“Can’t you make him?”

How did she know about that? I rubbed one temple. Chris must have told her.

“Not anymore,” I said. “I had Gran do a spell on me earlier – his name is gone from my mind forever.” I hope you heard that, I silently told the Winter Queen. Good luck getting it out of me now.

“I see.” Joss took a step back, her eyes fixed on her feet. “I’m going to leave in the morning to join the rest of the Hollow folk. I… I don’t have the stomach for this.”

Her words surprised me, because the last thing my sister was, was a coward. But in truth, keeping her away from the fighting would be an immense relief, so I didn’t argue. “If that’s what you want.”

“It is.” Her smile was strained. “I’ll say goodbye before I leave in the morning.”

A gentle hand shook me awake. “What time is it?” I asked, trying to get my bearings in the windowless cabin. I’d been ordered off to bed after I’d started dropping off mid-sentence, and I’d slept curled up next to my gran on the floor. She’d been asleep when I arrived, so I hadn’t a chance to thank her for speaking to Joss on my behalf. My back ached, but I felt alert. Ready.

“An hour or so before dawn.” Victoria faintly illuminated the room, then pressed a bowl of porridge into my hands. “Eat this. It’s dreadfully bland, but it appears no one thought to pack sugar. Or raisins. A life without raisins is barely a life at all.”

Laughing softly so as not to disturb those still sleeping in the cabin, I followed her outside, spooning the hot oats into my mouth as we walked. “What’s the plan?”

“I’ll show you.” Bending low, she went inside the other cabin.

Chris broke off his conversation with Vincent and nodded at me, but my eyes were all for the magical miniature town suspended above the cold firepit at the center of the room. “What is this?”

“A map, of sorts.” My father handed me a tin cup of weak tea. “Jérôme and I have been working with the, uh, Baron Vincent to construct a replica of Revigny and its surroundings.”

“It’s only Lord Vincent at the moment,” Vincent replied. “But I hope to rectify that shortly.”

My father frowned, then shrugged. “It’s been a world of help with planning, given that not everyone has ventured so far out of the Hollow. Chris?”

“Right.” My friend cleared his throat, and I watched how the eyes of everyone in the room went to him. He was, I realized, their leader.