Alice felt like a car with only fumes in the gas tank. She’d never pushed her magical abilities this hard for this long, not even against the Dragon. This was the seventh or eighth bridge they’d crossed—she’d lost count—and practically every step of the way had been contested by monsters. It was like walking through a zoo where all the cages had opened, and the lions and bears were free to snack on the guests. Except that Alice would have welcomed a good, honest lion at this point, compared to the menagerie of weird insectoid and crustacean creatures that had attacked them.

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, she reached for her threads.

Dex, on the other side of the bridge, was fending off a similar tentacle with her paired swords. Ahead, the octopus creature had heaved its body onto the thin stone walkway, clacking a bright orange beak. Isaac directed a storm of sleet and ice into its eyes and Ellen sent bolts of blinding energy into the tentacles as they came into view.

As usual, it was Garret who really turned the battle in their favor. As Isaac froze the creature in place, the older boy slowly and methodically slashed the thing to pieces. Its mucus-wet hide was too thick for his shadow-waves to leave more than long cuts, so he concentrated on the tentacles, severing them one by one. The octopus-thing gave a curious groaning bellow, severed stumps spouting an awful green fluid, and dragged itself back under the bridge with its surviving limbs.

The next tower was only a few hundred feet away. Without discussion, the six apprentices ran toward it. Alice paused to grab Soranna’s hand, though her legs felt like lead weights and her feet screamed with pain at every step. She practically cried out with relief as they made it through the doorway and into the now-familiar circular room with its central mound of books. Alice lowered herself to the ground, shaking, and Dex sat down beside her. Soranna simply collapsed into a heap against the pile of books, eyes closed and breathing hard.

Even Garret’s eyes were bright with exhaustion, but he remained on his feet, stalking around the pile of books.

“There should be another bridge off this level that leads straight to the dome. I could see it from the outside,” he said. “As long as we keep going . . . Oh.”

He stopped. Alice roused herself enough to peer over the mound of books, and saw him standing on the other side of the room, staring at unbroken wall.

“Wonderful,” Ellen said. “I thought we climbed to the roof of that last tower so you could see where we were going.”

“We did. And I did see where we were going.”

“Evidently not.” She let out a heartfelt sigh. “I suppose that means another climb.”