I resisted the urge to go to him, to sling an arm around his shoulders for support. He looked likely to collapse. Lowering my voice, trying to soothe, I murmured, “I’m here. Everything will be all right. Lou recognizes you now. Isn’t that right, Lou?”

She finally, finally stopped struggling, and I relinquished my hold on her. “Yes.” Voice soft, she looked between Thierry and me for a long moment. I stood perfectly still, wary of the odd gleam in her eyes—savage and bright, like that of a cornered animal. “Yes, I recognize him.”

Then she turned and fled.

Barreling into the others, knocking them aside, Lou didn’t slow as she reached the door. Célie pinwheeled backward on impact, but Coco caught her elbow before she free-fell down the stairs. Swearing viciously in response, Beau hurled insults after Lou, but she didn’t stop. The shadows closed around her as she raced out of sight.

Thierry lifted a weak hand. Two of his fingers appeared broken. Voice hitched with urgency, slow with concentration, he said, Caaatch . . . her.

I didn’t stop to think. To hesitate. To consider the resolve hardening in my chest. This sensation—this fiery sense of justice, of righteousness—it felt familiar. Unsettlingly so.

She darted down the stairs below me with unnatural swiftness, already near the ground floor. In seconds, she’d be out the door. “Lou!” My shout reverberated with unexpected fury. I didn’t understand why my hands shook or my teeth clenched. I didn’t understand why I needed to catch her. But I did. I needed to catch her like I needed to breathe. Beau had been right—something was wrong here. Terribly, terribly wrong. It went beyond her magic. It went beyond Ansel’s death. Beyond mourning.

Like fruit left in the sun to rot, Lou had split open, and something foul had grown inside.

Perhaps it’d happened during La Mascarade des Crânes. Perhaps before, perhaps after. It didn’t matter. It had happened, and though my instincts had tried to warn me, I’d ignored them. Now they propelled my feet forward faster. Faster still. They told me if Lou reached the door—if she disappeared into the cliffs beyond—I’d never see her again. That could not happen. If I could just catch her, talk to her, I could make things right. I could make her right. It didn’t make any sense, but there it was. This chase had suddenly become the most important of my life. And I wouldn’t ignore my instincts any longer.

When she cleared the last stair, I took a deep breath.

Then I gripped the spiral railing and vaulted over it.