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A short while later, I found myself in front of Typhon’s door, fist poised to knock. He’d been in a good mood. A giving mood. Maybe it was time to broach the subject of getting us off school grounds again. At least once more before the games.

Or maybe this wasn’t about magic or school at all.

Maybe . . .

The door swung open before I even knocked, and Typhon’s big frame filled the doorway. “Right on time.”

I expected him to move to the side and wave me in. Instead, he stepped into the hall and closed the door behind him.

“Are we meeting out here, then?”

“No. In fact, I won’t be joining you at all. I’ve got to go to my own meeting with Tarquinius. I expect it to take a long time. At least an hour or two.” His eyes captured mine and held them. “Don’t waste it.”

With that, he strode away without a backward glance.

I stared at the doorknob and then down the hall again.

“What the actual fruck . . .”

I turned the knob, half-expecting some alarm to go off or to get zapped by a protection ward. Instead, it swung open freely and quietly.

I poked my head inside. And there, on the living room sofa, sat Liam O’Connor, watching me with a bemused expression.

I stepped into the room and closed the door, the click echoing through the silent room.

“Hiya.”

“Hey?” I replied, a confused bubble of laughter escaping my lips. “Am I dreaming, or did Typhon Moreno just invite me to his quarters and leave me here alone with his nemesis?”

Liam stood and shrugged. “Seems as if. I’m as shocked as you, but here we are.”

It was a weird sensation being in Typhon’s room, surrounded by his things, his musky scent still filling my nose, while I was looking at Liam’s handsome face.

He wore a cable-knit sweater the color of mushed peas that should’ve looked awful but instead made him look like the sexiest boy next door ever who also happened to be a fisherman.

I cleared my throat, willing the heat in my cheeks to flee.

Liam waved toward the seat across from him.

“Apparently, Typhon has come around to our way of thinking as far as the Quirks are concerned. The moons are passing fast, and if you want to activate your Quirks and have any time at all to learn how to wield them, it has to be now. He’s decided to bend around Tarquinius and help us by getting me some time with each of you before the games. He’s keeping him occupied now.”

I almost couldn’t believe my ears.

“And you put aside your differences, even after he bound you and left you for dead?”

Liam’s dimple made an appearance as I took the offered seat.

“We’ve come to an uneasy truce on this matter and this matter alone. You and your housemates will be safer if you have your Quirks. That satisfies us both as we both have a ...” his chocolatey eyes locked onto mine, smile fading, “let’s call it a vested interest.”

I folded my hands on my lap and looked away.

“Right. Well, whatever the reason, I’m relieved. Speaking of the others, though, have you heard anything from your contacts at the Senate about Zeed?”

He retook his seat on the couch and shook his head, brows caving into a frown.

“They were pretty tight-lipped about Zeed, which I’m not thrilled about.

They said they’d get back to me. I do have news about your Lucinda, though.

Apparently, she was a student here at Neverthorn for a short time.

She left due to some mental health issues.

I reached out to a PI in the Unlit world who agreed to search for her family and get some answers, as well as pay a visit to Zeed’s home and check in. ”

I blew out a sigh. “Okay. At least it’s something.” Hopefully, it would ease Fable’s mind that there were wheels in motion to check on him.

“We’d better get started. We might not get another chance.”

He leaned forward, hand extended, and nerves jangled in my belly.

“Wait. There’s got to be something I can do to help. Something that will make this time different than the others.” I speared a hand through my hair and slumped back. “I have so many people counting on me ... this needs to work.”

Liam lowered his hand. “Maybe that’s what you need to think about when we’re inside your head. Instead of focusing on the sense of violation or loss of control, you can focus on taking charge of this process yourself because of all the people counting on you.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. “Okay. I can try.”

So I did.

Liam stuck his fingers into my brain and started poking around.

And, this time, instead of thinking about that and worrying about whether I was going to fail again or the questions he would ask me and how they would leave me feeling vulnerable, I reached a hand in my pocket and ran my fingers over the worry stones.

“What do you fear most, Harlow?”

“Failing my team and one of the people I care about getting hurt as a result.”

Like both other times, I could sense him swiping away the cobwebs of anxiety and delving deeper. This time, though, I forced my muscles to stay slack and invited him in.

“Good. Less resistance this time.”

The dirt road I’d seen before shimmered to the surface of my mind, but this time, the sky around me wasn’t dark. I moved with a sense of purpose, knowing that, soon, I would come to the fork.

“Stay with me here, Harlow. We’ve got this.”

His voice was low and soothing, and I clung to it even as I ran my thumb over one of the stones.

F. For Fable.

“Yes.”

When I reached the spot where my paths parted, I paused, looking down one, and then the other. Now, with an ethereal light illuminating my way, I could see where they led.

One path opened to a meadow surrounded by trees. Fat, succulent fruits weighed the bows down. The grass was green and lush, the sky periwinkle blue and inviting.

The other was wild. Craggy cliffs that dropped off to choppy seas. The winds howled, and the sky was a stormy gray.

“Choose.”

I didn’t so much hear the word as sense it in my bones.

Which way?

I ran my fingers over the little mound of stones one last time, took a deep breath, and then sprinted forward ...