The three of us raced over to the mountain of chairs. I knew there was a battle going on around us, but I had to get eyes on Emersyn. I had to check on her. I’d heard the others talking about how easily Em slipped into her own darkness, we could not let her be consumed by her own fire. Tenn shouted behind me. My gaze snapped toward it automatically just as he shot into the sky chasing after something. Lily threw her hands up and shot sunlight into the night sky. The Unseelies were fleeing. Again. That made no sense. We’d only just gotten here. They’d barely fought us.

“EM!” Savannah screamed, pulling my attention back.

Em’s answering shriek was almost animalistic. Her voice sounded like gravel and lava. Savannah looked like a feral dog circling the chair mountain to find a way inside. Her hands were clutching to her chest, and I was praying that wasn’t bone I’d just seen as she darted in front of me. Mei-Ling climbed on top of the flipped-over table from inside the sound booth and pushed up on her tiptoes like she thought height would give her a better view of Em inside. But inside that mountain of crumbled metal chairs was an inferno of the Empress’s making. There was no Emersyn in there. Just a literal ball of fire standing over five feet tall.

“Emersyn, come back to us,” Savannah spoke softly, like Em was a spooked feral cat. “It’s okay. They left. You’re safe. Just drop your fire.”

“This thing is gonna blow,” Mei-Ling mumbled and climbed back off the table.

“That thing is her soul. We gotta get in there.” Savannah kicked at one of the chairs. “Miss Ma’am, we comin’ in.”

I glanced over my shoulder and found the Unseelies were still gone. They hadn’t circled back. Tenn was up in the sky with his white wings flapping in the breeze. I licked my lips, then yelled, “GUYS! OVER HERE! NOW! HURRY!”

Savannah was mumbling words that were definitely not English, but my thoughts were too sluggish to translate the ancient language. It was like my mind picked when it wanted to remember the language. Mei-Ling had a hold of Savannah’s hoodie and kept yanking her backwards whenever one of Em’s flames flicked out at her.

“GUYS!” I yelled again without taking my eyes off the inferno. “HELP!”

“Savannah?” Cooper rushed to her side and reached for her, then recoiled, his whole face falling. “What happened to your hands⁠—”

“Forget my hands right now! We gotta get her out⁠—”

“Who out of where⁠—”

“EMERSYN!” Savannah, Mei-Ling, and I shouted at the same time.