Sinit?a groaned and her eyes flickered a couple times, but didn’t fully open. Confusion emanated from her.

  “Sini?” Meleng said, trying to cradle her head as it flopped forward. Felit?a did her best to help him.

  “Hmm?” Sinit?a’s eyes opened a crack. “Melly?” Happiness mixed with her confusion.

  Felit?a revelled a little in that happiness. It was so comforting to sense others’ emotions again.

  “We’ve got you,” Meleng said. “We’re going to get you out of here.”

  “We?” Sinit?a looked at Meleng, then turned her head towards Felit?a and gasped. “Oh! Hi...um...you.” The confusion emanating from her amplified.

  “Yes, I’m here, too,” Felit?a said. “Can you walk?”

  Sinit?a stared at Felit?a. Her confusion was turning to fear. Then panic.

  “Sinit?a, are you all right?” Felit?a asked.

  “I…” Sinit?a was breathing heavily. She looked back to Meleng. “I…”

  Meleng ran his hand over her cheek. “It’s okay. You’ve just had a bad fall. It’s going to be okay.”

  “I…” With a wail, Sinit?a yelled, “I can’t remember her name!” Her panic was rising, and Felit?a had to block some of it out. Her body was also shaking violently.

  “It’s Felit?a,” Meleng said. “It’s all right.”

  Sinit?a’s shaking started to calm, and her fear diminished a little, though not entirely. “Oh yeah! Why did I forget that?”

  “You probably have a concussion,” Meleng said. “Don’t worry. It’ll go away, and you’ll be fine. You just have to be careful. No more falls.”

  Sinit?a grinned at him. “Okay! I’ll try not to fall again. I don’t know why I fell the first time. There was a naked woman, and then… Then there wasn’t a floor. Is that why I fell? Where did the floor go? You’re pretty. I love you. I love you, too, Felit?a, but in a different way.”

  “Let’s get her out of here,” Felit?a said as Sinit?a jabbered on.

  They moved forward slowly, one step at a time. For the first few steps, they had to drag Sinit?a along, but then she started taking tentative steps on her own, her legs wobbling. At one point, she slipped and nearly took both of them down with her, but they held her up and she laughed. By the time they reached the door, she was mostly stable, though they continued to support her.

  Luckily, the basement was not complicated, and they soon found their way to stairs heading back up. Also luckily, the stairs did not come up anywhere near the worship area, but rather at the base of Nature’s tower at the back of the building. The crashes seemed to have stopped, but Felit?a was glad to be away from there. They needed to keep Sinit?a out of danger.

  The sun reflecting off the snow was nearly blinding as they exited the Cathedral through a side door near the back of the building. Felit?a blinked and stumbled.

  Sinit?a laughed. “You’re supposed to be supporting me, not me you!”

  But it wasn’t the light that had caused the stumble. In the Room, the patch was not holding. The pieces directly touching the grey walls were falling off...or retracting...or something. Whatever the case, gaps kept forming between the diamond pieces and the grey walls.

  Oh gods. It wasn’t a problem with the diamond walls. They weren’t falling off or retracting or anything else. The hole in the grey walls was getting bigger. Every time Felit?a filled the gap, the parts of the grey walls touching the diamond started to crumble away. It was slow and hard to notice, but it was quickening in pace.

  This was not good. As much as she wanted those grey walls gone permanently, now was not the time. She had so little control. She knew that now. Mikranasta had been right. The risk had been too great. She should have listened.

  No. She wouldn’t let herself think that way. She’d done the right thing. Sinit?a had needed help.

  “Felit?a?” Meleng said. “Are you all right?”

  They hadn’t moved from the door, and both Meleng and Sinit?a were looking at her with concern. Worry emanated from both of them, though Meleng had guessed what the problem was. He was running through ideas in his head for how he might help her, including wondering if there was a way he could stop thinking completely. Then Felit?a wouldn’t be able—

  Felit?a shoved more diamond pieces into the ever-growing gap. She had to stop doing this! She had to stop reading their minds!

  “Go on without me,” she said, letting go of Sinit?a, and stepping back into the cathedral.

  Sinit?a stumbled slightly, but held on to Meleng. “What? Where are you going?”

  “Nowhere,” Felit?a said. “I’ll stay here. But I can’t keep out of your heads, and once we’re out on the street, there’ll be a whole lot of other people around too. It’s more than I can handle right now.”

  “I don’t understand,” Sinit?a said.

  “Meleng does. He’ll explain it to you, won’t you, Meleng?”

  Meleng nodded. “I’ll try.”

  “Meleng’s good at explaining things,” Sinit?a said.

  “Can we do anything to help you?” Meleng asked.

  “Get Sinit?a to safety first. She’s top priority. Once you’ve done that, find Mikranasta or Hedromornasta. Tell them where I am and they can come get me.”

  Meleng nodded. “Got it.”

  Felit?a kissed Sinit?a on the forehead and backed up a bit. “I’ll see you soon.”

  Sinit?a stared at her a moment as Meleng tried to turn her away. When Sinit?a refused to move, he stopped. Felit?a resisted a sudden urge to look in Sinit?a’s head to find out why she wasn’t moving. It would be so easy and so quick. There was another hole opening up in the patch…

  No! She shoved another piece of diamond in the hole.

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  “Are you coming?” Meleng said.

  Sinit?a continued to look at Felit?a. “Aren’t you going to give Meleng a kiss too?”

  “Oh.” Felit?a looked at Meleng. “Meleng’s feeling a lot of embarrassment at the suggestion, so not this time.”

  Sinit?a turned to Meleng. “You shouldn’t be embarrassed. She’s your friend!”

  “I...well…” Meleng stuttered.

  “Oh, all right.” Felit?a leaned forward and gave Meleng a quick kiss on the forehead as even more embarrassment flooded from him. However, there was also gratefulness that she’d gone ahead and done it.

  “See?” Sinit?a said. “That wasn’t so bad.”

  “Let’s just get going,” Meleng said. “Then we can get help back to Felit?a faster.”

  Felit?a only watched them go long enough to be sure they were both clear of the doorway. Then she shut the door. She had no idea if that would help block her from invading their privacy, but it couldn’t harm.

  Then she returned to Nature’s tower, sat at the base of the stairs, and quickly dismantled the patch over the hole. It was a risk if someone came into her range, but hopefully in the tower, she was far enough away that that was unlikely. She had to stop the grey walls disintegrating for now. She couldn’t let them go away completely until she had better control over her powers.

  The Room was back to its old self now—apart from the diamond walls in place of the black ones. The line-up and voices were back, and the Staff floated in its usual location.

  She decided to take a quick look at the conditions of everyone in the queue, starting at the back with Miana. They had been near the back of the nave with Eti?nne when the creature had attacked, a location where they might have easily been amongst the creature’s first victims. But Miana looked fine. No injuries. No indication of anything out of the ordinary. It was the same with Eti?nne.

  That was a relief.

  Nin-Akna also looked fine, and she had rushed straight into the battle. Jorvan, too, was fine.

  Had they successfully defeated the creature?

  The crashes had stopped so presumably the battle was over. But was that because they had stopped it or driven it off, or because they had had to retreat?

  Quilla looked sad. So sad.

  Gods, Felit?a wished she could do something to help Quilla. And Rudiger and Borisin. That damn Pearl!

  She looked up at the Staff, and focused on the serpent’s eyes. Which one was the Pearl she had? Was there a difference?

  Felit?a.

  There had been times in the past when the voices calling her name would drive her up the wall, but right now, they were ridiculously comforting. It meant, at least for now, life had returned to some semblance of normal.

  Felit?a.

  Good to hear from you, she called back.

  Felit?a, you must listen to me.

  I know. I’m ready any time you have something new to say.

  I only have a moment, so listen carefully,

  Wait, what?

  Beware Kranian. He is coming for you. Seek out Lisanacora. She can help you.

  The voices were responding? They were actually responding?

  Who is Lisanacora? she called out. Where can I find her?

  Felit?a.

  Can you tell me? Please!

  Felit?a.

  Damn. They had said they didn’t have much time, but she had hoped for a little more than that.

  So, what could she do? Kranian and Lisanacora. The latter sounded like an Isyar name. That could make things easy if this Lisanacora was somewhere close by, but...

  The Room shifted positions, dizzying Felit?a, and bringing the queue up in front of her again.

  Zandrue, Rudiger, Borisin, Meleng, Corvinian.

  At the back of the line, the mists were parting and a shape coming into view.

  Jorvanultumn, Quilla, Kindanog, Nin-Akna, Eti?nne.

  Despite the parting mist or blurriness or whatever it was, the new figure was still hard to work out. There were wings though. An Isyar presumably. Hopefully not a Volg!

  Miana.

  An Isyar. Definitely an Isyar. Yet… The figure was transparent. Felit?a could see right through her. And…

  Lisanacora.

  Felit?a clutched her head in her hands—both metaphorically in the Room and for real on the stairs. Looking at this person was making her dizzy, but she couldn’t look away. Every time she did, the Room turned with her, keeping Lisanacora right in front of her.

  But what she saw didn’t make sense.

  She could handle the Isyar’s transparency, even though that made no sense. Her life frequently made no sense. But the Isyar was old. And young. A child. Stooped over from extreme age. A teenager. Young adult and pregnant. Young adult and not pregnant. Mature adult and pregnant again. But the image wasn’t shifting in appearance. The Isyar was somehow all of these things and more at once.

  With great effort, she finally wrenched her vision away from the Isyar, and the dizziness subsided. She took a quick glance back, but from a distance this time. The Isyar was still transparent and every age from birth to death at the same time. But the sight wasn’t quite so nauseating now. Even so, she decided it was best not to look too much—at least not until she understood what it meant.

  If she ever did.

  It seemed like any time she got the answer to a question, five more appeared, so was it even worth learning any answers at all?

  So many people dead. Even if it appeared her friends were alive, others had died. People who didn’t deserve it. She couldn’t even be sure of all her friends, only the ones who happened to be in the fucking line-up that she still had no idea of its purpose. What about Anita? Siba? Feviona? Did she get to know their conditions?

  And so many others had died. Her parents. Garet. Nin-Xoco. Stavan Orcan. So many more, most of whom she didn’t even know the names of.

  Was any of it worth it?

  She was the Will-Breaker, but she had no idea what she was doing. She barely had any idea what it even meant to be the Will-Breaker. She hated the implications of the name.

  Except if she had done nothing, they probably would have still died. Maybe more would have.

  Yes, she had to believe that.

  She had to believe she’d saved lives. If she hadn’t, then…

  No, that wasn’t worth contemplating.

  She had to go on.

  She would.

  Somehow.

  She lowered her head and resisted bursting into tears.

  Instead, she would meditate until Mikranasta or Hedromornasta arrived.

  And then it was time to find and destroy these demons once and for all.

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