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It was at that moment, standing in the bowels of Castle Stratiara, that they heard new sounds, from above—distant, familiar sounds.

First, the snap and crackle of lightning.

Then, faintly, screams.

Zaf lifted her head, looked at Thorn with tired, milky eyes.

“What is that?” Quicksilver muttered, searching the ceiling.

“Stormwitches.” Zaf weakly pounded her fist on Ari’s shoulder. “That’s stormwitches, that lightning sound...”

Zaf’s voice faded, and her eyes closed once more. She sank against Ari’s chest.

His worried gaze found Quicksilver. “She’s cold, and so light I fear I’ll break her.”

And that was when the clever web of shadows living inside Thorn reawakened. It surged past her grief and her shivering fear and snapped its teeth and said,Hurry. Go help the queen. The others will follow. Lead them to her. Queenie will know what to do. It’s the only way you can save everyone.

Another electric crack from up the stairs. Another stormwitch’s scream.

She climbed onto Noro’s back and gripped his mane. “Come on, everyone, we’ve got to hurry!Go, Noro!”

The web in her gut kicked its heels. Noro jerked forward.

Quicksilver, Ari, and Zaf followed fast behind them.

That’s it,said the web.Keep going. Almost there. Bring them to her. The queen knows what to do with witches.

“Keep going,” Thorn ordered Noro, her voice low and gravelly.“Move.”

Noro’s long ears were flat against his skull. He took Thorn flying up the stairs, following the frantic screams and the crackling snaps of lightning. They grew louder; Thorn’s nostrils burned.

At the top of the stairs, Noro galloped down a narrow stone corridor, torches snapping in silver brackets along the walls, and emerged into a wider hallway with a polished floor. Through the windows lining the hall, Thorn saw a night sky thick with clouds.

“Hey!”

Thorn turned sharply. Four royal soldiers ran at them, unsheathing their swords.

“What are you doing here?” the lead soldier barked. “Where did you come from?”

Thorn recognized the doors beyond the soldiers. She had been there a strange lifetime ago, with a fresh burn painted on her chest and nervous lies on her tongue.

The queen’s throne room.

One of the doors stood ajar. Brilliant light flashed from inside. Then, a sharp cry of pain. A child’s voice.

Quicksilver and Ari hurried up the stairs, breathing hard.Zaf wheezed in Ari’s arms, but her eyes were wide and bright.

“Go!” Thorn cried, and Noro reared up, blaring out a harsh cry that made the soldiers drop to the floor.

As Noro crashed through the throne room doors, Thorn’s eyes found at once what she was looking for—and such love swelled inside her that all the shadows crawling around her bones vanished. The web’s voice fell silent.

Brier.

Brier washere.

Thorn shouted, her voice cracking but her mind clear as glass, “Wait!Stop!”

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