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Then there was Taly.

She wasnotdressed for battle because she wasnotgoing.

And it was bullshit.

After all, she’d been the one to figure out the map, and she’d provided the BABIES, and she’d even helped come up with the plan.

Kato hadn’t helped with the plan, and he was still getting to go.

And it was a good plan too. Areallygood one, and she wasn’t just saying that because after all this time they finally had something actionable.

Before the Schism, the area underneath the island had been divided into six districts. Strio was one of them, connected to the others by a network of highways and rails that spanned the Underground. Those highways were gone now, of course, swallowed by ruin. When the Crescent, one of the adjoining districts, collapsed, it had cut off any roads leading out or in.

Almost.

Riftways could movethroughstone and rubble, and Taly had found one that would drop them right next to Bill’s impenetrable fortress. There were no Gates nearby, which meant those parts of the Underground might still be passable.

From there, it was a quick sneak through the mines, and after draining her reserve of BABIES, they had enough ordnance to send that sinkhole straight to hell.

Besides the obvious risk of ending up trapped in a collapsed cavern with a bunch of angry shades, it was foolproof. Which made it all the more insulting that she wasn’t allowed to go.

Sure, maybe there were reasons. She was still recovering, blah, blah, lingering effects of the Vorpal Vine, blah, blah, blah. Something, something, stress and trauma, muscle weakness, nerve pain. And even if walking through the forest was making her a little more winded than it should, Taly could still easily carry a crate. If she got breaks.

“Stop fuming, dear,” Sarina said, patting her on the shoulder. “You’re going to need your energy for the walk back.”

Taly was trying not to think about that. “If we could’ve just waited a few days…” she said a bit breathlessly.

“Bet those exercises don’t seem so pointless now, huh?” Aiden called over his shoulder.

Taly did her best not to glare a hole in the back of his head. She’d never said they were pointless. Only that they hurt, and she didn’t want to do them.

Kato and Skye were still grumbling. Sarina and Aiden, who, like Taly, would also be staying behind, were dressed less for battle and more for the summer heat, in gauzy tunics and tall boots made for walking through the thick underbrush. They had wanted to come out to say goodbye and just generally worry.

Taly stepped through the tall ferns, breathing in the morning and watching color come back into the world as dawn broke on the horizon. The red of the bloodpines, the sterling iridescence of their needles blanketing the forest floor like bits of tarnished silver—she’d seen it all before, but the beginning of summer never ceased to be dazzling.

Light speared through the trees just ahead. A clearing. The skeletal remains of the buildings rose higher as she approached.

Taly stumbled to a halt when the ground suddenly dropped off, steep and sheer.

A gaping hole stretched across the clearing, like the earth had been clawed open. It plunged straight into the underground city, its depths shrouded in shadow.

“Wow,” she said, peering down. “You two really fucked this place.”

Kato’s lips thinned, and he glanced at Skye, who just shrugged.

“Don’t look at me,” Skye said. “I wasn’t the one who inserted the hyaline.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault now?” Kato shot back.

“Hey, I’m not pointing any fingers,” Skye replied, doing just that behind his back where only Taly could see. “Just stating facts.”

Kato grumbled something under his breath about inconvenient facts and turned back to the edge. “I’m going to remember this,” he said before leaping into the hole with an impressive lack of hesitation.

The others followed suit. The riftway was at the bottom, and that was where they needed to go. Ivain and Eula jumped after him without a word. Sarina descended more gracefully, her flames creating drafts of heat that slowed her fall. Aiden took his time conjuring a thick vine that lowered him down.

Taly hung back. Skye held out a hand—she would’ve been able to make it herself, but her magic was still a bit… unreliable after the unfortunate occupation of her body by forces she wasn’t ready to name just yet. Halfway down a mile-long descent would be a bad time for her spells to start acting up.

“This is—”