On one of his tentacles, something gold glinted in the sunlight. A magnificent trident, buried into Lochmordra’s gut. There was no wound, but the trident remained there all the same, as though it was now a piece of him. A memento from the fable of Maedigan.

In the distance, Keyes and Yasha had reached the shore of the Isle of Roane. While Lochmordra shrieked, Yasha went to work setting down each of the jars in a line. After he finished, the sand beneath them rumbled and shook, then Keyes’s stone Lore broke through and lifted them higher, creating a mountain so tall they stood eye-level with the Beast.

Barclay frantically scanned the island for any sign of Viola, but she was nowhere.

Tadg growled and shot a bolt of lightning at the barrier. Rather than split it apart, the bolt ricocheted off it, nearly striking Barclay in the leg. Barclay dodged out of the way just in time, and it burned a sizzling, thumb-sized hole in the deck.

“Are you trying to kill us?” Barclay shouted.

“I’m trying to get us out of here!”

“Croak!”

By accident, the Stonetoad appeared on Tadg’s shoulder. “What the—? Toadles? I knew I should’ve fed you to Mar-Mar. Get back—”

Toadles leapt off Tadg’s shoulder to the deck. He hopped to a nearby stone. Then his stomach convulsed, and his eyes bulged. He vomited a thick, purple sludge onto the rock, which melted with a hiss.

The barrier flickered out.

Rather than seeming pleased, Tadg looked possibly angrier. “You could do that this whole time? Where have you been hiding that?”

Toadles only croaked in response.

Overhead, Lochmordra shrieked. His tentacles lashed out against the mountain of stone where Keyes and Yasha stood. At its base, a light began to glow, engulfing the six items of Lochmordra’s snare. The light swelled, sweeping up the mountain, across the island. A brilliant, terrible net.

It collapsed over Lochmordra, and the Legendary Beast froze. He couldn’t break free. He couldn’t move at all.

Except for his eyes. His white pupils darted around wildly as Keyes grasped the trident on his tentacle with two hands. With a wrench, he pulled it free. Lochmordra let out a shriek so loud, so anguished, that all of the Sea seemed to tremor. A wave crashed into the side of Keyes’s boat, sending Tadg and Barclay clambering for anything to hold on to. Barclay reached for a dangling rope and missed. He landed in a heap on the deck, while Tadg skidded back and collided with the port-side rail.

Then all at once, the net of light vanished. Barclay jumped to his feet and stared out at the snare on the beach. Viola stood among the jars. She’d stolen one and slammed it against the stone tower, smashing it.