“They’ll heal.” Gill winks. “We don’t have our knights’ inheritances anymore, remember? And some folks, like me, never got them.” I’d nearly forgotten that Gill is a Liege of Kay, a Scion from a Line that, prior to this year, hadn’t been Called in decades. “Sans those powers, there’s no fighting a supernatural being without a few tricks up your sleeve. Hand-to-hand isn’t an option, so—”

“The only weapon against Merlins is incapacitation,” Samira adds. “Overwhelm their senses. They heal, but it takes a little bit of time.”

“And a little bit of time is all we needed,” Gill says. “Here we go.”

The van swings into a paved service road, skidding on the turn. Lyssa drives straight out onto a tarmac where, in the bright lights from a hangar, I see a private jet.

“We’re flying?”

“Fastest way to get some distance between us and the Merlins. Ophelia’s the best pilot we’ve got.” Gill pulls out her own phone and shoots off what looks like a few texts. A second later, the engines on the plane rise in a deep rumble that I can hear and feel from the other side of the tarmac.

“But the others,” I insist. “I can’t leave them. William—”

“Already ahead of you, Crown Scion,” Gill says.

We come to a stop before I can say much more. “It’ll be okay,” Alice says with a smile. She squeezes my hand before unbuckling her seatbelt.

“Wheels up in three.” Lyssa cuts the engine and grabs a bag from the front seat. “Make haste, y’all. When it comes to Merlins, every second makes a difference.”

Alice picks up a duffel hidden beneath her seat, and the doors slide open. The sound of the airplane engine blasts us. I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to be wearing ear protection this close to a plane, but the game plan seems to be run as fast as you can. Board. Make haste.

Fair enough.

We sprint to the plane, hands over our ears. Or at least, the others do. My legs are still weak and that bar wasn’t enough. Alice hangs back, arm looped tight in mine while we jog, bringing up the rear. As we reach the bottom of the stairs, a tall white woman with short black hair appears in the doorway, wearing a pilot’s headset. Ophelia. She assesses us all in a single glance. “You two in the back. Gill, Sam, Lyssa, need you up front.” Ophelia disappears into the body of the plane as we race up the stairs.

Once inside, Gill, Lyssa, and Samira turn left toward the cockpit, leaving Alice and me hovering in the carpeted entryway. I feel something like relief when Alice and I exchange both a stunned glance and nervous laughter.

“How are we here right now?” she asks.