“You and Mama cared for a world that tormented you, isolated you, rejected you both,” Illaria said. “But it cannot reject me. It’s cold and it is cruel. This world deserves to be destroyed.”

As soon as she said that, Illaria snarled and lunged at Sumi. In an instant—a quick flick of her wrist—Sumi had drawn her blade. Illaria moved insanely fast, but Sumi seemed to anticipate all Illaria’s strikes in advance.

And then Sumi’s blade found Illaria’s heart. Illaria gasped in surprise, and Sumi jammed the knife in deeper. Iridescent burgundy blood spilled from her mouth and she staggered back.

The wyrm roared, sounding just above us, and the scent of sulfur wafted in the tent.

Illaria collapsed back on the ground, and the tarp of the tent bowed in from the pressure of fire blowing at it. The Tralla leather was supposed to be flame retardant but the electric heat from the dragon breath was extreme, and it started to blacken and burn.

The only “safe” spot I knew of in Áibmoráigi was on fire and surrounded by the wyrm and giant spiders.

77

Stable

Wendy

Finn stood in front of me, his dark eyes full of fear in a way that I had never seen before.

We were in the tent, and even with all the chaos and spiders and screaming, time seemed to have slowed since he’d come running back to tell me we were trapped, like moths in a jar. He pulled me inside the tent, ostensibly to figure out what to do, but what could we do?

“We can’t leave, we can’t stay,” I said. “So we fight.”

“Wendy . . .” He shook his head helplessly. “I don’t know how to fight this. I can’t think of an option where we don’t all end up dead.”

My first thought was of my son, Oliver. He was back at the palace with my brother Matt, his wife, Willa, and their children. Safe, secure, loved. But if we didn’t find a way to stop the wyrm from eating the world, how long could Oliver or anyone be safe? Even in Förening?

I closed my eyes, picturing Oliver—his hair sandy like Loki’s, his eyes dark like mine, and a smile that lit up my world.

For him, I would do anything. Even the impossible.

“Underground.” I opened my eyes and everything seemed to be moving hyper fast. Bryn was fighting spiders at the far end of the tent. But I focused on Finn.

“The Älvolk live underground,” I said. “How do we get there?”

“Stables,” Pan said.

He was leaning on a cot behind me, his breath ragged. His curls were damp with sweat and blood, but based on the lime green color of the blood, it wasn’t his.

“What’d you say?” I leaned in closer to hear him better.