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In the short time we spent debating, the wraith riders drew close enough to count, and I realized just how outnumbered we were.

From bad to worse, over and over and over.

“Seven years of surviving against the odds down here,” Zayn said, pulling Uldrin up beside Phantom. “It was inevitable that death would eventually catch us in this place, I suppose.”

“We must have set some sort of record for the amount of time wedidlast,” I replied, matching his morbidly amused tone.

“What are the chances we could extend that record?”

I circled my gaze, seeking some miraculous key to victory that I might have missed, even though I knew I wouldn’t find one. “Not good, I’d wager.”

He joined me in my pointless searching.

Red was huddled against him—offering no comment, as expected—her face hidden from view by a thick riding blanket. I felt a stab of something like guilt, watching her shake beneath that blanket, thinking of how we’d brought her back to life, only for her to meet a gruesome end.

I was considering a last, desperate effort to somehow send her away with Nova and Phantom, when Zayn suddenly said, “Perhapstheycan help us shatter our previous record?”

I blinked, following his gaze toward an astounding, unexpected sight:A herd of scourge stallions like Uldrin charging out of the darkness, rushing toward us.

There were no less than twenty of them. The ground shook underneath their pounding hooves, and the air rippled with a strange, quivering tension, as though the world itself was holding its breath at their approach. The soldiers who rode upon their backs were silent, dressed in leather armor that made them blend in with their surroundings. This made their true number difficult to count, as did the way they moved so astoundinglyfast—so fast that they were galloping past us in no time at all, colliding with the wave of approaching wraiths.

I watched them moving up close for only a moment before I came to a startling realization: They were as alive as I was.Allof them, however impossible that was. The blades they carriedwere solid and real, too, gleaming and swishing with weight and purpose through the air. Each of their swings tore into the wraiths with terrifying precision, hacking the creatures to pieces with brutal efficiency.

Phantom danced nervously at the edge of the battle. I urged him away from the worst of it, but stayed close enough to continue observing.

One of the newly-arrived riders soon stood out—the only one who didn’t wear a helmet or any other protection over his head. His black hair flowed loosely as he twisted back and forth, twin blades flashing as he cut down enemy after enemy. He was the main one shouting directions at the other shadow-clad soldiers, and his horse’s regalia suggested importance as well, from the silver-embroidered reins to the saddle cloth adorned with an emblem that featured a tree with dark red blossoms. That tree kept catching my gaze. It was hardly the time to worry about such things, yet something about it seemed strangely familiar.

As the carnage grew wilder and louder, Nova stirred against me, fighting to lift her head. Her eyes opened. She stared blankly for a long moment, and then a single word fell from her cracked lips: “Stop.”

“...What?”

“Tell them to stop.”

“They—”

“It isn’t a fair battle,” she said, gritting her teeth as obvious waves of pain rocked through her. “The wraiths will fade outside their city, anyway, there’s no need tomassacrethem like this.”

“They’re desperate for our magic,” I told her. “They won’t stop unless someone stops them.”

“They’re desperate because they want tolive.”

I couldn’t deny it; I just didn’t understand why she was making this argument, all of a sudden.

What had happened to her in that garden back in Erebos? What had she seen—what had she endured—before I reached her?

She averted her eyes as one of the soldiers severed a head and sent it flying dangerously close to us.

“It’s not a crime to want to live,” she whispered.

I didn’t know what to say to this.

The quickthwackand wet, bloody squelch of metal cleaving its way through flesh reached us, followed by anotherthumpof some sort of body part hitting the ground nearby. Nova grimaced, and a strange instinct to cover her ears—to protect her—overcame me, but I fought against it. I merely kept my arm around her, tightening my grip as her body shook against me.

A moment later, I realized…

She wasn’t shaking with fear or disgust, but withpower. Power that was soon taking on a tangible form—her shadows lashing into the air.

Before I could stop her, she somehow found the strength to pull away from me, leaping from Phantom’s back and trudging headlong into the mayhem.