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“No,” Alex whispered, horrified.

“You need to hold it together,” Zain said, shaking her slightly again. “I’ll use the Eternal Path to warn my people, but I need you to go to the Library with your friends and try to stop Aven before he can force Marselle to open the door.”

“What if we’re too late?” she asked. “What if they’re already through?”

“If you don’t see them on your way in, you’ll have to assume Aven has managed to Claim Marselle and he’s already used him to open the doorway,” Zain said. “If that’s the case, I want you and your friends to come straight through to Raelia. We’llneed all the backup we can get if we want to capture Aven before he can escape.”

“What good canwepossibly do?” D.C. asked, stepping up beside Alex and looking at Zain with wide, anxious eyes. “We’re not Meyarin. There’s no chance we can help fight him.”

“If Aven makes it through to Raelia, he won’t be alone,” Zain said. “He’ll have at least some of his gifted accomplices with him. The abilities you possess may help keep the other humans distracted while we capture Aven.”

At the concerned looks on their faces, Zain’s expression softened. “It might not come to that. We may be able to stop him before he gets through to Raelia, but that depends on you reaching them before they get to the doorway. Go, now, and I’ll see you again soon.”

“Wait, Zain!” Alex called out as he sprinted away from them. When he paused at the entrance to the food court, she asked, “What happens if wedoget to Aven in time? If we meet him before he uses Darrius to get through to Meya?”

“Stall him,” Zain called back to them. “I’ll come along with reinforcements after I reach the palace and warn them.”

That was all he said before he disappeared out the door.

s attack.

Twenty-Four

Alex turned to her friends who lookedas shell-shocked as she felt.

“You don’t have to come with me,” she told them straight up.

“We’re not leaving you to face him alone,” Bear said firmly.

“Where’s Jordan?” D.C. all but screamed. “What’s taking him so long?”

“Jeez, calm down. I’m notthatlate.”

The three of them whipped around to see their friend strolling casually through the entrance to the food court with his backpack slung over one shoulder. When he reached them, he dropped it to the ground and grinned at them widely. If Alex hadn’t been so freaked out by Zain’s news, she would have danced with joy at seeing the familiar, carefree expression on his face.

“Aven has Darrius,” she blurted out, causing his grin to evaporate. “We have to stop them before they reach the doorway to Meya.”

She didn’t wait for him to respond as she sprinted off, knowing her friends would follow.

“Talk to me, Alex. What’s going on?” Jordan demanded as they ran along the path.

Alex told him what Zain had said, and finished her quick explanation as they reached the Tower building.

“Are you insane?” Jordan grabbed her arm and spun her to face him. “The entire academy staff is out there making sure Aven doesn’t get to you, and you’re actively seeking him out?”

“Jordan, it’sDarrius,” she said, yanking her arm back. “If Aven Claims him, he’ll be forced to open the doorway through to Meya. And we all know just how bad that would be.”

Jordan seemed confused. “What do you mean?”

Alex sent him a frustrated look. “Stop trying to distract me. I know you’re protective and you want to look out for me, but I need to get down there.”

“Think about this for a second,” Bear said, moving to stand beside her. “Are you sure Marselle can open the doorway?”

Alex hesitated. She knew Darrius’s access to the Library’s secrets was more limited than her own, since she was Chosen while he was only granted the privileges of headmaster. But he’d never said that hecouldn’tget through to Meya. He’d also mentioned that Aven had tried to capture him in the past, but the Library protected its own—except for in the case of their current dilemma, apparently.

“I don’t know if he can,” Alex admitted. “But Aven seems to think so, and that’s good enough for me. We need to find them.”

Bear gazed at her steadily for a moment before he nodded. “Lead the way.”