That earnest, heart-shattering look hadn’t worked on Olugbade. And by rejecting his sister—betraying her pure trust—he had created the wounded monster who would grow into The Lady.

“Please,” the girl whispered. “Let me make amends.”

I inhaled slowly. I did not trust The Lady. Not exactly . . . but I knew, deep down, that I could not reject her in the same way her brother had. No one deserved that heartbreak twice. Not even my mother.

I glanced tiredly at Iranti, whose muscles were tense. The emi-ehran’s short tail flicked with hostility, then she moaned in her wordless, tonal language. Of her complicated song I could make out only one theme:

Danger.

“I know.” I sighed, stroking her face. “But what could hurt me, now?” I had survived the deaths. I had outwitted every attempt of the abiku to trick me. And what was more, I had not slept in what felt like days or weeks. Every limb in my body screamed for rest. The thought of my journey being over . . . of seeing my council siblings again, in hours instead of days—it made hope surge through my veins, like the heady rush of honeywine.

I leaned to whisper in Iranti’s ear. “If The Lady’s lying, we can always find our way back. I have a map, so there’s no risk. I know the rules, Iranti: I need not die.”

I turned to enter the mirror, but my emi-ehran stayed put, staring pleadingly with her sky of eyes.

“I’m going,” I repeated, and she huffed a great sigh . . . then disappeared. I frowned, but knew at once that she hadn’t truly gone. Not completely. I could feel her, somewhere in a near ether, waiting to reappear when I called.

“I’ll see you on the surface, then,” I told the air, and took my mother’s small, cold hand. The moment I did, both my feet left the floor, and I passed into the mirror, glass rippling around me like rings of troubled water.

CHAPTER 34

The lady and I were floating in another cavern, filled with sulfurous green fog. My stomach flipped at the height, but the girl tightened her grip on my hand, smiling reassuringly

“Won’t be far now, my daughter,” she said, still with that desperate, nervous gleam in her eyes.

We flew up, up, toward the emerald underworld sky, and parallel to what seemed like an ash-covered mountain. The fog cleared, allowing me my first aerial view of the Underworld.

The expanse of it numbed my senses. Shadowy cliffs and valleys teeming with shades; threadbare forests that spread for miles; gray ash dunes and winding, bone-white rivers.

The only lively feature was a colorful ribbon, long and quivering, seeming to stretch into eternity. I didn’t realize what it was until I heard the drumbeats, faint but reverberating, possessing my limbs like a manic spirit. Immediately, my soul felt lighter. Why had I felt so weary about my journey through the Underworld? Why had I worried that it would never end? All stories came to completion, and no hill was too steep—no step too painful. I laughed, eyes filling with tears. I had been touched by the music of Egungun—and I was witnessing his parade.