xplosives had been hidden in the decorative hydrangea flower balls, which were hanging pretty much everywhere.

They erupted into balls of fire and engulfed the rooms and hallways with acrid smoke. They didn’t combust all at once, thank goodness. But there was no telling when the next one would go off, so the mass of people caught in the crosshairs had no idea which way to run.

Three explosions unfolded in the corridors followed by two in the ballroom. I was tossed to the floor then dove out of the way to dodge a chunk of ceiling that came crashing down. Other guests in the vicinity hid under tables to avoid the debris and glass that fell.

Daniel, SJ, and Jason came barreling out of the hidden door behind the tapestry. Jason helped Pietro to his feet and Daniel helped me to mine. Six more explosions were set off in violent succession from various points throughout the hall.

People who had been in the doorway were pushed back into the ballroom from the sheer force of the combustion. Dark gray smoke flooded in. Whole panes of windows shattered spraying shards everywhere.

I heard shouts and cries and moans coming from beyond the ballroom. Despite every instinct telling me otherwise, I ran toward them. I leapt over fallen chairs and pushed my way into the desecrated hall. My friends were right behind me.

I felt sick to my stomach at what I saw.

People near me were freaking out. But at the other end of the hall guests lay scattered around a giant pile of rubble blocking the stairs that led to the main door. Some of them were moving. The more naïve, childlike part of my heart convinced my head that those who weren’t had just been knocked unconscious. Anything else didn’t seem possible. I hadn’t known enough darkness yet to accept the alternative.

The ceiling shook again.

Shield.

I protected my skull and SJ’s from a shard of glass that would have otherwise impaled us. The aftershock threw me off balance. Jason caught me and righted me without hesitation.

“What do we do?” he asked.

I wondered the same thing. There was no way out. The explosions had buried the front door and it was impossible to pass down the hall to any of the building’s other exits; they were unbearably far away and there were too many people.

We needed a way out. We needed to make a way out.

“SJ!” I shouted. “Can you contain this?” I gestured to the spreading fires and the crumbling columns that threatened to collapse.

She nodded and dug into her bag of portable potions. She began releasing ice potions to contain the fires and slime potions to help prevent structural collapse of the building.

“Here!” I tossed Blue my shield. “Cover her. I need thirty seconds.”

Blue shielded SJ as Daniel and Jason aided the guards (the ones not on Mauvrey and Alex’s payroll) in protecting the other guests as best they could.

I raced back into the ballroom at full speed. My boots crushed the corpses of floral centerpieces and formerly fine china. I bobbed and weaved around the disintegrating room—dodging the collapse of another chandelier and several chunks of roof—until I reached the left wall. The chrome doors were still locked, so I grabbed a chair and chucked it at the lowest window, smashing a hole through it.

I rushed forward. The window was at my chest level. I leaned out and brought my fingers to my lips and whistled. It was high-pitched and desperate. I flicked my eyes over to the stage where my parents and the Weatheralls were. My mother had been knocked to the ground by the latest explosion, which made my heart lurch. The king of Tunderly was shielding his queen from the rubble that continued to rain over the room. I took another glance out the window and saw what was coming.

“Get down!” I shouted.

I raced away from the wall and braced myself for imminent impact. A moment later Lucky’s scaly, silver body rammed through the side of the ballroom—responding to my summons. He demolished the windows, the doors, and the rest of the wall, creating a gaping hole to the outside.

My loyal pet shook glass and metal from his scaly head then blinked his golden eyes at me expectantly.

“Good boy!” I yelled. “Now back outside! Go!”

Lucky looked confused but excited to help. He stretched his wings and bounded outside.

“Through here!” I called to the people in the ballroom, gesturing to the newly created opening, which led to the safety of the main lawn. It did not take long for the guests to seize the opportunity. My friends could see what I’d done and they began herding people in the corridor this way. In their dusty suits and ball gowns, people came stampeding toward the exit.

The explosions continued without mercy as guests emptied onto the main lawn. After ensuring that my parents had made it out, I re-entered the hallway to find SJ firing her last portable potion at a side wall that would’ve otherwise collapsed on top of the duke and duchess of Whoozalee.

Daniel and Jason helped the noble couple to their feet as Blue returned my shield. We continued assisting people out of the death trap corridor. As I guided my second cousin Violet to the ballroom doors, that’s when I saw them.

My friends and I had been concentrating so hard on the people between the ballroom and the main doors that we hadn’t thought to look back. It had escaped my notice that there were some servants in the deeper parts of the castle that needed assistance. Not all of our palace staff was on team Mauvrey and Alex. Many of them had been in the kitchen, and I imagined most had escaped through there when the explosions started. However, a few had been in the halls when the attack was unleashed.

I went to aid a handful of staff members farther down the hall. Some were trapped beneath collapsed columns or other debris; others were on their hands and knees from the impact of the explosions. Obstacles and rubble stood in my way, but I was not waylaid for long.

I found myself actually feeling grateful for the number of near-death experiences I’d had in recent months. It seemed I’d built up a certain level of tolerance to the chaos. I moved faster, responded quicker, and I was far less shaken by the ordeal than I would have been had my life not grown so accustomed to cruel peril.

After assisting six servants out of the wreckage, in the corner of my eye I saw a maid struggling against a fallen piece of ceiling; it had pinned her leg to the ground. Pietro was attempting to boost it off her. I rushed over and gritted my teeth as I helped him lift it. The maid slid out and Pietro scooped her up.

“Minnie,” the maid moaned as she reached out. I pivoted to where she was gesturing. A few yards away my lady-in-waiting Minnie lay on the ground, rubble around her. I sprinted over. I put my finger to Minnie’s neck to check for a pulse, but I felt nothing.

Oh no.

No, no, no.

“Crisa, come on!” Pietro shouted.

I put my wand down and held Minnie’s hand in mine as I checked her wrist for a pulse. Still nothing.

Come on, Minnie, I thought earnestly, closing my eyes in prayer. Be alive. Please, please be alive. My heart raced as I willed with all my faith that she would breathe. Somehow—by a miracle—she did. I heard a rush of air return to her body and my eyes burst open to see hers glance up at me.

“Princess?”

“Hi, Minnie.”

“I thought I was going to die.”

“Well, you’re not. That’s an order. Now up you go.”

Minnie hobbled to her feet, but seemed fine to walk on her own after that. I grabbed my wand and made to follow her and Pietro at first, but then I hesitated. At that very moment I saw Alex. He was by the lift in the distance, much farther down the hall.

We both stood there for a beat—a hundred yards between us that felt like a hundred miles. Staring. Wondering. Deciding.

“Alex!” I yelled.

He ran. I ran after him.

“Crisa!” I heard Blue call. I spun around. She and Daniel were at the threshold of the ballroom, waiting for me. Both of them had someone draped over their shoulders, fireman-rescue style.

I thought about coming to my senses and rejoining them, but fate intervened and a set of hydrangea balls hanging between us erupted. That entire section of ceiling came tumbling down. I was tossed back against the wall. I felt my head hit glass, but steadied myself with hardly a hesitation.

My access to the ballroom had been completely cut off by debris. I was not going to be able to get through. But it wouldn’t have mattered if I could. My brother and I had unfinished business.

“Just get out!” I yelled to Blue and Daniel through the avalanche. “I’ll be fine.”

Alex was getting further away with every passing second and I had to catch up with him.

The wreckage of the explosions cut across every part of the corridor. There were fewer of the deadly hydrangea balls deeper within the castle, but they were still present in every room—some already having erupted and unleashed their damage, others threatening to do the same at any time.

Dang, why did our castle decorators have to be so frickin’ thorough?

I jumped over fallen trees in the arboretum. A series of explosions went off right as I entered the chess hall, which sent several human-sized pieces flying. A wall-sized mirror shattered; a shard skinned my upper arm as I raced by.

My pace only quickened as I sped through the adjacent conference room then into the Hall of Transparency. Finally, I made it to the library. It was engulfed in flames. They’d caught on the white carpet and draping Vicennalia Aurora-colored silks that hung whimsically from the ceiling. There wasn’t much time before the remaining hydrangea balls in here would take the rest of the place down.

Alex was standing across the room. I’d been certain he was headed this way. I had pieced the remaining segments of the puzzle together. He was going to use the fireplace tunnel to escape to the hedge maze, then follow the path past the mausoleum and use our secret passageway in the hunting shed to flee the grounds with Mauvrey and his men.

It made perfect sense. That was how Mauvrey had made it onto the property unseen. Alex had shown her the tunnel. And since no one else knew about the route, they would get away unseen. By everyone but me, that is.

“Alex, stop!”

My brother was about to go through the passage in the fireplace. There were three of our guards with him. The men lunged at me, but Alex raised his hand to keep them from attacking.

“Stand down!”

“But, sir! Mauvrey gave us orders—”

“And now I’m giving you orders. Go through the tunnel to the exit and get to the mountains. Tell Mauvrey I’ll be there soon.”

My brother’s men left us alone.

I wanted to wring Alex’s neck, or slap him in the face, or kick him in the shin. I wanted to make him suffer. I wanted to make him feel even a quarter of the horror I was feeling. But in that terrible moment, I couldn’t bring myself to do any of it. All I could muster was a single plea.

“Alex, please. Don’t do this.”

“That’s not an option,” he replied. “I’ve made my choice. I love Mauvrey, Crisa. And I believe in what she’s doing.”

“What she’s doing is insane!” I shouted. “She just tried to take out her own parents. Her men were killing innocent people. She tried to kill me last semester! And she’s in cahoots with the antagonists! She’s a monster! How can you take her side?”

“What she’s done is a means to an end, Crisa. I don’t like that this was necessary, but it was necessary. Our class system can’t go on like this anymore, separating people into protagonists, commons, and antagonists. The time has come for change. But the people pulling the strings behind the realm’s curtains—the ambassadors, the Godmothers, the royals—they don’t see that. And they crush anyone who tries to take a stand against them. Do you have any idea how many people have been killed over the years for even thinking of rebelling?”

“Do you have any idea how many people were killed today because of you and your Shadow Guardian girlfriend?”

The library shook from a nearby explosion. Alex paused.

“Crisa—”

“Shut up!” I said, squeezing my wand tighter. “I don’t want to hear your excuses anymore. You’re a liar! You told me I could trust you; that you’d never let me down or betray me! And I believed you!”

“I’m sorry, Crisa. But this is the way it is,” he said firmly. “I didn’t want to tell you the truth before because I was afraid you would react like this. That you would choose them instead of me.” “If by ‘them’ you mean the good guys, then yeah, Alex. I choose them.”

“Well, you’ve picked your side and I’ve picked mine. Fight me all you want, but I know mine is the right one.”

“How can you be so stupid?” My voice cracked. “You’re a traitor!”

“I’m also your brother. As angry as you are, you know you can’t erase that.”

A dark calm came over me as I clenched my wand even harder. “You stopped being my brother when your selfishness nearly killed Mom, Dad, and Pietro.”

He shrugged as if we were quibbling over something insignificant like assembly instructions for a desk chair. “If that’s how you feel, then fine. But I’m not changing my mind.”

There was no time for a reply. Two of the remaining hydrangea balls in the room combusted simultaneously. My shoulders slammed against a bookshelf behind me, rattling my skull.

Scattered texts stoked the fire on the ground. Smoke filled the room and I saw cracks spreading across the ceiling with deadly intent. Alex was suddenly much closer.

“Come on!” he said, gesturing to the fireplace. “We gotta go!”

He moved toward me, but I pulled out of his reach. “Fat chance!” I coughed. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”

“Crisa!” he protested.

I drew back farther.

Spear.

“Stay away from me!” I said, pointing the blade directly at him.

“Crisa, the room is coming down. The rest of this floor is a death zone. You’ll never make it to another exit in time; you’ll be buried alive. We have to escape through this tunnel. Now.”

“So Mauvrey can stab me through the heart like you stabbed me in the back? I don’t think so.”

“Seriously, Crisa? Come on, I would never let her kill you! I told Mauvrey that from the beginning. She was okay with taking out her parents, but you, Mom, Dad, and Pietro were only supposed to be captured. You can’t really think I’m capable of that kind of evil.”

I took another step back, spear still raised and eyes locked with his. “Alex, you just helped one of the most malicious people I’ve ever met destroy our family and burn down our home. For goodness’ sake, you let her use a Poppy Potion to drug me when I confided in you that it was one of the things in the world I was most scared of. I have no idea what kind of evil you’re capable of.”

Plaster and glass fell from the ceiling and the fire burned stronger, but I refused to lower my guard.

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “I am not going to let you get yourself killed in here. You’re coming with me.”

“Make me.”

“Fine.” Alex drew his sword. His eyes were trained on my spear—intent on disarming me and forcing me to go with him. I didn’t want to fight him, but I would have rather gotten killed than follow him anywhere ever again.

He came at me. I used the distance between us to my advantage and jabbed him in the chest with the dull end of my spear, keeping him at bay. He rushed at me again. I tried to repeat the move but he was ready for it this time. He seized the staff with his free hand and pulled me forward.

I grabbed the hand that held his sword. I tried to kick his knee outward, but he anticipated that; he knew my go-to moves whenever I was backed in a corner. Alex side-stepped and twisted my arm to pin it behind my back, but I slammed my elbow into his jaw and got away.

I found myself against the wall with no more space to withdraw. My brother saw his opportunity and moved in. I saw my opportunity too. It was brief, but it was there. Had Alex been any of the many antagonists, magic hunters, or monsters I’d faced in the past, I would have taken it and won the fight. However, Alex wasn’t any of those things. Alex was Alex. Despite the rage and betrayal I felt, I couldn’t change that. And that instinct kept me from taking the shot.

My hesitation made me vulnerable. I lost the room to get in a solid block with my spear and had to change my wand into a sword. It was a mistake. With the spear, my brother and I were much more evenly matched. With swords, I paled in comparison.

Alex countered my block and struck at me anew. I parried. He struck again. I bounded out of the way. The two of us fought until my sword was knocked from my hand.

He thought he had me then, but my adrenaline was pumping. The moment the sword left my fingers, I grabbed his wrist and kicked him in the thigh. He thrust me off, stepped in, and punched me in the ribs. Hard.

I buckled—the wind knocked out of me. Alex took that chance to grab me by the back of the neck and herd me toward the tunnel.

“Go!” he ordered.

I glanced at the open passage then up at the ceiling about to give way. My eyes darted to the door on the other side of the room. Alex read my mind as I made a break for it. He seized my wrist, his hand around the gold bracelet we used to share. His sword was at my throat and his aqua-blue eyes were inches from mine for a second. Then he abruptly let go.

Alex’s face winced with pain at the sound of searing flesh. I backed up to the door, confused, but not taking my sights off him. His hand was burning from where he’d touched me. It was literally exuding steam like a teakettle. His body contorted with jagged movements like an exorcism until his shoulders and face were yanked back.

Alex’s eyes turned piercing black and an equally dark, ghostly essence emerged from his body. It was ghastly. The top part of the creature had a crooked, blood red mouth and slit eyes. The bottom part still clung to my brother’s body like a parachute attached to someone in free fall. I recognized it with horror the way a witness might identify a murderer from a line-up.

The thing made a disturbing screeching sound then sunk back into my brother. Indiscernible whispers emanated from his body like an eerie aftereffect.

“You’re a Shadow Guardian,” I gasped.

Alex’s eyes had returned to their regular shade of blue. Right then the final hydrangea balls in the room exploded. My brother leapt to the side. I dove for my sword and rolled to the door as a huge beam collapsed, glass shattered, and bookshelves fell over. When the shaking stopped long enough for me to get to my feet, I found that a smoking barrier of rubble had fallen between us. I could still see him, but he could not get to me.

Before he could even try, I fled the room.

Shield.

Glass and ceiling continued to fall. The castle was a total wreck. The corridor back to the kitchens was blocked, as was my access to the ballroom. I heard a loud crash and the doorway I’d just come through got buried. My only option now was the passage that led to the western part of the castle. It was a long route, and probably decorated with hydrangea balls, but it was my only shot. I picked myself up and went for it.

Sweat dripped from my forehead as I struggled to breathe. There was carbon dioxide in my lungs and searing heat on my skin. I flew through a hall lined with burning columns and Midveil flags, all the while shielding my head from the wreckage that fell.

My heart slammed against my chest from exhaustion and pain. These halls that I’d walked through a thousand times were being incinerated, my big brother was to blame, and I was a minute away from being buried alive. I was running through a nightmare.

And that’s when I realized that this had been one of my nightmares. I’d had this very dream several times.

I launched myself out of the way as a beam came tumbling down. My hands hit the ash-covered, marble floor. I coughed and started to pick myself up, but hesitated when I saw something powder blue. I grasped at it and pulled it free.

It was Midveil’s flag—meant to be here as surely as I was.

“Aut viam inveniam aut faciam.”

The charred words around the insignia filled me with more fire than the room.

The memory of my dreams surged through me. And—knowing what came next—when the distinct sound of cracks echoed behind me, I rolled out of the way, managing to dodge the falling column I’d foreseen. It smashed into heavy pieces on the ground. I lunged to get up, but one of the chunks had landed on my dress and was pinning me down.

I struggled and tried not to give in to the panic, shock, and hurt that caused a disobedient tear to stream down my cheek. The roof was threatening to give way. My eyes darted to a ten-foot-high mirror nearby then at the hydrangea balls just beyond it. With shrewd understanding I knew what was about to happen.

Oh, crud.

I transformed my shield into a knife and cut my dress above the knee, freeing myself. I broke into a sprint seconds before another hydrangea ball exploded. The shockwave caused much of the ceiling to come loose and the mirror to erupt.

Shield.

When I was safe from the scattering shards, I made a break for my mother’s private study. That would be my escape. I sped through the havoc until I reached it.

The room was filled with smoke, but no hydrangea balls. More importantly, there was a door at the back that led to a patio. I rushed over, but discovered it was locked.

“Come on!” I yelled angrily, rattling the silver frame, which protected the glass like an exoskeleton and kept me from smashing through.

Using my wand to hack through the door would take too long. If I stayed in here more than another thirty seconds, I would suffocate. Fear and desperation pulsed through me. Without thinking, I raised my right hand.

“Let. Me. Out,” I commanded.

Abruptly my palm lit up like a lantern. The door glowed and then it shot outward in one solid blow. Relief rushed through me and I burst outside.

I stopped to take a deep, replenishing breath, inhaling the fresh air. I returned my wand to its pin form and thanked the universe that my magic had worked. I didn’t understand how. It should’ve been rebooting for another six hours. But that didn’t matter right now. I was free but this was far from over. I bolted around the crumbling castle until I reached the evacuation area outside the ballroom.

Several Fairy Godmothers had arrived and were using their magic to put out the fires and stabilize the building to keep the upper floors from coming down. Innumerable guests were dotted across the main lawn. I spotted my father, Pietro, and my mother in her sapphire gown being escorted by several Godmothers to an area farther away. I also saw my friends, and just past them, my pet dragon.

“Crisa, where are you going?” SJ shouted as I raced by.

“Alex, Mauvrey, and their men have been using a secret passageway to get in and out of the castle,” I explained as my friends kept pace with me. “I know where it leads and I think I can cut them off.”

I brought my fingers to my lips and whistled. Lucky came bounding over. Without wasting another second, I threw my leg over his neck. “Go!” I said. With a kick of my heel, I spurred him into the sky.

I knew that Alex, Mauvrey, and the others were using the seventh passage, and Alex had mentioned in the library that they were meeting by the mountains. That meant they were taking the extension of the route that led outside the citadel. With any luck, I could beat them there.

I navigated Lucky due north. He flew quickly, his wings flapping violently, but I didn’t hear them. All I heard was the sound of the blood pumping in my ears and the white noise of adrenaline that buzzed inside me like electricity.

When the forest was in sight, I scanned the area for the cave where the seventh passage let out. Sure enough, I spotted scattered dots of men at the base of the mountains just ahead.

I urged Lucky to land. His claws and body plowed into the dirt. Their jolt shook the ground and the nerves of the two dozen people gathered there. I was already sliding off his neck before Lucky came to a complete stop.

That’s when I saw it—a glowing silver splotch at the threshold of the mountains. It was floating there in free space, barely big enough for a grown person to step through. Though I hadn’t seen one for some time, there was no mistaking it for what it was.

A wormhole. A tear in the realm’s outer In and Out Spell.

A handful of disloyal men from the King’s Guard, a few kitchen staff, and Daphne Reigns continued to dash through the portal—vanishing from view. Who knew how many more had already escaped before I’d gotten there.

The only ones who stalled at the sight of me were Alex and Mauvrey. I glowered at them, and in that moment the sheen of the portal caused me to notice something on Mauvrey’s wrist. It was a rose gold watch with a leather band that looked suspiciously like a Hole Tracker.

It can’t be.

The pair of them stood there for a second, watching me. They looked amused, impressed, and vaguely surprised that I’d managed to follow them. However, as the last of their men disappeared through the wormhole, it seemed they didn’t want to stick around to find out what I was planning to do next. Alex tore his gaze away from me and stepped through the hole. Mauvrey gave me a condescending wave and followed.

I sprinted toward the tear in our realm as it started to get smaller and smaller. Despite my best efforts, the silvery opening sealed itself off and vanished mere seconds before I reached it.

It was gone. Mauvrey was gone. And Alex . . .

Alex was gone.

The part of me that had died the moment I’d accepted Alex was a liar and a traitor felt like a black hole inside my chest. Now that I was alone and without enemies to fight, the pain was too crushing to bear.

I fell to my knees as my heart finished breaking. Then I cried out. The sound was anguished and blood-curdling, echoing off the mountains. When it was out of me—purged—I knelt there in silence, hanging my head from the weight of the hatred and betrayal I had to carry going forward.