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“You remind me of someone in the world above, the way you tinker with your weapon. He was very handy when it came to creating things that could channel magic.” I lifted the wrist that held most of my bracelets and gave it a shake. “He made these to help with mine.”

Slowly, she pulled her attention away from her staff. She seemed to be fighting against drawing too close to me, but in the end, her curiosity over the jewelry won, and she stepped close enough to briefly lift the black-rose bracelet from my skin and study it.

“This is powerful work,” she concluded. “He must be a master craftsman, with a very keen eye for magic and how it moves.”

I hesitated. It seemed foolish to be spilling too much of my life to this woman I barely knew—regardless of the things we might have had in common—but talking of Orin made me feel less alone in this upside-down world.

“Do you know of the Aetherkin?” I asked.

“Aetherkin…” she repeated, her step slowing and her voice taking on a strangely hushed tone. “It’s been some time since I’ve heard about one of them. I thought they were all gone.”

“Well, at leastonestill lives. His name is Orin.”

She went back to studying my bracelets. “You draw yourownpower through these pieces he made, though, don’t you? Your innate magic.”

“With most of these, yes. Although this one—” I held up the leather and amethyst bracelet “—was made specifically to navigate through the magic that links the living and dead worlds.”

She drew away from me and kept walking as she asked, “What happens if you lose them?”

My breath hitched at the mere thought. “I can still use my magic. It’s just less…predictable. More wild.”

“Stronger?”

“Maybe.”

She considered my answer for several steps. “Like shackles, then.”

The word settled uncomfortably on my chest. “…In some ways, I guess.”

She nodded but said nothing else, letting the comment hang in the air. It was difficult to tell whether she thought it was a good thing or a bad thing that my magic was suppressed. I’d rarely thought of it as anything other than good. Orin had always had my best interests at heart; I had no doubt about that. And yet…

The words he’d said to me at Calista’s shrine rang through my head once more—

Trust yourself. And don’t be afraid of your darkness.

But Iwasafraid. Even more so now that Aleksander’s magic was tangling up with mine in unpredictable ways, awakening the shadows that had laid dormant for so long.

What might those shadows do in this world if Ididn’tshackle them somehow?

The bracelets were like so many of the masks I donned in my life in order to bury my true feelings and fears, I guess. To take them off meant to expose myself to a world that couldn’t handle all of me and my magic; I wasn’t ready to even attempt such a thing.

“What about you?” I asked Thalia as we marched on toward the hazy lights of Erebos. “Don’t you have innate magic as well?”

“Very little.” She twisted her staff absently in front of her as she spoke. The shades on both sides of us crowded closer as she did, like fish drawn to the movement of a shiny lure. They dispersed quickly, however, when she tapped upon one of the staff’s gems, sending a cool breeze rippling outward. “This staff helps pull out what Idohave, but more than that, I use it to help direct the shadowy energies that exist outside of me.”

I started to reply, only to be distracted by the sight of walls taking shape within the murky daylight, far in the distance.

They were massive, twisting and turning beyond where I could see. Parts of the city itself loomed even larger behind them, the spires of buildings thrusting up like swords toward the dreary sky. Pedestals full of blue fire were spaced evenly along the tops of the walls, and the flickers of more sapphire flames could be seen reflecting off the windows of the city’s varied architecture.

Now I understood why I’d been able to see its glow from such a distance; the entire place seemed to be burning in some way, boldly separating it from the dark landscape all around it.

We slowed to a stop, allowing the others to catch up with us.

Zayn let out a low whistle as he approached, his gaze fixed on what appeared to be a towering trio of torch-wielding statues in front of the city’s main gate. “This is a touch more intimidating than you let on,” he said to Thalia.

“There is no going around it,” she replied, unapologetically. “The walls stretch for miles in both directions, and at the terminus on both sides are cursed areas known as theGrim Barrens, which are uncrossable given our current state and supplies. We go through Erebos, or we don’t go forward at all. OrIdon’t go, at least.” With this declaration, she called Uldrin to her, walking the stallion a short distance away, wateringand checking him over while leaving me and the others to contemplate our next move.

Zayn spoke first. “Anybody else have a terrible feeling about this city?” he asked, stretching. “Do we reallywantto go inside it?”