They were still in the Longford valley. It was dark, the valley bathed in moon- and starlight, and the revealed reservoir bed was pale grey. This new portal—perhaps a crack in the Fold that Grace did not know about, a fault in her creation that had formed when her own new portal was initiated—opened onto the hillside, above where her doorway emerged down in the valley. The geographies were confusing, but then Vince didn’t expect anything about it to make much sense.

A few trees stood around him, there was long grass underfoot, and heavy banks of shrubs hunkered like sleeping creatures in the moonlight. He felt very much alone, and he realised he was somewhere he had vowed never to be again—a universe away from Angela.

“Fucking hell,” Dastion said behind him. He stumbled as he emerged from the deep shadow on the hillside, but Shashahanna held him upright.

“We’re here,” Vince said. “You were right!”

“For all the good it does us,” Dastion said.

“It means we can see what’s going on here while Sammi works on her powers, her spell, whatever, back in the Fold. No one knows we’re here. And if needs must, we can do something to slow Mallian down.”

“Something like what?” Shashahanna asked. “What can we do against the fairy?”

“I’m working on that,” Vince said. “Come on, let’s head downhill to see what’s happening.” He looked around for a while, locating this place as well as he could. The last thing he wanted was to lose his way back here. This portal was a deep dark shadow standing close to a wall of rock, and if the night grew much darker he wasn’t sure he’d be able to find it again.

“I’ve got it,” Shashahanna said.

“You’re sure?”

She tilted her head to one side. “Trust me. I’m a mermaid.”

He wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but he nodded and led the way down the slope towards the grey.

It took only ten minutes to reach the dividing line between greenery and greyness. They paused there, looking downhill to see if there was any obvious movement. Vince scanned the landscape until he saw what he thought was the remains of Longford, further along the valley to their right. That was where Grace had formed her portal when she’d sensed Sammi’s use of her fledgling powers, and that was where Mallian would hopefully still be. Vince only hoped the Nephilim would not have already fled the valley to commence Ascent. For all his bluster and bravado, Vince had always known Mallian to have other Kin around him. Even trapped in the Fold he had welcomed Vince’s occasional chats, and on occasions he’d seen him speaking with Kin. A powerful being, he was also one who enjoyed company, and Vince only hoped that was still the case.

The clock was ticking.