Everest stepped out of the trees dressed in his usual all-white, looking like this was any other walk in the park. But in his blue and white eyes, I saw a rage I’d never seen in him before. Release the son, betray the vice, deep in the Lore they’ll feel his bite. That’s what those lines meant. He was always meant to betray Lilith in the Land of the Lore.

“EVEREST!” Sweyn shrieked.

He flicked his wrists and deep crevices opened up in the ground. Thick black tar poured out, then took the form of people. Everest lunged forward—and then it was mayhem. All I could do was stare with my jaw on the floor. Tar-people tackled vampires and Unseelie and dragged them down into the crevices. The ground shook like an earthquake around us. Shadows moved and snatched Unseelies right out of the air when they tried to fly away.

The whole world trembled. My knees buckled, and I crashed to the ground. Tegan was barely upright. The others were falling and getting back up. Everest threw his arms out wide, his fingers flexed. Trees snapped in half, then crumbled to dust that floated right into Everest’s palms. Those blue flames that marked the trail to the archway fizzled out like water on a fire. Streaks of moonlight broke through the haze and fog, like the outside world was sneaking through.

Everest barely moved. His face was tense and sharp with concentration. The vampires and Unseelies didn’t know who to attack, us or Everest. Sweyn was screaming orders so loud her voice cracked. Red light flashed from somewhere, but I refused to see where. Those tree-like four-legged creatures dug into the dirt to try and keep themselves in place, but Everest’s magic was too strong. It pulled them into him, but they were piles of ash before they reached him. The humanoid creatures we’d fought last time were peeled apart bone by bone. The world was shaking so hard I could barely see what was happening. My vision was too rocky.

And then the archway crumbled, stones dropping and rolling away, magic fizzling out between them. The Unseelies hissed and dove for Everest, but he was lethal. His black smoke ripped their wings from their bodies and snapped their necks.

Sweyn screamed and charged for him.