Valec shakes his head. “I’ve got a Porsche parked a few miles west. Follow me.” The cambion disappears through the trees with the crack of wind closing in the vacuum behind him. Sel follows, eyes seeing more than I can. I tuck my head into his back and pray he can keep up.

We run like that for long minutes before Sel drops out of his sprint, stopping abruptly.

“What happened?” I whisper.

He hushes me. His head turns back and forth, searching.

Valec comes careening back to the clearing we’ve paused in, skidding to a stop. “I smell them too.”

My heart lurches against my rib cage. Shadowborn.

“How many?” Sel drops me gently to the snow-dusted ground, swiveling so that I’m between him and Valec.

Valec inhales. “Dunno. Four maybe? Five? Not just isels.”

“Obviously.”

“Well, I wasn’t sure—”

“I can tell the difference,” Sel sneers.

I push between them, and Sel shoulders me back. “Stay behind us.”

“I can fight,” I insist. “We can fight. Earlier—”

“You’re why they’re here now.” Sel shakes his head. “Any more of your aether will be—”

“Blood in the water.” Valec shucks off his jacket and tosses it.

In the forest around us, a pack of isels and uchels emerge. Hounds and foxes, jaws snapping. I see at least two uchels made of stone, one moss and rot.

Blue mage flame hisses to life around Sel’s hands and arms, gathering in a rush and extending out to two huge scythe-tipped spears. To my surprise, Valec spreads his hands wide, a long line of golden root snapping into place between his palms. He claps both hands together, combining the light into a bright mass, and when his hands part, two wicked-looking crystalline flails fall from his fingers.

The isels roar and snap, paws clawing at the earth—and launch themselves at both cambions at once. Without speaking, Valec and Sel separate, circling behind the pack faster than the lesser demons can change course, slicing and striking as they move. It’s a technique I’ve seen Nick do before: lash out from the side as you pass, use the creatures’ own momentum to drag your weapon down their flesh.

Sel is a black-and-silver blur blocking my vision. “Run, Bree!”

I hesitate. I could call root to myself and burn the demons away, like I did with Alonzo’s borrowed power. Like I did to Erebus… but if that brings more monsters to the fight, Sel and Valec could get overwhelmed.

For the first time, I reach within for Arthur without a blood offering. I am your Scion! You cannot let me die!

Before I can decide what to do, an uchel appears before me. A towering creature on two legs, with long spindly fingers and a wide smile of dripping teeth. It draws back, claws spreading wide, and—Arthur responds, if not with words, in action.