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“They follow because nothing has happened for fifty years but us dying,” Mircea said harshly, his dark eyes suddenly boring into mine.“Then, in two days, you changed everything.”

“Ididn’t change it!”

“If not you, then who?”

“You’re a leader, Cassie,” Zara said, a rueful smile on her lips.“Whether you like it or not.So, lead.What do you want us to do?”

I stared at them, feeling the ground shifting underneath me because this was my worst nightmare.I couldn’t do this, especially not now, stranded on the outskirts of the city with who knew what kind of dangers between me and Rhea.And with the only spell that might help me suddenly going haywire!

I wanted to go home.I wanted to crawl under the covers of my big round bed at Dante’s—myDante’s—not whatever the gods had left of it.I wanted Tami to bring me some little initiates to read a bedtime story to, or have one of my acolytes stop by with hot chocolate and some ridiculously huge éclair because the roly-poly grandmas were always trying to fatten me up, or have Pritkin arrive for some alone time that wasn’t in a cramped shower in a goddamned war zone.

That was it; that was everything I wanted in the world.And the path to it wasright there.I looked at Dante’s, now backlit by a strange green haze, from whichever group was spending their lives in that direction to buy me time.Time that I was wasting, as usual!

So, I finally did what I should have done ages ago.

And womaned the fuck up.

Bodil smiled at me gently.“When I first met you, I thought you would be the death of me, and I may still be proven right.But I believe that you will be the savior of our worlds if anyone will.So, Cassie Palmer, what do we do?”

“Check the tents for clothing, the nicer sort, the kind that servants might wear,” I said hoarsely and looked at Enid.“We’re going to walk right into Dante’s like we belong there.”

“And how do we get there in time?”Alphonse asked, his eyes narrowing.

“The hard way.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

This isn’t the hard way,” Alphonse hissed at me a few moments later.“It’s the creepy way!”

And yeah, it was.But it was also the only thing that might buy us enough time to reach our objective before our allies gave out.Assuming we made it that far.

“What was that?”Purple Hair said, jumping slightly as something brushed against her.

It was the same something that was falling all around us now, like tiny, twinkling Christmas lights or ephemeral fireflies.I didn’t know if there hadn’t been any similar creatures closer to the barrier or if the light from the human world had masked them.But it wasn’t doing so now, and they were everywhere, glittering in the dim white nothingness like a sparse rain.

“Ghosts, or what is left of them when they run out of power,” I said, taking point along with Hansen.“These are the Paths of the Dead, and they’re the only ones here.”

“Then why is it so noisy?”Mircea asked, staring around.

He didn’t see anything, as we were no longer skimming the surface of reality, not having the power to hold ourselves there.As a result, we couldn’t even see the shanty town anymore, with its wonky structures, narrow alleys, and thousands of smokestacks.Instead, we were much farther inside the Paths, trusting Hansen’s skill to guide us the rest of the way.

The good news was that this place stood outside time, meaning that not a moment would pass while we trudged the long distance into town.The bad was that Mircea was right: it was noisy as heck in here.Screams, some of which cut off abruptly, explosions, moans, and groans filled the air, some fairly close, others so distant that my ears strained to hear them, but all were strange.

It was usually eerily silent here.

But not today, which made me terrified that a god had found his or her way in to feast on the fallen.Apollo had done that once, not that he’d had a choice after me, Pritkin, and a few thousand rakshasas banished him from the human realm.But it seemed unlikely in this case.

The ghosts who fell here were almost entirely out of power.The only creatures who could be bothered to pursue them, or who even knew how, were others like them: stronger, fatter ghosts who came here to hunt.And those ghosts hunted silently, while the little remnants they pursued were too senseless to evade or even to scream.

Even humans would make a better meal for the gods, and one considerably easier to get.Yet the Balrog-looking thing outside the walls had entered without hesitation, knowing both the way in and the way out despite having no ghost to help him.As if he’d been here before...

Damn it, I didn’t need this!

Or this, I thought, when Hansen stopped and just hovered there, looking confused.

“What?”I said.

“N-nothing.I’m just trying to remember…