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If the Gulgot was falling that many times, and so near together, then that must mean...

Thorn swallowed, her throat closing up.

That must mean the Gulgot was close to escaping, and any soldiers left at the Break were trying everything they could to knock him back down.

Thorn peered down through the smoke and dust to scan the Break. Noro grabbed her coat with his teeth to keep her from falling. Yes,there—flashes of light, far away in the gloom of Estar. Each flash meant a dead stormwitch.

And each flash might be an eldisk thrown by Thorn’s parents, fighting the Gulgot.

A low moan came from Thorn’s left.

She scrambled back around, all her insides fighting for breath, and saw Zaf, trembling in the dirt. Bartos helped the stormwitch drink the last of the tonic from Sly Boots, then scooped her up into his arms, and Zaf shifted to look down into the Break. She wasalive, Thorn thought, feeling a little faint and shaky. Zaf had brought them home, and she wasalive! But her skin, flaking and thin, stretched too tightly over her bones. It was as though something had sucked the last one hundred meals out of her body. Thorn could see everyline of Zaf’s skeleton beneath her brittle flesh.

Her heart swelling until she felt it thumping even in her toes, Thorn thought,And yet she is still the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.

“They’re killing them,” Zaf moaned, watching the Break flash with light. “They’rekillingthem!”

Bartos turned Zaf away from the Break. “Don’t look!” he cried. “Look at me instead, all right?” He locked eyes with her. “Look at my hair and tell me how stupid you think it looks. Insult my ridiculous ears. All right? Can you do that for me?”

Zaf nodded miserably, two fat tears rolling down her cheeks. “Your hair,” she declared, her voice shaky, “looks like a nest of fuzzy caterpillars who all need a bath.”

Bartos smiled. “Excellent.”

“Bartos?” Quicksilver fought through the streaming flood of soldiers and the falling showers of black dirt, Ari just behind her. “Which way?”

Bartos waved his hand. “This way!” he shouted over the din. “Follow me!”

Thorn lunged after him, eyes on Zaf, but Noro dashed in front of her.

“Thorn, please, let me carry you!” he cried. “If you fall, I’ll never forgive myself!”

Thorn scrambled up onto his back. She set her jaw against the pain that scorched her legs and hugged Noro’s slender white neck. With every boom from the Break, the cliffs shook, shards of rock flying—but on Noro’s back, despite the pain of riding him, Thorn felt less like the world was trying to buck her off.Unicorns always land on their feet,she recited.Unicorns always land on their feet.If the mountains knocked them off, they would land safely somewhere below.

She hoped.

Bartos led the way, Zaf safe in his arms. Quicksilver and Ari followed, then Thorn and Noro last of all. Down through the swarm of fleeing soldiers they hurried, darting between bodies, dodging rocks—downthe cliffs, Thorn noticed nervously. They were moving back toward the Break.

Yes,whispered the shadows roiling inside her, the web in her belly stretching and smiling.Down you go. Bring the witches to your queen. She depends on you, Thorn.

“Bartos?” she cried. “Where are we going?”

He glanced back with a tight smile. “Trust me! There’s a path!”

Thorn glanced to her right, down, down, down into the Break. She searched its many jagged mouths.

What would the Gulgot look like?

Fresh shadows spilled from the Break, cascading across the dark plains of Estar like an even darker sea. A forest of trees disappeared in the space of a blink, sucked into blackness. Long black ropes like seeking tongues shot out of the Break, snatched squawking flocks of birds from the air.

Thorn’s throat tightened. She hoped her parents were far away from the Break’s edge, but she knew the horrible truth: they were probably right there at the edge, throwing themselves into danger.Just like Brier would.

“There!” Bartos shouted, pointing ahead of them at a narrow cut in the cliff wall, so well hidden that Thorn would have walked right past it.

Bartos stopped, waving Quicksilver and Ari and Noro and Thorn ahead of him. Zaf clung to his neck, shivering, but he kissed her forehead and then put her on Noro. Thorn wrapped her arms around Zaf, hoping she wouldn’t squeeze too hard and break her.

“Follow that path, and don’t look back!” he shouted. “Climb the steps, take the left fork. Go!”

Quicksilver and Ari, ducking under a cascade of raining pebbles, hurried for the path. Noro followed, but then leaped back with a sharp cry.