Sinit?a screamed, and there was a loud crash.

  “Sini!” Meleng yelled, and people throughout the church screamed and began to scramble out of the pews.

  Felit?a turned back around.

  Sinit?a was gone. There was only a hole in the floor where she and the podium had previously been. Bandren stood, gaping, just to the side of the hole. Meleng ran up to him.

  Nin-Akna leapt over the pew, brushing past Felit?a and yelling to two nearby guards, “Get your Lady and her Highness to safety!” She ran down the aisle, motioning to other guards to follow her.

  Crumble.

  A piece of the ceiling crashed down, crushing two guards in front of Nin-Akna.

  Crumble.

  More crashes, and dust from falling stone and masonry billowed about the nave. Feviona flew into the nave and straight down at the naked woman, colliding directly into her and knocking her over.

  Crumble.

  That word. The second of the four words in the messages from Arnor City. The first, burn, had been used by the fire creature Meleng and Feviona had encountered. Now this one.

  In 2333, the demons will come for the Will-Breaker.

  One of the foretellings of Eleuia that Felit?a had been expecting for a while now. She didn’t know for certain this person and the fire creature from before were the demons, but it seemed likely. What else could they be?

  Gods, she hated how she just accepted now that these things had been foretold.

  But that was beside the point. The woman...creature—whatever it was—was here now, and it needed to be stopped.

  Felit?a stood up and turned in the woman’s direction.

  A hand grabbed her shoulder. “No,” Mikranasta said.

  “I can’t stand by and do nothing.”

  “There is nothing you can do. I have already tried. That creature has no mind. I cannot affect it. Neither can Hedromornasta. And neither can you.”

  “It’s killing people.”

  “Let Jorvanultumn and Fevionawishtensen deal with it. We must leave.”

  Felit?a looked about. Anita was already gone. Had she made it out, or was she just somewhere amidst the numerous people still trying to escape?

  Crumble.

  “Look out!” Mikranasta yelled.

  The warning should have been too late. Dust and small bits of stone fell over Felit?a, and she looked up. Hanging in the air mere inches above her head was a massive piece of buttress. After a moment, it flew off across the nave in the direction of the naked woman. Felit?a couldn’t tell where Jorvan was, but there was no one else who could have saved her like that.

  “Will-Breaker,” Mikranasta said, “we must leave now!”

  Should she leave? How would the creature respond if it was after her? It might…

  Sinit?a!

  She had to help Sinit?a.

  Without waiting for Mikranasta’s approval, Felit?a ran up the stairs to the chancel.

  Father Bandren was gone, but Meleng was kneeling by the hole.

  Coughing, Felit?a ran over to him. “How is she?”

  Meleng looked up briefly. “Not good. She’s not moving.”

  Felit?a knelt beside him and peered into the hole. Sinit?a lay on the floor of the basement below, maybe fifteen feet down. Her chaperon had fallen off and blood trickled from a cut on her forehead. She was covered in dust and bits of rubble, but luckily most of the debris from the collapse was below her, not on top of her. “We can get her out of there.”

  Mikranasta came up behind them. “We need to get out of here. It’s not safe, Will-Breaker.”

  “Not without Sinit?a,” Meleng said.

  “Then be quick about it.”

  Meleng jumped to his feet and rounded on her. “If you’re so worried about the Will-Breaker’s safety, why don’t you do something about that creature? Why do you never help us? You’re the most powerful person here!”

  Mikranasta only stared back at him.

  Felit?a rose to her feet and put a hand on his shoulder. “The creature has no mind, Meleng. There’s nothing she can do.”

  “I apologise for my insensitive words,” Mikranasta said. “Retrieve your fomase, but then we must go.”

  Meleng nodded through clenched teeth and wiped his eyes. “Fine.” He turned back to the hole. “Do you know a way down there?”

  “I’ve never actually been in here before,” Felit?a said.

  “I’ll jump down.” Meleng began to fiddle with the clasp of his deep maroon cloak.

  “Are you sure? It’s a long drop. We could find another way down, or maybe one of the Isyar…” Felit?a cut herself off. No, that wouldn’t work. The hole was about three feet at its widest—too narrow for Isyar wings.

  “No, I’ll go down. I’ll just...damn it!” He was apparently having a hard time with the clasp, which was still not undone.

  “Let me,” Felit?a said.

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  Meleng let go of the clasp and nodded, tears streaming down his face.

  The clasp was incredibly stiff, and Felit?a had to work at it. It was still not coming open. “What is with this thing?”

  Meleng wiped his eyes. “It wasn’t sitting right, so Feviona did something to hold it in place.”

  “It certainly worked.” Thankfully, the clasp finally came undone a moment later. “There.”

  Meleng pulled the cloak off and haphazardly folded it into a ball, which he dropped down the hole. Then he sat at the edge, dangling his feet over the side.

  Crumble. There were more crashes somewhere in the nave.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” Felit?a said, leaning over and giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

  Then Meleng dropped himself over the edge.

  He hit the floor, missing his cloak and the small amount of cushioning it would have provided, and fell forward, hands outstretched. He lay still for a moment, but then pulled himself to his feet.

  “You okay?” Felit?a called down.

  “Fine,” he called up, but he was limping as he made his way around to the other side of Sinit?a.

  I know you care for your sister, Will-Breaker, Mikranasta said, but this is a very unwise decision. I cannot go with you.

  “You can’t protect me anyway. You already said as much. You…” Then it dawned on her. If Mikranasta couldn’t go with her, then neither could the shield.

  Exactly. Let the boy help her. You will only make things worse.

  Felit?a peered down at Meleng, who was examining Sinit?a, probably checking her vitals and other signs of her condition. I won’t leave her. Or him. They need my help.

  It is not—

  What would you do if it was someone close to you, Mikranasta? What if it was Hedromornasta? Or your fomase?

  Mikranasta stared blankly for a moment, then looked to the nave at the sound of another crash. Very well, but be careful. Not just of your abilities. This building may not have much time left to it.

  Felit?a hugged her. Thank you. Without waiting a moment longer, she turned and jumped into the hole.

  Searing pain shot up from her ankle as she landed—the same ankle she’d broken on Scovese—and she cried out. Gods, she hadn’t even thought of that. It had been so long, she’d mostly forgotten that had ever happened, with only rare aches reminding her that the ankle would always be a little weaker. Hopefully, she hadn’t broken—

  Her head flooded and she fell over, maybe cried out too, but she couldn’t quite tell.

  Her head was… No, not her head, but instead… No, it was her head, just not only her head?

  The Room in her head was filled with emotions—fear and desperation from Meleng, as well as anger. Fear from the people above who were still alive, and there were thankfully a lot of them. Were they actually still in the cathedral? What was her range now? Not that she’d ever really known her range before.

  Meleng was scolding himself for not knowing healing magic, for not being a better wizard, and a more competent person. He was also asking Felit?a if she was all right. Somehow, he was doing both at the same time. No, some of that was in his head, though she was fairly certain the asking her if she was all right was out loud.

  She held up her hand to hold him off—at least, she was fairly certain she did. She was also clenching her fist, her nails digging painfully into her palm. Maybe she did one with one hand and the other with the other. Something like that?

  What was with all these colours?

  There were colours everywhere. Mostly periwinkle.

  What?

  She was quite certain she had never heard the word periwinkle in her life. How was she recognising its colour now?

  But there were other colours too. Reds and browns. A bit of yellow.

  But mostly periwinkle. So much periwinkle. It was almost blinding.

  Sinit?a?

  Yes, the colours were from Sinit?a.

  Was this real?

  What a strange question. Why had she asked it?

  No, she hadn’t, had she?

  No, that was Meleng. But not even conscious Meleng. That was deep down.

  Oh gods, she was deep down in Meleng’s psyche. Sinit?a’s too.

  Gods, Sinit?a was obsessed with periwinkle.

  But deeper down, at the centre of the periwinkle, there was yellow and green, green and yellow, yellow-green, green-yellow. Chartreuse.

  Another word Felit?a had never heard of before.

  Chartreuse and periwinkle entwined at the centre.

  Felit?a smiled. She got it now.

  In the Room, she pulled the diamond walls into place, blocking everything from upstairs. There were six people still in the nave. The rest were watching from outside.

  How did she know that?

  It didn’t matter right now.

  It was easy to block people out. She’d done that for years, and it was even easier now. The trick was keeping herself in her own head. It wasn’t right that she should be spying on Meleng’s paranoia that he was still trapped in the illusions made for him in Isyaria. It wasn’t even right that she be watching Sinit?a’s dreams of herself and Meleng.

  She dug her fingernails deeper into her palm.

  How could she stop herself?

  The grey walls!

  That was their purpose. She drew the grey walls to her, specifically the hole. She pulled pieces of the diamond walls and used them to patch up the hole. The periwinkle and chartreuse faded away. So did Meleng’s paranoias.

  Felit?a took a deep breath and slowly released her fist. It was working.

  It wasn’t perfect. The Room still had a slight periwinkle tinge to it. But it was working.

  “Felit?a?” Meleng was waving his hand in front of her face.

  She gave him a weak smile. How long had she made him wait? It seemed like ages, but she was fairly certain it was actually much shorter.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Sorry, the shield’s gone, and it took a moment to gain some semblance of control. I think I’m okay for the moment. How’s Sinit?a?”

  “All right, I think.” Meleng hopped back over to Sinit?a and knelt beside her. “We’ll know for sure when she wakes up, but she’s stable and I can’t find any broken bones. She was lucky, thank the gods.”

  “She’s dreaming about you.” She wasn’t sure how appropriate it was for her to tell him that, but she wanted to give him something to cheer him up a little.

  “Huh?”

  “Before I got my own shields up, I...saw a few things.”

  Several possible dreams Sinit?a might be dreaming passed through Meleng’s head.

  Damn it!

  Bringing over another piece of diamond wall, Felit?a patched up the hole that had opened in her previous patch.

  She grimaced. “I saw things in you, too. Even now, I keep accidentally poking in. Sorry.”

  A mixture of fear and awe came from Meleng. “It’s all right,” he said. “It’s not your fault.”

  But there was still a bit of fear there. Felit?a couldn’t blame him.

  She knelt down beside Sinit?a, across from Meleng. “Is it safe to move her?”

  “I think so. Just be careful not to jostle her head.”

  Felit?a nodded. “I’ll take this side. You take that one. Ready?”

  Carefully, Felit?a took Sinit?a’s arm and wrapped it around her neck. Then she lifted her at the shoulder. Meleng did the same on his side, also using one hand to support Sinit?a’s head. Together, they lifted Sinit?a up, first into a sitting position, and then into a standing one.

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