I COULDN’T FEEL MY LIMBS.

What I could feel was my body slamming against the grass and the cold prickling against my skin. When I tried to move my arms and legs, it was if the nerves were attached to nothing. With my eyelids stuck shut, I couldn’t even be sure I still had them.

My head spun with the fury of an amusement ride, and my short, desperate breaths were the only proof I still had lungs. Saul was used to disappearing, but for me it was like being pulled apart from the inside, parts of me ripping out as Saul dragged my body in and out of the space-time continuum. Only after the spinning stopped was I able to feel my hand still gripping Rhys’s knife.

With great effort, I pried my eyelids apart. Clutching the ground, I pushed myself up, dirt building beneath my fingernails. It was still dark. Where was I? I couldn’t see anything but fields and hills under the waxing moon. Where had Saul taken me?

Grunting, I twisted my body around, only to gasp. Belle?

What was she doing here? The last I remembered, the battle princess was jumping across seats to get to me. Somehow, Belle must have disappeared and reappeared with me, but she was in just as bad shape. Clutching her stomach, Belle lay on her back, writhing on the ground. Whatever flash of foolish hope Belle’s appearance might have sparked within me vanished just as quickly. She was a mess, and so was I. Neither of us were in any shape to fight.

And fighting was exactly what we’d need to do.

I heard his groaning first before I turned and saw him: Saul, stumbling toward the train.

Train?

I pulled myself to my knees and squinted, my eyes adjusting to the night. It was the train. Our train. It was still on the rails at the top of the steep hill, not even that far away. If I could just gather enough strength to blitz Saul from behind, maybe I could drag Belle back with me.

A cold breeze laden with specks of snow brushed past my ears, gathering in Belle’s hands. She was re-forming her sword, determined to fight despite the fact that she could barely move. It was too risky. If I could feel the shift in the air and the sudden drop in temperature, Saul would too.

I was right. Through sheer will alone, Belle managed to struggle to her feet, but the moment she tightened her grip on her sword’s hilt, long, vine-like limbs cracked through the ground beneath her. With lightning speed, they whipped around her, holding her in place. The phantom they belonged to remained hidden deep in the soil.

One limb clasped her wrist and squeezed so tightly, her fingers trembled apart. The sword clattered to the ground before disintegrating into the air.

“I have nothing against you,” said Saul. My body seized as he spoke. “I truly don’t. I didn’t know you’d grab hold of me the way you did. I’m sorry I took you with me. But this must be between Marian and myself alone.”

Saul had changed. His posture was rigid and professional, his demeanor quiet and forthright. Even his eyes were different. He looked at us almost apologetically before turning back to the train. Maybe that was why it took me a few seconds to realize that his accent had changed as well, to a sharp, cool British lilt.

Nick. He was Nick now.

He faced the train, his legs shaking beneath him, his ragged pants and simple white shirt billowing in the wind along with his pale silver hair, now loose from its binds. He lifted both his arms, not easily, but with a sweeping, grand gesture that reminded me of Moses raising his staff to part the Red Sea. But it wasn’t the sea that rose.

Phantoms. Long-bodied serpents, a class I knew too well now. They appeared from the other side of the train, arching their torsos over the track. Each car shook violently as the bodies collided against the metal. For a horrifying, dizzying second I thought the flesh, bone, and shadow would crush the train, but the phantoms only coiled around it, trapping the passengers inside. It was a relief, but not much of one.

And then . . . the phantoms shuddered, their bones shifting and freezing. For a second, I thought Belle was behind it, but Belle could barely move, restrained by phantoms and still fighting off the effects of Saul’s transportation. She’d probably used up her last bit of strength summoning her sword. In the condition she was in, it’d be a miracle if she could even manage to make a snowflake.

So then what was happening to the phantoms? Why did their bodies shiver and harden? And the sheet of ice sliding up their entire length encasing them in a pallid sheen . . . what the hell was that?

It was Saul who answered my unspoken question. “I’ve learned much over the decades. Too much.” Lowering his arms, he turned to me. I could see the strain on his flushed face. “Petrification. It’s an ability all phantoms have. To become impenetrable. It should keep your friends from following us here.”

Feebly, Belle struggled against her binds. “What are you—!”

A tendril whipped around her mouth, silencing her.

“Like I said.” Saul began toward me. “This is between Marian and me.”

My whole body was crumbling. I managed to stand, placing myself between them, but the moment I felt steady on my feet, Saul pushed me back down.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll discuss everything with you later. I promise.”

He pulled something from his pocket and continued toward Belle. I could see only the tips sticking out from inside his fists, but I didn’t have to wonder for long. Belle gasped as Saul jammed the device in her neck.

The inoculation gun . . . But that was a Sect device. Saul had felt the sting when I’d jammed it into him in Argentina. Now it was Belle wincing in pain.

I was on my own.

I looked up at him as he approached, a quiet rage burning my skin from the inside. “You gonna jam that thing in me, too?”

“And return the favor? No. That would be counterintuitive.” He sheathed it in his pocket, pausing when he saw me inching away from him. “I just want to talk.”

“About what?” I cried. “What do you want from me? Why did you come to Brooklyn? Why did you follow me here? How did you even escape? What are you . . . ?” I tried to swallow, but my throat was so dry. “What are you going to do with me?”

Saul knelt beside me. It was the same Saul who’d attacked those cities and besieged the train, and I was still terrified. But his manner had become soft and careful. He maintained a respectful distance, watching over me with silent concern.

Concern. No. It was a lie. It had to be. He was trying to sneak himself through the barbed wire I’d erected between us. He wouldn’t win. When he touched my hand and tried to pull me up, I yanked it away and scrambled back, my heart hammering against my chest. The fact that this made him look so sad infuriated me.

He had no right.

“I know I deserve this, but I don’t have much time,” said Saul. “Maybe it was the drugs they sedated us with. They affected Alice much more than they did me, but she’ll be back. She can probably still hear us. I can hear sometimes too. I heard you . . . I heard you say my name in Brooklyn.” He shook his head. “But she always comes back. And when she does, she’ll be far less kind to you.”

Stooping down, he grabbed me by the upper arm, yanked me to my feet, and dragged me toward the train, ignoring my whimpers.

“Your name is Maia, isn’t it?” He didn’t look at me as he tugged me along. “Maia, I need you to do something for me.” He finally stopped, holding my wrist so I wouldn’t go anywhere. As if I could; my legs still felt like jelly slopping beneath me. “I need you to find her. Marian. There’s something I need to ask her.”

“You keep saying that,” I spat. “But you never tell me why.”

Saul shook his head. “Some things are better left—”

“Tell me why, Saul.”

I could feel his hand tremble against my skin.

“Please don’t call me that,” he begged. Actually begged. “That’s the name she chose for us once she took my body. A king from the Old Testament who united god’s chosen. So wonderfully brazen. But Alice was always like that.”

Even his smirk held no life in it. The bitterness was clear on his face.

“I have control now, but I don’t know for how long. I can’t even remember the last time I felt my own heartbeat.”

As if he couldn’t help himself, he pressed his free hand against his chest, breathing deeply.

I watched him. “Who . . . are you?”

I could feel the pressure of his fingers against my pulse. “Nick. Call me Nick.”

“You’re over a hundred years old.” My eyes traveled down his body, still as hard and fit as a young man barely out of his teens. “How?”

“1871,” he answered solemnly. “The third of June. A year after Marian died. It was the day I became one of the accursed.”

I frowned. “Accursed?”

“Like you. I was called to this life after Alice passed, just as you were called after the death of the one they called the Matryoshka Princess.”

The Effigy line. But he spoke only of Alice. Maybe she was the only one, the only Effigy whispering and plotting in his head.

“Each of us has our curse. You and your fire. And her.” He jerked his head at Belle, now limp in her binds. “The span of my life is just one part of mine. I couldn’t even die with her.”

His tilted his head away from me, and for a moment his long hair veiled his expression.

“I’ll ask again.” It took every bit of control I had to keep my voice calm. “What do you want from me? Why do you need me to find Marian?”

“Because she knows where it is.” He drew me in close, and I had to crane my neck to look up at him. “The rest of the stone from which these rings were made.”

He lifted his left hand. I saw the ring shining there, its pearl stone glinting in the starlight. Sibyl had told us the ring was safe, and maybe she had even believed it. Just as Saul couldn’t have escaped from the London facility by himself, he couldn’t have gotten the ring back either. Not without help. My hunch was right, not that it mattered much now.

“That’s what Alice believes, anyway. It’s her hypothesis. But we need Marian to confirm it.”

“So you’re working with Alice.” I laughed coldly. “And here I thought you were a bit less of an asshole than she was.”

“I’m not her,” he hissed quickly. “I’m not. It’s just that we have the same goal.”

“Which is?”

Saul’s face softened in the question’s wake, his lips parting as he eased into the anguish that had suddenly taken him. “A wish,” he whispered. “It’s all for a wish.”

I remembered. He’d asked me before, in Argentina. . . . No, it was Alice who’d asked as she’d pinned me against the window with Nick’s body.

Maia, isn’t there something you want more than anything?

“It’s the ring, Maia,” said Saul, very quietly. “The ring will grant my wish.”

“No way,” I whispered, shaking my head. “It’s not possible.”

“Look around you,” he said. “A lot of things are possible in this terrible world we live in.”

“A wish. The ring can grant wishes.” My head was spinning.

“The stone. I don’t know all of the details. Alice keeps many things hidden away from me. But we both want the same thing. We both have something we desperately wish for. But this ring isn’t enough. I need the rest of the stone.”

“I don’t understand. You’re crazy.” I trembled. “You’re crazy, Saul!”

“Call me Nick,” he pleaded. “My name is Nick.” A sob escaped his lips. “Please.”

“Who the hell do you think you are, asking something from me? You killed them. Not her. Not Alice. You!” I looked back at the train still captive under the weight of Saul’s monsters. “You!”

“I have no choice but to kill.” His face hardened. “They had to die. Otherwise, how can it grant my wish?”

When my gaze shifted to the ring again, my eyes widened, then narrowed. “No.”

“The ring controls phantoms. The more people we sacrifice to them, the more potent the ring becomes. The more powerful.”

Death powered the stone. The realization was almost too much to handle.

Now that I thought of it, the ring’s stone wasn’t as white as it was before. The swirl of darkness inside had flowered, filling more space since the time I’d seen it last.

“All those cities,” I whispered. “All those people you murdered. To what? Juice up your ring so you can get . . . your wish granted?”

His face creased into an ugly grimace. “Everyone has one. Or are you trying to tell me you don’t?”

I didn’t want to think of them, but when I closed my eyes I could see my family’s faces so clearly my teeth clenched from the pain of it.

“Everyone does. Myself. Alice. The difference between Alice’s wish and mine is that mine won’t break apart the world. If I can make mine first—”

“You’d still be a selfish asshole.”

“But at least I’d have Marian by my side.”

The name sounded dark and lonesome on his tongue.

“That’s it?” The words were hoarse in my throat. “You just want your girlfriend back?”

“No, that’s not all.” Saul raised his hand. “I could just as easily have brought Marian back with this. It has more than enough power.” He turned it over. “After all, parts of Marian are inside of you. To come back, all she needs to do is take your body, the way Alice took mine. I could use the ring to draw her from the depths of you, to force her to the forefront of your mind. But it would be a waste. My wish is bigger than this. And you can call her on your own.”

He twisted my arm back, forcing me to my knees. Pain shot through my body, searing my nerves. I cried out as Saul leaned in from behind me. “I don’t need Marian to take your body, not yet. I just want you to find her, to ask her where the rest of the stone is. Do it. Do it quickly.”

“I can’t.” I downed the air in shuddering gasps.

“Do it now.”

“I—I have to be calm. I have to be calm. At peace . . .”

“Do it, Maia. Find Marian. Do it, or I swear to the heavens I will have them all killed.”

My head snapped up. The train. They were all still inside. The passengers, Lake and Chae Rin, and Rhys. My eyes swelled with tears. He was still hurt badly, his chest drowning in blood because of me. Because he risked his own life to protect me.

I tasted the tears on my lips, sucking in drops as I rasped. This wasn’t fair. None of this was fair, and I wished none of it had happened. I just wanted to go home.

But I didn’t have a choice.

“Okay.” I set my teeth, my hair spilling over my face. “Just give me time.”

He let me go. “Normally, time would be the one thing I have.”

I tried my best to silence my jackhammering heart, but to do it I had to forget everything and everyone. There wasn’t any room for error. If I didn’t calm myself, didn’t find that place deep within myself the way Belle’d taught me to, I’d never see any of them again. How much blood was on my hands already?

Blood. My heart gave a jolt, but I banished the pain. The fear, too. Like a sharp vine, it crept up my insides, threatening me, but I couldn’t let it take me. Not this time. Clenching my teeth, I forced it away too.

How would I even reach Marian? The consciousness of the last Effigy was always the freshest. The rest were tangled together in knots, according to Belle. How could I find the one I needed?

Closing my eyes, I squeezed my hands into fists against my lap and shut everything out. Everything but the hardness of the ground against my knees. I inhaled deeply. Once, twice. Again. Again.

Please, I begged them, the girls who’d left shards of themselves inside me. Help me.

  •  •  •  

Belle was right. I had been here before. I remembered the white stream, the heavy mist blanketing the world around me.

And the door. The farther I walked through the thick fog, the clearer it became. Red, just as Belle had said. Connected to nothing, it stood upright on its own.

The stream reached just past my ankles, but it wasn’t cold. Belle had gotten that part wrong, or maybe she’d just experienced it differently. For me it was burning hot. Though I expected it to scorch my skin, it didn’t hurt at all. The heat became part of me, rising through my legs, warming my body. I could breathe again. The pain in my limbs and joints had vanished too. If only I could hide in this strange place forever.

I trudged through the crystal white waters, the door looming larger with each step. It was magnificent. It belonged in a palace with its golden rims, its woodwork crafted as if for kings.

And like the door to a palace, it was guarded.

“Natalya . . .”

I knew Natalya was tall, but now, as I stood in front of her, the legendary Effigy towered above me. Yes, this was Natalya. Too many times had I seen those eyes, always fierce, always proud, whether in the heat of battle or in the middle of an interview. Her black hair, cut close to her skull, still fluttered from whatever breeze passed through this place. And in her scar-covered hands was the broadsword she’d made famous during her years with the Sect. The edge of its blade disappeared into the white stream as she gripped it proudly.

The beautiful and noble soldier Natalya Filipova.

But she was not the one I was looking for.

“We meet at last.”

Natalya’s voice shook me to the core. Every word she spoke swelled with the contours of her Russian accent, still prominent despite her perfect English.

Every word she spoke.

Natalya Filipova was speaking.

Speaking to me.

My body went rigid as fear suddenly gripped me.

“Don’t be afraid.” Natalya’s tone was soft despite its strength. “I know why you’re here. I’ve seen everything. Through you.”

I wrapped my arms around myself. The very idea that parts of Natalya, and parts of so many other girls, were living on inside me made me feel so alien, as if fate had snatched my humanity from me the day it called me to be an Effigy.

Maybe it had.

“You know who Marian is, right?” If I had more time, I’d have made sure my first words to Natalya were more meaningful, full of praise and respect.

“No. Not fully. I . . . I died before I could discover everything.”

I was so used to seeing Natalya strong, but now the Effigy’s lips curled into something probably meant to be a snarl before she thought better of it. Natalya looked truly crestfallen as she lowered her head, peering at her own reflection in the stream.

The pain was still fresh. The pain of dying.

“Natalya . . . how did you die?”

I hadn’t meant to ask, but the moment I did, Natalya’s eyes were on me.

“Are you sure you want to know?” There was something wild in her eyes, something hidden, even with the rest of her calm. “But then, it would help, wouldn’t it?” Natalya nodded. “Yes, it would help you. To get to Marian, you’ll need to see it, after all. You’ll need to see all our most difficult memories.”

Our. The Effigies’. Despite the heat, I shivered.

“I can show you my death.” Natalya’s hands tightened around the round pommel of her sword. “In fact, I want to show you. You should know what happened.”

The corner of Natalya’s lips crept up into the faintest of smiles. She was smiling at me. And yet I stepped back, my hands cold. Why? Why was it so unsettling? There was something Natalya wasn’t telling me, something screaming in the silence.

“Are you prepared to watch me die, Maia Finley?”

My knees buckled beneath the overbearing weight of Natalya’s expectant stare. I knew I couldn’t say no.

“Show me.”

Natalya stepped aside. The door crept open on its own.

  •  •  •  

It was dark. My eyes couldn’t adjust at first. But once they did, I could see the armchair. . . . Yes, I could see Natalya’s armchair this time. It wasn’t like before. This time, I stood across the living room of Natalya’s apartment inside my own body. Not only could I see the armchair, I could see Natalya in it. The pop art on the wall. The scotch-filled decanter on the table, red lipstick staining the rims of glasses. The bottles of alcohol. All of it Natalya’s.

I saw everything clearly this time. I could see Natalya’s hand clasping her throat, her lips sputtering, but the words unable to form.

No. I didn’t want to see it after all. Now that Natalya’s body was crumpling to the floor, now that she was clawing at the rug in a desperate attempt to stay alive, I couldn’t bear to see her die. Covering my eyes with a whimper, I turned.

“I’m sorry,” came the voice from across the room. The voice that stopped my heart. “I’m so sorry.”

The ticking seconds slowed until they faded from existence entirely. My arms fell limp at my sides. Don’t turn around, I ordered myself, tears stinging my eyes. Don’t you do it. But my legs were shifting rebelliously from under me.

I didn’t want to see. I couldn’t tell if the desperate breaths I heard were mine or Natalya’s, but it didn’t matter. My body would give out soon. I knew it. My legs would crumple the moment I turned, the moment I turned and—

And saw Rhys standing over Natalya.

I fell back and hit my head against the table, the pain sharply real. But it couldn’t be. Nothing about this horrific memory could be real.

It was a lie.

Natalya was lying to me.

Natalya was lying; she was trying to trick me!

That must have been the hidden meaning behind her smile. Yeah. That must have been it! That vile . . . that sickening . . . How could she? How could . . . ?

The gasps and the wails were definitely mine. I cried the way I hadn’t in so long, my hands wrapped around myself as I shook on the floor.

“No! No, no!” I covered my ears to block out Rhys’s repeated apologies. It was all a lie, all a lie. “You’re lying to me!” I was on my knees. “You’re lying to me! Natalya! Where are you? I said, where are you? Why are you lying to me? Answer me!”

And then Natalya was in front of me. I could only see her grim face in front of mine.

“It’s over,” my hero said before my mind shattered.