“Stay safe,” Hector said at last, his broad hand briefly wrapping around her shoulder.

Beru’s skin buzzed beneath his touch. “You too.”

“Good luck,” Jude said abruptly to the others. And then, in a flash of movement, he was gone, Hector after him.

Anton let out a cry of frustration and kicked a loose rock across the cavern.

“Come on, kid,” Ephyra said, a hint of sympathy in her voice. “They’ll be all right.”

She led him back the way they’d been going, Anton cursing under his breath.

Hassan sighed, shouldering Hector’s pack. “Four more leagues. We can do this.”

Everyone was quiet as they made their way through the remaining caverns. Worry ate at Beru as they trudged through the dark. The farther she got from Hector, the less she could feel his emotions. Or maybe it was the god’s presence blocking them out.

IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME UNTIL I’M FREE OF THIS BINDING, the god said. Beru could feel it, scratching at Pallas’s seal, a constant, dull pounding in her head like another heartbeat alongside her own.

YOU WANT TO GIVE IN, the god said. TO LET ME HAVE CONTROL. IT WOULD BE EASIER.

No, Beru said at once. But there was a desperate, defeated part of her that longed to sink into oblivion. I’m not going to give you control just so you can kill all my friends.

WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I’D KILL THEM? the god asked. MAYBE I’VE GROWN TO LIKE THEM. I COULD MAKE THEM MY PETS ONCE I’M FREE AGAIN. MY ETERNAL, OBEDIENT SERVANTS.

Beru shuddered.

“You feel that?” Khepri asked suddenly.

Beru jumped at the sound of her voice, blinking as Khepri’s incandescent light wobbled a few paces ahead.

“A breeze,” Khepri went on. “The exit’s close.”

Despite their fatigue, the idea that they might soon be out of the dark, cold caverns was enough to spur them on.

The moment Beru stepped beneath the moonlight and looked up at the sky, she released a sigh of relief. Ahead of her, Hassan whooped in joy.

They were surrounded by tall trees, stretching up toward the sky, starlight filtering through their leaves. The fresh mountain air was so different from the dank air in the caverns. For a moment, Beru let herself relax and just breathe, chasing away the oppressive fog, though Beru could still feel it curling around her.

They made camp near the foot of the falls, with the plump moon high in the sky and the sound of the river and trees in their ears. Dinner was a simple affair of dried meats and hard bread, all of them too weary to even think about starting a fire. They crawled into their tents and onto the bedrolls.