If Johnis had not been holding two bags, he might have been able to slow Alucard enough to prevent what happened next. The Shataiki streaked to the books with the same speed he’d shown earlier, slicing his palm with a talon as he moved.

Silvie vanished into the book just ahead of him, but Alucard reached them before Johnis could move, and he dove into the swirl that had swallowed Silvie.

The green book disappeared in a small flash of light.

Silvie and Alucard were both gone.

The sound of breathing behind the gate thickened. For a long moment no one in the room moved. The ramifications of what they’d just witnessed seeped in.

One, the books worked.

Two, a way of escape had been opened to them.

Three, where that escape would lead them was completely uncertain.

Four, Alucard had succeeded in his objective.

Five, Billos might as well be dead.

Talons grated on the gate. Johnis jerked around to see that two of the large Shataiki were opening the latch.

“Go!” he screamed, rushing forward.

“Billos?” Darsal reached for the man she loved.

Billos stepped up to Johnis, snatched both bags of water from his hands, whirled to Darsal, and kissed her on the lips.

When he pulled back, his eyes were fiery with determination. “Go!”

“Billos?”

“Go, Darsal. Never forget me.”

“No!” She barged forward, grabbed one of the bags from his hands, and faced the coming Shataiki. She flung some water at them and they recoiled, smoldering. But the only cry was hers.

“I stay with you!”

“Darsal, no! Take her, Johnis!”

Johnis snatched one of the books from Karas and shoved it into Darsal’s belt. “Use it!” he snapped, then turned back to Karas.

Working quickly, he popped the twine and threw the cover open as Karas did the same to the book in her hands. He sliced his palm, then hers when she hesitated.

“Ready?”

She glanced up at him with wide eyes, then Johnis shoved his palm flat on his book.

The world spun and then vanished. Johnis clenched his eyes tight, aware that he was suspended, but only for a moment before his feet felt solid ground.

Light exploded through the red in his eyelids. When he opened them again, he was standing in a desert. He blinked against a sun that hung overhead, white, blazing hot.

He was in a desert, but also on a plateau, overlooking a massive valley filled with a gray haze. Spread in the valley below was what looked to be a forest of sorts. Leafless trees of assorted shapes and sizes reached for the sky. Square, triangular, cylindrical . . .

No, not trees. This was a city. One that dwarfed the Horde city.

“Johnis?” a voice asked.