“A few hundred miles either side—but all the towns!” Alex cried. “The cities, all the people! There are thousands—”

“But all the peeeeople!” Zia mimicked. “They’re all going to die, anyway, Alexander. They don’t seem to mind. None of them think about it much at all. No, what you should really worry about isn’t them all falling in. It’s the things that might come climbing out.”

“What?”

“Things, Alexander. Things. Things from the wild side. Things with wings and things you don’t have words for. You’ll see. But it’ll be fun. It’ll give Father and me something to hunt and study. Now. Shut your mouth.”

She turned to walk to the gate. The moon hung directly above the broken tower.

Alex had barely half a plan. Less. But he was out of time. He dived in front of her feet, scrabbled around fast behind her again, then threw himself back hard in the dirt. With the sleeves of his coat over his hand like gloves, he pulled desperately at the wire that was already tightening around his arm.

Zia shrieked, tried to move, fell on her face.

Beyond her, Beckman, still chanting, reeled his wire in faster. Alex yanked it in the opposite direction with everything he had. Between them, Zia lay in the dirt, with the loop Alex had managed to throw around her leg cutting tightly into her ankle.

“Stop pulling, moron, loosen it!” she screamed at Beckman. He continued murmuring his ancient song, sounding nervier now. More wire started spooling out from under his coat.

Alex got to his feet, shoved the broom under his armpit for support, and hobbled backward, straining to keep Zia caught tight between them. He cast a nervous glance at the motionless life-sizer, then jerked away as another spring-arm came flying at him. But Beckman was too absorbed in his ritual to shoot accurately. The flailing white fist missed and fell writhing to the ground. Alex pinned it down with the brush handle and leaned on it hard.

“How long do you think you can keep this up, idiot?” Zia yelled. “What actually is your point?”

“Doesn’t have to be long,” Alex muttered. “I don’t understand what you’re doing, but I know enough to understand it has to be done at the right time. You said you only had a teensy-tiny moment to open the hole. So, a teensy-tiny moment will do.”

“What?” Zia gave a despairing chuckle. “It’s already happening, bunny-brain. Look.”

The gate was glowing steadily brighter. Alex saw that the light seemed to come from countless burning letters and symbols hidden beneath the layers of varnish, spelling out some long, indecipherable message. Within the structure, the dark air was shuddering. The shuddering began to center above the tall man’s head.