Night's End

Chapter 11

“Cicely? Cicely! Can you hear me?”

The voice echoed through the mist again. I stumbled forward, knowing that I had to follow the voice. And then, behind the voice, I heard a song. It sounded familiar. The melody was haunting and made me want to follow it, no matter where it led me. I looked around, wondering where I was.

And then another memory hit me and I knew. I was in the slipstream. I wasn’t sure why, but that was the name for this place. I was in the slipstream, journeying through a darkened passageway filled with mist and fog. I thought I saw the silhouettes of trees as I began to speed up, and then boulders hidden by the fog. A pale light streamed down from overhead, but whether it was the moon or sun wasn’t clear in this monochromatic land.

And then I was running, following the voice, suddenly eager to get out of this place and back to . . . Where was I heading back to? I didn’t know, but wherever it was, it felt like home. I was going home, and once I arrived there, I’d know who I was and why I’d made this journey.

The mist began to thicken, until it surrounded me, and I felt like I was choking. Another minute, and I was breathing fog soup. I stumbled out, into what seemed a very bright light, and lastly, I opened my eyes. I was in the living room, and I remembered my name—I was Cicely. And I had been Violet. And I had been Cherish.

And . . .

. . . now I knew what Myst’s vulnerability was. And I knew how to destroy her. The only question left was: Where would I find her heartstone?

I struggled to sit up, dazed and wondering what time it was. Squinting in the candlelight that had just a few minutes ago seemed bright as the sun, I realized that the candles were half-melted, and there was a faint light outside.

“What time is it?” My voice sounded like it was stretched, my throat was parched, and I felt like I’d been screaming for hours.

Ysandra brushed the hair off my forehead, and then she pressed a cool cloth to my cheeks. The chill felt comforting against my skin, which was hot and inflamed. As I struggled to sit up, Grieve sat on the sofa next to me and braced my back. I leaned against him, the cool of his skin a welcome respite.

“What time is it?” I couldn’t quite focus on the clock—my vision was blurry, and I wasn’t seeing all that well, but I knew it would wear off as I pulled further out of the trance.

“Four thirty in the morning. You were out for several hours, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to bring you back. How are you feeling? Are you nauseated? Ears ringing? Headache?” As she listed off the symptoms, I could tell Ysandra was searching for something. Probably a clue as to whether I’d permanently damaged anything.

I sucked in a long breath, examining my body. How did I feel? Pinpricks where it felt like I had lain in one position too long. Tingles ran through my arm as I moved off of it. But that was nothing to worry over. Headache? Slight one, yes. But no ringing of the ears. And my stomach, while a little upset, wasn’t in danger of losing my dinner.

“I feel like I have a mild hangover, but that’s about it. Mild queasiness, a slight headache. Nothing major that I can tell. But I do know one thing.” I gazed up at the ring of faces gathered round.

They waited, expectantly.

“I know how to destroy Myst. I’m just not all that certain on where to find what we need in order to do so.”

Of course, my statement incited an outpouring of conversation. Luna, even in her anger, which I could still see seething beneath the surface, hurried over to the sofa to listen.

Peyton appeared, a cool glass of water in her hand. I downed it and asked for another, and after that—a third. When my throat was no longer parched, I told them what I’d seen, and what I’d discovered. And as I spoke, I felt something inside had changed. There was a part of me that felt like it had always needed to be there, but had been missing.

Violet. For some reason, I’d needed to be reunited with Violet.

Who she’d been, when she’d lived, remained unclear. But the fact was I’d returned to life too soon—before Grieve—and I’d known about our pact. I’d taken my own life again to go in search of him. Violet had known very well that the fly agaric would poison her. But in whatever wisdom her—my—soul had possessed, she’d swallowed them down and sped out into the slipstream again.

You need to know me because I can give you something you never had—a happy childhood. I was happy, until I realized I’d come back at the wrong time.

Her voice echoed in my head . . . or perhaps it was my gut. The words were muffled, but the feeling came through loud and clear. And the tattoo of the little Fae girl on my chest suddenly laughed, and tickled me. She’d woken a few times, but only briefly. My owl tattoos had woken when I’d discovered the owl-shifter within. My wolf had always been connected to Grieve. But my belladonna faerie? She belonged to me, to a part of me that had been cut out too quickly, if out of necessity.

I laughed at her tickling; it was playful and joyful and with a slightly wicked sense of humor. Everybody stared at me, and I realized they had no clue what I was laughing about.

“I’m just glad to be alive. Even with everything we’re facing, I’m grateful I’m here and that I have all of you. And that I’ve found . . . a part of myself that I never knew about.” As I said the words, I knew they were true. I’d never felt particularly joyful about my life, but now, here in this room at four thirty in the morning, facing one of the most dangerous adversaries we could be facing, I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was hug everyone dear to me and tell them I loved them. So I did just that. And when they stared at me like I was off my rocker, I laughed again.

And then I slept like the dead.

By the time I woke, it was nearing noon. I was in my old bed, and Peyton was sitting near me. She was knitting something—I couldn’t tell what it was, but I hadn’t even known Peyton could work a needle.

I struggled to sit up, and squinted. The snow was holding off but, as usual, the skies were overcast. Stretching, I sniffed my armpit and grimaced. I needed a shower. Bad. Though my clothes had been removed and I was in a long nightgown, the fact was I smelled like I’d been in a bar fight. The combination of the fighting, the blood, and the herbs in the tincture did not for a pleasant combination make.

“Shower?” Peyton smiled, holding out a towel and some bath gel. “The bathroom’s empty. Go to it.”

I slid out from beneath the covers, the cold floor no longer bothering my feet. I smiled softly. For so many years I’d hated waking up because of cold tile or cold hardwood. Now, I’d never mind it again. One of many blessings in disguise.

“Peyton . . . how are you doing? Your mother . . . Rex . . .” Both of her parents had been killed by the rogue vampire Geoffrey. In the intervening weeks, I hadn’t had a chance to ask her how she was coping.

Her doe-eyed gaze was solemn, but she seemed to be holding the tears at bay. “I’m managing. Some days are harder than others. I’ve contacted my father’s Pride, and when this is over . . . when Myst is found and defeated, I’ll visit them to take my vision quest. Then I’ll return here and run my investigations agency. I’m going to be okay, Cicely. I’ll be all right.”

I wanted to say something to help, but at this point, only time would heal. She knew how I felt. I’d been with her both when Rex, and then Anadey, died. “What about the diner?”

“Up for sale. Asking a song and a prayer. Half of what it’s valued at, but it’s worth it to me. I hated working there, and Mother . . . I’ve still got so many conflicting emotions surrounding her death. She tried to kill you, Cicely. She tried to have my father killed. Even though she protected me at the end, it’s rather difficult to have much sympathy at this point. I’d rather just let her go quietly. Forget my life with her and make a new one.”

I nodded. I knew exactly what she meant. When I’d found Krystal dead in an alley, I’d pilfered her pockets, closed her eyes, and turned my back on the past as I walked away from her body. After calling the cops—anonymously—I’d taken off and had never seen her again. I didn’t even know what they’d done with her remains. Now, a pang raced through me. Did the mortuary still have her ashes? If so, I could claim them. Lay her to rest in the woods where we staked Heather, so the two sisters could be together again.

You know they aren’t around, Cicely. Their spirits have moved on.

I know, Ulean, but the poetry of it . . . Sometimes the gesture is more important than the meaning behind it. I don’t know if I’m explaining that right, but sometimes . . .

I know what you mean. Let it rest, girl. Take your shower. There is much to do today, and just because you now know how to destroy Myst, doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a walk in the park.

I nodded; then, feeling I needed to say something to Peyton, I opened my mouth. But by then she was back to her knitting and looking quietly content, so I picked up my towel and cinnamon-scented bath gel, and headed in to take a long shower.

As I lathered up, I ran over what I remembered about the night before. The images from my journey were clearer now. A good night’s sleep had provided enough distance to give me insight to everything I’d seen.

The Barrow in which I’d seen Myst hide her heartstone? I knew the lay of the land around it. I vaguely remembered seeing an area deep in the Golden Wood that resembled it. Had Myst created the Barrow centuries ago? Thousands of years ago? Even if she’d deserted it, chances were I could find it again. And if I did . . . could I possibly find the entrance to where she had taken her heartstone?

I scrubbed my body thoroughly as I thought over everything that had happened. Violet—she’d been important to meet, and while I still wasn’t sure why, I felt whole now. Meeting that part of myself seemed to have given me back some joy robbed from me during my childhood in this life. Violet hadn’t been unhappy. She merely realized she was in the wrong time period, and so she had found a way to leave it.

By the time I finished lathering and rinsing my hair, I was deep in thought, trying to sort out where and when I had seen the area surrounding Myst’s Barrow. It was definitely deep in the Golden Wood, long before there had been a New Forest to border it. Long before there had been a Seattle . . . or a United States of America to mark borders and territories.

I knew it was farther back into the wood than the Twin Hollies. So deep that we never routinely passed by it. And then . . . then, a memory tugged at me. I knew where it was. One day, a long time ago when Rhia and I were five and just starting to know Grieve and Chatter, we’d gone for a walk and gotten lost in the woods. We kept going, certain we’d be able to find our way out again.

The drowsy bees had bumbled by, a deer had brought her fawn out for us to see, and she had stopped, allowing us to pet the young doe. We were totally unaware of how rare a gift she’d given us. At one point, we lay down and took a nap around noon, in the shade of a giant cedar. An hour or so later, we were worried—home seemed so far away, and we’d gotten turned around, no longer sure of where we were. So we kept walking.

By early evening, we came to a stream and followed it, and then . . . A flash of memory showed me a mound in the earth nearby. We were headed toward it, pulled toward it, but the next thing I could remember, we were back at the edge of the Golden Wood. Dazed, but none the worse for wear, we raced out across the yard, safe into the house.

“I had totally forgotten that memory,” I whispered to myself. “The Barrow—that had to be Myst’s Barrow. We were far too deep in the woods for it to be the Marburry Barrow, or even the Eldburry. And we didn’t make it through any portal. There was no shift there that I can remember.”

Focused, I hopped out of the shower and quickly slipped into clean underwear, jeans, and a pre-laced corset that Druise had sent from home. This one had a zipper and I quickly zipped it up and then slid on a pair of ankle boots. Sturdy, they had a platform heel that I could run in. I pulled the brush through my hair, sleeking it back, not worrying about drying it, and plopped my crown on my head, then—sans makeup—ran downstairs.

“I remember! I know where her Barrow was!” I skidded to a halt in the kitchen, staring at the group of solemn faces sitting around the table. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”

Ysandra put a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me and poured me some coffee. “The Shadow Hunters hit again, though this time they left the police station alone. But they’ve attacked over in Snoqualmie. They are branching out, and there seem to be far more of them now. Myst has called in all her reserves.”

“What about defense? The police? The National Guard?” Even as I spoke, I knew that the National Guard would be of no earthly use against them. The Shadow Hunters could be killed by bullets, yes, but they were deadly foes, and crafty, and they were adept at culling their victims without being seen.

She shook her head. “You know as well as I do that the police don’t know what to do, and I gather they were talking about calling in the military, but you see . . . a blizzard has sprung up near there. And I do mean a blizzard. The storm is moving in quickly, spreading over the entire northwest. No helicopters can fly in it, or planes. Driving is hazardous at best. We’ll soon be in whiteout conditions as it spreads. Myst has started her march, and if she can hold the weather steady, she has a good chance of gaining a stronghold before anybody can do anything.”

Nature could still put a stop to even the most devilish of mankind’s machinations. Blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes—not much of our weaponry could do anything against the natural forces of the world, and it seemed that the more we tried to control it, the more the world fought back. This time, there just happened to be a mad queen at the helm.

“Have you contacted the Consortium? Have they gotten off their asses about this matter?” I was growing very weary of the noninterference policy the magical group was taking.

“We do have the warriors they sent—the Elite Unit. I was in charge of one just like this, you remember, not long ago. But they are few, and the enemy is strong. I called the council again this morning, but the phone lines are down. The storm is close enough to be driving static between us and the outer world. I expect the winds and snow to pick up within the next couple of hours.” Ysandra stirred a spoonful of sugar into her coffee, frowning.

I dug into my breakfast, needing the fuel. Between the fighting and the journey I’d taken last night, I was famished. “Regina and Lannan are asleep, of course. Did they contact you last night after I passed out? Do we have any news from them that I should know about?”

Rhiannon cupped her hot tea, and the longer she held the sides of her mug, the more it steamed. I laughed when I noticed it. “You can warm up your food no problem now.”

She snorted. “Yeah, but you should see me with ice cream—not quite the effect I want.” With a laugh, she raised her mug in salute.

I grinned at her. “Well, you ever need me to freeze it again, just call.” Sometimes it took a joke, however feeble it might be, to lighten the mood.

After that, she leaned back, her eyes crinkling. “Lannan sent word this morning, before dawn. They’ve got one of their strongest day-runners on the switchboard. If anything comes down, anything, call her—her name is Dakota—and she’ll get the information to them as soon as possible. She also has the authority to dispatch day-runners to us, should we need them for anything.”

“We’d better send her the info on what’s going on near Snoqualmie, if you haven’t already done so.” I paused, then looked up. “I suppose you’re waiting for me to ask ‘What’s our next move?’ but the truth is I know what we have to do. We’re taking the offense. We have to find that Barrow, see if we can unearth Myst’s heartstone, and then destroy it. Even though I think I know where it is, this is going to be a rocky journey. We can traverse the wood, no problem, but if she has any clue we’re on her trail, then you can bet we’ll be facing a gamut of her monsters. And this time, it might not be just her Shadow Hunters.”

And then something from the mayhem and chaos of the night before broke into my thoughts. Ulean, you were following the energy signature of the person I thought might be my spy! Did you find anything?

Ulean swept around me. I think I know who it is, but I can’t prove it. And I hesitate to accuse without proof.

Who, then? Who do you suspect? I promise I won’t haul ass over there and slit her throat without any proof. I knew what it was like to be falsely suspected of something—I couldn’t just kill and ask questions later. Not in this case.

Well, then. Zoey. Luna’s sister. Luna has no comprehension this might be the case. I followed the signature back and found evidence that it might be her.

Zoey! It couldn’t be! But Zoey is one of the Akazzani, and she returned home after helping us.

Did she, Cicely? We all thought so, but now I believe her to be still lurking in the area. Ask Luna if she’s heard from her sister since Zoey left. Don’t tell her why, but ask.

My blood ran cold. Zoey was from a group of those who watched over history—a secret society. She had magical powers—in a sense, she was a witch, but not like Rhiannon or me. Zoey had helped free Grieve from Myst’s control using a magical ritual. While she could not break the spell binding his blood to the Indigo Court, she’d reached out, touched Myst’s energy, and unwound it from Grieve’s. Oh hell . . . she’d touched Myst’s energy. Had something happened during the ritual that we didn’t know about? Something that connected Zoey to Myst? We’d invited her to stay on, but she went back to the small island on which the great halls of the Akazzani stood. Or so we’d thought.

I looked up from my eggs and bacon. “Luna, I know you’d rather not talk to me, but I have a question for you and I really need a clear answer.”

Luna bit her lip. “No, I’d rather not talk to you. But until this is over, until we win, I’m willing to stop qualifying every sentence or question.”

Nodding, I dreaded asking what I was about to ask. “I was just wondering, have you heard from Zoey lately?”

Her head jerked up, and she frowned. “Odd you should ask. The answer is no. In fact, I got a strange call from my family this morning. The Akazzani contacted Mother a few days ago to ask where Zoey was. It seems . . .” She let out a long sigh. “It seems she hasn’t been heard from for a few weeks. In fact, the word is that she never returned after leaving here. I didn’t tell Mother about her visit here, of course, or what we were doing. But the timing matches up.”

And then I knew it was true. Zoey had somehow latched on to Myst during the ceremony, and Myst had won her over. That was the only answer. But if there was a spy in my Court that must mean . . . that Zoey was hiding in the Court of Snow and Ice.

I grabbed Grieve’s hand. “I have to talk to you. Now.” Nodding to Check and Fearless, I added, “You too, both of you. Come outside with me.”

Once we were out in the backyard, I quickly briefed them on what Ulean had told me. “Don’t you see? With what Luna said, it has to be Zoey. She must be hiding in the Court of Snow and Ice. I’m sure she could figure out how to blend in.”

“But why? What happened? She was so adamant about returning to the Akazzani.” Grieve frowned.

“Something had to have happened during the ritual—something she didn’t let on about. While Kaylin and Luna held Grieve’s feet and head, somehow Zoey got swept into the energy of the Indigo Court. At least, that’s my best guess.”

Who knew what really had happened? And unless we found Zoey—and even then, only if she told us—we’d probably go to our graves without knowing.

“So she’s jealous of you?” Grieve cocked his head. “Why?”

“I have no idea. Maybe it has to do with you, or my place as Fae Queen, or what. But there is danger there. She works for Myst now. Ulean couldn’t be sure, but this rings a bell deep within me, and I’m going to trust my intuition. If we find her, we’ll have to question her as quickly as possible. I won’t have her harmed on sight—because we don’t know for sure, but it’s looking more and more like we’ve found our spy.”

Check glanced over to Fearless. “We must dispatch someone to the Eldburry Barrow. Have them begin searching for her. If she’s hidden out, chances are she’s keeping below deck. Probably with the scullery staff or other menial workers. That would be the last place to look, given the high profile of the nobility.”

Fearless nodded. “Your Majesty, you cannot return to the Barrow till we find her. There’s too much danger.”

I wanted to go home, but with all that was happening, chances were I wouldn’t see my own bed again till we were done with Myst. As we stood there, the snow began to flake down and the sky clouded over. I glanced at the horizon. Silver-gray clouds banked up, so thick it was hard to see anything else. No scrap of sky peeked through, and the snow that was just beginning felt a precursor to a much larger storm.

“We’re headed into the thick of things. The blizzard is approaching. Any travel is bound to be dangerous, and the Shadow Hunters will be out thick as thieves. We need to contact Dakota and ask her to issue radio and television pleas for people to lock themselves in their houses and not come out.” I turned to go inside. “Oh, and until we know what’s going on with Zoey? Not a word to Luna. I’ve already turned her world upside down once. I don’t need to do it again, until we’re certain of the facts.”

They nodded, and we turned to head back inside, but a flutter of wings stopped me. I whirled around to see my grandfather land on a nearby bush. The heavy layer of snow cascaded to the ground as the bush shook from his impact. The great horned owl was beautiful in the lazy fall of the snow, but the flurry was strengthening, and it was becoming harder to see more than a few yards in front of us. A haze of white was beginning to blow up as the winds gusted by. I thought about using my powers to try to calm them, but I did better raising the winds, and the last thing we needed right now was a gale.

The owl shimmered, changing form into Hunter, my grandfather, who then rose to his feet to stand atop the four-foot drift that blanketed the outer yard.

“Cicely, I promised you that I’d bring word when I knew where Myst is headquartered. I’m not sure, my girl. I wish we could have more answers for you.” He strode over to me.

“What about deep in the Golden Wood? In a long-unused Barrow?”

“I know what you’re talking about. No, she is not there now, but she may be close—her energy is around the area, and we examined that neck of the woods in-depth.” He gazed into my eyes. “How do you know of it?”

I let out a long sigh. The story was too convoluted for a quick explanation, so I simply said, “I revisited the time in which I was her daughter. I saw the Barrow, and I saw her hide a heartstone deep within its heart. We must journey there. I have to destroy her heartstone before she realizes that we know about it.”

“The blizzard is hitting, Cicely. It’s going to be dangerous.”

“Maybe so, but if we go now, she won’t be expecting it. She’s narcissistic, she’s going to be focused on the havoc she’s causing over in Snoqualmie. We have the time right now to get there. Yes, even for us it will be dangerous, but I think we should take advantage of this window.” I looked over to the Golden Wood. It was hard to even see the border of it now through the whirl of snow, but the dark silhouettes of the trees were a blur against the white.

Hunter surprised the hell out of me. He stepped forward. “I will go with you, then. If my granddaughter does not fear the blizzard, then I will follow. You are the Queen of Snow and Ice. I am part of your realm, as was my son, before he fell in love with the Summer.”

“The Queen will not travel without her guards. When do you want to head out?” Check stretched, shading his eyes from the storm.

“I think as soon as we gear up and eat a little more. We shouldn’t waste any more time than necessary. I have a feeling that we are in the grace of a window right now. We can make haste. Once Zoey is found, if there’s a way she can communicate with Myst, you know she will.” The more I thought about it, the more urgent I felt that we make our move. I was antsy, and nervous, and as I looked up at the sky, I could almost imagine Myst staring down at me.

“Listen to the Queen,” Grieve said, and as he spoke, my wolf shifted. “I can feel her uneasiness. Let us go. Now.”

And so we entered the house again. I chose not to wear the leathers—they were heavy and would bog me down in the snow. We needed to move fast, and light. I motioned for the others to gather around the kitchen table.

“Where did Ysandra go?” She wasn’t around anywhere in the house.

“I’m not sure, but she mentioned something about attending to an urgent situation and took off with her crew from the Consortium. I thought they were just headed outside.” Chatter frowned, looking around. “Has anybody else heard from her?”

Rhiannon shook her head. “No—she can’t have been gone long.”

“Well, we’ll have to start the meeting without her.” I was irritated. People needed to check with me before running off to take care of errands. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. We have to split up. I don’t like it any more than you do, so keep your complaints. But this is how it’s going to be. I will lead a group into the Golden Wood. We go in search of Myst’s heartstone.”

“We’re going with you.” Peyton set her jaw. I recognized the stubborn streak in her rising.

“You can’t.” I didn’t want Luna and Peyton prowling the woods. I didn’t want them out there, endangering themselves. “We need to fly through the forest, my friend. And very few can match our speeds. Besides, somebody needs to be here to guard the Veil House and wait for the vampires to wake.”

“What about Rhiannon and me?” Chatter cupped his mug of tea. “What would you like us to do?”

“We will leave most of our Fae warriors here to guard the house and, if needed, scour the town. They will report directly to you and Rhiannon. Rhia, you’re in charge. If you have to, you and Chatter can lead another routing on the town. But be cautious—this storm is going to become far worse before long. A whiteout is nothing to get caught in. And very hard to navigate.”

“I need to go with you, Cicely.” Kaylin cocked his head. “I have to go with you.”

I stared at him and something deep inside whispered, Let him. “All right—but my men will have to help you. No bitching about it.”

“Understood.”

As we armed up, my cell phone rang. It was Ysandra. I quickly punched the Answer button. “Yes?”

“Cicely? I need your help.”

“Where are you? What’s going on?”

She sounded frightened, and when Ysandra was afraid, that meant there was trouble, big-time. “I’m over at the school a few blocks away. Dakota—Lannan’s day-runner—texted to let me know there were children trapped in the school. Parents have been calling the emergency vehicles but nobody can get through. They thought we might be able to do something since we’re near. Everybody was busy, and the school is so near the house that I decided to bring my group of Consortium guards over to gather the kids up—it’s only a few blocks away, and I thought it would be easy enough. But it’s all gone horribly wrong.”

Oh fuck, no. “What’s going on? Shadow Hunters?”

“I wish it was just them. No, Myst sent in more than the Vampiric Fae on the snows. We have snow weavers building webs outside the school, and they are trying to get in. I heard rumors that some houses in Snoqualmie are covered with webbing. They’ve come in force, Cicely. This is Myst’s full push. It’s now or never. Either we defeat her this time, or she will lay waste to this region and pick up steam.”

I stared at my phone. “I’m putting you on speaker, give me a second to fill in the others on what you’ve said so far.”

As I ran down what she told me, then tapped the button to put Ysandra on speaker phone, the enormity of our situation was beginning to hit me and my stomach clenched, thinking of the kids trapped in the school.

“Go ahead. You’re on speaker.”

“Thanks. As I said, Myst is making her push. It might seem a far cry for her to blanket an entire city, but reports coming in from Seattle say it’s snowing heavily there, too, and they’re expecting extreme ice and snow within a couple of hours. The long winter has begun. Ragnarök is rolling in, not on the shoulders of the frost giants, but on the wings of a crazed queen. Can you come get us?”

I bit my lip—we needed to get out to the woods, but the children were in danger, and so was Ysandra. “We’ll be there. How many kids?”

“Fourteen. The others made it out, but how many made it home safe, I cannot tell. I do know that we can’t hold out much longer. We’ve locked them out for now, but there are so many ways into the school. I have the children huddled in a classroom, and my guards are blocking the doors and trying to keep the snow weavers from breaking through the windows. Hurry, Cicely. Or we aren’t going to be here when you arrive.”

And with that her phone went dead. The bars on my phone vanished. I picked up the house phone but it, too, was dead.

“I suppose the television is out?”

Luna nodded, pale. “We’re cut off, then.”

“Yes. It won’t take much to bring down the coast. The grid isn’t all that stable and the infrastructure of this country is already strained and weak. Come on—we have to go rescue Ysandra and the kids. All hands on board, and we’re fighting Myst’s spiders, so be prepared.”

With that, leaving a small contingent of men at home, the rest of us armed up and headed out into the storm.