocketed through my body. For the amount of heat rushing through my veins and tingling every part of me that touched him.

Rory was kissing me.

The world dropped away—it shouldn’t have, but it did. There was nothing left but me and him, nothing but his mouth angled across mine, and the sensation of him holding me tight. With me, he was with me. And he was kissing me, and I was kissing him back.

My world had officially been turned upside down.

I didn’t give two figs that we had an audience.

Someone behind me cleared their throat.

Rory broke the kiss off but kept his face close, his forehead touching mine as the lights flicked back on. We were both breathing hard, but he didn’t loosen his hold on me, not for a second as he stared into my eyes, and I didn’t let go of him either. “Genevieve and I weren’t kissing—we were fighting. I knew something was up with her, and it turns out she was working for Frost. When you came into the room . . . she was ready to confess. But I didn’t want you to see me hurt her when you didn’t know . . . ”

“Seriously?” Gregory said from somewhere behind me. “That actually makes a lot of sense. Why she was so friendly with Wild, trying to get close to all of us when the other Shades didn’t so much as look her way. She was nice to me too. Offered to help teach me some moves.”

“Me too,” Wally said.

“Me three,” Pete said.

Orin lifted his hand. “Same.”

To the back of the room, I could feel Ethan’s sadness. I knew it had nothing to do with Genevieve and everything to do with the fact that Rory was still holding me, but I didn’t cringe or pull away from Rory. No, he . . . was meant to be here.

Wally clapped her hands together. “So, you can feel him in your head now? I knew he was part of our crew!”

I turned and looked at her. “You can feel Rory?”

“And I can sense Wally,” Rory said. “Just at the edge of my mind.”

Because I couldn’t, not the way I could feel them.

“I can sense his relief to have found us all.” She grinned, and then the grin slipped. “You can’t feel him in your head?”

I shook my head.

Wally’s frown deepened and Carson cleared his throat. “Maybe something to ask Nicholas about, if you get the chance.”

Beside me, Rory nodded. “I can track her anywhere. I always thought it was just a thing I was good at because I’m a Shade.”

Gordy banged the flat of his hand on the counter where he sat. “All of this is well and good, but we need to finish the story.”

“Wait, it’s not done?” I blurted out as I turned to face the others, Rory’s hands sliding across my waist. He settled one on my lower back.

Like the night Tommy left for school and we’d stayed up and stared at the stars together. His arm had been around me then, fitting against me like he always did. Holding me, without holding me back.

“The start of it is done,” Gordy said. “The rest, well, the rest is just as ugly.”

The goblin waved his fingers in the air, and a burst of magic trickled from his fingers onto the ground.

The cement floor liquified, and it was as if we were looking into a three-foot-round pool, reflections flickering off the surface. Only they weren’t reflections but images from the story they’d already started.

“Nicholas had known for years that Frost was watching him, but this was a whole new level of wicked.” Gordy wiggled his fingers at the liquified cement, and the scene came to life.

Nicholas jogged through the halls of a building I didn’t recognize, but I suspected it was the House of Unmentionables by the drab walls and nearly dead candlelight.

He slipped through a doorway, knocking softly on it as he did so. “Professor?”

“Ah, young Nicholas, how are you doing?” The concern in Ash’s voice was heavy. “I heard your friend Melanie was grievously injured this morning—”

Nicholas’s face twisted up, but he smoothed his features. “Yes, you could say that. I have a question about chameleons.”

Ash’s eyebrows went up. “I am happy to answer what I can, of course. You know that I have made it my mission in life to study their abilities—”

“What would happen if there’s more than one chameleon at the same time?” Nicholas lowered himself into one of the desks.

Ash folded his muscular arms, the gray skin taut. “Well, the stronger, more experienced of the two could in theory take control of the other. Use him or her as one of their connections for strength.”

The image shifted as if panning with a camera, and I saw the horror flicker within Nicholas’s eyes. The same horror that Ash could see. “And what if the stronger chameleon was a bad person and they were trying to do something really . . . bad?”

Ash stared at him thoughtfully. “What kind of really bad?”

Nicholas shifted in his seat. “What if they—the stronger chameleon—were trying to take over all five houses?”

Ash’s gray skin paled, and something told me he knew Nicholas wasn’t speaking theoretically.

The gargoyle turned and went to the far wall, lined with several bookshelves. “If it were me, and I were the younger of the two chameleons—not necessarily weaker, just younger—I would try to find a way to keep some of the power out of her hands. To give the younger chameleon time to learn and grow and gain his own strength.”

Her hands. He’d suspected Frost even then.

Nicholas stood and followed him. “How?”

“Each house has . . . let’s call it an essence. Like the core of a planet. If you were to—in theory now—hide that essence, then no one could truly take over that particular house. It would keep them from being completely taken over.”

He handed Nicholas a book, the Latin inscription on the front cover flashing with gold foil.

“It would buy one time to find a way to deal with the bad chameleon,” Ash said, his voice gentle. “I would also suggest that the younger of the two find friends he can truly trust. Friends who will walk this hard road with him.”

Nicholas swallowed, his throat bobbing. “I have some. But there’s no one from the House of Unmentionables that I trust more than you.”

Ash spread his wings and bowed from the waist. “I would be honored, young Nicholas.”

Gordy flicked his fingers, and the cement hardened once more.

Gregory stared at it. “I want to learn how to do that.”

The older goblin gave him a wink and touched the side of his nose. “I’ll teach you, kid, but not right now. You can only do it with those you are tied to, and if they give you permission to show their memories.”

Nicholas had let us see that memory of him younger. So we’d understand that he was trying to stop her.

Carson held up a hand. “What neither of them understood was that by wrapping up the core of the houses, placing them in an object, they weakened them too. Frost couldn’t take over, but the various houses had a harder time resisting her. It was a real Catch-22.”

“What kind of an object did he put them in?” Ethan asked, speaking for the first time since we’d arrived.

I could feel the tension in my crew, because we all suspected we knew.

“Keys,” Carson confirmed. “He put them in five keys he’d found at various points in his life. The keys were hidden, and their location has been lost from all of us.”

“No keys,” Orin said, “no control of the houses.”

“Exactly.” Carson nodded in his direction. “Frost has been hunting for the keys for a long time.”

Beside me Rory tensed, I felt it in the hand he kept on me. “Did you think of something?”

“We’re running out of time,” Rory said. “We interrogated one of Frost’s people, and she said we had three days. Three days before it wouldn’t matter anymore. Does that make sense? Why three days?”

Carson sucked in a sharp breath. “Shit. If that’s the truth, then . . .” He paced the room, running his hands over his head.

“What are you thinking?” Gordy asked. “What’s changed?”

Carson stopped. “A spell that would release the houses. A counter spell to the one Nicholas placed on them. She may have finally figured it out.”

Gordy leaned back and blew out a long breath. “If Nicholas’s spells come off, and the power of the houses goes free and is up for grabs . . . she only has to wait it out now.”

Gordy stood up on the counter. “Which is why—”

“We have to find them before the end of the three days,” Rory said.

Gordy touched his nose and then pointed at Rory. “Bingo.”

“And if we find the keys?” Wally asked. “What then?”

“Then Nicholas can stop her. He’s not a boy anymore,” Carson said. “All these years he’s been slowly building his own crew without her noticing. He’s strong enough to take her on. He can tap into the power of the five houses. But the chances of finding them all now?”

Wally smiled and her voice deepened. “Your chances are at least two in five. By my calculations.”

The two men looked at her. “Those are decent odds. What do you kids know that we don’t?”

12

Rory’s hand on my back was warm, and my crew looked to me for my assessment of the situation.

I frowned and looked down at my feet. “Don’t be so sure of Nicholas’s strength.”

A heavy silence settled. I didn’t know him like his crew did—they’d been with him for years and presumably they were still connected to him in some way. But I had a feeling that his connection with his crew wasn’t the same as before. They’d been blocked from him, the way I’d blocked my own crew to keep them safe. Besides, I’d seen him fight Frost’s hold on him, and his ability to fight her was tenuous as best. He had outright admitted to me that his grip on reality was as loose as the bolts on our old tractor. Basically about ready to rattle right off.

“What do you mean by that?” Carson asked, his dark eyes searching my face.

I held up one hand and shook my head. “Let’s focus on the keys. How long have you been searching for them? Do you have any clue where they could be?” I mean, I was pretty certain I had two of them in my pocket, but I wasn’t quite ready to throw that card on the table.

Gordy narrowed his eyes at me, as if he wanted to push me to say more about Nicholas. “Years. Nicholas gave the keys to his closest crew member to hide. There are stories about people who are so good with the shadows, they can keep objects hidden for years.”

Ethan pushed off the wall and gave a slight wobble. A pulse of sickness flowed through the bond, and when I caught Ethan’s eye, he shook his head, pulled out a vitamin bottle, and popped a couple pills. That did not leave me feeling confident. “So where is this crew member? I’m assuming that’s who you’ve been looking for? The one who hid the keys?”

Carson blew out a breath. “She died before she could tell Nicholas where the keys were stashed. She’d run as far as she could and hidden as best that she could—something she and her man were good at. But it wasn’t enough. In the end, Frost found her.”

His eyes were heavy on me. I couldn’t quite feel my legs as they tried to drop out from under me. She hid them. She was good at hiding with her man.

“My mom hid them?” I finally said. “She was part of Nicholas’s crew?”

Carson nodded. “She was the best at hiding herself and anything else. Same with your dad. He was technically a null, but he had a knack for certain things. Like making weapons. Like feeding your mother’s strength. Nicholas knew that if anyone could keep the keys to the houses safe, it was her.”

Chills swept through my body even as Rory stepped closer so that his chest was pressed to my back, heat and strength flowing between us. A flare of annoyance and hurt flared up from Ethan, but I had to ignore it. I couldn’t deal with more emotion than was already circling through me.

Gordy rubbed a hand over his knobby head, wincing when he got to the bandage. “The thing is, Frost tried to torture the info out of your mom. She didn’t break. Which is amazing.”

My heart thundered, and I found myself reaching for Wally. Her hands grabbed hold of mine and there was a moment where my mother’s ghost flickered into sight and then was gone. But I kept on hanging onto Wally.

Because she was my friend. Because I needed her as much as I needed Rory. I tried to push back the swell of emotions rising through me. The fury toward Frost.

I pulled the one key I had out of my pocket and held it out—I needed a distraction from the images flowing through me. Of my mom on her knees. Being hurt for knowledge she refused to give up.

All this time, I’d thought she’d died in a car accident. All this time . . .

I cleared my throat and turned my palm up, revealing the key. “This one of them?”

“Holy shit!” Gordy yelped and jumped off the counter. He rushed over to me, and I let him take the key. He turned it over and over in his hands, his jaw hanging open and his eyes bugging out. “This is one of them. How?”

Rory stepped up beside me. “Lexi gave it to Tommy when he was young, before she died. And when Tommy died, I dug it out of his stuff and hung on to it. I figured it was important to him, and I knew it was from his mom.”

Carson lifted his hands to the ceiling and tipped his head back. “We have a chance then.”

“Better than that.” I pulled out the second key and Carson just stared, his face a complete blank. “Two out of five.”

Gordy stared at the first key. “She said she wouldn’t keep any of them, that she didn’t want to draw danger toward her and her family.” His voice was low and more than a little awestruck. “And we believed her. The connection between us was so strong that I would have said she couldn’t have lied without us knowing.”

Carson didn’t touch either key, he just kept shaking his head. “Maybe she had more magic than we even realized. All I know is that we’re a hell of a lot closer to us stopping Frost now than we were a few minutes ago.” He tapped the key in Gordy’s hand.

Wally cleared her throat. “We think that there is another key in the House of Wonder. Wild’s brother Tommy was looking for it there when Frost killed him.”

I looked at her. “She mustn’t have even searched him to see if he had a key, or she’d have found this one.”

“Arrogance, it is the downfall of many,” Orin said. “It’s why we stopped her the first time. She didn’t believe she could be stopped.”

Rory shifted beside me. “I have your mom’s journal. Maybe that could help.”

We all turned to stare at him. “You have what?”

“Your mom’s journal. The Shadowki—Nicholas—gave it to me.” He pulled a battered leather book out from under his jacket and handed it to me. “He thought you would need it.”

I stared at him. “You saw my uncle? And you’re just now telling us?”

His eyes didn’t leave mine. “I was busy kissing you. And it was story time after that.”

“Did you go looking for him?” Ethan asked, and there was a slight edge to him. Yeah, he was still upset.

Rory glanced at him. “I didn’t have much of a choice, he had Ash scoop me.” His eyes came back to mine. “I think he wants you to succeed where he couldn’t. He believes you can do what he couldn’t.” His fingers brushed across mine, sending a flush of warmth with his words that was in some ways more intimate than even his kiss. “For what it’s worth, I think he’s right.”

Again, the world faded as we stood there, face to face.

Just like when he’d left Texas. When he’d said goodbye, that he’d come back one day and I’d believed him. He lifted his hand and brushed his fingers across my cheek on that day, and he did it again.

A sigh slid from Wally and Rory grinned and for just a moment that sparkle in his eyes told me everything I needed to know. The Rory I’d grown up with, the Rory that I’d secretly loved all these years was with me now.

I’d never truly lost him. And he’d never truly lost me.

Carson sighed. “We’ve read Lexi’s journal front to back. There are no clues.”

Rory’s eyes didn’t leave mine. “But maybe her daughter will be able to see clues where you all haven’t. Maybe that’s why Nicholas sent it to her, through me.”

“Because he knew you’d find me,” I said. Rory winked.

“Always, Wild. I will always find you.”

Another sigh from Wally and I glanced over in time to see her reach out and take Pete’s hand.

The conversation might have gone on for longer, but Pete twisted around with a low growl escaping his lips as he put Wally behind him. “Something is on the main floor. It smells like death.” He gave another low growl and took a step toward the door leading up to the main room, but I stopped him with a hand on his chest.

“Wait.”

Above us came a slow scratching across the floors, like long nails scraping against wood.

Or maybe claws.

The energy in the room shifted like a lightning strike.

The screech of metal bending and tearing cut through the silence, and we all took a step back.

“I can’t tell what it is,” Pete growled.

Orin took a step toward the entrance and peered up the stairs through the darkness before I could stop him. “Nothing with a heartbeat. I don’t recognize the scent either.”

Another long, low scratching sound, and the hair along the back of my neck stood tall as if it wanted a good look at what was causing the ruckus. That warning tingle that told me when danger was near? It was freaking the hell out, making my spine dance.

“Time to go.” I tugged on Wally, drawing her back toward the hidden exit. The five guys in our crew stood their ground, along with Nicholas’s two guys. As if they could face whatever was coming down those stairs. Something not alive but, I was guessing, plenty deadly. “Guys, let’s go.”

I put weight into the last word, and it was like I’d snapped each of my crew with a towel. Even Wally jumped. “Sorry,” I muttered. “Still getting the hang of this.”

She rubbed at her backside. “Yeah, I can see that.”

But it had worked, and they were following me backward. I glanced at Carson and Gordy, and Carson waved at us to get going. He stood in the center of the room, legs spread and wand at his side, looking every inch a formidable mage.

“Gordy, is it what I think it is?”

Gordy stepped up beside Carson and from where I stood, his face fell. “I can feel it in the stone. She is desperate to have done this. She knows that Wild has a chance.”

“What is it?” I didn’t move.

Carson answered me, though not directly. “Gordy, get them out of here. If Frost has unleashed the Darkness, you have to go. One of us has to go.”

“Old friend,” Gordy whispered, his hand on Carson’s arm. “We can outrun it!”

“Only if I slow it down.” He looked over his shoulder at Gordy. “I can give you the chance you need. The Darkness is too strong to stop.”

My feet got moving again, and we kept backing up and suddenly Gordy was herding us—a snap of his fingers sending small pebbles flying toward us, driving us along. “Move it, move it!”

I pushed my friends ahead of me. “Rory, take point. Ethan, you go behind him, and I’ll pull up the rear.” Even Gordy went in front of me as I ushered our crew out.

At the door that led to the ladder that would pop us out in the middle of a spa, I paused and looked back.

Carson stood in a bloom of light that surrounded him—his own magic—and the creature that crept down the stairs was nothing short of horrific. Twenty-plus deep red tentacles, four inches thick and dripping with liquid that turned into ice as they went, slithering down the steps. There was no body as such that I could see, just tentacles that moved at such a rapid pace that they were up against Carson’s magic moments later. All around them the walls frosted over, sending a wave of chill through the air everywhere they touched.

The tentacles were smooth, no suckers that I could see, but at the ends of each tentacle was a pair of eyes that bobbled and searched the room, and a tiny beak that clacked and scratched against the surfaces around them.

And those eyes, they saw me.

Carson looked over his shoulder at me, eyes widening. “Kid, get out of here!” he bellowed, and in that moment, I could see his death. I could see just how bad it would be. Those suckers and the beaks would torture him over hours and hours, days if they could. They were designed to cause pain even as they killed, they were designed to draw every last ounce of your strength from your body.

This . . . this monstrosity of Frost’s was what had killed my mom. I was sure of it in every fiber of my being. And that made the decision easy.

“Nobody gets left behind,” I said as I pulled my own wand from my belt. “Nobody.”

Carson shook his head. “You can’t stop this! It’s tied to Frost in a way no one understands.”

Even as he spoke, the walls continued to ice over where the tentacles touched, creeping toward the openings and starting to block them off, and my breath expelled in a puff of air, crystals forming across my face. My jaw ticked, and I felt my crew pause in the tunnel behind me.

I didn’t really know what I was doing, which meant I was acting on pure instinct, like a mother bear protecting her cubs at all costs. I thought about my mom, about Tommy, about Colt.

I thought about what Frost wanted and what would happen if she got it.

I thought about the way she was hunting me and my friends.

I thought about Nicholas . . . and I thought about my dad, Sam, and Billy. My family needed me to be stronger than I’d ever been before—they needed me to face the Darkness. Because there was no doubt in my mind that once I was out of the way, Frost would go after my siblings next.

Whatever fear had spiked, whatever doubt had started to eat at me, washed away as the cool certainty that I was my family’s only protection sunk deep into my bones.

As if I were in a dream, I lifted my wand and swept it down like a knife, slashing and thrusting as words I didn’t remember until that very moment bubbled up and out of me from my past.

“Fiery girl.” My mom brushed my hair back from my forehead, her eyes full of love, her mouth curved into a sad smile. “One day, you will need all the fire in the world. My little Wild Fire. My girl, you will save us all.”

“Gargnashium!” Ethan’s voice bellowed beside me before I could test my theory.

His wand lit up, and a burst of magic slammed into the tentacles, throwing them back. They reeled and thrashed from side to side, pinned to the wall with the power of Ethan’s magic. Between him and Carson, they pushed the Darkness back.

I put a hand on his arm and gave him strength—it was all I could do.

Carson whipped his wand around in an arc and drove a spell at the tentacles, throwing them up the stairwell away from us. “You idiots! You’ve pinpointed yourselves for Frost!”

Ethan’s shame was sharp, but I pushed it away. “We do this our way, and we don’t leave anyone behind!”

I grabbed Carson and pulled him along with me and Ethan.

Carson shook his head. “That will get us minutes at best. I could have bought you a day.”

“Minutes will do. They always have before.” I shoved him ahead of me and then grabbed Ethan by the arm. His fatigue washed through me. He was fading fast, the sickness catching up to him.

“I’m going to slow you down, Wild,” he said as he stumbled along the tunnel. When we reached the ladder, Rory was there waiting.

He took Ethan’s arm and helped him stand as I pushed him toward the ladder. He didn’t seem to see Rory was the one there.

“You might slow us, and if you do, I’ll feed you to the beast back there.” I thumbed over my shoulder.

Ethan’s blue eyes met mine. “Maybe it would be easier than seeing you with him—”

I shoved him up the ladder, Rory quietly helping me. Not making a fuss, not getting all alpha-hole possessive. Just helping me make sure Ethan was safe.

Speaking of the mage in my crew. “Not the time, Ethan. Not the time for a guilt trip or any other kind of trip unless we’re going on vacation from this shit,” I said.

“I’d like a vacation,” Gregory shouted down the ladder. “Mexico?”

“Greece for me,” Wally said.

“I’d do Greece,” Pete chimed in. “They have the leaning tower, don’t they?”

I mouthed ‘thank you’ to Rory and then pointed for him to go up ahead of me.

He gave my hand a squeeze and then hurried up the ladder.

I went up after him while my crew talked about where they’d like to vacation as they climbed. At the top of the ladder, we all spilled out into a spa full of women who were giving us the stink eye. Carson whipped his wand in a circle and whispered, “Easydoesit.”

The women all slumped a little, smiled, and went back to their mani-pedis as if eight filthy people hadn’t just appeared in the middle of the shop.

“They’ll be okay? The spa ladies.” I kept my question quiet, and directed it at Gordy.

“Yeah, the Darkness makes humans want to run away,” he said. “They will all bolt for some reason, maybe think they hear gunfire, or an alarm. It will turn out false but will be enough to get them out of the way.”

Next, I turned to Carson and gave him a raised eyebrow as we all jogged out the back door of the spa. “Easy does it?”

He shrugged. “A spell doesn’t have to be Latin or elvish to work. It’s about intent. It’s about need.”

We hurried along the street, and I could feel the eyes of so many people on us. Maybe they weren’t taking any special notice of us, but I was on high alert, and the weight of their gazes made my skin crawl.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Carson said as we found our way down to a subway station and the group of us slid into a nearly empty car.

The others all found seats or clung to one of the standing poles.

“I meant what I said. Nobody gets left behind. We’ve all lost enough,” I said. “So, get over it.”

Gordy chuffed. “Hear, hear. We have lost too much, we deserve a break.”

As if the words were a trigger for the fates above and below, a groan filtered through the air, and we all turned to Ethan as he slumped and slid to the floor. His heart stuttered—I could hear it through my connection to Orin, who was on him in a flash. Rory leapt to Ethan’s other side. Orin put his ear to Ethan’s chest, even though I knew he could hear it just fine without the proximity. Rory had a hand on Ethan’s wrist, his eyes full of worry.

Orin lifted his head and looked at me, his dark eyes unreadable. But I already knew what he was going to say—I could feel it in my bones.

“Wild, this is bad. His heart is failing.”

13

The subway car blasted along as I dropped to my knees next to Ethan. I grabbed his hand, interlocking his fingers with my own. Rory slid away to give me room.

“Ethan, we need you,” I said.

“Can’t. Too tired.” The words fumbled from his lips, as if he were drunk.

Carson dropped down beside me and put his hand on Ethan’s chest. “He’s sliding fast. There is very little I can do other than keep his pain at a minimum at this point.”

My jaw dropped. “What?” He was not saying what it sounded like he was saying. He couldn’t be.

The mage put a hand on my shoulder and stood. “He’s dying, Wild. The sickness has him in its grips. He’s succumbing to it. We all knew it was just a matter of time.”

Guts twisting, I tightened my hold on Ethan’s hand. “No.”

His lips tipped up, and his laughter was there in his head, even if it wasn’t coming out his mouth. “No,” he whispered back. “There have been times . . . you wouldn’t have minded me gone.”

I ignored him, because while he wasn’t wrong, he also wasn’t right.

“Not happening, nobody gets to just check out in the middle of this mess.” I shifted my seat and looked at Carson. “So intent is what is needed for a spell, not Latin?”

Wally hurried to Ethan’s head, sat down cross-legged, and pulled his upper body into her lap. “I can keep Death at bay for a little bit. Bring him back, Wild.”

I still held my wand. “I’m going to draw from all of you.”

My crew settled around me without complaint, and Gregory snorted. “Anyone else wonder why it’s always Ethan needing to be saved? Isn’t the House of Wonder supposed to be the strongest?”

His sharp words didn’t mesh with the worry that infiltrated his voice and the bonds between us.

“Maybe because he is the most broken of us,” I said before really thinking about what I was saying.

I thought about the intent of healing Ethan, of stopping the sickness in its tracks.

Of purging him of . . . what? The contagion? Except this particular sickness only affected magical people . . .

What if a spell was causing it?

Staring at Ethan, I asked, “Carson, can you . . . can you make a spell reveal itself?”

“Yes, why?”

“Do it to Ethan.”

There was silence for a moment then Carson spun his wand and pointed it at Ethan. “Reveleo.”

A shower of tiny sparkles rippled through the air in a wave as they fell onto Ethan.

They revealed dark blue spikes all over Ethan’s chest. Pulsing with energy, they dug in deep, literally diving in and out of his body. I put out a hand, so it hovered over one of the spikes. Now that I could see it, I could feel the magic pulling on Ethan.

A burst of curse words flowed from Carson. “Of course . . . it could be just that simple!”

“It’s not sickness not at all,” I whispered. “That’s why the healing won’t work. Or would work for just a time. Like that spell that Ruby put on Rory.”

“You can’t heal a spell; you have to disrupt it,” Wally said. “Over eighty percent of people would die if a spell attached to their body is disrupted, so those odds . . .” Her eyes went wide. “Sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize,” I said. “We have to know. And he’s dying, so a twenty percent chance is better than nothing. Carson, can you fix this now that you can see it?”

The older mage crouched, his hands fluttering around Ethan’s torso for a moment. “It’s nothing I’ve ever seen before. I . . . my magic doesn’t even want to touch it. It’s not a spell from the House of Wonder.”

Gregory leaned closer. “It’s . . . it’s stone, like the essence of stone.” He glanced over his shoulder at Gordy. Then he looked at me. “Literal and not literal at the same time.”

Gordy stared down at Ethan, his already big eyes wider yet. “He’s right, it’s from our house.”

Gregory’s hands ghosted over Ethan’s body, hovering above the now-visible spell. “Can we fix this?”

Gordy dropped to his knees next to Ethan. “We are going to try. Come on kid, we’ll work together on this.”

Pete crouched next to them. “But why? Why would House of Stone do this to the House of Wonder? I mean, I know that the House of Wonder mages can be jerks and all, but this seems—”

“Like a lot,” Wally supplied for him.

Pete nodded. “Yeah, it seems like a lot.”

“And the sickness strikes nulls too,” Rory said. “Like Wild’s dad.” He stepped back to give Gregory and Gordy room.

“I could take a guess at the why to all of that, but right now it doesn’t matter if we can’t fix Ethan here.” Gordy put his hands on Ethan and closed his eyes. “I think we can stop it. Kid, you come over to the other side and start with the spikes closest to his head. You’re going to have to pull them out.”

Gregory tipped his head. “Sounds simple. Which means it probably isn’t.”

Gordy tapped his nose with a finger. “Smart kid. I knew I was going to like you.”

I kept hold of Ethan’s hand and put my other hand on Gregory’s back as he began to pull out the stones from Ethan.

Tangible and intangible at the same time. It shouldn’t have been possible, and yet we were here, seeing it.

Ethan groaned as Gregory yanked on an especially large spike that stuck and refused to let go.

“Shut up, you whiny baby,” Gregory grumbled.

I would have stayed right there, if not for the sudden warning dancing along my spine. I spun on my toes and stared at the far end of the subway car. The lights flickered behind the door, and in the bright flashes I saw several figures in the other car.

Each flash of light brought them closer to the door, until they were right there. Five of them. But they still looked indistinct, shadowed, cloaked as they ghosted toward us.

Which meant they were most definitely magical. Call me crazy, but I doubted it was a subway band looking for tips.

“We’ve got company,” I said. “Gregory, you and Gordy keep working on Ethan. We’ve got you.”

I put my back to them to face the new threat that moved on silent feet.

“Any ideas?” I shot a look at Wally.

She shrugged. “Ninety-nine percent chance they are not here to have tea and cookies.”

My adrenaline spiked, my body thrumming with energy, but I grinned at her. “Shit, I was hoping we’d be having tea.”

Without looking at the newcomers, I let my hands drift to my two new knives. Knives my dad had made. Knives that felt like home in my hands. I drew them from their sheaths and balanced them lightly in my palms even as I set my body into a fighting stance.

Finally facing the cloaked figures, I waved the tips of my blades at them. “You can leave now in one piece, or leave in several messy chunks. Your choice.”

Rory stepped up on my right side as he pulled his own knife, a big bowie knife meant for hunting and skinning animals. “I’m thinking they want to dance.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m thinking that too.”

Light, feminine laughter spilled from the central figure. “Oh, please. You two are ridiculous.”

Her hands swept up and knocked the cloak off her face. Other than a neatly stitched line cut across one cheek, Ruby didn’t look any different than she had when she’d thrown herself off the cliff.

I didn’t so much as flinch.

“Surprised?” She smiled and brushed a hand over her brilliant red hair.

I shrugged and flexed my hands on the blade handles. “Bad pennies have a habit of showing up. Or, like we say on the farm, shit sticks to the bottom of your shoe no matter how hard you try to scrape it off.”

Her eyes flashed as they narrowed. She snapped her fingers, and the other four figures with her flipped back their cloaks. I recognized only one of the others. Rory stiffened. I laughed. “You brought Shaw with you?” Shaw, the thug who’d picked a fight with me on the bus? Shaw, the big dumb Shade still in training?

Shaw cracked his oversized knuckles and bared his teeth at me. “I’ve been waiting for this, little girl.”

“For like three days?” I snorted. “Pete, Shaw is big, dumb, and slow for a Shade, you got him?”

Pete growled, and his mind touched mine as he shifted to his honey badger shape. Done like dinner and a Snickers bar.

“Her blades are tipped in poison,” I announced to my people, “so everyone be on guard for that. Orin, you in?”

“Haven’t eaten in a few days, so this will be rather beneficial for me.” His voice was silky soft, and I took note that the Shade he locked on paled ever so slightly.

“David,” Rory snapped. “You traitor.”

The fourth Shade next to Ruby—presumably David—grimaced. “Not a choice, Rory. Not a choice.”

There was a moment where the air crackled with tension and the only sounds were Ethan moaning and Gregory cursing a blue streak. I couldn’t check on them, but I could feel Gregory’s fear as Ethan’s strength slipped.

Ruby smiled. “You think you’re going to take me?”

I shrugged. “I’m not fighting on my own this time.” Wally stepped into line with us and lifted her chin.

“So, you’d cheat.” Ruby spat the words.

I knew exactly what she was doing—she wanted me to accept a one-on-one fight. And maybe I could one day. But today we needed to keep Ethan safe while Gregory worked at drawing the House of Stone magic out of him.

“We are going to stay alive,” I said. The tension in the air tightened around us, as if we stood listening to the ticking before a bomb went off or the moment before lightning struck the ground. The skin along my arms and the back of my neck tingled with the anticipation.

We could do this if we worked together.

There was no signal, no chiming bell, but Orin, Pete, and Rory and the younger Shades lunged at one another in tandem. Snarls and grunts, the clang of blades and the tearing of cloth filled the air, but I stood watching Ruby, Wally beside me.

Carson growled, “Problem behind us too.”

Of course there was, but I didn’t dare look back, didn’t dare to take my eyes from Ruby for even a split second.

“What is it?”

Ruby laughed. “The Darkness has found you.”

14

With the Darkness behind us, and Ruby in front, there was only one choice. “Carson, can you hold it back for a minute?”

One minute was all we would need.

He grunted, which I took for a yes.

“You think you can beat me in a minute?” Ruby laughed in what sounded like genuine amusement.

I really hoped she was underestimating us. Again.

Sounds filtered in around me as if my ears had been unstopped. Mostly it was Pete snarling and snapping, seasoned by Shaw’s howls as he tried to outmaneuver the vicious honey badger.

I needed to distract the Shades for long enough to use a spell to toss them.

“Wally, take their souls,” I said as if it were a real thing, even as I sent a thought to Wally acknowledging that it wasn’t possible. I just needed them distracted.

Only . . . apparently it was, because a grim satisfaction rolled through her.

“With pleasure.”

Oops.

The fighting stopped as Wally lifted her hands, the coils of deep burgundy magic flowing from her to wrap around Ruby and the other Shades.

“No!” Ruby screamed and thrashed, her face pale as her blade shot out to cut through the magic. Wally stumbled, and I caught her by the arm. She tightened her fist, and the other Shades—including Shaw—arched their backs as their souls were torn from their bodies.

Wally relaxed her hold, and their bodies tumbled to the ground. Their souls floated above them, confusion clear on their faces. That was not how they’d thought they would die.

“Hurry!” Carson bellowed as the subway car began to slow, and the air cooled as the Darkness crept toward us, freezing the air we were breathing.

I lunged at Ruby before she could get her balance, grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her toward me. “Rory, grab her other hand!”

He latched on to her.

“Orin, Pete, get her legs!”

Ruby screeched. “No! You can’t do this! This is cheating!”

I stared at her. “There is no such thing as cheating in the game of survival. Either we live, or you live. And I’m not putting my money on you today.”

Orin grabbed both of her feet. “I got her. Pete needs to find clothes.”

“Throw her.” I tipped my head toward Carson and finally looked past him. The Darkness was there, its tentacles creeping over the subway car, the countless eyes peering out the window, glass crackling as it froze.

The three of us swung Ruby as if we were going to give her birthday bumps. One. Two . . . on three we let go, and she flew through the air past Carson. I stared as the Darkness enveloped her, the tentacles grabbing hold of her body and drawing her in.

Her eyes locked on mine even as her body began to dance and jerk from the tentacles and tiny beaks driving into her. “We will never be done, you and I.”

I backed away. “That is where you’re wrong. We are done. Because you are dead.”

Her scream echoed through the car as the Darkness feasted on her.

“Not long,” Carson said, “it won’t be long. We need to get off at the next stop.”

“It’s our stop anyway.” Then I added, “You said it would give us a day.” I stepped back and dropped to a knee next to Gregory and Ethan, even while my eyes remained locked on the tentacled monster in front of me.

“I have more magic than a Shade. We’ve maybe got a few hours before it follows,” Carson said.

I finally looked down at Ethan. His skin was pale and slick with sweat. “Ethan?”

His energy was there in my head. He was weak but alive.

“I’ll carry him.” Rory bent and scooped Ethan over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

I looked to Gregory, who was equally pale. “You’re with me.” I turned and he climbed onto my back as I stood.

His fatigue was on par with Ethan’s, and I pushed some of my energy into him, even though it left my legs shaking.

Gregory smacked my shoulder. “Don’t. We need you strong.”

I grinned. “I’m strong because I have all of you. So let me do what I can to keep you all alive.”

The doors to the car slid open, and the humans waiting on that side all stared mutely at the four bodies on the floor. I didn’t know if they could be eaten by the Darkness, so I waved my hand. “I wouldn’t suggest this car. The farts were enough to knock them out.”

Pete trundled out and let a fart rip as if to amplify my words and the humans all scuttled backward, hands over their noses.

Our group left in a hurry, Carson carrying Gordy like I was carrying Gregory, Rory shouldering Ethan, Pete hurrying along until we were out of sight, and then hopping along as he pulled on clothes that looked like they’d belonged to one of the Shades.

“I didn’t really kill them,” Wally said suddenly. “I just pushed their souls out. They’ll be able to reconnect with their bodies in a few minutes.”

I looked over at her. “Wally, even if you had—”

“I just wanted to scare them,” she said. “I didn’t want to hurt them permanently.”

I held out a fist to her and bumped it against her own clenched hand. “It’s okay, Wally.”

It probably wasn’t the right time to point out that we’d left the other Shades helpless, so if they didn’t move fast enough the Darkness would eat them up anyway.

“We aren’t far from the House of Wonder,” Gordy said. “Take this next left, we’ll come up behind the building.”

Orin and Pete led the way, everyone else in the middle, and me, Rory and Gregory at the back.

“You did good,” I said. “You saved him.”

A flush of pride rolled through Gregory. “He would have died without me.”

“Totally.”

“And I’m never going to let him forget it.”

I laughed and shook my head. “I doubt he’ll ever forget being saved by you.”

“He better not. He’s going to owe me big time.” Gregory huffed as though irritated, but his emotions gave him away. Sure, we were running for our lives, but he was happy. He felt accomplished.

I took a moment to touch on my other friends’ emotions.

Excited.

Hopeful.

Happy.

In the midst of all this, they weren’t giving into despair. Not even Ethan.

“Because we’re together,” I said.

And I knew it was true.

Rory looked back to me, our eyes meeting.

Love. Don’t forget that one, Wild. A love you never even saw until now.

Almost, almost like I could hear him, and he could hear me. I smiled and he winked at me.

Rory’s words were low, but we all heard him. “This is the strength of belonging to a family you chose, to people who loved you for all you were, not caring that you didn’t fit before, or that you were from the wrong part of town or didn’t fit in with your own.” He cleared his throat. “By my way of reckoning, anyway.”

My heart did a funny little double skip with Rory’s words. Damn, I was getting sappy.

“Most words I ever heard you say,” Pete pointed out. “But true. Holy cats, they are true.”

“Here.” Carson pointed at the chain link fence with the tear in it. This was the back alley my crew had hunkered down in to discuss what the hell was going on with the House of Wonder. Now, it would be our ‘in.’

I ushered the others in, standing guard next to the doorway, and then followed them. Carson went to the blank cement wall where the door was hidden and waved his wand at it, muttering the words under his breath.

The door slid open with a creak, and a waft of smoke spilled out, a remnant of the battle from just a few days before. Carson glanced at us. “This is it. But where are we going? What part of the House of Wonder has the keys?”

I moved up to touch Wally on the shoulder. “Call Tommy.”

She bobbed her head, and while I held on to her, Tommy came into view. “Can you tell us anything else about the key’s location?”

He closed his eyes. “I remember bits and pieces. I’ll retrace my steps.”

Tommy’s ghost slid through the cement wall. Wally and I followed first, Gregory jumping down from my back.

Wally clutched my hand and in the other she held tight to Pete. “Here, he went this way.” She turned left at the first intersection, taking us deeper into the House of Wonder. An eerie silence suffused the building, and my body tingled and danced with warnings. This place was dangerous.

“Wait . . .” I paused and turned back to Rory. “You good to keep carrying Ethan?”

“I will carry him as long as we need to carry him,” Rory said.

Orin motioned. “I’ll take him for a bit.” The not-dead-yet vampire grinned, flashing his fangs. “He might wake up faster.”

Pete snorted. “I’ll take him when you get tired.”

Pride flooded me as Rory and Orin made the exchange. We’d all come so far.

“I can’t go further.” Tommy floated back to us. “I . . . something is stopping me.”

I closed my eyes as a trickle of despair tried to work its way through me. No, I couldn’t give up, not now. We had to find those last three keys.

Wally nodded even as a burst of frustration coursed through her. “It happens sometimes. Traumatic death won’t always allow a spirit to return to that exact moment. Is there anything else you remember? The smallest detail might help.”

Tommy looked to the ceiling, his hands on his hips. The others waited for Wally and me to do something.

A scuffle down the hallway had us all pinning our bodies into the shadows where we could.

Tommy was oblivious. “The walls were glowing.”

Glowing walls.

I looked at Gregory. “House of Stone.”

Pete snapped his fingers and lowered his voice. “Spiro dravia. Cats on fire, it glowed all the way down!”

All the way down to the House of Stone.

15

I stared at the others as it sunk in that one of the missing keys was hidden in the quarters for the House of Stone, a.k.a. the House of Unmentionables.

“The entrance in the front hall was completely wrecked,” Orin said. “It’s gotta be swarmed with people trying to clean it up. How are we going to get down there?”

I glanced at Rory. “We can cloak at least one person with us each if we go slow.”

“Yes, but even that isn’t perfect. We’d need a natural cover of darkness too in order to make it work well enough to actually hide us all,” he said. “The lights aren’t out.”

Gordy cleared his throat. “Or we could take a different entrance. Just as dangerous, but less obvious.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You know of one?”

“We’d have to go through the private quarters of the House of Wonder’s director.”

My eyes about bugged out of my head. “Through Daniella’s personal quarters?”

Gordy shrugged casually, even though anger glittered in his eyes. “She needs easy access to her slaves.”

A sharp spike of anger thrummed through my crew, and by the tightness around Rory’s eyes he wasn’t any more impressed.

Carson grunted. “She’ll be busy right now, doing damage control. It’s a good idea. Dangerous, but better than trying to get past everyone who’s in the lobby, cleaning up the mess that you all made.”

Carson led the way.

Tommy held my eyes a moment. “Be careful, Wild.” He smiled sadly at me. “When you can, just . . . just go home.”

I lifted my hand to him. “I will.” Then I let go of Wally, following Carson as he led us deeper into the House of Wonder. There were distant sounds of people, but with every turn we took, every staircase we climbed, they faded more.

“Doesn’t it seem counterproductive to have to go all the way to what feels like the top of the building to make it down into the bowels?” Gregory breathed out.

Gordy glanced at him. “It’s set up this way to make the gargoyles work harder when she calls them to her. To make them tired and more compliant.”

“Shitty kitty litter,” Pete grumbled.

Shitty indeed.

As we neared the top of yet another set of stairs, my thighs burning and my breath coming in short hard pants, Carson held up his hand. There were nearby voices and the distinct ding of what could only be an elevator, and we all glared at the older mage.

We could have taken an elevator instead of walking.

He shrugged. “She’ll have magical surveillance on the elevators.”

We waited while the voices slid away with another ding of the elevator, and then we crept the rest of the way up the stairs. The main hallway that the elevators opened onto was carpeted—stupid as far as I was concerned. It muffled the sounds of anyone approaching.

I snapped my fingers, and everyone glanced at me. Pressing a finger to my mouth, I crept toward the ornate double doors leading to Daniella’s quarters. Made of crystal and inset with gemstones, they displayed the five house symbols in descending order, House of Stone at the bottom.

Anger surged up through me again, and I didn’t creep toward the doors. I strode toward them.

“Wild, what are you doing?” Carson growled as I pushed the double doors open inward.

Daniella sat at a desk, her back to me, mirror in front of her. “Good, I want my tea to be hot, you lazy slug. Bring it to me now.”

There wasn’t really a moment for me to think through what I did next.

I just . . . did it.

I strode toward her so that I was directly behind her and grabbed her neck, driving my thumb in deep. Her eyes flew up to look in the mirror as I bent over her shoulder and grabbed the wand that sat on her desk.

“You are in trouble now, Daniella,” I growled.

I dragged her from her chair as she choked and clawed at my hands. But she was only trained for one type of combat—magical combat—and that was beyond stupid.

Rory slipped up beside me and flipped her hair to one side, exposing a snowflake tattoo behind her ear. “There. She’s marked by Frost. Be careful, Frost can come through her.”

Good to know. I drove her up against the far wall, holding her with her feet dangling just above the ground. “You think you’re better than everyone else.”

She spat at me.

Yeah, wrong move. I pulled her away from the wall and all but threw her to the floor. Before she could roll onto her back, I was on top of her. Rory handed me a piece of rope without being asked, and in a matter of seconds I had her feet and hands tied together so she was in an awkward backward arch.

“Better hope you’ve been doing some yoga training,” Pete said.

“You will not get away with this!” she gasped out.

I moved around so I was in front of her, still holding her wand. I kept my eyes on her even though I spoke to the others. “Orin, lay Ethan on the bed. Carson, you stay here and keep an eye on her.”

Wally put her hands on her hips. “I’ll stay with him. I can always pop her soul out if I need to.”

Daniella’s eyes fluttered shut and her skin paled. “You cannot—”

“Oh, I can,” Wally cooed as she leaned in close, holding her hand up so her magic spilled around Daniella’s face. “I can. And I’ll do it again if you push me.”

Damn, this ruthless side of Wally was nothing short of awesome. Strong. Confident. Fierce.

“Cats on fire,” Pete whispered, and I had to fight to keep his sudden burst of emotion from rolling over me.

Orin and Gregory shook their heads, but they were grinning. Pete was falling in love with her. And it was sweet, even if it was a bit overwhelming.

“This way,” Gordy said as he hurried toward the wall on our right. A long curtain hung from the ceiling, and he pushed it back to reveal a simple wooden door with iron hinges.

He opened it, and I stared at the stairs.

So. Many. Stairs.

With a sigh, I waved my hand, and Gordy and Gregory led the way, Orin and Pete in the middle, Rory and me at the back.

The stairs were tight, the treads narrow and the angle steep. “They need to make this a slide,” Pete said. “How cool would that be?”

“Just keep going,” I said. “We’re on a time crunch, remember? And a slide would be a total bitch to get back up.”

A series of grunts rolled back to me. Just in front of me, Rory reached a hand back, and I found myself taking it, weaving his fingers with mine.

Calm flowed over me as the warmth of his hand sunk into mine, spreading out through my body and reminding me that Pete wasn’t the only one in love.

Even if I couldn’t feel Rory in my head the same way, maybe that was better. I mean, did I want to know what he was feeling all the time, without any filter? No, no I did not. And maybe that was the reason why we couldn’t sense each other the same way.

I squeezed his hand, soaking in everything we were and could be even in just that moment, and then let it go. We had to be ready for anything, especially since a fight in this tight space would be nothing short of disastrous.

What felt like an eternity passed before we reached the bottom of the curving stairwell.

“How many floors?” I asked.

“Eighty-four, because of all the basement levels,” Gordy said, and Pete groaned.

“Please tell me we don’t have to go back up them. Please?”

I said nothing because I knew that was exactly what was going to happen. But I didn’t want to be the one to poke the hole in his balloon.

“Here we go, very bottom of the bottom,” Gordy said.

The steps petered out and a very small dirt circle lay at the bottom of them.

There was no door leading into the quarters of the albino gargoyles, just an open archway, a flickering light behind it.

One by one we stepped through into the circular room, the light coming from the walls not from flames, but from the spiro dravia—the glowing plant.

A single gargoyle sat on a stone column across from us. His skin was a glowing alabaster, and his eye sockets were empty, hollow shells. Wings were tucked in close to his body and his hands were tucked around his body. “Who is this that walks our halls?” The voice was deep and full of gravel.

Everyone looked at me. I stepped forward. “My name is Wild, and I am—”

“A chameleon,” he breathed out, his body unmoving except for his long claws, which he tapped along his knees. “A third to bring about the end of things. Nicholas was not strong enough. Perhaps you will be.”

“He is now,” Gordy said with as much confidence as earlier. “She is strong—” he glanced at me, “—but young and untrained.”

The gargoyle showed his teeth and cocked his sightless eyes toward Gordy. “Sometimes those who do not know are the most capable. Because they do not know enough to doubt themselves. They do not yet have the limitations of the world on them.”

Gordy glanced at me. “Nicholas can do this. We just have to find the keys.”

The gargoyle tipped his head. “I know of what you speak, but as I told the young Shade, there is no key here. Only a command.”

The young Shade must have been Tommy. “My brother was looking for the key, and you gave him a command?”

“He was. And I gave him the same words that I will give to you now. One that you must follow.” He drew a breath as his sightless eyes turned toward me. “Go home, chameleon. This is not the place for you to be. Go home and find your place in this world. That is as your mother would have wished it.”

He might as well have slapped me, and I struggled not to reel from his words—the same ones Tommy had just told me.

Go home. As if I could walk away from all of this—as if that were even an option.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “I can’t do that! My family isn’t safe, I can’t . . .” I put a hand to my chest as if my heart would pound out of it if I didn’t hold it back.

The crinkle of pages. The feeling of my mother’s journal. Maybe Nicholas and Ash had missed something?

Somehow, I doubted it . . . but it was one of our last hopes.

“Back up the stairs,” I said, and not even Pete groaned.

Defeat rolled through me and them. There wasn’t a single word spoken. Not a single complaint as we hiked all eighty-four floors back up to Daniella’s room.

As we stepped back into the room, Wally lit up. “You found it?”

I shook my head and went to my knees. Not out of fatigue, just . . . defeat had never felt so heavy on me.

Rory stood beside me and put a hand on my back. I leaned into him, wishing I could close my eyes for a minute and just breathe him in. “We’ll figure this out. What about the journal? Now’s as good a time as any.”

“You’ll never stop her,” Daniella croaked, and then she laughed softly, a laugh that fell into tears. “You are fools to think you could.”

I made myself move past the dark emotions that threatened to suck me down and instead pulled out the journal. The soft cover was bent and marred with dirt and stains. I flipped to the first page and skimmed through.

Carson and Gordy were speaking, I couldn’t hear them. My crew was worried but they had faith in me, that I’d figure this out.

Rory didn’t take his hand from my back, holding me steady.

My eyes glossed over with tears as I read through my mother’s words.

Keep fighting.

Don’t give up.

I will always be there.

My heart lurched up into my throat as I read. I touched her handwriting as I flipped the pages.

Ethan sat up on the bed, releasing a heavy sigh as he did so, touching his body as if he couldn’t believe he was alive.

I kept skimming. An hour passed as I read the journal from front to back. Daniella whimpered now and again, and the others spoke quietly as I read but otherwise they left me to it. Not that any of it was any help,

There was nothing that I could see in the pages that would help us. Nothing at all.

We were done.

16

I clenched the journal in my hands and bent it in half, folding the pages . . . and stopped in my tracks. Folded like this, the left-hand side of earlier pages matched up with the right-hand side of the later pages.

Two words showed up over and over.

Go home.

Go home.

Go home.

“Wally,” I whispered as a tingle of hope lit me up. “Tell me exactly what Tommy said before he left us. I want to make sure I’m not remembering wrong.”

Wally sat across from me. “Umm, he said that you should be careful and that he wanted you to go home.”

Home.

Certainty filled me, slowly at first, and then faster and faster. “Gregory, what did Ash say? Before he was shot out of the sky?”

Gregory blinked up at me. “To go back to the beginning.”

The beginning. Home. They were one and the same.

“I know where the keys are,” I said.

“What?” Carson and Gordy spluttered together.

I grinned as I showed them the pages.

The gargoyle had told me to go home. Tommy had told me to go home. Ash had in his own way told me to go home.

The keys were on our family farm in Texas.

I stood and tucked the journal back under my shirt. Rory kept his hand on my back, and I smiled at him. “You were right. The answer was in the journal. How did you know that I would find it when Nicholas couldn’t?”

“It’s a talent you have, finding secrets you shouldn’t.” He grinned, and for a moment I just stared at him, letting myself take pleasure in being here with him—all the way with him—after so many years apart. Remembering the pair of hellraisers we’d always been—the adventures then seemed so tame now, from riding Whiskers to trying to catch rattlesnakes, to swimming in the river in the middle of a thunderstorm.

“I suddenly have the urge to hunt snakes,” I said, and he laughed.

“No, I got bit that time. I’d rather not. How about after this we do something less dangerous, you know, like getting a burger and watching a sunset.” He grinned.

Pete nodded. “Yeah, we can make it a double date.” The happiness rushing through Wally was contagious, giddy even.

I forced myself to tear my gaze away to look at the others.

“We need to get out of here. Is there a rooftop?” I asked.

Gordy nodded. “Nice and flat. They use it for quick jaunts between here and the Culling Trials.”

“Lead the way.” I gave a bow.

“You really know where we’re going? And just how do you think we are going to get there?” Carson asked, and I flicked my eyes to Daniella, who looked a little too convincingly unconscious. I lowered my voice, but not too much. “Asheville, North Carolina. There is a demon-infested bridge there. That’s where the keys are hidden.” Sure, I’d read about the bridge in a story a few years before. But Daniella didn’t know that.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Daniella smirk and close her eyes. She was a fool if she believed that.

We were out of the room and in the main carpeted entryway when the elevator dinged. I threw a knife as the man stepped out.

He caught it and stared at me hard from under his aviators. “Almost, Johnson. Almost.”

“How did you know we would be here?” I asked.

“Didn’t, was coming to see Daniella.” From behind him, Mara stepped into view. “We . . . is that Ethan? He survived the illness? How? The mages getting the sickness don’t last more than twenty-four hours.”

“Long story, we’ll tell you on the way if you’re in for a trip to find the keys?” I asked as Gordy hurried us all into the elevator and pressed the button that would take us up to the rooftop.

The Sandman snorted. “You found them?”

“I know where they are.” At least in a general sense, and I was pretty sure my dad would know in a more particular sense. Okay, I was hoping.

The elevator dinged, and we all stepped out. A large helicopter sat on the roof, all matte black and just waiting to be stolen.

The Sandman grunted. “Unless one of you can fly, I suppose I have to come.”

“I can fly it,” Rory said. “So you can stay here if you like.”

Not that he needed higher stock, but it totally went up even more with that comment.

The Sandman shot him a look. “Since when?”

“I’ve trained with people other than you.” Rory strode toward the helicopter. “Come on.”

Mara put a hand on her man’s arm. “He’s going to surpass you soon.”

Rufus grunted. “I think he already has.”

The group of us piled into the helicopter, headsets and seatbelts on. Pete sat tight next to Wally and she grabbed his hand. “Ninety-nine percent of helicopter crashes are fatal.”

He bobbed his head. “Sounds about right.”

With my headset on, I could hear them clearly, and I gave Wally a thumbs-up. “But not everyone who falls out of a helicopter dies.”

The first time we’d met was in a helicopter where a kid had fallen out. He’d been yanked back in with magic but none of us had known that was possible then.

She grinned. “Yeah, there is that. So maybe we just jump if we start to crash?”

I shook my head. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

The rotors were a blur in a matter of seconds, and shortly after that the helicopter began to lift off. Rufus and Rory sat next to each other, working the controls as if they’d flown together a hundred times.

My gut was in knots. Because we were going home, to my family. I’d done all of this to protect them from danger, and now I was taking the danger to them. Still, I knew this was necessary if I wanted to protect them in the long run.

I leaned forward as the helicopter got moving.

“Where to, Wild?” Rory asked.

I put my hand on his shoulder, and he reached up and put his hand over mine. “Take me home, Rory. Take both of us home.”

* * *

The flight would only be a few hours long barring any issues. As far as I could tell, no one was behind us. But that didn’t mean much. Frost and her crew had a habit of popping up like weeds where you least expected them. Part of me was thinking that some new weird creature would drop out of the sky and right onto the helicopter.

Yeah, that probably wasn’t the best line of thinking.

Wally’s steady muttering about flight risks in various percentages and numbers had a strange calming effect on the group.

Ethan put his hands on his knees and propped himself so he could look at her. “I’m going to stump you, Wally. What are the chances someone will die by choking on gum?”

I blinked and looked at Wally as she scrunched up her face. “Very small. Only one or two people die a year from actually choking on their gum. Usually when exercising or sleeping.”

“What about death by donkey?” Pete asked.

I really shouldn’t have laughed—death’s not funny—but death by donkey did sound like it wouldn’t be the best way to go.

I leaned back and let them talk and felt the bonds between them tighten more. It would take us a little time to get to the farm, and I was thinking about Sam and Billy and my dad. This was going to be more excitement than they’d seen in . . . well, than ever. At least for my brother and sister. This used to be my dad’s world too.

“You saved me,” Ethan said, his voice quiet, and we all went very still. We knew exactly who he was talking to—Gregory’s emotions suddenly came into sharp focus in my head. Wariness right at the front of them. He wasn’t sure if he could trust what Ethan was about to say.

“Yeah, well, Wild likes you. And I like Wild. So, I did what I did.”

I peeked through my mostly closed eyelids in time to see Gregory shrug.

Ethan pursed his lips. “Well . . . thanks. I owe you.”

“Yeah, you do.” Gregory held up a fist, and Ethan bumped him back.

And just like that the animosity that had writhed between them since the beginning of the Culling Trials flowed away.

Mara’s voice came over the headsets next. “How did you save him exactly? Because we’ve been trying to heal this sickness, and other than Ethan, no one has gotten better. Only worse.”

“It’s a spell,” Gordy said, and he explained the connection to the House of Stone and then how he and Gregory had saved the boy with the silver spoon stuck up his—

“Ask me something else,” Wally said to Ethan. “I don’t think you can actually stump me.”

Smiling, I closed my eyes and let their conversation flow over me. Putting a hand against my belly, I felt the crinkle of my mother’s journal again. My eyes popped open, and I drew the journal out again, bending the pages so they read ‘go home’ over and over.

What if . . . what if I was wrong? My guts churned at the traitorous thought.

Rory turned his head as if he knew what I was thinking. Maybe he did know. “You aren’t wrong, Wild. Don’t think it for a second.”

He reached back and gave my leg a squeeze until Rufus grumbled at him to keep his eyes on the controls.

No, no, I had to be right. Tommy and the gargoyles had both given me the same advice, and so had the journal. I tamped down the doubts, shoving them to the bottom of my mind and then locking them up the way I’d locked up my connection to my friends. I had to believe.

And I had to be right—we didn’t have time for me to be wrong.

“How much time have we got left?” I asked suddenly.

Gordy squinted out into the growing darkness of the sky. “Two days. That’s it.”

Basically, as long as the keys really were back at the farm, we had time to stop her. “And how do we find Nicholas and Ash after this to get them the keys?”

Carson rubbed his hands together. “That’s where you come in. You are family, which means if you let yourself be connected to him, you can find him.”

“And the keys? Once we have them all, we . . . what . . . give them to him?”

Gordy and Carson shared a look. “We get the keys to Nicholas, and then we protect him while he takes down Frost.”

Mara’s eyes looked worried. “Rufus and I will stand with him.”

Carson took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Fierce woman, he’s lucky I’m a little bit afraid of him or I’d sweep you off your feet.”

Rufus’s voice came through loud and clear. “Doubtful. She hates moustaches.”

Their banter was just noise, the rest of their words were sinking far deeper. What they were saying sounded simple and easy, which gave me the willies, because beating Frost—my possible great-grandmother—was going to be anything but.

I unbuckled myself and slid my headset off, setting it on my seat after I stood. I made my way to the front of the helicopter and crouched between Rory and Rufus. From there I could see the land below us, the cities as we zipped past. I put a hand on Rory’s thigh to steady myself and just hung onto him.

“Like that time you almost fell out of the old lightning-struck tree?” Rory asked.

I smiled. “You dared me to beat you to the top.”

“And when we both made it there, our combined weight snapped the branch.” He grinned and dropped his hand onto mine, squeezing my fingers.

We’d both fallen; Rory had grabbed a branch and caught himself, and I’d dug my fingers into his thigh.

“I got scars from your nails,” he said.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said.

“No, but we both survived,” he pointed out. “Can you imagine if Tommy had been there too?”

Back and forth we went, reliving our childhood, and I realized that soon the others were all listening to us talk about everything we’d done, survived and seen. More than perhaps the city folk would have thought for a life on a couple of run-down farms.

“One day that’ll be us,” Pete said, and I twisted around to see him staring at Wally. “Telling stories about how we met, and how I knew right from the beginning that you were amazing.”

Wally blushed as she took his hands in hers. “And I’ll be able to say the same.”

Their feelings for each other rolled through our group. Orin and Gregory shook their heads and Ethan . . . he just bowed his. “That’s what it should feel like.”

A bit of shame came from him and I left it alone. How could he know what love was, when he’d not been raised with it?

We were a solid three hours into the flight when I started recognizing the terrain. My belly tightened with anticipation as we flew over houses and landmarks that I knew. The high school. The cop shop. The long dirt road that led to our farm.

Rufus motioned for me to buckle up, and I went back to my seat. His voice came through the headsets loud and clear. “We let Wild lead. I have a feeling her father might be quick with a gun.”

And then we were there. I could see the farm and the old house.

As the helicopter lowered, the side doors opened, and I found myself staring out at my family home. The dilapidated boards rattled with the wash of air off the rotors, and a moment later Sam burst out of the front door, her wild red hair bound in a ponytail and her rifle aimed at the pilots.

At Rory and Rufus.

Shit.

I couldn’t hear the boom of the gun, but I saw it kick back on her shoulder and the helicopter had to bank hard.

“Get her to stop shooting!” Rufus snapped. “She’s as bad as you and as good an aim!”

I pulled off my seat belt and my headset. Lurching with the helicopter, I grabbed the edge of the open door so Sam could see me. I waved my hand, drawing her eyes to me.

Of course, I was wearing my ballcap and probably looked like a guy, but hopefully . . . she swung the rifle my way.

So, I did the only thing I could.

I jumped.

17

The fall from the helicopter was about fifteen feet, not as bad as I thought it would be when I leapt. I turned the fall into a roll as I hit the ground and came up about twenty feet from my little sister.

“Sam!” I screamed her name to be heard over the engine and whine of the rotors as the helicopter landed behind me. The push of the air swirled up dust and bits and pieces of grass, so that it felt like we stood in the middle of a tornado. I pulled my hat off.

She kept the gun pointed at me and then lowered it as her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide. “WILD!”

She dropped the weapon and ran to me. I caught her in a hard hug as a sob escaped her. “I’m here. I’m here.”

“They said you’d been killed, like Tommy!” she wailed, and her one sob turned into many as her smaller frame shook.

I didn’t let her go, just hung onto her tighter as I breathed in the smell of home, of the cheap laundry soap and dust from the fields. I would let myself have this moment.

Another figure spilled from the house. Billy’s face crumpled the minute he saw me, even as he tried to pull it together. I held a hand out to him, and he ran to me, and I held the two of them as tightly as I could. Billy buried his face pretty much in my armpit. Another time, I would have teased him. But not today.

Not when they’d thought I was dead. I held them like that as the helicopter quieted.

I already knew who would have sent that message. I turned as he came up beside us. “You told them I was dead?”

Rufus shrugged. “The best way to keep your family safe was to not bring them into this.”

Sam lifted her tear-stained face first. “Dad is in bad shape, Wild. Worse than ever. I don’t think he’s gonna make it.”

I kept my arms around her and Billy. “He’s in bed?”

She sniffed and shot a look at my friends, who’d joined us. She blinked a few times as she took in Rory. He gave her a nod but said nothing.

“Yeah, he’s . . . he hasn’t been out of bed since you left.”

Mara bustled forward. “Let’s go see him then.”

“He’s a null,” I said. “You can’t heal this sickness.”

Gregory tapped his fingers against his chin. “But what if . . . what if it’s the same as what happened to Ethan? Maybe me and Gordy can help?”

Gordy clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s check him out.”

And that’s how my family’s farmhouse got invaded by basically every kind of supernatural I knew about. Goblins, vampire, mage, necromancer, shifter and shades. All five houses under one roof.

Dad’s room was on the first floor so he wouldn’t have to climb stairs, and I let myself in first. “Dad?”

“Wild? Is that you? Am I . . . am I dying? You came to take me home?” His voice was thick, and it sounded like he’d been coughing for weeks. I took his hand, tightening my hold on him as if that would keep him here.

“Dad. I’m home. Really here. Some cuntasaurus jackass lied to you about me dying.”

Rufus grunted behind me, as if I’d thumped him a good one.

Dad’s smile was weak, and he closed his eyes. “I’m glad you’re here. Now, you take care of Sam and Billy, same way you always have.”

I crouched on one side of his bed as Carson, Gordy and Gregory crouched on the other. “Nope. I am not. I am the kid, remember? You’re the parent, so you need to be here.”

Carson whispered the word that had revealed the spell on Ethan, and a series of gasps filled the room.

“Holy cats,” Pete whispered. “That’s like ten times as many as Ethan had stuck in him. But why? How is it the same sickness?”

Gordy and Gregory didn’t waste a moment as they started to pull the pieces of ‘stone’ out of my dad. He groaned here and there but otherwise didn’t say much. Gordy spoke quietly while he worked.

“I’m only guessing, but I’d bet this ‘sickness’ was made by the House of Stone for the nulls at the push of Frost. We have no reason to attack a null.” He worked on a large chunk of gray stone that was reluctant to release its hold on my dad.

“Then why the House of Wonder? And I was sure I saw a kid in one class get sick that was House of Stone.” Wally crouched at the foot of the bed, her brows furrowed.

Orin spoke quietly. “Maybe they found a way to make it go after the House of Wonder. What would happen if Frost lost her hold on the mages?”

I looked at him and nodded. “Makes as much sense as anything else.”

At the doorway Sam and Billy leaned in.

“What are they doing?” Sam asked, trying to see past the others.

How did I explain magic and spells and . . .

“Dad told us about the academy so we would know when he died,” Sam said. “We know that magic is a thing now. Is that what this is?”

Thank God for that small mercy. I nodded. “There is a spell that’s been making people sick. People like Dad,” I said and then looked at Ethan. “And others too. We only just figured out how to fix it.”

“Is that why I can see rocks in him? Is that something to do with the magic?” Billy asked.

“Yes,” I said. “But Gordy and Gregory are going to get them out.”

He bobbed his head and stepped back a little. “Okay.”

Dad let out another groan. “Wild . . .”

“No, you just hang in there.” I tightened my hand on his, taking note of the way it cooled in my grip, the way his heartbeat slowed and skipped. “Wait!” I motioned for Gordy and Gregory to pause. “Wait. He’s . . . he’s slipping.”

Sam pushed her way over to me and put her hands on Dad’s arm. “Don’t you dare, Dad!”

Billy backed further away from the door and closed his eyes. We’d all known this day would come, but that didn’t mean any of us wanted to face it.

Wally hurried to Dad’s other side without me even asking. “Go on, I’ve got it. I’ll hold Death back. Though I will say he is right peeved about being held off again.”

I smiled at her. “Thank you. This won’t cause you grief?”

She shook her head. “It’s helping me get stronger. That’s good. We’re all going to need to be as strong as we can be.”

Dad’s breathing eased and the warmth came back into his hand. His face gained a little color, and his eyes blinked open. “I feel better than I have in years.”

Sam gasped.

Gordy and Gregory shared a look. “That’s only about half of them,” Gregory said.

I flexed my fingers around his. “Dad, listen to me. There is a spell on you, they need to get all of it out.”

He looked down at his body and seemed to see the stones for the first time. “Who would do this?”

I spoke without hesitation, knowing that she had to be the root of the sickness. “Frost.”

His head whipped to the side so he could look at me. “She’s alive?”

I nodded. “And she’s coming for all of us.”

* * *

After that, Gregory and Gordy moved rapidly, and my dad gritted his teeth against the pain and said not another word. I could almost see him vibrating with emotion, though I wasn’t sure if it was anger or fear, or a combination of the two.

All in all, it took another hour to finish the job, and when it was done all three of them were exhausted, sweat dripping down their pale faces.

I stood and pushed my sister toward the door. “Sam, get whatever food you can out on the table. Everyone needs to eat. But especially these four.” I motioned to Gregory, Gordy, Ethan, and Dad.

For once in her life, she didn’t try to talk her way out of the job. She just ran to the kitchen. “You help her, Billy. Don’t skimp on anything, make a feast of it.” He followed, and a moment later the sounds of dishes clattering and the fridge being opened and closed multiple times floated through the house.

My friends left the room and then it was just me and Dad.

Dad swung his legs out of the bed and got up, standing tall for the first time in . . . I didn’t even know how long. I just stared at him. “Dad.”

He opened his arms and I fell into them. “I thought you were gone,” he whispered into my hair. “I thought I’d failed you too.”

“Never, you never failed me, or Tommy. Don’t you think it for an instant.” I looked at him, not caring that my cheeks were wet with tears.

He kissed my forehead and pulled me tight against him again. “I don’t want to lose you. We can run, the way your mother and I did. With the sickness gone, I can hide you three . . .”

I pulled out of his arms, already shaking my head. “No, no more running. She has to be stopped, Dad. She has to be.”

He closed his eyes, and a tremor ran through him. “God above . . . Wild, you can’t do this on your own.”

I smiled. He didn’t know what I was, or who my friends were. “I am not on my own. I have the most amazing friends. And I have Rory.”

Dad opened his eyes and looked at me. “Finally figured out that you were mooning after him all these years?”

Oh man, I did not want to have that talk, not right then. “Dad—”

He laughed. “Okay, okay, I’ll let it go for now. But to be clear . . . he was a good boy. Far better than his father tried to make him.”

Together we walked out to the kitchen.

Once there he turned to Gordy and Gregory and gave a careful bow from the waist. “My friends, I owe you my life. I am in your debt.”

Gregory pinked up, and Gordy just bowed back. “If you can help us find what we’re looking for, that debt will be repaid and we will owe you.”

Leave it to a goblin to get right to the point.

Dad looked at me. “What is it you need?”

“The keys,” I said. “We have to get them now.”

For a moment, I thought that he was going to deny us or, worse, say that the keys weren’t actually there. Then he wiped a hand over his face. “I think in my heart I always knew this day would come. But I prayed it wouldn’t.” He motioned for us to follow him, and while he moved carefully, I could see it was from years of habit instead of pain. There was no more limp. No more hunched back. No more pain.

The thing I couldn’t figure out was why . . . why would the House of Stone want to hurt nulls and ravage their bodies? It had to be Frost trying to wipe them out.

I had to shake off the questions, though, at least for now. One problem at a time.

Through the kitchen we went, and then out the back door. My friends, my crew, and my family all stood gathered in the yard.

“Your mother . . . she hid the keys, and I helped her,” Dad said softly. “We fought to keep them hidden from Nicholas and Frost. It took us a long time to realize he wasn’t really trying to hurt us, that he was being controlled by Frost. By then, Lexi was so afraid . . . ”

I took note that Dad hadn’t said anything about Frost being related to my mom. She was just Frost to him.

“Some of the keys are here, one is next door.” He looked at Rory. “Your dad is protecting it.”

Rory didn’t so much as twitch. “I see.”

“No, you don’t,” Dad said softly. “He was always a miserable bastard, possessive in a way he couldn’t change. So we used that to make him a guardian of the keys. I never thought he’d have a family. I’m sorry, Rory. I’m sorry that we couldn’t stop him.”

Rory’s face didn’t so much as twitch, but Wally reached over and touched his hand, giving it a squeeze. She knew what he was feeling.

“Kinda like a dragon,” Pete piped up. “A grumpy dragon protecting his hoard of treasure.”

Dad smiled at him. “Yes. And the other keys were here, with us. Because Lexi . . . she would die before she let those keys go to Frost. Plus, she knew that Nicholas thought she hated the keys—that he’d never believe she’d keep them close.”

I touched the keys in my pocket. “And the one she sent with Tommy?”

Dad looked at me. “What?”

I pulled the first out and showed it to him. “This one was with Tommy when he died.”

He stared at the key and shook his head slowly. “I didn’t know that she’d given him one.”

I put a hand on Dad’s arm. “Maybe she sensed something was coming for her, and she knew that if she wasn’t here to protect the keys, one of us would have to finish this off.”

He nodded. “She gave one to a close friend to guard, he was in the House of Night.” Dad took a long look at Wally. “Seems to me he might have a daughter about the same age as Wild.”

Wally flushed and worry fluttered through her to me. “I didn’t know he was working for Frost.”

“Trapped, more likely,” Dad said. “Your father is a good man, even if he was trapped by her. He had the key to the House of Wonder.”

I showed him the second key. “This one?”

Dad laughed. “How am I not surprised you found two already?”

“To be fair,” I said, “it was strapped to a crazy old vampire who had a ram skeleton for a friend.”

Dad’s eyes widened. “He strapped it to Barnaby?”

Now it was my turn to nod. “That one, couldn’t pour water out of his boot if the instructions were on the heel.”

“The other keys,” Carson brought us back. “We need to find them.”

Dad sighed, turned and headed toward the bull pen. “Whiskers is the other guardian.”

My jaw dropped. “You’re shitting me. How many has he got?”

Dad waved his hand toward the pen, where the big bull stood still and quiet, his tail occasionally flicking. “Would you go into his pen if you didn’t know him? Those long horns don’t exactly make one feel welcome.” Dad grinned at me, and it was like twenty years had dropped off him. He looked young, if a little underweight. Underweight was nothing, though; that could be fixed now that he wasn’t dying, and a small spurt of hope for the future buoyed me up.

“No, I wouldn’t.” I turned my gaze so I could look at the big bull. “But I’ve been in his pen before and . . .” I scanned the pasture, trying to see where the keys could be hidden. We only had three cows left, and their ear tags drew my eyes. I stared at them harder, and the spell slid a little, letting me see what was dangling from two of the ears.

There was nothing Whiskers would protect more than his ladies. I was on the fence before I thought better of it.

A hand grabbed my leg, and Sam pulled herself up beside me. “Whiskers likes me best. I’ll draw him away with a treat.”

“We’re going to have to cut the ear tags out,” I said. “The girls will bellow.”

Rory and Billy were up on the fence next, and Dad . . . I waved him back. “Don’t you dare. The four of us will take care of it. Sam, you keep Whiskers as far away as you can. Rory, you and me will hold each cow, and Billy—” I handed him one of my new old knives, “—you cut the tags out.”

Pete cleared his throat. “What about us?”

I smiled at my crew. “Enjoy the show. You’re about to see a real live rodeo.”

Pete grinned and climbed up onto the fence, and Wally sat beside him. “What if you get hurt?” she asked, and her voice dropped an octave even as worry spiked through her. “Forty-five percent of rodeo injuries result in brain damage. Three percent end up in the morgue.”

Sam laughed. “We won’t get hurt; we’ve been dealing with Whiskers our whole lives just about. The bull before him was worse yet.”

Dad nodded and leaned on the fence. “Yeah, old Three Balls was a mean one.”

The others startled. “I’m sorry,” Mara said. “Did you say Three Balls?”

I ignored them as Sam slid off the fence and headed toward Whiskers. “Come on, you big lug,” she said, “let’s get you some chow.”

Whiskers tossed his head from side to side, showing off his impressive horns. I waited until his back was turned and he was trotting after a now-running Sam.

“Let’s go.” I hopped off the fence, Rory and Billy right with me.

“Nice to be home and playing with the herd again,” Rory said, a smile lighting up his eyes.

I thought back to the day I’d met the Sandman. It had never occurred to me before that my strength on the farm was anything more than just muscles from hard living and harder working. But I knew better now. And I knew that Rory and I would have no trouble holding the cows.

“Nothing like wrestling with Bluebell in the mud and shit,” I muttered. “Welcome home, us.”

I shot a quick look at my brother. “Be quick with the knife.”

“Always am,” he said with a grin and a thumbs-up. He rolled the knife so the flat of the blade was against his forearm as he ran. Safer that way.

“Heathens,” Dad barked from the fence.

But there wasn’t a single ounce of meanness in the word.

We approached Bluebell first, as she was the quieter of the two cows. She let out a moo as she saw me, and I slid my hand up her side to grab one of her horns as Rory did the same on the other side. Her eyes rolled to me and I tightened my grip. “Easy, girl.”

She let out another long moo, this one a bit more concerning because it was answered by a bellow from Whiskers.

“Billy, hurry.” I braced myself as Bluebell tried to move her head. When she found me and Rory holding her, she panicked as cows tended to do. But rather than try to shake us off, she took off at a full tilt run, dragging us along with her.

“Hold tight!” Rory said as he let go and leapt up onto Bluebell’s back. She let out a buck that nearly unseated him, and I could almost hear the Sandman groaning. If it were up to him, he’d probably shoot the cows and the bull, but that wasn’t how you did things on a farm. Not unless you absolutely had to.

“No, shooting them wouldn’t work,” Dad said in the distance. “We’ve got a spell covering them. This’ll be faster, don’t you worry.”

Voila. I knew it.

I focused on getting my heels dug into the ground, and slowly, slowly, I turned Bluebell’s head to the side and she flopped over, Rory leaping clear and then helping me hold her down. The two of us held her there like a pair of steer wrestlers, sweating hard, muscles trembling as we fought to keep her under control.

“Just like old times,” Rory bit out.

“Quick!” I yelled as Billy slid across the ground to us like he was diving for home base. He caught Bluebell’s ear and sliced the tag off, nicking her. She bellowed like he’d stabbed her, and I scooped up the key as it fell, spinning in time to see Whiskers coming straight for us, his head down and his eyes locked on me.

I dropped to the ground and rolled out of his way, but the massive bull spun and nailed me with his huge, flat head. He threw me up into the air, rag dolling me like nothing else could. I hit the ground, and Rory was there, dragging me to my feet even though I had no air to run.

“Huh. You face the toughest folk the magical world has to offer, and Whiskers is the one that finally lands one on you.” Rory laughed, and I would have laughed with him, only we were running straight toward Starlight, the other cow with the ear tag.

Starlight was pretty, all gray and black speckled, and mean as a rattlesnake.

As if to prove that point, Whiskers circled around us as if he wasn’t even sure he wanted to get close to her. To make matters worse, she had a calf at her side.

“Hurry the truck up!” Sandman roared. Yeah, only he didn’t say truck, no he did not.

Billy was on my left and Rory on my right as we circled Starlight and Whiskers circled us.

“Dad, you got your rope?” I asked.

A moment later he brought his lariat to us. “What are you thinking?”

“If we can catch one of her hind feet and tie her to the fence, we can snug her up tight enough not to get gored.” I hoped. Oh, I hoped.

Dad nodded. “Okay, I’ll loop her, you three get ready to pull.”

Sam shook a bucket of grain at Whiskers. “Come on, you big lug.”

And wonder of wonders, he took the bait. Again. I mean, sure, he was about as sharp as a marble, that much was obvious, but it still seemed impressively dumb even for him.

Starlight, on the other hand, was nobody’s fool.

Her eyes locked on Dad, and she pawed at the ground, churning up dust.

I put a hand on him as a better idea hit me. “The calf, get the calf. She’ll keep her focus on it if we slowly drag it away from her.”

He nodded and let the lariat loop fly. It settled over the calf’s head, and the little blighter stepped through the loop, so it slid over his body and down to his back feet. Dad pulled the rope taut, and the calf went down, bawling its head off.

Starlight’s attention went to her calf, and that was about the only chance we were going to get. Rory and I rushed in from either side, and she swung her head at him first, which allowed me to get in and behind those long horns of hers. Tucked in tight to her body, I was far safer than when I was at arm’s length.

I reached across Starlight’s neck as she thrashed and ran at Rory, who was now playing rodeo clown as he tried to keep just ahead of her, only . . .

“Behind you!” I yelled along with everyone else as Whiskers thundered our way again.

I was jostled on Starlight’s neck as I clung to her, reaching again for her ear. She flopped it away from me and I grimaced as the wind was knocked out of me yet again. But my hand finally found her ear tag, and I gripped it tightly as a body jumped onto her back.

I looked up at Sam. She grinned down at me, a knife in her hand. “Need some help?”

She reached forward and slid the knife through the tag, freeing the key. It dropped into a pile of cow shit and I let my body slide down the length of Starlight’s.

For good measure she kicked out, nailing me in the thigh as she hopped and danced away from us.

I bent and scooped up the key and gave it a flick. Covered in cow shit, it didn’t look like much.

No, it really didn’t, but I held it tightly, knowing that we were almost there.

Just one more guardian to face. Just one more key.

And as my eyes locked with Rory’s, I knew this wasn’t my guardian to face.

18

Rory

“I’ll go,” I said as Wild limped her way out of the field. I took her hand, not caring that we were covered in filth and shit. No, I was here with her, and that was enough for me.

“You aren’t in this alone,” she said as we climbed over the fence, Sam and Billy ahead of us.

“I know.”

“Then don’t go alone.”

I didn’t know how to tell her this was about facing my past. And my past . . .

Wild stepped close, and the world around us fell away for a moment. All I could see was her eyes and the compassion in them that so few people saw. She was hard because she had to be, but she loved her people fiercely. She loved her family and her friends, and I was pretty sure that she loved me too. “Rory, you aren’t that little boy anymore. He . . . he can’t hurt you.”

My chest tightened, and I slid an arm around her, pulling her close. “I know, but I have to prove that to myself.”

She leaned her head against my chest. “Stubborn.”

“Says the kettle to the pot,” I whispered back.

She snorted and stepped back. “If you aren’t back here in thirty minutes, I’m coming in after you.”

I gave her a nod and dared to kiss her quick before I left. In front of her dad. And her siblings. And her crew.

Wild leaned into me, and again there was that sensation of the world falling away. Of just being with her.

Sam released a heavy sigh. “Oh, that is so dreamy.”

Billy gagged hard.

I broke off the kiss and turned away, catching a quick glimpse of Ethan’s face.

He was not happy, but there was more sorrow in his gaze than anger. Hell, I could feel his hurt inside of me. Now that I could sense him there too, along with the others . . . how could I be angry with him for loving her?

Damn, this was complicated. “Ethan, if you’re up to it, why don’t you come with me,” I said before I thought better of it.

Through the group’s bond I could tell he was a bit tired, but otherwise back to his usual self. The healing that Gregory and Gordy had done had cleaned him right up.

The group startled, but I knew in my gut it was the right choice. We both loved her, so we had to work this out while we had the chance.

I stepped into a slow jog so Ethan could keep up, and we headed down the lane before I took a sharp left on a barely there path. The thing was, if my dad—miserable bastard that he was—was a guardian of a key, there was only one place it could be hidden.

In the living room, where he did all his drinking and TV watching. He’d basically never left that room, except to beat me or Mom.

Which meant I was going to have to face him down to get the key. I knew he would never just hand it over to me.

A pit of anxiety and fear opened up in my belly, and I pushed it down as best I could. We all had demons to face.

My father was mine.

“Why do you want me here?” Ethan asked, breaking into my thoughts, as we loped alongside each other.

“Because you love her.” Rather than look at him, I focused on the feeling of him inside my head, and weirdly enough I could feel him doing the same to me.

“You love her too,” he said. “And she picked you, so what does it matter what I feel?”

The sorrow in his voice was heavy enough that I found myself looking at him. This was not the egotistical future ruler of the Helix fortune I’d have thought he’d have been.

“Because she needs both of us. And . . .” God, I didn’t even want to say it. “We don’t know what’s coming. We don’t know if any of us will survive Frost. We’ve been lucky so far, and we both know it.”

His jaw tightened. “Pretty shitty luck if you ask me.”

To be fair, he’d died once and had nearly died again just earlier in the day—he wasn’t wrong.

Still, my gut told me that whatever crap luck we’d had was running out.

“You still haven’t told me why you wanted me to come. It’s not just because we both love her.” Ethan’s tone was sharper now. He sounded a bit more like himself.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I follow my gut, and my gut said to bring you. So here you are.”

“You sound like Wild,” Ethan muttered.

I smiled. “Yeah, I guess I do. That’s what happens when you grow up with someone,” I said, slowing my steps as we drew closer to my father’s house. I would never call it home, not this place.

The yard was littered with junk, pieces of metal, several engines, one that had a thorn bush growing through it. Two rusted-out vehicles that served as oversized lawn ornaments.

A cat slunk through the junkyard, its fur standing on end as it caught sight of us before it skittered away.

Nothing had changed.

I made myself look at the house, at the battered shingles on the roof, the bits of stucco that had been ripped off in one windstorm or another and never replaced. The distant blare of a TV was the only noise outside the wind that blew around us.

“Hard to believe anyone lives here,” Ethan said.

I motioned for him to crouch, and we slunk forward, using the various pieces of rusted-out metal as cover. The chances of my dad actually looking up from the TV were slim, but I wanted the element of surprise. I’d take him from behind and put him in a choke hold. Once he was out, I’d tie him up and we’d search the house.

The car closest to the front door of the house was a green Chevy that had no tires and was propped up on blocks. The doors had been ripped off, and I could see right through to the front door of the house.

“I’ll call if I need help.” I glanced at Ethan. “If he takes me down, you deal with him and get the key.”

He gave me a short, tight nod, and I slid through the Chevy in a crouch, coming through the other side—just as the door to the house flung open and my father stood there, a shotgun pointed straight at me.

“Who the hell do you think you are coming onto my property?” He blinked rheumy red eyes and then stared harder at me.

He was so drunk he didn’t even recognize me. Or maybe I’d changed that much. Either was possible.

“I’ve come for the key, old man,” I said as I stood slowly.

I saw his finger tighten on the trigger, and I dove to the left, feeling the buckshot rip past me.

“It’s mine!” he roared as the gun went off again. Two shots, that gun only had the two shots before he’d have to reload.

I was on my feet and running at him before he could even crack it open. I drove my shoulder into his soft gut and threw us both back into the house in a tackle. He bellowed, sounding more like Whiskers than I would have thought.

His elbow came down on my back in a brutal blow that numbed my body for a split second, long enough that he rolled me onto my back and got on top of me. “That key is mine!”

He was mad with power, or the illusion of it. His fist came at me, and I crossed my arms over my face, taking the hit on my forearms. Features twisted with rage, spit flying from his mouth, and his eyes bloodshot . . . he was a madman. And like the house had never been my home, I knew that he had never been my dad. Never. Not in any way that mattered.

A snarl escaped me as I snapped a knee up and drove it into his side, throwing him off me. I stood in a quick movement that had me looming over him.

He kicked out and caught me in the ankle. I went down again, catching myself on my hands.

The old man reached above him, and I saw the glint of the blade. “You wanna play? Let’s play,” he growled and spat to the side. Blood flecked the foam. I’d broken at least one of his ribs.

Good.

He rolled to a crouch, and I followed as I pulled my knife free of its sheath against my lower back. The blade was strong—made by the best knife maker our world had seen—Wild’s dad. The handle warmed against my palm as the old man rushed me, slashing wildly.

I caught each blow, deflecting them, and spun so that he was the one doing all the work. I stepped sideways and he crashed into the kitchen table and sent it flying across the room. Slowly he turned to look at me. “You ain’t getting that key. I’ll kill you first.”

I backed up so I was near the recliner. I touched it as I watched his face. “You mean this key?” I pushed the recliner over, and he went white in the face. Bingo. “I remember, old man. Moving your chair half an inch—hell, bumping it accidently—always sent you into a rage. It got me more beatings than I want to remember. Even when Mom moved it to clean, you broke her nose and three of her ribs.”

The old man stared at me, his eyes narrowing. “No. You aren’t him. Rory?”

Shit, he really didn’t know me even now? I hadn’t changed that much, which meant this was just him deep in the drink.

I rolled the knife in my hand. “I am not your son. I never was.”

He bared his teeth at me. “The bitch? She didn’t never run away. I made sure of it. She’d have told someone ’bout the key.”

Pain ripped through me as his words tore into the last hope I’d had for a family. He’d killed my mother. Then told me she’d left without me.

With a roar I lunged at him, a wild madness coming over me. I didn’t feel anything as his knife cut into me, didn’t feel anything as his fist hit my face.

Because it was the last time. The last time he’d hurt me. The last time he’d breathe.

His laughter followed me as I drove into him, my body running on autopilot as my mind reeled.

Then suddenly the room fell silent. I was standing over him, shaking. Blood dripping from my wounds, my hands numb from the number of times I’d hit him.

He lay on his back, one leg and both arms at angles that would keep him there, and three stab wounds in his belly. Liver. Gut. Spleen. He was dying, and he knew it.

“You . . .” he burbled, blood foaming across his lips, and I shook my head.

I didn’t need to give him last words, not for me. Not for him. He didn’t deserve it. I took a step back and watched numbly as the light slid from his dark eyes, as they stared into nothing and his chest stilled.

A grief I hadn’t expected flowed through my limbs.

I was an orphan now. I thought of the last time I’d seen my mother, of her face smiling down at me, telling me that it would be okay. That we’d find a way out. And then she’d left without me. Only . . . only she hadn’t left at all.

I was on my knees when a hand dropped on my shoulder, the fingers tightening on me.

“You aren’t alone, Rory.” Ethan’s voice was thick. “None of us are alone now.”

19

Wild

Watching Rory take Ethan with him had caused me no small amount of worry. I could sense that Ethan was confused, and he wasn’t the only one. Of all of us, why take Ethan?

Wally stood on my left, Sam on my right. Wally spoke up first. “Do you want to know what’s going through Rory’s head?”

“No.” The answer was immediate. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Wait,” Sam said, eyes wide. “What do you mean, can you read minds?”

How the hell did I explain everything to her? “Well, the thing is, it’s complicated—”

“I told you, Dad told us about Shadowspell Academy, the Culling Trials, and everything. But he was so sick I’m not even sure he remembers.” She looked over her shoulder, and I did the same. Dad, Rufus, Carson, Mara and Gordy were all talking.

Gregory and Orin stood with us; Pete had drifted off toward the pasture gate where he seemed to be talking with Starlight, of all the animals.

“We can’t stay here,” I said. “As soon as Rory and Ethan get back, we have to leave.”

“I’m coming with you,” Sam said.

It was only then that I realized Billy wasn’t with us. “Where’s Billy?”

We all went still, and I knew that he’d followed Rory. He’d always looked up to Rory, even more so in the short time between Tommy leaving for the academy before Rory himself left. My gut clenched, but I breathed through it. He would be okay.

Rory and Ethan would make sure of it.

If I left my family here, what would happen to them? If I were in Frost’s head, what would she do? She’d come for them and try to hurt them, use them as a trading card for the keys. Which left me only one option.

“Yes, you’re coming with us,” I said. “You and Dad and Billy.”

Sam smiled. “Good. I didn’t want to have to fight you for it.”

Orin sniffed. “The adults are talking like they’re running the show now.”

I looked over at them again. “Yeah, not surprising. But seeing as they aren’t holding the keys, they don’t get the final say.”

We all looked at the four keys I held tightly in my hand. The House of Night. The House of Wonder. The House of Claw. The House of Stone. Which meant House of Shade was the one that Rory would bring back.

I had no doubt he would get it. I just worried because . . . because it was his dad. And I knew in my gut what he would have to do to get past his father. Hog-tying him or knocking him out likely wouldn’t do the trick.

Kill or be killed.

Rory would survive, but what would it do to him to kill his father?

I clenched my hand around the keys. “We need to find Nicholas.”

“Can you do it now?” Gregory asked. “So, we have a general direction?”

He had a good point. “Let me try. The worry is . . . if he’s tightly bound to Frost, she might sense what I’m doing and find us first.” Fear rolled up and through me. What I did now would affect everyone I loved. And I couldn’t bear to lose any of them.

We all grimaced. “You should still try,” Wally said. “If you feel her reaching for you, shut it down right away. That’s all you can do.”

My friends were right—I needed to try. I lowered some of my guard around the connection between me and Nicholas and slowly that thread I’d seen before came into view. I closed my eyes and let myself sink into the feeling of family, and more lines lit up.

Threads to Sam, Billy, and my dad. And when I dug deeper, pushing my way past them . . . a thread to Frost. There was a split second where I thought I could see her blue eyes turn to me, startled.

“I knew you would look for me.”

I sucked in a sharp breath and slammed all the connections shut before she could find me. I hoped.

“Crap,” I whispered and put my hands to my head. I had to figure out how to tap into one, and not all of them at once. Otherwise, Frost would have us in her sights.

I swallowed hard and kept my eyes closed as I slowly opened up the connections again. But this time I went slow and picked through them like I would try to separate wheat from the chaff when I worked on Mr. Smithers’s farm in the summer.

I pushed them all aside one at a time, keeping them in the same silo that I’d created in my head before, finally pulling on Nicholas’s thread.

“You okay?” Sam asked.

I grunted a no-word reply, keeping my focus tight. I could feel Frost searching for me, trying to work her way to me through that same connection, but I clamped down harder.

Which meant I got just a glimmer of where Nicholas was—and he was not too far from us. Somehow that didn’t surprise me. Almost like he knew where I’d had to go to find the keys? Or at least maybe he suspected?

“I can’t tell exactly, but he is north and east of us. Not as far as New York,” I said. How the hell I knew that was beyond me, but it was like being able to look at a map in my head and see little pinpricks of light for everyone I loved. I pushed that connection to him away again. Because Frost was still looking.

“They’re back,” Pete said. “Holy cats on fire.”

I opened my eyes to see Billy holding up Rory with one arm. Ethan had him on the other side. Blood splattered his clothes, and he was limping hard. A bandage was wrapped around his upper left thigh.

Rory’s eyes met mine, and the pain in them stole my breath. His jaw was tight, but his lips . . . there was a tremor under the surface that he was barely holding back. A Shade on the verge of tears.

His pain flickered to life inside of me, grief and loss and the need to put it all behind him. Wally gasped at the same time as I did.

I ran to him and caught him in my arms. Ethan and Billy stepped back, and Rory’s arms wrapped around me, his face buried against my neck.

“I didn’t doubt you would find it. But the cost . . .” I whispered.

“Justice was needed,” he whispered back even as his body shook. “I can’t talk about it. . . right now I can’t. We have to keep going, but I will tell you. Another time.”

I tightened my hold on him. “I’m here, whenever you’re ready.”

“We all are,” Ethan said softly.

“He got the key,” Billy said. No gagging noises this time as he looked at me and Rory holding each other. I looked over to my brother and saw the shock in his face. He’d seen Rory fight his dad then, seen him kill him. I held a hand to him and pulled him into a one-armed hug. He was stiff at first and then relaxed.

Of course, there was always someone wanting to rain on my parade, and as usual it was Sunshine.

“We need to go. We’ve got to get these keys to the five Houses,” Rufus barked. “Mara can tend to the wounded on the flight back.”

“Back?” I kept an arm around Rory’s waist and, with Billy’s help, got him to the helicopter.

“We have to get the keys to the leaders of the five houses,” Rufus said.

Carson snorted. “That won’t work, we have to get them to Nicholas. We need him to stop Frost. He is the only one that can do it.”

Ah, so this was what they’d been discussing.

We all piled into the helicopter, and Mara made her way to Rory, healing him in a matter of minutes. She kept a hand on his knee, and he nodded a few times.

Without headsets on, I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it seemed to help him relax. She patted his cheek and then went to her own seat. I sat next to him, and he draped an arm across my shoulders and I circled one around his waist.

Then he pulled the last key out from under his shirt. House of Shade.

The key was shaped like a miniature sword, the blade etched with the key piece. I held out one of the others—House of Stone. It had been carved out of a literal chunk of stone. The stone looked a hell of a lot like the stone spell that had been pulled out of Ethan and my dad.

Rory gave the key to me, and I held all five in my hands, staring at them.

I’d seen the strongest leaders of the five houses and with the exception of Rufus, they had been broken or owned by Frost. What would giving them the keys do?

“Are you sure he can stop her?” I said as I looked at Carson and Gordy.

Carson nodded. “One hundred and ten percent sure. He’s been planning this for almost twenty years. He can do this, Wild. He can.”

I drew a deep breath and pushed away my doubts.

“Then we need to get Nicholas,” I said. “He has to stop her, and we can help him do it.”

Rufus was flying by himself, and he stiffened. I left Rory and joined the Sandman up front. “I believe Carson. I believe that Nicholas has to do this. The leaders aren’t strong enough and you know it. With maybe the exception of you.”

His jaw ticked, and he shook his head, muttering a string of curses that were picked up clearly by the headset.

“Small ears,” muttered Mara, and I smiled.

“I’ve heard worse.”

Ethan snorted. “You’ve said worse.”

I smiled because he wasn’t wrong. I let the connection between Nicholas and me open a little. Ahead of us, I could feel the pull of him to my left, and I pointed before I closed it off again.

Gritting his teeth, the Sandman turned the helicopter in the direction I pointed. Good enough.

Forty minutes passed, and I could feel the growing tension in my crew. No point in trying to calm them, though, because it wasn’t like we were heading to a prom or graduation, where the worst thing that could happen was getting sick on spiked punch. I frowned. Then again, our one graduation ceremony together had turned out far worse than spiked punch.

“Doesn’t it seem strange that nothing has caught up with us? If I were to state a percentage, we should have a sixty-five percent chance of running into serious danger, death, or dismemberment in the next hour,” Wally asked suddenly, cutting through what had been pretty solid silence except for the thump of the rotors above us.

My guts clenched, and I saw Rufus grip the controls until his knuckles whitened.

“Yeah, it does,” I said.

My tingling awareness of danger hadn’t really kicked in, though, so that had to mean something, didn’t it?

Minutes later, a clearing came into view as the sun began to set splashing oranges and yellows through the sky. One that was just big enough for the helicopter if we stayed to one side of it. Because in the middle were standing stones, not unlike what you’d see across the ocean. What were those called? Stonehenge?

This looked like those, just on a smaller scale.

And in the center of them stood Nicholas and Ash.

Heart in my throat, I watched my uncle closely as we dropped from the sky.

Rufus unbuckled first, before the rotors even slowed. “Stay here. Rory, take my seat.”

It was then I realized he hadn’t turned the engine off at all.

He thought it was a trap.

And I was worried he was right.

I followed the Sandman out of the helicopter, the five keys tucked into my pockets.

Ash and Nicholas faced us. Ash lifted his hand first and spread his wings wide in greeting.

“Tell me you found the keys.”

I stopped at the edge of the stone circle. “Promise me you can stop her.”

Nicholas gave me a slow nod. “It is our last hope.”

I tried to swallow, but it was no use. I had no spit. This was it, the moment of truth. Either I trusted him, or I didn’t.

Either he saved us, or we were all at the mercy of Frost.

I stared into his eyes and saw my brother. I saw my mother. Mom had trusted him at one point, and he’d tried to keep me safe, even if I hadn’t understood.

We had a whole day left before we ran out of time.

I stepped forward and pulled all five keys from my pockets. “Stop her, Nicholas. Stop her and save us all.”

20

Nicholas shook his head as he took the five keys. “How did you . . . No, it doesn’t matter now. Ash . . .” He looked up as Carson and Gordy approached. But when his gaze turned to Mara and Rufus, I understood.

They were all part of his crew—or they had been. The Sandman . . . he’d been a damn double agent all along.

“Will you help me again?” my uncle asked.

Rufus’s jaw ticked. “I cut ties with you years ago.”

“I know,” Nicholas said. “But now you see that I was trying to stop her. By letting you go, I knew that you’d still watch my family. I knew that you’d still try to figure Frost out. A dog with a bone, if you will.”

His eyes turned to Mara. “And I knew you’d go with him anywhere.”

Her body tensed. “You played us?”

He shrugged. “I played a lot of people. Some to keep them safe, some to get their secrets.”

Yikes.

Rufus grunted. “Even if we agree to bind ourselves to you again, we’re still missing one.”

Ash nodded. “Yes, we know that.” They turned as Brutus stepped out of the trees. The director of the House of Claw.

Rufus and Mara shared a look and then he turned to me. “Do you believe he can stop her, Wild?”

“Why are you asking me?” I blurted. “You’re the grown-up!”

His smile was tight. “Because you seem to have even more of a knack than Nicholas for trouble, and for finding your way out of it.”

I looked away from his aviators and stared at Nicholas. “I think . . . he’s the best shot, seeing as he created this mess with the keys.”

Rufus grunted. “Then I will help you, Nicholas. You ass.”

Nicholas laughed. “I’ve missed you, Rufus.”

“Out of the circle with you,” Ash said gently to me.

Behind me, the helicopter’s blades began to slow, and my own crew stepped out of the chopper. My dad held Sam and Billy back. The light was fading, stars were beginning to emerge above us, along with a bright, full moon that lit up the sky.

Rory made his way to my side and I reached for his hand. My fingers were cold, and his palm was warm.

“What do you really think?” he asked quietly.

I tightened my hold on his fingers and looked him in the eye, willing him to see my uncertainty. I’d said I’d believed Nicholas could do it, but what other choice was there? The answer was simple: none.

Rory drew in a deep breath and gave me a slow nod. And while we couldn’t feel emotions the way I could with the rest of my crew, he knew me.

My friends ranged out around me, close but not touching, as we watched Mara, Carson, and Nicholas begin to weave a spell. The five keys floated around Nicholas, and he kept touching them, which sent showers of sparks up into the air.

And the air? It lit up, pulsing with power and electricity that thrummed in my bones, calling to me. I took a step before I thought better of it. Shaking it off, I checked on my friends and could see I wasn’t the only one struggling with the pull.

Only . . . we weren’t the only ones there. Laughter rippled across the clearing, and then a voice I knew I would hear in my nightmares for whatever remained of my life.

Rory pulled me a little so he was half a step in front of me.

“You think you can stop me, Nicholas? You think I didn’t know you were hunting for the keys? You think I didn’t know you’d hidden your crew away from me?”

Frost stepped out of the trees, and her own people ranged out around her. I took note that Ruby was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she really was dead this time. A small victory.

Not that it made up for what came next. From the trees came a cracking and a slithering that I knew did not bode well for us. The Darkness circled around Frost, tentacled eyeballs staring across the clearing. The trees it touched sparked with ice and shattered, blowing crystal shards into the air.

“I can stop you now,” Nicholas said, “but I couldn’t as a boy. You killed my sister. My nephew. You killed my father.” He shook his head. “You are everything this world fears a chameleon to be.”

“Except . . .” She put a hand to her chest. “Everyone thinks you’re the monster, not me.” Her smile glittered even at that distance.

Pete growled, and Orin was right with him, shoulder to shoulder. “We could take her.”

I held a hand up, stopping them. Just in case they got the idea that they could indeed stop her. We’d faced her before, and Rufus was right. We’d gotten lucky. She’d underestimated us, and she wouldn’t do it again.

My hope that Nicholas could stop her was small, but it was there. He had to do this.

The power in the air spiked, and Nicholas began to chant words in Latin I couldn’t follow, but Wally and Ethan supplied the translation.

“From earth, from sky, from water, from fire, from spirit, shall this power remove you,” Wally whispered.

“Threads cut, moorings tossed, lines released, shall this power remove you,” Ethan said.

Nicholas’s voice rose up, and the vibrations around us began to shake the stones until they too rose from the ground.

“Holy cat shit,” Pete whispered. I reached for him, and in a matter of seconds we were all touching one another, hanging tight to the security of our crew.

“You cannot call on the power of the houses, Nicholas,” Frost said, her voice calm yet somehow still audible above the maelstrom of power that ripped through the clearing. “They do not answer to you.”

The Darkness shot out past her and slithered toward those in the center of the ring. Frost walked with it, and within seconds she stood face to face with Nicholas inside the ring as the Darkness crept in closer.

There was no way that Nicholas, Ash, Rufus, Mara, Carson, Gordy and Brutus could hold it off. They were focused on the spell and Nicholas. Rufus, Brutus, and Gordy faced the Darkness. But they didn’t have the kind of magic that could stop it.

“Ethan, Wally! We have to stop it!” I said even as I ran around the edge of the stones. I didn’t want to step within the circle of power. “Rory, get that helicopter ready! Orin, Pete, Gregory, watch the rest of Frost’s crew! Intercept if needed!”

Yeah, this wasn’t going well. We’d probably have to throw Nicholas and the keys in the chopper and run . . . and pray that we’d be able to figure this out.

Because his spell? It didn’t seem to be working.

Ethan threw a spell at the Darkness, sending it reeling back, but the blow only seemed to piss it off. Then again, the magical blow had done its job: the Darkness was looking at us with its creepy-ass eyes instead of at our people in the circle.

Frost snarled, but I ignored her.

Pete, Orin, and Gregory engaged with the members of Frost’s crew who’d been in the shadows of the trees. Wally stepped up, and her burgundy magic bloomed around her. With a clap of her hands, every single member of Frost’s crew dropped.

Then she turned to Frost and did the same. Or at least she tried.

Frost flicked her fingers at Wally.

Wally screamed and went to the ground, clutching at her chest. I dropped beside her, half expecting she’d be bleeding out, but there were no obvious injuries.

“I’m okay, I’m okay!” she yelled and pushed to her feet. “Just stop her!”

I stood and glanced at Ethan, throwing spell after spell at the Darkness. Sweat rolled down his face and his arms were shaking. Gregory ran up close and put a hand on Ethan’s arm, and I could feel the power exchange. Orin and Pete were right behind him and the four boys faced off against the monster together.

Was it weird to keep saying you were proud of your friends? I wasn’t sure if it was or not, but here we were. I stood and gave Ethan an energy boost too, and his spells redoubled, blasting the beast back until it was at the tree line. Not whimpering but held back.

I let myself look at the adults in the circle, and my heart sank.

Nicholas was on his hands and knees, the keys floating high above where he’d stood. Frost had her hands out to grasp them, and the others on our side were in various stages of being knocked out or coming around.

“Get ready to run!” I threw out as I let go of Ethan and bolted for the center of the circle. When my foot broke through the invisible barrier, power battered at my skin and took my breath away. Not that it mattered—I could run and hold my breath.

Frost was so focused on the keys she didn’t see me coming.

I leapt up onto Nicholas’s back and used him as a springboard. My hands found the keys in the air, and I went down again, rolling across the grass across from her.

The blast of a gun ripped through the air, and Frost reeled backward.

“You stay away from my family, you bitch!” Sam screamed. A second shot, and Frost stumbled again. I doubted it would kill her, but the wounds would give us time to escape.

Hands pulled at me, and I grabbed at the person next to me—Mara, dragging her with me to the helicopter.

Billy and my dad were there, dragging two of the other adults, then Pete and Orin were helping too until they were all moving one way or another.

A scream of rage built behind us as we all tumbled into the helicopter, and Rory got us off the ground in what had to be record time.

I did a quick count of limbs in the pile. “We’re all here,” I said once we got our headsets on.

A groan, and Rufus touched his head. “How is that possible?”

Mara leaned heavily into him, dark circles under her eyes. “We can’t do it again. I’ve got nothing left.”

My dad sat on my right, and he stared hard at Nicholas. “She trusted you.”

Nicholas bowed his head. “I failed her, I failed all of you.”

My heart twisted up because I knew they weren’t talking about me. They were talking about my mom.

“I’ve got nothing left either,” Nicholas said. “That spell . . . it’s too much. I can’t do it again.”

My father looked at me, and his smile was soft and full of something that scared me a little. Hope. “But you aren’t the only chameleon here. And she is ten times the person you are. Which means . . . we have a chance.”

All eyes turned to me then, and I found myself swallowing hard. “I . . . I’m not good with spells. Ethan, tell them.”

“Yeah, she’s shit with them, but it works for her in a weird way. Just not how you’d think.” He smiled to soften the words.

Carson sighed. “Maybe that’s for the best. Maybe . . . maybe the truth is you’ve all survived for this long because you haven’t done what’s expected. You’re forging your own path.”

I felt the weight of the responsibility for all the people in front of me, keenly. This was no game. This was no Culling Trials.

This was life and death, not only for me but for everyone I loved. I drew in a deep breath and thought of my mother, of Tommy, of Colt and all those who’d died because of Frost.

“Okay, then we do it my way,” I said into the headset. “Rory, take us back to the beginning. Take us to the Culling Trials.”

21

The helicopter went quiet again. Ethan wasn’t much of a healer, but he tried to help the adults with the more pressing wounds.

I sat quietly with Sam pressed tightly to my side. “I didn’t kill her, did I?”

I shook my head and scooped up her hand, hanging on for all I was worth. “No, no you didn’t. But you saved me. You saved us with your quick thinking.”

“Fiery, just like your mama. The both of you are so much like her.” Dad smiled across at us. Billy sat close to him, tucked under one of his arms, his eyes wide and more than a little shocked. I’d been right to take Billy’s place in the games. He was still a boy. He wasn’t ready to face the Darkness, or Frost, or . . . dying.

My resolve hardened as I thought about what we needed to do to stop Frost. I had something approaching a plan.

I was going with my gut, which usually didn’t steer me wrong.

I studied my friends as we went along. They’d each made me stronger, and in turn, I’d given them boosts. That kind of friendship was a true gift. And here I was with a whole helicopter load of them. A smile ghosted over my lips.

Rory’s eyes found mine as he looked over his shoulder, and in them I saw the love that had always been there. I just hadn’t seen it until now.

“How long before we get there?” My words were staticky across the headsets.

“Ten minutes,” Rufus answered back. “And by the time we get there, no more fuel.”

I nodded. “We won’t need it. This is the last stand.”

My words dropped into the space between all of us, and no one argued.

Minutes later, the helicopter dropped to the grounds of the Culling Trials. There were no lights on in the building, and it looked more foreboding than ever before. Maybe because of all that had happened, but more likely because we were being hunted. Who knew what waited for us in there?

“We have a day, right?” I asked. “I mean, assuming that Frost isn’t on us in the next hour?”

I looked to the Sandman for the answer. The other adults might try to soften things, but I knew he’d shoot straight. “A day before our time is up. Midnight tomorrow.”

“Today,” Orin corrected. “It’s after midnight now.”

The Sandman grunted. “Less than twenty-four hours.”

Rory’s eyes locked with mine across the space between us. “What are you thinking?”

“That there isn’t a lot of time for sleep or eating, other than the basics.” I started off toward the mansion, the keys in my pockets. Keys to five houses, keys that could be the undoing of all the damage Frost had caused.

If we were strong enough to stop her.

I led them into the mansion, and whatever spell was on the place lit up like a Christmas tree. Light bloomed all around us, and for just a second, I thought we’d see an army of supernaturals there to jump on us.

But there was no one.

We made our way to the dining hall, and thankfully there was still food in the freezers, because we needed a mess of it. We prepared it together, all of us talking in undertones, although no one laughed. I took note that Nicholas hadn’t said anything since we’d talked on the helicopter. He still wasn’t talking as we all sat down and started eating.

I sat across from him with a plate of food I barely paid attention to. “Nicholas, I need your help to do this.”

“I couldn’t stop her,” he said, his voice tortured. His food was untouched.

“Right, I know,” I said, and he looked up. “You failed, because you tried to do it on your own. You and I have to work together.”

“How?” Ash asked. “He is attached to Frost, and even now she is drawing strength from him. There is no way for you to hijack that bond. We considered it.”

Damn, so much for that plan. I nodded. “Even so, you can help. You have connections in this world, right? People you could reach out to?”

Nicholas nodded. “I do. I have a few connections that I trust.”

I smiled at him. “This is what I need you to do.”

Wally

I could not believe what Wild had asked of me.

And yet here I was on the phone, doing the thing I feared most. Calling home. The old-fashioned black phone hung from the wall and I stood in front of it for a few minutes before I picked it up and dialed the number I knew by heart.

The phone rang a few times. “Hello?”

My father’s voice was barely a whisper. Of course, it was barely after midnight here.

“Hi, Dad,” I said.

“Drexia!” He shouted my name. “Where are you, are you okay?”

“You work for Frost.” It was not a question, and I barrelled on. “We’re going to face her today. Wild and me and our friends. We’re going to stop her.”

A sob rippled from him. “My girl, I . . . I have tried to protect you. I went about it wrong, I know I did, but I was trying.”

I covered my face with my hand. “I know. But I . . . I need you to do something.”

“Anything,” he said. “Anything.”

I drew a deep breath. “I need you to send anyone in the House of Night who isn’t attached to Frost to me. Vampires. Necromancers. Anyone you can find. Can you do that?”

Pete

Cats on fire, this was a long day. I stuffed a cheese bun into my mouth and chewed it while I waited for my turn on the phone. I stayed far enough away not to overhear Wally’s conversation. Wild was pretty clear about each of us doing our own without knowing what the others in the crew were doing. Though I didn’t know why it mattered, I trusted her.

When it was my turn to call home, I dialed with few reservations.

My mom picked up midway through the first ring.

“Jesus H. Cats!” she bellowed as soon as I got out a “hi.” I had to hold the phone from my ear. “Pete Joseph Martin, what in a filthy kitty litter box are you doing? Trying to scare the ever-loving bejeezus out of me? You want me to lose another one of my lives?”

Yeah, so my mom is a cat shifter. Dad was a honey badger like me.

“Hey Mom, so look, I could use some help.” I took another bite of my cheese bun, totally unperturbed as she ranted away. I could almost see her hissing and spitting in her cat form. I grinned.

It took a few minutes before she settled, and I told her what I needed. “You better stay alive until I get there, so I can kill you myself.”

“Love you too, Mom.” I hung up the phone and turned to Gregory, who was up next.

Gregory

The whole business of phoning one’s parents in the middle of the night to deliver the news that you are about to go into battle with a being you’ve been taught to fear your whole life wasn’t the greatest. But I tried my best.

“Grandma, I know it’s late, but I’m in trouble here. We all are, to be honest—”

“Oh, boy, don’t I know it. Our whole world is abuzz with what you and that crew of yours be up to.” The Irish lilt in her voice soothed me in a way that I hadn’t realized I needed. “Where are you? Your sisters and I will be there in a jiff.”

I cringed. Much as I knew that I needed their help, to put all my sisters in danger . . . that was perhaps more than even I could bear. I swallowed hard. “Are you sure?”

“Listen, Gregory.” Her voice softened. “I know that you think you need to be the man of the house and protect them, but the truth is they’re just as fierce as you, and as much outcasts as the rest of us pretties.”

Pretties.

Too pretty for goblin culture. We all were, and although it was the kind of thing Wild and the others might joke about—at least she’d stopped calling me Biebs—it had felt plenty serious growing up.

I wrinkled up my nose. “Gran—”

“Don’t you ‘Gran’ me. I’ve seen a lot in my three hundred years. You let me know where you be, and we will come. I hear there is a battle going down, and I’m not missing it. None of us are.”

“The Culling Trials,” I said, my heart filling with gratitude for the old woman who’d been more mother than grandmother to me. I’d never known my parents—they’d been killed shortly after me and my sisters hatched.

“Ah, excellent. That is a perfect place. And don’t worry, Gregory. It will be okay. I know it.”

I wasn’t so sure she was right, but here we were. Fighting for all we had, using every resource at our fingertips.

Orin

I stared at the phone and then looked back at Gregory, who’d just finished. “I don’t have anyone to call.”

Gregory frowned. “Not even a distant relative?”

I looked back at the phone as if it were a bomb about to go off. “Well, I have some of those, but most I’ve met maybe once or twice.”

Gregory shrugged. “I assume that Wild gave you the same instructions as me, and if that’s the case, then call who you can.”

He left me there, staring at the black phone, and I slowly picked it up. Who to call? My fingers lifted to dial a number I hadn’t pressed since I was a child. Since I’d called home from boarding school, begging to be freed from the place that I hated.

It wasn’t that my parents weren’t alive. Well . . . alive being a relative term. More like they’d sent me out into the world as soon as they could and ignored me from that point onward. I chewed on the inside of my lip, cutting it with the tip of one fang.

Before I thought better of it, I dialed the number. The phone clicked and was picked up by a servant. “Blackstock household.”

“I want to talk to Lily,” I said softly.

“Of course, Master Orin,” the human said, recognizing my voice without any prompting.

A moment later Lily came on the line. “Hello?”

My throat froze up, and I had no words. My mother’s voice was as soft and kind as I remembered. But why then had she never come for me?

“Orin?” Her voice trembled. “Orin, is that you?”

“Hi.” The word squeaked out of me. “I . . . I need your help, Mom.”

A sob rippled out of her. “They told us you were twice dead.”

Twice dead. Made into a vampire and then staked. Shaking, I held tight to the phone. “Mom, I need you to come to the Culling Trials. Bring anyone you trust. This fight is for everything.”

“I’m coming, my boy. I’m coming. I love you, Orin.”

I hung up the phone, unable to say the words back. Not because I didn’t want to say them, but I needed to stay strong, and if I said those words too loud, I thought that they might break me open in a way I couldn’t predict or control . . . so I whispered them.

“I love you too, Mom.”

Ethan

I watched as Orin stumbled down the hall, away from the one working phone. The others had taken their turns, and now it was up to me to somehow rouse whatever small portion was left of the House of Wonder that might—maybe—stand against Frost.

I picked up the phone and dialed through to my mother’s private line, to the penthouse we’d used for shelter.

She picked up on the third ring, her voice sleepy.

“Who is this?”

I smiled. No hello. Just who the hell is bothering me. Yup, that was my mom, all right. “Mom.”

“Ethan!” Her sleepiness disappeared. “You were here.”

“Yes, we needed a safe place for a little while.” I curled the cord of the phone around my hand. “I need your help. Please. But you can’t tell him.”

A shuffle of sheets as she slid out of bed. “I won’t.”

“And that’s going to be hard, because I need you to come help us and bring as many mages as you trust with you.”

She drew in a slow breath. “There aren’t many, Ethan.”

“We’re going to face her down,” I said, struggling to put it into words. I’d died once. Nearly died a second time, and now I was facing death a third time. Maybe the third time would be the charm for the Grim Reaper. But I wasn’t afraid. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t terrified that I would be a failure. Because I was fighting for something more important than my own success. I was fighting for my family—the people who saw through my bullshit and loved me anyway.

“Help me save them, Mom.” My voice cracked and I hated that vulnerability. “They’re my family now too, Mom. Help me save them.”

22

Wild

I ate what I could, asked my friends to rally the troops, and then found a place to sleep. They returned in a trickle, and once more we dog piled together. Only this time we were joined by Rory.

He curled around my back, tucking me into his arms, and it felt like he had my back in the most literal of senses. His warmth was solid, and it calmed the raging nerves jangling through my body.

Wally tucked up against Rory’s back, reached over and took my hand. It could not have been comfortable, but she didn’t complain. Orin, Pete, and Gregory took up their usual positions and Ethan lay in front of me. I pulled him tightly to me, and he sighed.

“This should be weird,” he mumbled.

I laughed. “Little late to be pointing that out now, Wonder Bread.”

Through the bond I could feel him smile . . . no, I could feel his contentment, and I translated it into a smile. “Sure thing, Johnson, leave it ’til now to break out the nicknames.”

Wally laughed softly. “As long as she doesn’t call the Sandman Sunshine to his face, we’ll be okay.”

I closed my eyes, and the safety around me was everything I needed. My friends, my family, my crew. I could just pinpoint Nicholas, my dad, and Sam and Billy on the same floor as us, a few doors down.

There were sentinels around the grounds, watching for Frost’s arrival.

For now, we were safe.

Sleep pulled me under, my body and soul exhausted beyond measure.

Of course, it didn’t last.

A clattering across the roof jerked me awake, and I rolled to my feet and was at the window in seconds, a hand going to one of my knives. Sliding the window up, I peered up into the pre-dawn sky. A whoosh of wings sounded, and hope bloomed in my chest.

I’d put out my own call, hoping that I could call in the latest favor we’d earned.

Rather than trying to find a stairwell that would lead up to the roof, I climbed out the window and shimmied up the closest downspout.

Rory and Orin were right behind me.

But I didn’t need backup, not for this. I pulled myself over the edge of the roof and dropped into a crouch. “Amalthea.” I breathed her name, and she reared up, flashing her horn and her hooves.

And then she bowed to me, dropping to one knee. The other alicorns with her did the same.

Chameleon. We come to fight the Darkness at your side. It will be an honor.

“Don’t do that,” I whispered. “Please. You’re my friends, and friends fight for one another.”

She gave a soft whinny and trotted over to me, butting me in the chest with her muzzle. I stroked her cheek and leaned into her, breathing in the smell of the cold wind and sweet flowers that she brought with her.

I took a step back. The sounds of others arriving was not lost on me, the new voices, the clatter of weapons and the bursts of magic here and there. The cavalry had arrived. They’d come to stand with us against Frost.

Every house had a child in this battle.

There were stakes for everyone.

“Time to set the hook and throw the bait in the water,” I said.

Rory gave me a nod. “Do it.”

I closed my eyes and opened myself to my connection with Frost. Blood to blood.

The thread lit up, and I felt her turn toward me. Her blue eyes locked on mine as I held the connection open.

You would face me?

I held my ground and stared her down. There was a resemblance between us—the blond hair, the blue eyes, the angle of her jaw and mine. But she was petite where I was tall. She was feminine where I was hard.

“You want me? I’m waiting for you. And I have the keys,” I said.

I turned my back on her but didn’t shut down the connection. She’d come now.

Because she knew there was still a chance we could stop her.

Because she was the sort who enjoyed a fight.

Rory led us to the stairwell, and we made our way down to the main hall. A lot of people were already there. A few hundred if my count was right.

Their eyes followed me as I walked to the front of the room, steeling myself to make a speech of some sort. Not exactly my forte, but I’d stumble through it like going barefoot in the prickle patch. I figured this couldn’t be too different.

Probably more painful than the prickles.

A table would do as well as a podium. I hopped up onto the closest one and held up my hand. The sounds in the hall slowly muffled. My crew made their way to me and circled around my table.

“You’ve all been asked to come here because we are facing a monster none of us can stop on our own,” I said. “There is no guarantee we will beat her. Or that we’ll all survive. But for the first time in years, the power of the houses is no longer muffled.” I paused. “Now is the time. We have to try.”

“Rousing,” came a dry voice from the back of the room.

“Honesty is not always rousing,” Rufus said as he made his way to my table. “It is usually brutal and painful too. The kid is right. This is our chance to stop Frost.”

Another voice piped up. “Yeah, and this kid is just like her, isn’t she? Let me guess, she’ll take over next?”

Nope. Nuh-uh. No thanks.

I had zero interest in becoming Frost 2.0, and I had to prove it to them. I looked down and saw Wally. Holding out my hand to give her a boost, I motioned for Orin to come on up too. He levitated up to the tabletop.

That had a few people taking notice. I pulled out the keys from my pocket and held up the death key belonging to the House of Night.

“The power of the House of Night.” I held it out on my palm, and neither of my friends so much as leaned toward it, though a few in the crowd came closer. “One of you needs to take it.”

“Wally is stronger than me,” Orin said, shaking his head.

A gasp rippled through the crowd.

Wally shook her head. “I don’t want it.”

“That is why it’s safer with you,” I said as I placed it in her hand. Then I looked at Orin. “You got her back?”

He bowed to Wally. “Sister of the Night, I will be your shield.”

That sounded very formal, and Wally’s eyes welled up. “Brother, I will be your sword.”

Yup, super formal. This had to be some sort of magical deal that I had no experience with given I’d known about this world for all of a couple of weeks.

I motioned for Pete next. Blushing, he climbed up onto the table next to me. “I’m not . . .”

“Don’t you even say it.” I held out the key to the House of Claw. “You have more heart than anyone else. Lead your house, Pete.”

He stood a little taller and then nodded as he took the key. “Into the depths we go.”

Gregory was next, and I smiled at him and his Justin Bieber good looks. “Gregory. My dear friend. Will you take this key for the House of Stone?”

A definite rumble followed that. Gregory bowed from the waist. “With all the honor I have in me.”

A rather high-pitched, girl chorus cheered him on, and he blushed. I raised an eyebrow, and he mouthed a single word with a shrug. Sisters.

I turned to Ethan, and he shook his head. “No.”

“Yes.”

“No means no, Wild.”

I put my hands on my hips, one key in each palm, not caring that there were hundreds of eyes taking in this little drama. “Ethan, there is no one else I trust in the House of Wonder. You’ve screwed up more than I care to remember and screwed us over more than once.” He glared at me, his eyes sparking with more than a little attitude, and I kept going. “But you’ve always found your way back to us. In the end, you’ve always come through. That is worth more than someone who never mucked it up and thinks they’re perfect. That guy? That guy would get us killed. The one who knows he isn’t perfect is the one we need. We need the guy who knows what it is to fight for something and lose.”

His gaze softened, and he climbed onto the table. I put the key in his hand.

“I will stand by you with all I have, Wild. I mean that.” His eyes closed. “You have all of me.”

My heart clenched, and I knew that if Rory had not been there . . . things would have been different.

Ethan stepped down the length of the table, and then I turned to Rory. Like Ethan, he shook his head. “No, the Sandman, he’s the one who put out the call to the House of Shade—”

“While he is older and meaner, that is not the heart of the House of Shadows,” I said and again there was a rumble. Calling the houses by their proper names meant something to the people gathered here.

This was a coming home in more than one sense of the words.

I paused for a moment as I sought for the right words. “It took me a long time to figure out that the House of Shadows was more than just a bunch of assassins in training. We are the protectors of this world. We are the ones who stand between the light and the dark and keep everyone safe. We are not killers unless we have to be. We are guardians.” I smiled and felt my lips wobble more than a little. “There is no one I know who makes a better guardian of his family and his friends than you, Rory.”

I was barely hanging on to my tears as he carefully took the key from me.

He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t have to—his own eyes glittered suspiciously. I knew him, and he knew me, and this was the moment we’d been working toward.

We both knew what it would take.

We both knew what it might cost.

We all did.

“The houses are not mine,” I said as I turned back to the crowd. “Even though I feel a connection to all of them, they are their own. I ask you now to stand with us against Frost. She is trying to tell you what you are, and where your place is in this world. And she’s wrong. Only you can decide where you stand. So will it be with us, against her corruption, against the taint she has placed on our world? I ask you to stand with those who have the hearts of your houses in their hands.”

Slowly the room began to move, the people within it placing hands over their hearts as they stared up at us—me and my crew—on the long table. I looked down the line at each of them.

“We will fight to the end, if that’s what it takes,” I said.

“To the end!” A cheer went up through the crowd, and I had to stop myself from cringing.

“Maybe not the best idea to lead with that,” Ethan muttered. I shot him a look.

But there was no time for banter.

Rufus turned suddenly, the movement catching my eye, his finger to his ear, then he looked at me. “She’s here.”

23

Wild

The Sandman’s words echoed through the room. She’s here. Frost was here ready to do battle which meant the Darkness would be here too.

“Each of you go with your house,” I said. “Range out behind and to either side of me.”

We strode through the halls of the mansion, headed for the front doors. I caught sight of my dad, and he slung a pair of guns over his hips—Colt 45’s by the look of them. The fact that he was there, alive, was a relief that was followed by a sharp spike of fear. Because that life could end in an instant. Sam had a rifle too, and Billy . . . Billy looked like he might be sick even as he clung to a shotgun.

My family was with me, but they could be taken in an instant.

“Billy, you and Sam go to the roof. Tell Amalthea I sent you. Pick off any enemies that get close,” I said to them. Sam looked crestfallen, but she went, Billy tagging along behind her after I fist bumped them both. Dad glanced at me, and I shrugged. “They should be safer there.”

“Sam doesn’t want safe,” he pointed out. “She’s like you.”

I smiled. “But Billy isn’t ready for this, not yet.”

He nodded and stayed at my side. “Your mother would be so proud of you.”

I smiled. “She is. I know she is.”

The air all but crackled with power as we stepped out onto the front lawn. The five gates to the Culling Trials stood just south of us. “Keep the gates on your right. We’ll use that line to funnel her to me.”

My dad’s eyes were a weight on me, but I didn’t look at him. I didn’t want him to guess what I planned.

Anything, I would do anything for my people.

Jaw tight, I stood at the front of our group. A moment later, Frost came into view. The length of a football field separated us, and from that distance, I could see her people were stretched out around her. I knew that many of them had been coerced. They outnumbered us three to one, easily.

Wally groaned. “She has my dad.”

I put a hand on her shoulder and spoke to those around us. “Not everyone on her side wants to fight for her, you know that. Do what you can to disable, knock out, and try not to kill.”

“A Shade asking us not to kill,” grumbled a deep voice, and I looked over to Brutus, director of the House of Claw. He smiled at me and winked. “What is this world coming to?”

I smiled, but it was Wally who spoke. “A better place. A safer place.”

He tipped his head to her. “Sister of the Night, you are correct.” Then he let out a bellow, shifted into his rhino form and led the charge with the others from the House of Claw. Pete stayed back.

Three of the other four houses followed, racing into the fray as the first lines of dawn struck out across the treetops. Magic burst through the air with bright sprays of light and dark, the sound of stone grinding against stone as gargoyles lunged toward the oncoming horde. Our breath came in billows of mist, and it took me a moment to realize it was unnaturally cold.

The Shades didn’t rush into the battle. They melted into the shadows around us, using the trees and buildings as they slunk toward the fight.

“They aren’t many from the House of Shadows that fought for her,” Rufus said with more than a little pride in his voice. “And of the few that did, many of them were forced.”

Frost locked her eyes on me. Even at the football field distance between us, I could feel the chill of them.

Rufus, Carson, Gordy and Mara hung back.

“Where is he?” Mara twisted around. “He should be here.”

I knew they meant Nicholas. “I don’t know.” He hadn’t been in the crowd, and I hadn’t seen Ash either.

They weren’t the only ones I was looking for—that unnatural cold made me think of the Darkness. Of its reaching, seeing tentacles. It hadn’t arrived and that made me nervous. More than nervous.

Frost kept moving toward us, and I kept my pace up until there were less than twenty feet between us. The sounds of the battle around us were intense, the shouts and the blast of weapons, of spells ripping things apart.

“You really think you can take me?” Frost laughed softly as she came to a stop. Her long blond hair was woven in an intricate crown of braids, and her blue eyes were as hollow of emotion as ever.

“I think I was born to take you,” I said just as softly. “I think you’ve feared me from the moment you knew I existed.”

Her face twisted up for a split second, and then she smoothed it over. We might as well have been standing there alone for the intensity of the stare between us.

“Nicholas is stronger than me, did you know that?” She smiled. “His innate strength is greater than mine. But I have more people under my control than he would ever take.” Her smile widened. “And I have my Darkness.”

In the back of my head, fear spiked loud and clear—not from my crew, but from two of my other connections.

Billy.

Sam.

I spun in time to see the tentacles of the Darkness rising up the side of the mansion, going straight for my brother and sister. Straight for the alicorns.

“I’m on it!” Carson yelled and bolted back toward the mansion, Gordy ran with him, my dad right behind them. My dad, a null, going to face down the Darkness. And I couldn’t tell him not to try. Not if my brother and sister were in danger.

“You see? You are weak because of your heart. Because of your family. To beat me, you will have to let them die.” She laughed again. “And you will never allow that.”

Her crew ranged out around her, lining up to face off with my own. Like a terrible version of dodgeball. All around us the battle raged on, howls and the boom of magic spells slamming into one another, screaming and the clash of blades and claws.

No bell went off, no flag was waved. We just went from a standstill to engaging with Frost and her crew. I had both my knives out as I swung toward her.

Frost snapped up her wand and shot a spell at me. I cut through it before it could blossom, and she grimaced. “Miserable knives.”

Back and forth we went. Her spells kept me from closing the distance on her, but she couldn’t hit me either.

Ruby might have been the better fighter, the better killer, but Frost was like a dancer. Smooth and agile, she dodged and redirected attack after attack, strong and youthful despite her age because of all the energy she’d stolen from others.

I felt Gregory go down first. A blow to the head flattened him.

I couldn’t look.

Sweat rolled as I blocked another spell that shot straight at my heart. The handle of my blade was overheating, the blade itself turning a dull red.

She was breaking my knives. The realization hit me, and again she laughed. “You see now? I can outlast you. We can outlast all of you.”

Pete was next, and Orin quickly followed, both driven down by blows to the head. She hadn’t given orders to kill him. No, she wanted to own them. She wanted to add us to her little collection.

I snarled and redoubled my pressure on her, driving her closer and closer to the gates on our right. I needed to separate her from her people. I needed to not see what was happening to my friends, to—

A scream of pure panic cut through my focus.

Sam.

Another scream followed and I had to fight every instinct to turn around. I had to finish Frost.

She smiled. “You can’t beat me, Wild.”

Judging by the rays of the sun, we’d been fighting for nearly an hour.

Ethan and Wally were still fighting—I could feel them close to each other, back to back.

Rory was still fighting too, his anger seeping into me, his need to protect me and the others overwhelming. But if we were to win, we needed a respite.

“Wally, take them!” I yelled. “Take them now!”

Wally

Wild’s shout reached me, soft as a whisper on the wind.

“Wally, take them!” she yelled. “Take them now!”

I let out a breath and held up my hands. So many souls. So many souls. The necromancer in front of me was old—I had no idea even who she was with her milky white eyes and whiter hair.

Her magic curled around me as I lowered my defenses. I had to in order to take so many souls at once.

I looked to my side where Death stood, his robes flowing in an unseen wind and his cowled hood looking at me. “She will kill you in seconds.”

I clapped my hands together, holding the house key between them, and drew up every ounce of power I could, pulling from every member of the House of Night. I felt them slump even as I stood taller.

Magic spilled out around me in a storm cloud of sparkling burgundy. I locked eyes with the necromancer in front of me and my voice dropped low. “One hundred percent chance that they. Are. Mine.”

A clap of thunder ripped out of my hands, and my call to the souls of every single one of Frost’s people tore them from their bodies and held them tight.

The necromancer in front of me dropped to the ground. Hands clasped tightly together, I shook as Pete crawled to me and put his paw on my leg. The strength of the House of Claw flowed into me. Then the House of Stone. House of Shadows. House of Wonder.

And I held the souls put.

I would hold them for as long as I could.

Wild

“Impossible!” Frost snarled as every single one of her people dropped.

“Not for her. Not for Wally.”

And then I made the mistake that could cost us everything. I tackled her to the ground.

Frost’s hand came up around my neck, and I blinked, unable to move as her power froze me.

“Stupid, stupid girl. Now I have you, and through you, I have all of them.”

I locked my friends’ bonds away from her, closing them away from me. Cutting them off.

Her hold on me intensified, and I shook to free myself even as her magic washed through me. Her eyes widened. “No. You cannot be stronger than . . . that’s impossible.”

I gritted my teeth as I snapped a fist up between us, smashing her jaw. “Wrong. Word.”

She let me go, but her magic was in me.

Sam screamed again.

Just like in my nightmares, she screamed my name.

“WILD!”

The sound of her panic and fear undid what was left of me. My mother’s voice was in my mind.

You are my wildfire.

I dropped my knives to the ground and pulled my wand free. Frost stared at me. “You are not capable.”

Turning away from her, I ran back toward the rooftop.

The Darkness was spreading, the world turning to ice as those cruel tentacles shot toward our friends. It had climbed up the mansion walls and was reaching for my family and my friends on the ground at the same time. In its tentacles I saw Rufus and Carson. Mara was on the ground and still fighting, but a tentacle grabbed her around the ankle and yanked her up. Rufus bellowed her name.

The alicorns were putting up a fight, Sam at their side, but they were surrounded by the tentacles, even as they fought.

“You cannot stop me,” Frost screamed. “I am the Darkness.”

She was the Darkness.

Well, good. Because I’d been made to stop her.

“Let them go, Wally,” I said. “Let them all go.”

She dropped the souls of those she’d evicted and turned to me. Her eyes were the color of her magic. The boys all clung to her, feeding her their magic, and then I held out my hand.

“We stop this. Right now.”

One by one they stood, and their strength flowed into me. From them, I felt the five houses, and I felt the core of each of them.

Protection.

Loyalty.

Hope.

Faith.

Intelligence.

And there was something more that came from Rory alone. Love. His love for me was a strength unto itself and I held tight to it.

At their hearts, the houses, the forms of magic, were so different from how they presented to the world. I drew them into me and let the power fill me up.

One spell, two words.

Either I would save them all, or we were done.

The Darkness slithered away from the mansion, its body massive, a Godzilla of monsters. It shot toward our group, tentacles heaving across the ground, eyes on us as it froze everything in its path.

I drew in a breath and pointed my wand at the oncoming Darkness.

I could have shouted the word, could have screamed it. But that didn’t feel right.

Instead, I breathed it into existence on an exhale of air.

“Wildfire.”

24

“Wildfire!” The word slid out of me, and my arm shook, the wand in my hand heating up. I held on tight even as that heat began to burn.

The Darkness reared above us, tentacles wrapping around us and pinning us together.

Fear spiked through my belief that I was doing the right thing. Fear that I’d gotten it wrong, that I’d misunderstood, and we would all suffer for it.

Nothing came from the wand. Wildfire was not a real spell.

Ethan’s hand dropped over mine even as the wand kept heating up. “Wildfire,” he said.

Wally’s hand came next. “Wildfire.”

Rory reached under my hand and steadied me. “Wildfire.”

Orin and Gregory reached forward together. “Wildfire.”

“Wildfire!” Pete shouted as he laid his hand on all of ours. “Holy cats, WILDFIRE!”

I closed my eyes. “Wildfire.” I trusted my mom, I knew she wouldn’t lead me wrong here, but I was still so afraid . . . Wildfire Wildfire Wildfire Wildfire.

Tentacles wrapped around us, liquid ice, and the others gasped as we were crushed together.

The wand vibrated, and I pulled on all the power within us, all the power the houses had to give as the cold sucked whatever warmth was in our bodies away.

The scorching heat of the wand made me whimper, and then I was screaming as the wand burst into flames under my hands.

This was not how it was supposed to go.

“Hang on!” Ethan said. “Just hang on!”

“You got this, Wild!” Rory said, his voice right at my ear. “I believe in you.”

I forced my fingers to clutch at the flame even as my skin was eaten up.

Like a cresting wave, the power in us finally peaked and then . . . the tip of the wand exploded, a column of fire erupting from it ten feet wide that shot out and slammed into the heart of the Darkness.

The beast dropped us, and we hit the ground, still clinging to one another even as the flames reached back and wrapped around us.

I directed the wand at the Darkness, not letting off for an instant despite the mind-numbing pain. The flames were eating up along my arm now.

The power of the five houses rolled through me. I didn’t reserve any of it for myself but kept pushing it through. Pushing it into the spell.

A spell from my mother.

The Darkness writhed as it shrunk, as the flames ate it away piece by piece.

Someone was screaming behind us. Someone who sounded an awful lot like Frost.

“Stop her!” Frost screamed. “Stop her!”

For the magic to continue, my friends couldn’t let me go.

Which meant we were sitting ducks as Frost’s people came for us.

A whoosh of leathery wings, the thump of heavy feet as Ash hit the ground, and then a stone wall erupted out of the ground, shielding us from the oncoming battle.

“Keep on, young ones. We have your backs!” he bellowed.

Those that had been downed by the Darkness rose slowly, shaking their heads.

I could only stare into the eyes of the beast in front of us.

Blue eyes.

Eyes like Frost.

“This is how we stop her,” I yelled. “We kill the Darkness.”

The funny thing was, I wasn’t feeling the pain of the flames anymore. The wand in my hand was still on fire, but I felt nothing. Probably that was a bad sign.

“How much more power does the spell need?” Gregory asked.

I looked at Ethan, and he nodded. “Everything. We’ll need everything we’ve got to stop her.”

I knew he was right before he even finished speaking.

“Let’s finish this.”

The power draw that we had on the five houses redoubled as we opened ourselves more to the connection.

I wanted to push my friends away, not because I didn’t need their help, but because I could feel the end coming.

Everything, Ethan had said. And that meant it would cost our lives too. I didn’t want to take them with me.

The power surged through me, too much for any one person to take, and yet I let it flow through me and into the still-raging wildfire that was driving the Darkness back but not killing it.

We were close. So close.

Frost screamed again.

The pull on my friends was beyond intense. No, not just friends. They’d become another family. In a lurch, I pulled away from them, and their cries filled my ears as the flames engulfed me, and I faced the Darkness down alone.

Now was the time, and the words screamed out of me. “WILDFIRE!”

Rory

Wild pushed us back, and the flames ripped up and around her, eating her alive even as she screamed into the Darkness.

“NO!” I lunged for her, but an explosion rippled out and around her, throwing us all back. The stone wall crumbled, the backlash from the explosion sending out a shockwave that dropped every single person to the ground.

I rolled onto my belly and raced toward her.

I would not lose her.

Not like this.

I caught her as she fell, her blue eyes blinking up at me. She wasn’t burned, not the way I would have expected at least. A few scorch marks, the tips of her hair singed, but that was it. It shouldn’t have been possible. Then again, Wild was the person who had always made the impossible possible, from the moment she’d survived falling into the rattlesnake nest when she was thirteen to now, facing down the dark magic that had haunted our world for years.

“Is it gone?” she whispered.

I made myself look away from her to where the Darkness had raged. A single crystal of ice sat on the ground, and it melted away as I watched.

“You did it.”

“No, we did it,” she whispered. “I love you, Rory. Have for a long time.”

“Don’t you say your goodbyes,” I growled as I pulled her closer. “Don’t you dare!” I twisted around. “Ethan, she needs healing. Get Mara!”

But it was Wally’s face that I locked on to. The way her eyes were to the right of Wild. The way she shook her head.

No.

No this was not happening.

Ethan grabbed Wally, and they ran to us. “Wally,” he said. “You can stop this.”

She put a hand on Wild and I knew . . . “She’s gone.”

“So, bring her back!” Ethan snapped. “You did it for me, and you didn’t even like me!”

“I would if I could!” Wally yelled back at him. “I need her to make it happen—I need a focal point that brings us all together, I can’t bring her back without her!” A sob escaped her. “I can’t do it without her.”

I held Wild to my chest, breathing her in. The Darkness was gone. Frost was beaten. But the cost had been too much. This was too much.

The sounds of Sam and Billy screaming Wild’s name cut through the white noise raging in my head. Her dad dropped to his knees beside me. I should have given her up to him, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t let her go. The shaking started deep within my gut, and I couldn’t stop.

“I can help.”

We all turned to see Nicholas standing there. “I can help.”

“We aren’t tied to you,” Wally whispered.

He smiled. “She did what I should have done. What I was afraid to do. It’s why I failed back in the stone circle.” He dropped to his knees. “But I think the world still needs her.” He didn’t touch Wild but instead picked up Wally’s hand. “You know what I’m saying. A trade. A chameleon for a chameleon.”

Wild

I looked around me. So, this was death? Not too bad.

The fields were green, tall with lush grass and flowers that speckled through them. A breeze pushed the tops of them around bringing me the sweet scent of spring. I was wearing a summer dress, the material soft against my skin. I raised a hand to my eyes and in the distance there were horses. No, as they lifted their heads, I saw the horns. Unicorns. “Cool.”

“Wild!” Tommy’s voice snapped me around. He was running through the field toward me, a grin on his face, and then I was running toward him too, laughing. He scooped me up in his arms and spun me, just like when we were younger. I clung to him. Not caring that I was crying. Happy tears, but still tears that tracked my cheeks.

“Tommy, we did it. We stopped her!”

“I knew you’d do it!” He laughed and set me down and then his eyes softened. “You died to make it happen, Wild. Do you understand?”

I nodded. “I think I knew from the beginning that this wasn’t going to end in a happily ever after. At least not for me. But maybe for Sam and Billy. They have a chance now. Everyone has a chance now.”

Tommy winked. “We are arguably the best big brother and sister around. We gave them that chance.”

I rolled my eyes. “Full of yourself as always.”

“Wild.”

I turned to see Mom walking toward us. Her long blond hair was braided to the side and her blue eyes were full of tears. “My girl, my beautiful, brave girl.” She held out her arms and I fell into them, breathing her in. Feeling her arms around me. How many times had I wished she could still hold me like this? A thousand, thousand times since she’d died.

“I never doubted you, my beautiful Wildfire.”

I looked up at her. “How did you know that spell would work?”

Her smile was full of bemusement. “It was no spell. It’s just what I called you when you were being spicy.”

My jaw dropped. “You mean it wasn’t . . .”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t a real spell. But if someone had told you it wasn’t, do you think it would have worked?”

It was my turn to shake my head. “No.”

She pulled me tightly to her, and Tommy wrapped his arms around both of us. “It’s going to be beyond hard on your father to lose you too,” she whispered. “To lose your children before you is . . . is not right. It is not the order of things.”

She smoothed my hair back from my face. “I love you, Wild. With all my heart and soul. My children were worth everything that we went through.”

I stared up at her as her arms slid a little away from me . . . no, not from me, through me.

“What’s happening?” I reached for her and Tommy and my hands didn’t touch solid anything. “Mom?”

They shared a look of surprise and then she smiled.

“Your friends love you fiercely, my girl. Live for us all, Wild.” Her smile was tender, and Tommy’s was lopsided.

“Yeah, get drunk for me at least once, I never did get to do that.”

Mom smacked him, and I grinned. “But how?”

A figure appeared in the space where we stood. Tall, blond, the same lopsided grin as Tommy.

Mom gasped his name. “Nicholas.”

“I should have done it right the first time,” he said as he pulled his sister into his arms. “But I made it right. I made it right, Lexi.”

He looked at me and lifted a hand. “Be safe, niece. Your family needs you to keep being who you are. Never forget that. And never forget that you are loved beyond measure.”

25

Orin

Her heartbeat was what came through first. Just a single thump, weak and uncertain, even as Nicholas closed his eyes. Wally had a hand on each of them, and her head was bowed as she made the trade with Death.

The strain on her was incredible, and I crouched behind her and gave her some of my strength. When the others offered to do the same, I shook my head. “This is a task for the House of Night.”

I let my friend draw power from me as a master from a servant, only . . . it was not like that with us. It could have been if we were different people.

Sister. She was my sister. And I would help her however I could.

I smiled and leaned my head against her back.

The feeling of eyes on us was intense. Others from the House of Night approached as we worked together, as I gave her my strength freely. I felt the murmurs against my skin, but I didn’t care what they thought.

I trusted Wally.

And I would do anything to get Wild back.

Rory

“She’s breathing.”

Wild gasped in my arms, her eyelids fluttering as a groan slid from her. But she didn’t wake up.

Wally slumped to the side, and Orin and Pete caught her, holding her carefully. Wally’s eyes were closed too.

There was a moment of absolute silence, and then Mara snapped her fingers. “Get them inside. Those who can heal need to start circulating. Rufus, get Frost’s crew into chains.”

“Yes ma’am.” He kissed her on the cheek and jogged off, a hand circling in the air to bring the House of Shadows to him.

He didn’t even look at me. He knew I wasn’t going anywhere.

I scooped Wild up, and Sam, Billy, and their dad paced beside me. We got her into the mansion and into the hospital wing.

Mara worked on Wild herself.

“She’s our best healer,” I said to Wild’s family.

Her dad dropped a hand on my shoulder. “I know, Rory. She’s going to be okay.”

“I love her,” I blurted out.

He chuckled. “I know that too. Why do you think I gave you that knife before you left? I wanted you to have the best chance of coming back to her.”

I nodded. “And my father—”

“If I’d had the strength, I would have stopped him from hurting you years ago,” he said softly. “I’m so very sorry, Rory. That you weren’t safe.”

I swallowed hard. “Thank you.”

Even knowing that we were past the worst of it, I was scared that something else would steal our victory from us.

That Frost would come back.

That the Darkness wasn’t really gone.

That Wild wasn’t truly safe.

I bowed my head over her hand, holding it tightly in my own. I was scared as hell that something else would take her from me.

“Never again, Wild.” I kissed the back of her hand. “You aren’t getting away from me again.”

Wild

I woke up with a splitting headache, a mouth full of dust, and eyes that felt glued shut.

Well, crap. The hereafter had been better than this garbage feeling. If not for the whole being dead part, I wouldn’t have minded going back.

“Where am I?” I groaned as I rolled to the side. Cushiony blankets and pillows surrounded me—and then I bumped into a body.

A furry, grumbling body. “Pete?”

About time you woke up. You’ve been asleep for two days.

I rubbed my hands over my eyes and pushed myself into a sitting position. The bed was massive, like a double king bed, and my entire crew was piled onto it. Not everyone was touching, but they were all close, which made me smile. Gregory was near Ethan. Orin was stretched out behind Wally, and Pete was between Wally and me. Rory was against my back, his arm over my waist.

“I hope that at some point this group sleep thing will fade in popularity,” he rumbled, eyes still closed.

I reached over to the side table and the tall glass of water there. Slugging it back, I sighed. “It’s the danger that did it.”

They all blinked awake at that. “What do you mean?” Wally asked.

“The danger pushed us to stay close together. Now that there isn’t the same kind of danger, we won’t be so needy.” I shrugged. “At least that’s what it feels like to me.”

I struggled out of the bed, crawling over a grumbling Pete, and made my way to the bathroom.

A shower and some clean clothes later, I was feeling more alive than ever before.

And considering I’d been dead, that was saying something.

As a group, we made our way down to the dining hall and the second we stepped in, the room erupted into cheers.

Cheering that went on and on and on. Grimacing, I stepped back and pointed to my friends. Then the cheers really went wild as each of the houses cheered one of their own for their part in saving the magical world.

The slightest tingle of warning spun me around.

Rufus stood there, aviators off and a smile on his face.

“You look different,” I said.

“When you killed the Darkness, the backlash of power killed Frost. It wiped out her crew too, and those who were fully tied to her were also taken out.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “Who would have thought when I found you in a pig pen that you’d end up saving us.”

We walked side by side into the room. “It was not a pig pen. It was the cow pen.”

“Same kind of shit,” he said.

“Actually, no, it’s not,” I pointed out.

He arched a brow at me. “You want to argue about cow shit?”

I shook my head as a waft of cooking bacon, pancakes, and syrup turned my head. “No, I most definitely do not.”

All I wanted to do was eat, and to savor the knowledge that for the first time since Tommy had received that letter from Shadowspell Academy, everyone I loved was safe. They were all safe.

And if darkness of any kind came for them again . . . I looked at my friends and felt their attention turn to me. Wally. Pete. Orin. Ethan. Gregory. Rory. I nodded, and they nodded back.

We would be here.

And we would stop whatever would bring this world to its knees. With a cowboy boot, right up the bad guy’s ass.

About the Author

Hey hey, you made it to the end! Yay! About me is really just a place for you to click on those little buttons before if you feel like keeping track of me, new books, and whatever else I’m up to (shenanigans abound!)

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Want something more to read? Not sure where to start with my back list of books? Here’s a couple ideas!

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