“The Älvolk think that across the bridge will be their rightful Valhalla.” Sumi shook her head. “I followed Senka across, and what lies there is far more hell than heaven.”

Jem bristled. “It has its own beauty to it.”

“And its own monsters,” she said, meeting his gaze evenly.

“Should we be worried?” Dagny asked.

“If the Älvolk ever break the enchantment, then yes,” Sumi said. “But it’s held for nearly a thousand years. Even with their fanaticism, I don’t see why they could do it now.”

“What can we do to prevent them from undoing the enchantment?” Dag asked.

“We don’t even know what is required to break it, so it’s difficult to say what one shouldn’t do,” Jem said with a dismal shrug.

“They’re collecting blood,” I said. Everyone looked at me with a start because it had been so long since I’d spoken. “They took so much of my blood, and they’ve got all these flowers that bleed.”

“I bet they took Eliana’s blood,” Dagny said. “That’s probably why she freaked out so much when Elof tried to draw her blood back in June. If they held her and drained her the way they did Ulla.”

“And I could probably handle it better, because I’m Omte,” I realized.

In the bathroom, Eliana was loudly singing the song of heroes and worms of flowers.

Dagny looked at the door with pity in her eyes. “They stole her blood.”

“And they still can’t get across the bridge,” Sumi said with a heavy sigh.

“So where do we go from here?” Dagny asked.

And then they launched into the logistics of it all. Where they could stay—to keep it under the radar, they’d have to make do with extra blankets and pillows in the living room; what they would do about Eliana—Dagny would arrange to sneak her in to see Elof tomorrow; what everyone else would be up to while Dagny and Sumi would be helping Elof and Eliana—Dagny assigned me and Jem to go to the archives to convince Calder to help us find anything we could about the Lost Bridge of Dimma and how to cross it.

After Eliana came out of the bathroom, she complained of being hungry, and Sumi admitted they’d had trouble finding food on the road, which was a problem I understood all too well.

Dagny and Sumi headed down to the market to get more food, since we didn’t have nearly enough for five mouths, while I stayed back to help Eliana and Jem settle in.

I felt strangely on edge with just the two of them, an electric current of anxiety threaded through me, so I couldn’t sit still. I set up the laptop so Eliana could watch her shows while curled up on the couch, but I moved around, mindlessly dusting things that didn’t really need dusting.