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It’s Tin who steps forward, blocking me with the broad line of his shoulders, and I can’t help but feel it is deliberate. As if he’s protecting me.

Warmth blooms in my chest.

“Ahh,” Ty says. “The Heartless One.”

“Hello, Ty.” Tin clasps his hands in front of him, as if to indicate he means no harm, but I think we all know he could have his axe in hand before any of us could take a full breath. “It’s been a while.”

“Sure has.” Ty stretches out his fisted hand, and the two men knock knuckles. “I don’t want to tell you what to do, Tin, but coming to the Hollow on a night like tonight was a bad choice.”

Tin didn’t want to come here in the first place, but he doesn’t give me a hard time about it now, even though he could.

“We’re just trying to move on,” Tin says. “Can you help us with that?”

“For the cause?” Ty asks.

What cause?

“You want me to tell you I will support overthrowing my brother?”

Ahh, that cause.

“Yes,” Ty says.

“Then sure.”

“Let’s hope he doesn’t give you your heart back. I do rather like the Tinman without one. None of that blood-sticks-with-blood business.”

“Even if he did,” Tin says, “you think I’ll suddenly forgive him? Out of the goodness of my heart?”

Ty laughs. “Time will tell, I suppose?” He whistles up to the tower and gestures with two fingers. Whoever is manning the overlook whistles back and the gate mechanisms lurch to life.

“Be well,” Basil tells us. “And trust no one.”

I think at this point, that goes without saying.

Tin and I follow the Yellow Brick Road out of the Hollow but turn off just as the wall of the Hollow fades behind us. Overhead, the sky is still heavy and dark, but the ambient light has shifted just slightly, telling of the approaching morning.

I should be tired. I’ve barely slept. But I feel better than I have in years. I don’t know if it’s the nightshade, the alcohol, or that we are simply moving forward.

“Where are we going now?” I ask Tin, trying to keep up my pace to match his long gait.

“I don’t know yet. Just … away. My gut says the north because I have more connections there and maybe you could find someone to teach you a thing or two about magic.”

“Have you wondered what happens if I don’t figure out how to use my power?”

“I don’t have to wonder. The answer is we lose and you probably die.”

I huff out a breath and it condenses white in front of me. The air is chill, the night still holding the approaching day in its grip.

“I don’t know how all of this came to rest on my shoulders. I feel like a duckling that somehow got trapped between snarling dogs.”

Tin slows so I can catch up.

“I’m not sure if you remember, but there was this tree, in the woods. It burst into flames.”

I swallow back a growing lump in my throat. “Yes. I remember.”

“And maybe you haven’t noticed, but there is a trail of dead Cardinal Witches behind you.”