Fear. Palpable, choking, rising to meet him. Alone, lost, with a tiring griffon under him and the weight of the alliance on his shoulders and no room to make an error.

Oh God, if there is a God, this would be a good time.

They turned. The phosphorescence dazzled his eyes with its dim and endless magnificence.

MORGON, he all but shouted in the aethereal.

Gabriel.

I need a beacon. Gabriel tried to keep calm, keep hold of his memory palace, keep a grip on the great monster between his legs. And reality.

Wait one.

Gabriel couldn’t decide whether to turn in place or continue on what he thought was the right course. His disorientation was so great that he almost slipped from the high-backed saddle, and Ariosto side-slipped under him.

Steady, boss. I’m really hungry. Can I go down now?

Just a second.

Gabriel. Beacon in the count of ten. There will be three flashes in the real.

Morgon began to count down.

Gabriel leaned back, looking. Desperate.

Number one.

Gabriel saw . . .

Nothing.

Number two.

“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.” Gabriel was looking in every direction, his head moving in near panic, his body leaning forward.

Got it, boss.

Number three.

Gabriel’s relief surpassed any other emotion he could remember. The fire-orange flash was a pinprick, miles away, but he saw it. Ariosto was lining up on it.

Close, he said.

You worry too much, Ariosto said.

A moment later he could see the causeway, and his heartbeat began to slow.

It’s the thing in the water, Ariosto said. I can feel it. The things. There are hundreds of them.

Gabriel pointed them at the gate. Straight through, he said.

They passed through the outer gate for the third time and Gabriel’s sense of dread fell away to mere fear as they passed the ivory portal.

The green banda were drawn up by the fiery gate, and Ariosto cupped his wings, sparkling in the firelit air, and skimmed the floor, which appeared to be a dazzling mosaic. Gabriel tried to remember what the other floors had been.

He dismounted, wondering how many times he could be terrified in a single day.

“What the fuck is out there?” Sauce asked him.

He shook his head. “Big, ancient creatures who live in the darkness,” he said. “Let’s not disturb them.”

“I hate it here,” Sauce said quietly.

“They don’t like us, either,” Gabriel said. He was looking at the gate plaque. It was quite simple: a single jewel. The jewel was a milky white, like a moonstone.

“It is the wrong gate,” Gabriel said. He took a deep breath.

“Wrong?” Sauce snapped. “It’s wrong? More wrong than fucking ancient sea monsters in a world of black water with no fucking sun?”

“Yes,” Gabriel said.

“How can you tell?” Sauce asked.

“There should be three jewels,” Gabriel said.

Sauce shrugged. “Let’s see it,” she said.

Gabriel looked at her.