The door I’d accidentally hit was burning merrily now, and I didn’t know how these lower rooms connected to the main floor. I didn’t want to risk everything collapsing down around us. Adrian seemed a little addled, and I had to guide him to the stairs. A panicked part of me kept thinking back to what he’d told me about Nina, how spirit had left her incoherent. He knew me, I told myself. He knew me. As long as we had that, I had to believe everything would be okay.

We made it upstairs, where a cluster of guardians anxiously waited at the stairwell’s entrance. They’d been under strict orders not to interfere, but it was clear that went against their natures.

“Get everyone out of here,” I said to the guardian closest to me. “There’s a fire down there, and I don’t know how far it’s spread. And make sure there are no weapons left up here.” These were the Warriors, after all. I didn’t want a new disaster brought on because of explosives accidentally igniting.

Adrian and I made it outside, and I guided him past the busy guardians and Alchemists, as well as the Warrior prisoners. Out near where we’d parked, I caught sight of some familiar faces and made them our destination. Rose, Dimitri, and Eddie stood by Jill, who was sitting in a folding chair next to another chair. That chair’s occupant was starting to get up and be led away by a guardian, and I recognized the vacant expression of a feeder.

“Wait,” I called. “Adrian needs blood too.”

Jill leapt to her feet, still looking weary and bedraggled, but with much more life and color in her face than when I’d seen her in the basement. Despite everything she’d just been through, she hurried forward to help Adrian sit. I didn’t know if he actually needed blood, but he’d just been through a big ordeal of his own, and blood usually had a curative effect on Moroi. He hadn’t said a word to me since my name earlier, and I couldn’t shake the panic that spirit might have finally claimed him for good. The feeder offered his neck, and Adrian automatically leaned over and bit down. I looked away, not sure I’d ever be entirely comfortable with this part of vampiric life.

“He’s in there,” said Jill, holding my hand, her green eyes looking even wider than usual with her face so gaunt. “He’ll be okay.”