“The comms room. We’ve got to get there first. Jam their outgoing signals. Their equipment should give me the juice I need to help close the bridge, and then we can coordinate with Magpie.” Phillip gestured toward one of the triangle sides of the castle, where thorny radio antennae sprouted from it like a cruel crown. Between that and the ring of transponder towers they’d passed on their way into town, it should be more than enough.

“Magpie,” Simone echoed, glancing away. “I’m sure she’s afraid, same as us. But it’s better than being afraid alone.”

Amid the screaming sirens and rancid smoke, Simone led the charge toward the chaos of Wewelsburg Castle.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

LIAM

The shadow world was no longer just around the corner. At Wewelsburg Castle, the two worlds had collided and twisted together like crumpled metal in an auto accident, and it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. They bled into each other in a nightmare of whispers and shrieks and shadow and stone.

Pitr crawled to his feet, skin slipping over the knot of shadows beneath. He was more shadow than man now. Liam supposed a year lost in this horrible place would do that to anyone, especially someone who already nursed so much darkness in his heart. No wonder he and Kreutzer had found each other; if Pitr hadn’t chosen Princeton, he probably would’ve gladly worked his way up the SS ranks alongside his research pal. Pitr’s sunken chest puffed up with a gulp of air, and then he laughed. It sounded like the wails of the dying.

“Thank you for the added pain.” Pitr’s smile glinted like a knife’s edge. “It’s just what I needed to begin the stabilization ritual.”

“Let Daniel go. You don’t need him for this.”

“Oh, but I do.” Pitr snatched Daniel up by the bindings around his wrists. Strange winds swirled around them, echoes of sorrow stitched into the gusts. “He means something to you. So he is worth everything.”

Daniel locked eyes with Liam then, those dark pools pulling at Liam’s gut. Dammit, Daniel. Liam swallowed, throat bobbing. Why did Daniel care so little for his life, even now? Why hadn’t Liam been able to convince him to stay alive?

“You shouldn’t have come for me.” Drying blood coated Daniel’s upper lip, cracking as he spoke. “You deserve to live.”

Liam bit his lip to stave off a rush of tears. “So do you.”

Daniel’s eyelids fluttered as he fought against blood loss. “You don’t need this other world. You’re strong enough without it.”