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I clasped the pearl in both hands. Its halves began to open, sparks of light dancing out like fireflies, but I didn’t flinch. I wouldn’t even blink.

“Free Khramelan of this island,” I commanded the pearl. “He is the dragon you belong to, and you are the heart he seeks. The island and all its demons and ghosts will be Bandur’s. Make it so.”

In a searing burst, the pearl’s power exploded over Lapzur. The pearl floated above my hands, spinning faster than ever, the great fracture in its center crackling like lightning.

That’s enough! Kiki exclaimed. The pearl—it’s killing you!

I barely heard her. Light and wind and heat gushed from the spinning pearl, and my back arched as it tugged at the glimmering silver-gold threads of my soul.

Brighter and brighter the pearl shone. My pupils burned just from looking at it, but I couldn’t turn away. By now, its light encompassed the entire island, casting a net over every demon and ghost, even Bandur. I could feel it was on the verge of breaking, its center splintering a hair further with each moment to emit more light, more power.

“Stop,” I told the pearl. “That’s enough.”

Of course it didn’t listen. I reached up to hold it, to stop it from cleaving in two.

It was like holding an exploding star. Heat scalded my cheeks, and my hair came undone, flying wildly. Before my eyes, every strand turned silvery white…until I couldn’t tell my hair from the light. Just before it became too much to bear, the pearl whizzed out of my grasp to Khramelan’s side.

A firework of light rocked the sky, and the demons snapping at Khramelan’s wings and stabbing at his flesh blew apart. Khramelan emerged from the frenzy, his claw curled around the pearl, and he let out a deafening roar.

The island’s ghosts rose once more. They picked up their fallen skulls and hacked bones and thronged into one teeming mass that tore into the demons. Khramelan too found his strength.

Launching from the sky, he dove and landed on Bandur’s back, pinning him to the ground. “You wished to become the King of Demons,” Khramelan boomed. “Welcome to your domain. From now on, your power extends not past these waters. My reign is done, and now yours begins. I bind you to the Forgotten Isles of Lapzur.”

Bandur began to writhe, his fur blurring into smoke as the magic of the island seized him. “No!” he cried. “No!”

The demons of Lapzur squealed as the feast began, and the ghosts stretched open their gaping maws and consumed each of them whole. Championed by the power of Khramelan’s pearl, the ghosts wielded their cursed touch, and every demon on the island transformed into a ghost. It was a fitting punishment for betraying their former guardian—and ironic for Bandur, for now he would be the lone demon of the Forgotten Isles.

With magnificent strength, Khramelan grabbed Bandur by the tail and flung him into the well, sealing it shut with a flare of demonfire.

The tower made a great and terrible shudder as Lapzur claimed its new guardian.

Takkan and I had fled to the tower ramparts, but now the stairs were blocked by demonfire. There was no way out.

“We have to jump!” I shouted. My brothers hovered below, assailed by ferocious winds.

You’ll never make it home without the basket, wailed Kiki.

I gritted my teeth. She was right, but getting off this island was my primary concern. I’d worry about Kiata later.

Hand in hand, Takkan and I dove off the tower.

As we plummeted toward the sea, my brothers swerved to catch us, but the winds were too strong and buffeted them off course.

Out of the darkness, Khramelan swooped into view. Takkan and I tumbled onto his wing, rolling from the impact until we hit against the spikes along his spine.

“Hold on!” I yelled to Takkan, grabbing a spike and clinging on with all my might.

Faster than the sons of the wind, Khramelan surged past Lapzur, piercing the mist that shrouded the Forgotten Isles. I held my breath, waiting until I caught sight of six crimson crowns in our wake.

Had every muscle in my body not been utterly spent, I would have let out a jubilant whoop. But I settled for a ripple of satisfaction in my heart.

We’d won. Bandur was now trapped on Lapzur—forever, I hoped. I watched as the island receded behind us, blanketed by sea and mist until it became as small as a grain, a speck. Then nothing.

* * *

“You should rest,” Takkan said as we settled into the crook of Khramelan’s wing. He ripped his sleeve to begin wrapping my arm. “You need to heal.”

I parted my lips to protest, but Takkan cut me off. “I might not be able to cast sleeping enchantments, but I have a spell of my own.”