They don’t want to. They don’t want to go near him.Unnatural.
But I force them forward, until they wrap around him in unbreakable threads. He shifts in jerked, frantic movements, banging into the wall. “Go now!”
“Move!” Callan pushes me forward, but I wait until Rio and Matthias race past with my sisters in their arms before I follow.
I almost run into their backs.
“Holy gods,” Esme whispers. “Selene—tell me you have more of that shadow maegis.”
The hallway is full.
Dozens more of the creatures exit a room further down the hall, those hideous metal gazes turning on us as they block our exit to the stairs.
Rio and Callan exchange glances. Between one heartbeat and the next, chaos erupts. Lanterns and rock tear from the walls, smashing into the creatures, sending them tumbling.
I pin the ones who lurch at us with shadow, forcing a path as we push through, Esme’s swords find their marks—not just once, but over and over again—as Rio directs the fire from the lanterns. The creatures that burn don’t make a sound, their kicking legs visible as we push past, eyes stinging from the smoke. The stink of burning flesh threatens to make me sick again.
“This way—all of you.” Callan takes the lead, darting down another hall.
“Sol.” Matthias’s choked words echo back to me. “Leo —Merrick. We can’t leave them, Cal.”
“What’s happening?” I gasp the words. “Where are we going?”
“You’re going under the wall,” Callan says grimly. He drops back and grabs my hand, urging me to run faster. “There’s a tunnel we use.”
My breath catches, head spinning. “A tunnel?”
“To get supplies through to the deserters.” His eyes flicker to me. “And peopleout, when we need to. There’s a northern encampment several days away made up of those who managed to escape conscription.”
That would take us to the furthest edges of the island. Asteria is not large. My head spins at this new knowledge. “But we can’t go. Matthias is right. We can’t leave them here!”
“We won’t.” We twist down another corridor. I can hear movement behind us, and Callan jerks to a stop. His eyes swirl, and I choke on dust as rock tears from the walls. It falls in tightly packed layers to create a barrier that almost brushes the ceiling,blocking their way. “I can’t do much more—I’ll bring the whole ceiling down on us.”
He swipes at a drop of blood that appears beneath his nose, but he’s already pulling me forward once more. “We don’t have much time.”
One final turn. And then we’re sliding to a stop. Callan is already ahead of me, his hands pressing into a wall that looks much the same as the rest, layers of stone on top of each other in imperfect lines. He counts, his lips murmuring as he taps the stones. “Here.”
He pushes in, and the wall… swingsoutward. Behind it, a tunnel just taller than my head leads away from us, pitch black and without any end that I can see. “Go. Now. Use the horses on the other side, they should be ready.”
“Callan.” Esme’s voice trembles. She shakes her head. “Matthias, give Nyx to me.”
I can’t breathe as Matthias carefully hands her Nyx’s broken body. Even with Esme’s height, Nyx looks so small against her. He presses his forehead to Esme’s. “Quickly now. Don’t you stop, Esmeray. Get them to Wilder.”
Esme looks at me, her scarlet eyes wet. “We have to go, Selene.”
I glance over my shoulder. The wall Callan created is holding, but I can hear the creatures behind it. The scraping noise almost hurts my ears as their weapons drag over the stone, searching for a way through.
“Selene, you and Callan go.” Matthias steps forward. “I’m not leaving here without Sol.”
But there is also Leo, and Merrick. Matthias would be left here alone, against a swarm of those things. Callan and I lock eyes. His jaw tightens in grim understanding. He turns to Esme. “You and Rio will take them. The three of us will follow when we can.”
“Don’t be a fool,” Esme snaps. “You stay and you won’t be getting out of here.”
Rio’s eyes gleam in the light, but he says nothing, his voice stolen by the pretium thanks to the maegis he used to burn the creatures. His jaw is clenched, and he shakes his head.
“Petyr won’t hurt me or Selene. He needs us.” Callan takes a breath. “Matthias, you need to go. We’ll get Sol out, I swear to you. Leo and Merrick too.”
Matthias shakes his head. “You’d have to knock me out to make me leave, Callan, and they can’t carry me with their hands full. This is wasting time we do nothave.”
