“Prrip!” Gryphin said, hidden in Sena’s hood.

Sena stopped. “Oh,” she said, sounding embarrassed that she hadn’t thought of whatever Gryphin was saying sooner. “Right. Go on, then, Gryphin.”

There was a quick whirl of wind, and then Claire caught a shimmer in the air before she completely lost track of the chimera in the darkening sky.

“Gryphin is going to scout for us,” Sena whispered. “But come on, maybe if we stick to the edges, we can get closer.”

Claire nodded. “Lead the way.”

Careful to avoid treading on anyone’s toes, they tried to pick their way through Tillers, Spinners, and Forgers. Claire still didn’t see any Gemmers, even as they stepped around the tall pillars that had once held up the roof and the sapling trees that grew inside, roots breaking through the patches of flagstone floor that remained.

“Look up when you leap!” Claire heard a familiar voice bark out just as she scooted around a Tiller and saw a troupe of Spinner dancers. “Remember: eyes to the sky, you’ll fly—eyes to the ground, you’ll stay down. Lyric, are you paying attention?”

“Pardon, Director, just trying to capture the ambiance!” Lyric said, looking up from where she’d been scribbling on a piece of paper with her quill. “Would you say the crowd is more humming with excitement or buzzing?”

“All I know,” the director said warningly, “is that if you don’t put your notebook away in the next two seconds, you’ll be trying to come up with words to describe the Dance of Ribbons from the wings, rather than performing.”

Lyric hurriedly shoved her notebook into her bag, but not before hastily waving the pages so that the ink would dry. As she did, her bright eyes landed on Claire. She frowned. Her mouth opened, but Claire yanked on Sena’s tunic, whirling them away into the crowd before Lyric could call out and ruin their cover.

Ducking behind a pillar, Sena and Claire stopped to catch their breath. After all this time, they’d managed only to cross about four yards, and they were no nearer to the front than they had been before.

“This is impossible,” Claire said. “We’ll never find the unicorn in time!” But at that moment, Sena’s arm pushed down slightly, and Claire could just make out a copper gleam before he darted back into the safety of her hood. Gryphin had returned.

A series of chirps sounded, a cascade of fast and furious notes that made Sena’s brows furrow as she tried to understand.

“Slow down,” she growled quietly to the air, which answered back with a rusty meow. But the chirps did slow down, and Claire’s heart began to beat faster as a fierce delight spread across Sena’s face.