The first time Lena and I had fought these things was in Detroit. I’d reached deeper into a book than I’d ever tried before, reducing it to ash in the process. From that blackened ruin had come a thing of death and hunger and charred magic. It fed on my attacks and Lena’s strength. We’d finally had to drop an entire warehouse on the damned thing, and even that hadn’t been enough to destroy it.

Later, we’d discovered more of them, echoes of long-dead magic users, trapped and enslaved. A young libriomancer named Jeneta Aboderin dubbed them “devourers.” They were also known as the ghost army. I’d destroyed hundreds of them the year before.

Babs Palmer had been assigned to round up and eliminate the rest.

“Basically, the walls are infested with incorporeal, magic-munching piranha.” Lena lowered her swords. “I hate those things.”

“A lot of the stories about piranha are exaggerated,” I said. “They can kill, but the idea that they’ll reduce you to a skeleton in seconds is total myth. These, on the other hand . . .”

There was no question of Babs’ involvement anymore. The pearls, the devourers, even the wards over the prison. They all carried her fingerprints. I tightened my jaw to call Nicola, but her cellphone went straight to voice mail.

“Can you get us inside?” asked Deb.

“Maybe.” I studied the doors. “We could also head back to New Millennium and confront Babs with what we know. Bring in Nicola and the other masters.”

“And leave those sirens here to die?” asked Deb. “Abandon everyone inside those walls? As soon as whoever runs this place realizes they’ve been compromised, they’ll either move or kill the prisoners.”

“I agree,” Lena said quietly. “We can’t leave them here.”

“All right. Let me fly up and scout around a bit more—”

Lena gasped. Her fingers merged with the wood of her swords. She dropped to one knee and plunged both weapons deep into the dirt.

“What’s wrong?” I reached for her, but she flinched away.

She raised her head, staring at something deep within the prison. “We need to go in now.”

“Now you’re talking,” said Deb.

“If we bust through those doors, we could bring the whole place down on our heads,” I warned.

“Please, Isaac.”

I couldn’t see Lena, but I recognized the magic crawling over her skin, armoring flesh in supernaturally strong oak and bark. Spikes of wood grew from her joints.

How had I ended up being the cautious one? “All right. Give me a minute to get the door open. I might be able to do this without setting off any alarms.”