“Merde! Right in my eye.”

Simone sat up, and Rebeka did the same, scrambling off of Phillip, delicate as a hummingbird. He sat up too, and realized he wasn’t only winded from Rebeka. His whole body ached.

“What . . . what was that?” Phillip asked.

Simone finished digging around in her eye and shook the rest of the dust from her hair. “I think that was our invitation inside.”

He followed her gaze to the north tower of the castle. The bare stonework had shredded upward and split open like a trick cigar. Dark smoke spewed out of it—too dark for normal smoke. Too rank with an oily stench.

“The ritual chamber,” Rebeka said, her voice quavering.

“Got a feeling Liam has something to do with that,” Phillip said.

“What tipped you off?” Simone asked with a roll of her eyes. “The explosions?”

“Let’s hope Daniel’s with him.” Rebeka was already standing, wriggling her foot back into a loosened shoe strap, body primed to bolt.

“Rebeka, wait.” Phillip stood too. “If you’re going to charge in there, at least tell us your plan.”

“Okay. Liam wants to keep the portal open. But he can’t control it all—not for good. Not without the shadow devouring him, too. And especially not with Kreutzer and that . . . man.” Rebeka gripped his arm, pleading. “They need my help. Humans have ruined the shadow world enough. We can’t keep stealing their energy, just as they can’t keep drinking up ours. We’ll corrupt each other until there’s nothing left.”

Simone and Phillip both turned toward her, assessing. “But . . . but you can control the energy,” Simone said.

Rebeka shifted her weight, shoulders drawing up toward her ears. “No. It’s too much. There’s so many, there’s so much hatred—I’m—I’m afraid I can’t hold on.”

Phillip tapped her wrist with his fingertips. “But I’ve seen what you can do.”

She rocked back on her heels and wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t want to be like those monsters. The angry ones, the vengeful ones.” Her voice broke. “It doesn’t matter who started it. We’ll tear each other’s worlds apart.”

“You’re not like them. My God, you’re not. Is that what you’re afraid of? That this connection somehow makes you . . . like them?”

“I don’t want to be this evil, ravenous thing. I don’t want to be able to control the shadows.”

“Hey. Hey, listen to me.” He placed his hands over her too-sharp shoulders, waited for her to give him a tentative nod. “You didn’t choose to have this affinity. And it isn’t because of something you did.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, but didn’t argue.

“It’s a thing that happened, all right? It’s not your fault. You didn’t do this.”