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Chapters (53)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Letter from the Author
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. • One •
  7. • Two •
  8. • Three •
  9. • Four •
  10. • Five •
  11. • Six •
  12. • Seven •
  13. • Eight •
  14. • Nine •
  15. • Ten •
  16. • Eleven •
  17. • Twelve •
  18. • Thirteen •
  19. • Fourteen •
  20. • Fifteen •
  21. • Sixteen •
  22. • Seventeen •
  23. • Eighteen •
  24. • Nineteen •
  25. • Twenty •
  26. • Twenty-One •
  27. • Twenty-Two •
  28. • Twenty-Three •
  29. • Twenty-Four •
  30. • Twenty-Five •
  31. • Twenty-Six •
  32. • Twenty-Seven •
  33. • Twenty-Eight •
  34. • Twenty-Nine •
  35. • Thirty •
  36. • Thirty-One •
  37. • Thirty-Two •
  38. • Thirty-Three •
  39. • Thirty-Four •
  40. • Thirty-Five •
  41. • Thirty-Six •
  42. • Thirty-Seven •
  43. • Thirty-Eight •
  44. • ∞ •
  45. • Thirty-Nine •
  46. • Forty •
  47. Epilogue
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Excerpt from Be Dazzled
  50. One
  51. Two
  52. About the Author
  53. Back Cover

Ursula caught the next thrown object—half of a table still swathed in linen. “It’s not stupid,” she groaned, pivoting in her dress and tossing the table back at the beetle. “It’s my favorite Lorna Osorio book. Kane, move!”

Ursula’s shield formed tightly around Kane just as the beetle charged. He expected to ricochet away like a pinball, but the beetle bounced right onto its back. Its gold legs combed the air, clicking angrily.

“Anyways,” Ursula was saying. “There are hints of the occult in Lily, but it’s just symbolism.”

“Ursula, let me out!”

Ursula waved away the shield and kept explaining. Kane leapt onto a wrecked table, locked his eyes onto the chain that held up a swinging chandelier, and fired off a single ethereal flare.

The chandelier exploded into spears of crystal that plunged into the beetle. It wasn’t much but it did sever an entire leg, which spun toward Kane, as big as his body and still twitching. He stopped it with his foot and looked at Ursula, proud.

“And anyways,” she was saying. “The character Helena is playing would never betray the real Johan. I bet Elliot said something.”

“She’s a lesbian.”

“What?”

“Helena is a lesbian. Or at least lesbian-ish. I don’t know. But definitely not straight.”

“But Katherine—”

“Her too. And so was Maxine Osman, I’m guessing.”

Ursula shook her head in awe, the whole world recalibrating in her eyes. Tentatively she pointed at herself. “So, am…I…?”

Kane took her hands. “Ursula. It doesn’t matter. We need to find my sister.”

Resolve hardened in Ursula’s eyes. Then, panic. In a blur of tulle, she grabbed Kane by his waist and hurled him backward. Then she was slashed away, the beetle ramming into her at full force. Only the flash of pink magic assured Kane she’d put a shield up in time as the beetle carried her right through the ballroom wall, then the wall beyond that, then the wall beyond that. Guests ran, screaming, as the château shook.

Kane sat up among the shattered mirrors, staring into the dust and smoke after his friend. Silence congealed around him. He closed his eyes and focused on the fabric of this reverie, feeling for the seams he’d been able to sense when he unraveled Benny Cooper’s world, but his mind couldn’t get a grip. This reverie was still too strong. They were trapped here, with only one choice: survive.

Kane looked at his hands and the pale glow of etherea beneath his fingertips. What power did he have? What could he do besides unravel and destroy? He looked down into the fractured depths of the glass strewn around him. He found his eyes, filled with shadows as the remaining chandeliers swung. The world around his reflection seemed to close him in a silent, deadly grasp.