He nods again, and I notice the sweat on his brow, his rolled-up sleeves. He tugs me into the hallway and then turns an immediate left down the stairs. “Everything’s gone to shit in the past two hours. Sel, Tor, and Sar are off hunting some demon, Russ barely made it back in one piece…” As soon as we emerge from the stairwell, we hear shouting and set off at a run.

Russ’s yelling guides us to a room I’ve never seen before. “We need to wait!” It sounds like his fist hits a table. That stops me short; I’ve never seen Russ angry enough to hit something. He and the other Legendborn are standing around a large square table covered with maps.

“No,” Fitz says, his voice booming. “Three attacks in less than two hours, and they’ve all been fully materialized. They’re moving closer to campus each time, pushing inward toward the middle. Onceborns will see them, and then what? We need to go out in full force. Now!”

No one notices us walk in. The Scions and Squires are bent over the stack of maps talking across one another, shouting in raised voices. Fitz, Evan, Felicity, and Russ are in aether armor, with weapons across backs or slung around hips, while the others are still in jeans and T-shirts. I spot Greer and Whitty in the middle of it all.

“Felicity, you’re fourth-ranked,” Russ says. His Scion stands with her arms crossed on the far end of the table, gnawing on a thumbnail. “Tor isn’t here. Nick isn’t here. You tell us what to do.”

I respond before Felicity can answer. “We’ve got to find Lord Davis. And Nick.”

They all turn to me. Russ looks like he’s thrilled to see me, and so do a few others, but some, like Fitz and Pete, look unnerved by my presence. Greer walks over to me first and wraps their arm around my neck.

“Bree, what are you doing here?” Felicity says, coming around the table to hug me too. Her armor tingles against my skin.

“Who the hell is this?” Fitz says. Alice is tucked back in the shadows, her eyes wide and bright. She’s keeping quiet, just like I told her.

“A Vassal,” I say.

William chimes in. “Someone we can trust.” That seems to settle the room some.

Fitz’s eyes narrow. “Lord Davis said you rejected Nick’s offer after the gala.”

“I’ll tell you everything, but first, catch me up. Where are Nick and his father?” I step closer to the table. In the center of the pallet rests a large piece of paper covered in topographic lines and color-coded circles and squares. A map of campus.

Felicity joins me at the table. “We don’t know. They came back after the gala, argued in the foyer. Davis said you were gone, and Nick just—”

“Flew off the handle,” Evan says.