Kane drew a huge number eight into the tilted pavement, big enough to stand in each loop. While he did, he thought of Helena. He owed her and Adeline for a lesson learned too late: sometimes a person’s dreams are all they have and taking them away can break a heart or even stop a body. The act of crushing a dream can’t be minimized. At best, it’s mean. At worst, it’s murder. Either way, Kane had let Poesy take what was not Kane’s to give, and it was time to set things right. To get Helena back, and help her heal, if that was even possible.

And they needed Dean’s help to do just that.

Kane stood back from his work. The moon winked at them from the river, and the few cicadas that remained this late in the season sang beneath the silence.

Minutes passed. Nothing happened.

“This worked before?” Ursula whispered.

“Yeah.”

“Does he like, get a notification or something?”

Kane imagined Dean’s phone lighting up on his nightstand. Kane Montgomery would like to send you a direct message.

“Dean?” Kane shouted. “Either you show up, or we call Poesy. I’ve got the whistle.”

He brandished the charm. The few birds chirping went silent as something darker than the dark rose from the imploded roof of the mill, taking the shape of a lustrous beak and horns. Ursula got into a boxing stance. Kane tightened his grip on the bat, and an aura of etherea gathered around them in pulsing fractals, his powers at the ready.

Once, the Dreadmare had chased Kane and Sophia from this very mill, as though they were grave robbers. Now, Kane would make sure it knew he owned this particular grave. Dean couldn’t chase Kane away from his own past forever, not when Kane had recruited the strongest person he knew as backup.

A flash swept over Kane from the left, then another. Twin flashlights cutting through the trees as Adeline and Elliot stumbled into the clearing.

“Shit,” Adeline panted.

“Told you they’d be here,” Elliot responded, out of breath.

The Dreadmare flickered away, the mill nothing but empty walls beneath Adeline and Elliot’s garish flashlights. They pointed them right at Kane and Ursula, like they were criminals. Kane let out a frustrated groan and, not thinking, released his pent aura. It washed over the Others, unbalancing them, then soaked into the forest beyond. Everything was ruined.

“Whoa, Kane,” Elliot said, hands up so his flashlight lit the trees. “Chill. Sophia called us. Your note sent her into a panic.”

“Where is she now?”

“Your house. We told her we’d report back after we got you.”

“Got me?”

Adeline moved between them, switching off her flashlight.