They were close to the first ruins of Longford, and just ahead she could see the low slumped shape of an old building. Beyond, further up the slope, a shape wandered back and forth.

We’ve come too close! she thought, and she wondered again whether Fer had actually chosen sides. Then she saw that the shape was further away than she’d thought, and larger. Mallian.

Around him other figures stood or sat, shadowy outlines catching moonlight on their skins, pelts or scales. She counted five but there might have been twice that number.

Fear bit in, cold and sharp. She touched Fer’s hairy back and nodded behind her the way they’d come, but Fer growled softly and pulled away.

“You’ll be found!” Angela said, as quietly as she could.

Fer leaned in close, pressed its face against hers, then jumped up and was gone. Angela did not even hear it go. She was left alone in the darkness, and with only one course of action—to return back through the portal and into the Fold.

Mallian was gathering Kin to him already, preparing for Ascent.

They didn’t have long.

* * *

Left alone in the darkness and the rain, feeling no eyes upon her and allowed to concentrate fully on her new self, Sammi realised two things.

First, the old Sammi was already gone. The memories and emotions were still there, along with the regrets and the deep, dark sense that she could never be the same again, but she was not that girl anymore. Her memory of Sammi was of an innocent life, one marred by tragedy yet still retaining hope for the future. This new existence forced upon her—perhaps dragged up out of her, where the truth had been in hiding for so long—told a different story.

There was no hope, only a promise of conflict and pain. And with power came a great, heavy dread.

The second thing she realised was that it would take her lifetimes to fully master this power, not simply minutes or hours. She had come to understand that a shard of Grace’s soul resided within the spell cast by Mallian over these objects, and to set it free would be to release the fairy. But that didn’t mean she knew how to do so. She could sit and stare at the relics for as long as she wanted, but the knowledge of how to combat Mallian’s spell would not come to her unless she took aggressive action. Kneeling here and waiting for the answer to arrive would do her no good, and in the end they would all run out of time.

She had to take the fight to him.

Gathering up the relics into a small pile, she felt how sad and cold they were, and how lonely and forgotten their previous owners. Scattered around the Earth, murdered and left in shallow graves, these Kin were long since vanished into the past.