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“Within seconds,” I whisper.

“And you’ll have”—Lou’s limbs tremble with strain now, her broken magic still moving an entireocean—“about that long to push him.”

Waves crash beyond the maelstroms at her words, a storm building—imploding—as the wind picks up too. It catches at our hair, our gowns, whisking the letters from Michal’s desk and carrying them into the sea. Dimitri yields a single step as icy water sprays across his face, and Odessa plants her feet, bracing for the battle to come—because itwillbe a battle. Once Death realizes our deception, realizes we machinated the entire scene, his wrath will be endless. As Lou said, we’ll have only seconds to push him, perhaps less; Michal will need to dispatch my sister only after Death has fallen through.

Say the word, Célie, her voice seems to whisper, except now I know that voice belongs to me. It always has.Tokillyour sister. To burn her.

Still the waters churn faster.

Faster.

As if reacting to Lou’s magic, the real maelstrom seems to swell even larger, fiercer, seeking to consume her subterfuge. It spirals deeper until jagged rocks can be seen upon the seafloor. They look like teeth, and blood drips from Lou’s nose now too. Reid holds her steady, anchoring her with Mila’s small hands and gentle frame, as she begins to violently shake.

Whatever magic she is using to create the second maelstrom, she must be pulling it from her very bones. “Easy, girl,” Mathilde mutters, and even she steps forward as if to help. As if concerned.

“I am—fine.” Lou spits the words through clenched teeth. Then, raising her voice over the roar of the waves: “We’re almost”—she gives another great shudder—“there. Is everyone ready?”

“And what if we’re not?” Dimitri nearly shouts to be heard, the wind whipping his hair across his face. “What then?”

“Too—bad.”

Dimitri curses, and Michal releases me at last as Odessa snaps, “Death is the priority. We push him through no matter the cost!” When Lou’s knees buckle in response, she points a finger toward the ceiling, adding wildly, “And I—I oweyoua new broomstick, Louise la Blanc! I took yours apart and bathed it in an alchemical solution to make it fly, so don’t youdaredie on us—”

Lou forces a laugh despite herself, and lightning forks beyond the cave’s mouth. Her blood trickles faster. “Broomsticks don’t—fly.”

“Yoursmight! When this is over, we shall all find out!” Then, fiercer than even the storm— “Focus, Louise. We are almost there!”

“No one will be flying anywhere until I get my hatbox!” Mathilde’s eyes narrow at the force of the maelstroms, and she nods once to herself as if satisfied. My stomach plummets at the movement, and I watch—frozen—as she battles the wind to march to the center of the grotto.It’s time.“A promise is a promise, you wretched creatures!”

Lou laughs louder, barely standing now, as Mathilde nods again to Reid, and he drags Lou beyond the curtain into the washroom. Hiding her. Death cannot see anyone he does not expect to see, and especially not a witch bleeding from her eyes and ears.She’ll be fine, I tell myself anxiously.She’ll heal with distance from the maelstrom.

Jean Luc and Brigitte will remain hidden too—sequestered with my mother—so as not to spook Death with their human faces and Balisardas. If he suspects our true motive too soon, all will be lost.

When Reid returns a moment later, the maelstroms still rage, and Mathilde fists her hand in the veil. “I hope you all live,” shesays, before spearing Michal with a glare. “And if you do, I’m quite serious about my hatbox—and my books! Every single one.” Then she tears into the veil, her gaze flashing molten silver as the spirit realm ripples at her fingers and snow flutters into the grotto. “I’d hold on to something if I were you.”

Swifter than I’ve ever managed, she vanishes through the gap, mending it in the same fluid motion.

The rest of us brace in anticipation as Reid steps into the water. His chest still heaves with pain, his face contorted with concentration. He’ll need to ease his breathing if Death is to believe he is Mila, to believe she has risen from the—whereverghosts go when they pass from the spirit realm. My own breath hitches at the thought. We didn’t discuss any plausible stories for Reid. He won’t know how to answer if Death asks any questions; I will need to answer for him, and—

And it’ll take a miracle for this to work.

Still, I clasp my hands out of habit, or perhaps in prayer, and close my eyes as we wait for Mathilde’s signal. For one second—for one single, glorious second—I allow myself to think of a better future. A future where we survive, where we banish Death, where Lou flies on a broomstick, and where I help Michal rebuild Mathilde’s cottage before we flee to his home in the ruins. Never to be seen again.

When I open my eyes, however, I see none of those things.

Instead a fat orange tabby bounds out of the washroom, and—to my horror—my mother appears in his wake. “Come back here thisinstant—” She straightens at the roar of the wind, her pale face frozen in surprise, and I can do nothing but lift a panicked hand before Mathilde sends her shock wave through the veil.

The world implodes.

Seismic pressure shatters the ether, the very core of my being as the veil blasts outward, as it steals my vision, my breath, and I cannot find Michal to grab his hand—cannot findanythingexcept the post of his bed, which I fling myself around to keep from falling. And it feels like Mathilde attackedmeinstead of the veil—swung a cudgel straight at my knees—as the grotto ripples, as it shudders with wave upon wave of aftershocks. Michal stumbles backward as if he feels them too, and my mother—

I gasp and release the bedpost, falling to my knees.My mother.

With a cry of shock—of pain—she collapses, hitting the ground with an indelicate thud and not moving again. Though the ether still trembles, though the ground still shakes and the sea still roars, I crawl toward her while Michal shouts a warning. I take her cold face in my hand.

Oh God.

“Maman.” My voice comes out a croak as I shake her slightly, determined to rouse her before Death arrives. Through the rippling fabric of reality, Reid, Odessa, and Dimitri stare down at us in horror, completely unaffected by the shock. So why wasshe? “Maman, wake up.Pleasewake up. You must hide because—because Death will be here any moment, and if he—”