“Thank you, Silas. Be careful.” When Silas rushed after Yaluk, I turned back to Rae and pressed my palm to his cheek. “We will catch up when I get back to Eden. For now, protect that bag. Tell Everest, well, tell him I don’t know what is about to happen⁠—”

“We do.” He pulled me in for a hug and held on tight, then whispered in my ear. “This is the last step of your quest, Meemaw. Just find the door and take him with you.”

I frowned. “Wait, what⁠—”

“The tide has finally come in. Do not fear your wings,” he whispered. “Find the door, take him with you, and we’ll see you on the other side.”

“Rae—”

“He’s coming.” Rae pointed over my shoulder, his face looking pale and his eyes glassy. “Time to go.”

I followed his stare and cursed. “Go. Go, go, go. Stay in Eden until I get back.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Blue lightning shot across the front lawn, striking the street all around his feet.

“Go out the back door. Fly low. I’ll distract him.” I squeezed Rae’s hand. “Please be careful.”

“Trust me.”

I hurried over to the window and cracked it open. I waited to feel Rae’s aura leave, then I fired my magic out the window. Neon-pink flames slammed into Mammon’s face, throwing him back a few feet but probably only from surprise. I hurried down the row of windows, then when he glanced in my direction, I fired more magic right through the glass. I didn’t watch to see if it hit him. I had a door to find.

Seek the door that will deliver. Deliver what, I had no idea. Rae’s comment replayed in my mind. The tide has finally come in. Do not fear your wings, he’d whispered. That was exactly what Lavinia Bishop had said to me. Find the door, take him with you, and we’ll see you on the other side. What does THAT mean? I took a deep breath and crept through the dark house as I tried to make sense of all of this. There were thoughts and words bouncing around my head that I needed to sort through.

Starting with this house. I’d been in old houses but there was something off about this one. It was . . . older. Deeper. It smelled like the earth. Something else familiar nagged at my brain, but I couldn’t place it. Something in the aura of this house was screaming out to me, but I couldn’t hear the words it sang.