David stumbled toward Selass. The Watcher had healed him, but the exhaustion from carrying all that power weighed on him still. His legs were heavy, dragging as though he waded through mud.

  The fighting had morphed into something else. David almost fell. He staggered forward, jumping over the dead. There were so many. Some were torn beyond recognition. He continued. There was nothing he could do for the dead. Many of them were that way at his hands. He focused on the large, armored woman. Her body moved with sluggish grace. A cluster of shadows formed behind her, and David’s heart sank. He was too tired to run to her. To save her.

  “Sel…”

  Threads of darkness wrapped the shadow, startling Selass. She stared at the restrained monstrosity. Its eyes bore down on her. She left it there, turning to call for a retreat. But the fight was over. Most of the acolytes were running for the door. David fought the compulsion to follow them. Instead, he sauntered over to Selass. But Elisha got him first. David crouched, stopping to catch his breath. He grinned at Elisha.

  “What did you do?” Elisha asked. “The rune shattered on its own.”

  “Ours too,” Zoey said. Old man Dellon walked behind her, his body curved and ready for battle. They walked together, cutting through the sparse group of running acolytes. The priests who tried to fight were quickly put down by Elisha’s daggers or Zoey’s arrows.

  “I tried to hold the power,” David said, shaking his head. “I shouldn’t have. Not with my powers restricted.”

  “That’s why the hall groaned like that?” Dellon asked. David shook his head.

  More and more people gathered around them. They were almost twenty when they reached the door cut into the stone wall. Selass pushed on the door. David helped. Two other men joined them. The door groaned, shifting only inches at a time until it was fully open.

  David made way for their new allies to pass through. Selass led at the front with Dellon. David kept his family back. He didn’t want to be split from them. And with the new crowd, he couldn’t trust them all.

  “If that wasn’t you,” Zoey began. “Who was it? That power shook the whole place. I thought the temple was going to split apart.”

  “The Watcher,” David said. He pulled two others to help him push the door shut, then Zoey let out the Vjognir. The creature reduced its size to fit the narrow passage, floating over them. Its fur glowed, giving them enough light to follow behind the throng.

  David could sense their surprise, but they didn’t doubt him. Vjognir’s light was one of many that floated near the top of the passage. They walked silently, relishing being alive while feeling the loss they suffered.

  They walked in silence after that. David followed behind, dread building a knot in his chest even with Alice’s assurance of safety.

  They walked down a long flight of narrow steps. Then traveled through another series of winding passages. The walls were dry and warm. He couldn’t find any hole in the walls, but the air was crisp and clean. The silence made their journey worse.

  Soon, murmurs of the battle rolled through the walking crowd. As the adrenaline of battle faded, so did the courage. Now they could remember the Shadow’s claw tearing their friends to pieces. Many looked behind at Zoey and Elisha, unnerved by their powers.

  David lingered back, creating a small space between himself and the crowd. He never liked the attention, and all he could think about was the slow approach of dawn.

  They stopped. David was so deep in his thoughts that he almost walked into Elisha’s black armor. His brother turned, giving him a strange look. David gave him a tired smile, trying to wave his worry away.

  “I think they are trying to open the second door. Two more and we are outside.”

  “This place is cramped,” Elisha said. “I didn’t think we had this many people on our side.”

  “Nor did I,” David said. “Selass said Alice reached out to other people.” His younger brother nodded.

  “Zoey,” David called. His siblings turned to him. David lowered his voice. The group started to move again, but the siblings did not move. “Once we get out in the city, run to Alice’s home. You know how to get there?”

  Zoey nodded. “I had Vjognir trace it earlier.”

  “And I remember the way,” Elisha said. David nodded.

  “Don’t stop, don’t wait.” He moved for them to follow, so they were not left far behind. The others in front were beginning to look back at them. “Elisha, once you reach there, gather everyone together. I have a feeling they won’t stop coming for us until we cross to the next floor.”

  “Shouldn’t the quest end once it’s dawn?” Zoey asked. David nodded. That was what he expected, but he didn’t trust Balek. And he wasn’t sure he trusted everyone they were trekking through the passage with.

  The third door was heavier, but wider. It took eight of them to push the stone apart.

  David stayed back to let the others pass again, and so did Selass. She looked worried, but she tried to suppress it until they were most alone.

  “I think there are priests here,” Selass said. David gave her a worried look. “I am not sure, but Dellon thinks the same. Can you find out who they are? Some kind of unmasking spell, hmm?”

  David shook his head. “We will have to wait and watch. If they are here, they will want to attack us when we come out.”

  Selass shook her head. She looked like a gilded tree trunk.—too broad for a woman, and too severe to be whispering the way she was. She seemed almost conspiratorial.

  “They will want to follow us to the base. There, they will be able to meet Alice.” She hissed, obviously frustrated. This seemed really difficult for her. Unlike fighting, this demanded subtlety and genius. Two of which she didn’t really have.

  She was loyal and strong, but she was mostly Alice’s hammer. Her blunt instrument for when she wanted something or someone cracked.

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  “What would you like to do?” David asked, his mind spinning with thoughts. He could see how they were infiltrated. If the mercenaries could hide as priests, then they could burrow their way into here, too. It pissed David off, but there was nothing he could do.

  “You don’t have to worry,” Selass said, hands clasped behind her back. “I think Dellon has a plan. It will not be an easy one, though. Not for us, or him.”

  “More deaths?” David asked. Selass grinned—a cold, sad grin— then shrugged.

  David caught Zoey trying to listen. She saw him and turned away. Elisha looked like a tyrant general of a large army. His armor’s oily black reflected the Vjognir’s colorful light. David took a deep breath and nodded to Selass.

  “No killing the innocent, though,” David said.

  “You remind me of Andre Restur. My old friend. He would kill the enemy with distasteful efficiency, but those he saw as friends, he protected fiercely.” She grinned. “You are worse. You can fight and kill well. Yet, your conscience dulls your hand. You should shed that hesitation.”

  “And embrace the dark?” David asked, finding it hard to veil his annoyance. Selass chuckled. A mocking thing. David looked away from the woman’s stained face. Beside him, she looked bigger than Elisha. She radiated the readiness to kill that David had seen in only a few since he climbed the first tower.

  “We are in the dark, David,” Selass said. “The dark will seep into you slowly. Your struggle against it is pointless. I am stained already, and so are you. You want to save your family, don’t you? Believe me, you can’t do that by holding back.”

  She pushed forward, leaving him behind. David contemplated what she said as she pushed through the group, causing a lot of groans and complaints.

  Zoey slowed so she was walking with David again. She didn’t speak, but David knew she had heard almost everything. He focused on the Vjognir instead. Its fur was different again. More bright orange and white, creating a soft cascade of familiar light. Unlike the others, David could see ahead of them.

  The last door was smaller. They took the steps out into the yard beside the temple. There were statues in the stretch of land. A garden filled the place with sweet fragrance wafting in the wind.

  Selass herded them all out until they were all scattered about, some stomping on the flowers and small plants in the garden.

  “We should split up here,” Selass said. “Those my lady promised a reward for coming to our aid shall receive their reward at dawn.”

  David led Elisha and Zoey away from the cluster, subtly walking toward a paved path that led around the yard to the front of the temple.

  “Elisha, cover when I say when.”

  Elisha nodded. They watched as dissent slowly spread through the crowd. David realized what Selass was about to do, and he felt a cold shiver.

  Her plan was blunt. There would be more killing after all.

  “We wer’ promised gold!” A scantily armored man drawled, his hand settling on the hilt of his sheathed sword. Not a ranker, but he seemed confident enough. David couldn’t see his face, but Selass’s silence told him they had to leave soon.

  Dellon stood beside Selass, relaxed as though he couldn’t sense the coming swirl of tragedy. Selass had her hands clasped in front of her.

  “Shouldn’t we stay to help them?” Zoey asked, watching the situation unfurl. David looked past the small crowd, scanning the darkness for the Shadows. He knew some of the priests were alive. So where were they?

  “I don’t think they need our help,” Zoey replied, and David nodded.

  “We can’t help,” David agreed. “This is Selass’s doing. We have to leave. In a few hours, it will be dawn, and we can get out of this cursed city.”

  The night wind was chill on David’s face. He scanned the group, finding a few of the mercenaries scattered within. The man arguing with Selass rambled. Two more voices joined him, requesting that they all go together. Selass declined. Dellon's sharp silence beside her seemed to weigh on the crowd.

  David felt the coming spark. Then he saw someone watching him with his sword almost out.

  “Now,” David whispered just as the man pulled his sword all the way and cleaved the taller man next to him. Elisha disappeared into his shadow, and Zoey ran up the paved path. David summoned his sword, lingered momentarily, and charged at the man.

  The crowd split apart, the dying wailed in pain, begging as blood pooled out of his gut. Then, more of the hidden mercenaries pulled their swords too. There were more than David expected.

  “You decided to help after all,” Selass said, her sword leveled at the first man. But his sword was still in his sheath, his hand raised high in the air

  “Is this how ya trea—”

  “Silence,” Selass snarled at him. Then she moved her sword from his throat and turned to face the nearest infiltrator. Her eyes blazed with righteous anger. And hate. The fiercest of hate David had ever seen.

  As David watched, wondering what Selass would do, something flickered beside her.

  Dellon shot forward, a blur in the illuminated night. A small knife gleamed as he moved. He slowed in front of a bleeding man with a single-headed axe. He was large enough to swing the axe one-handed, but he didn’t get the chance.

  Dellon’s blade slid across the length of his throat, and before the body hit the ground, he was stabbing into the first man David caught.

  I like him, Ignis said. And if David was being sincere, he did too.

  He spun around, catching the shocked look on Selass’s face as he ran to catch up with Zoey.

  David darted through the arch, the clangs of steel still echoing behind him. The temple’s shadows gave way to the empty streets of Hormfirth. He found Zoey and Elisha waiting near the edge of the temple square.

  “Where are they?” Zoey asked, gesturing to the city. It was silent. No one walked the streets. It was quite late, but Hormfirth wasn’t the kind of city that slept. Yet, David couldn’t feel any kind of spell. Which meant this wasn’t an illusion.

  “The Watcher?” Zoey asked cautiously.

  “If this is the Watcher, then he used a very refined spell,” Aza said. “I can’t sense the spell at all. Or feel the trail of its execution.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” David waved for them to move.

  “We don’t have to run all the way there,” Elisha said as shadows pooled around him. David watched the archway form. It was faster, but he was worried the fight would spill out to the street. Zoey stepped into the portal, and David rushed through. Elisha came behind them.

  They stepped out of another archway beside the large tree in Alice’s yard. David spread his perception, searching for Chloe. The place was silent at first until someone dropped from the tree, startling all three of them.

  “I was beginning to think you were dead,” Gis said. She grinned at their shocked faces, pulling Zoey in for a hug. “You took longer than you were supposed to.”

  “Yes,” Elisha said while David ran for the house. Chloe was somewhere in the house, but he wanted to see her for himself. He ran through the passage, leaving a startled Carlos in the passage. He found Chloe sleeping—curled in that weird way she did when she was scared.

  “You thought I would harm her?”

  David shook his head. “There is no one out there in the city,” David explained. “I think the Watcher did something.”

  Alice seemed surprised by that, then she nodded as if that gave her some new understanding of the Watcher. David waited, striding closer to watch Chloe sleep. She looked so peaceful, as though the world around her could spontaneously erupt.

  “Tell me what happened?” Alice asked, pleading. “Where are the others?”

  “Coming,” David whispered. He led Alice out of the room to find the others approaching the room. “Selass had some things to clear up.”

  “You left her?” The disappointment in her voice made him scowl at her.

  “With Dellon and the others, yes,” David responded firmly. “Zoey, be ready to leave.”

  “Why didn’t the quest end?” Gis asked. “Alice said you have destroyed the loop.”

  “Because destroying the loop wasn’t the task,” Zoey explained.

  David felt a second wave of exhaustion rock him as relief flooded him. He still didn’t trust Alice, but whatever happened now, his family was close to him.

  And they only had to wait until midnight.