I tap my knuckles to his, wishing this was a hunt I could finish on my own. “I’ll try to keep Doug away long enough for you to wake Fleur. How long will she need, Poppy?”

Everyone turns to Poppy as she thinks. “If she’s conscious and strong when I pull her through, I can open her chamber and wake her right away.”

Julio shudders. “Better give her a barf bag for that flight.”

“She’ll be fine,” Poppy assures me. I look to Chill, satisfied when he nods.

“I’ll buy her as much time as I can. As soon as I make it back to you, one of you will have to take the staff and finish Doug. Once you cut him down, the magic will be loose. It’ll be up to us to harness it. We already know Gaia’s magic will be drawn to Fleur. Ananke’s magic should be drawn to whoever has the eye. And Chronos’s magic will be drawn to whoever has the staff.”

Amber and Julio exchange grave looks. Whoever takes the magic will be bound to this place, responsible for all of it—time, natural order, inevitability—indefinitely. It feels like too much to ask. We only just got free of this place. But I already know what Fleur would do. The same thing I would do, if only I could. She’d sacrifice anything to save the rest of us.

“I’ll take the staff.” Julio squeezes Amber’s hand. She nods tightly.

“I’ll take the eye,” she says. Amber glances at Marie. For once, Marie doesn’t argue. What choice do we have? Amber holds out her hand for the crystal. I reach inside my pocket and freeze.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“The crystal. It was here, zipped inside my pocket.” I take the torch from the wall and wave it over the ground. I get down on all fours, scraping aside loose dirt and pebbles, eyes peeled for a glimmer, but it’s not here. My hand stills as I retrace my steps. I’d been facedown in the dirt after Kai hit me with the flashlight. She leaned over me and patted my side. No, the side of my jacket. Then here, right before I put the transmitter in her ear and sent her into stasis, she’d reached inside her pocket.

“Damn it, Kai!” I throw down the torch, pacing the chamber. “Kai. She took it. She has it with her. It’s in her hand. We have to find it.” It’s the only bait I have.

I sling on my pack and run, limping back through the tunnel toward the incinerator, the fresh stitches stinging with every step. Kai had a Guard’s transmitter. She would have materialized somewhere in the dormitory level, not down here with the captured Seasons. The Guards’ stasis chambers would be kept somewhere more comfortable and secure. Someplace with power.

The Autumn wing.