This was it. I didn’t even have a final thought. I managed, with my last scrap of energy, to look into her eyes.

Then Warden was there. He was driving her back, using immense spools, whirling them into shields, like a fire-eater with torches. If I were sighted, I thought vaguely, it would probably look magnificent. Terebell and Alsafi were with him; and others, too—was that Pleione? Their outlines ran together. My dreamscape sent strange mirages across my line of sight. Then someone was scooping me into their arms, taking me from the stage.

The world came in flashes. There was a storm in my dreamscape: memories pouring through lightning-like cracks, flowers torn apart by a high wind. My mind had been pillaged.

I was only half-aware of the outside world. Warden was there. I recognized his dreamscape, a familiar presence against mine. He was carrying me up to the gallery, away from whatever had happened in the few minutes I’d been unconscious. As he lowered me to the floor, I could feel the blood drying on my face. I could barely remember where I was.

“Paige, fight it. You must fight it.”

His hand stroked over my hair. I watched his face, trying to make the lines stop blurring.

Another pair of eyes appeared. I thought it was Terebell again. I checked out for a while, only to wake with a hollow roaring in my ears. The noise pressed at my temples. When the pain forced me back to meatspace, Warden was looking down at me. We were in the gallery, above the clamor in the hall. “Paige,” he said. “Can you hear me?”

It sounded like a question. I nodded.

“Nashira.” I couldn’t raise my voice above a whisper.

“She lives. But so do you.”

Still alive. Nashira was still here. I felt the faint stirrings of panic, but my body was too weak to respond. This wasn’t over yet.

The sound of a gunshot rang out from below. Save his eyes, everything was dark. “There was—” Warden leaned closer to my lips to hear me. “There was a poltergeist. She has a . . . poltergeist.”

“Yes. But you came prepared.” His finger traced my neckline. “Did I not say this could save your life?”

The pendant caught the light from his eyes, the sublimed object, designed to repel poltergeists. The one he’d given me. The one I’d tried to refuse, and might not have worn. Warden lifted me against his chest, keeping one hand at the back of my head. “Help is coming,” he said, very softly. “They came for you, Paige. The Seals came for you.”