Cestra glares up at her mage. “That is an order.”

Erebus hesitates a moment longer. He glances at the Rootcrafters, the barrier, then back at Cestra with a sigh. “As you command, Regent.”

Erebus slowly takes Briana’s—my—arm, and steps around so that we are face to face. I could run, fight, as Cestra says, but I wish to see my Table. I would give up my advantage if it means that we could be gathered again, in spirit and in flesh.

I begrudgingly hold out both of Briana’s arms.

When Erebus snaps the first cuff around Briana’s left wrist, the internal effect is immediate—a searing, cold pain freezes the power within her. Her root furnace, my sense of the aether in the air, the armor we both cast around her body, gone. All flattened into nothing.

A heartbeat. The hair on the back of Briana’s neck lifts. Erebus himself grows still.

Silence.

Then, the Volition barrier explodes, blooming wide until the dome spreads far enough to encompass the vehicles. As it moves outward, a deep cracking sound follows, shaking the earth between our feet.

“What is that?” Larkin asks. The other Merlins step back, staring at the dirt with eyes wide, like they are hearing more than we can with our human ears.

The rumbling is enough to shake even Merlin balance.

“That is Volition!” Mariah yells. “Our ancestors are warning you, Legendborn. Leave now, and quickly, or be trapped here and die.”

Cestra shakes her head, mouth set in a stubborn line. “Other arm, Erebus.” When he hesitates again, she grasps Briana’s right wrist with her own impatient fingers. When she snaps the other cuff on her wrist, the earth around us opens with a mighty crack. A dozen lightning-shaped fissures split the ground around the Merlins, isolating the group on a patch of crumbling soil.

Shouting erupts around us as the ground opens wider with another crack, and another—and the back wheels of one of the Order’s empty vehicles drop into the earth. A loud, blaring alarm sounds from inside the car, and its lights begin flashing.

Cestra stumbles at the next wave of the Volition ancestors’ power. I nearly laugh at her fall, but the loud splitting of the ground beside me steals the humor from my voice.

“Arrogant woman,” I sneer.

“Indeed she is.” Erebus holds Briana’s elbow in one hand and, with a single swoop, lifts Cestra up by the other, carrying her toward a remaining vehicle. “We need to go, my Regent!”

“Take us to the Northern Chapter!” Cestra demands furiously.

Erebus’s jaw clenches. “Yes, Regent.”