Kazen’s monster was punctual.
Sandis stepped close to Bastien, their sides touching, when red light highlighted smoky clouds far to the north. She couldn’t see the monster, thanks to the numerous buildings separating it from the rubble of the cathedral it had destroyed, but Kolosos’s light was unmistakable—just like the shudder that ran through the earth and the inhuman roar carried on the wind.
General Istrude had chosen to take their stand in the ashes of the cathedral. Chief Esgar had suggested hiding within Gerech Prison’s fortified walls, but Istrude’s plan had won out. Triumvir Var didn’t want to draw Kazen’s attention to what he considered one of Kolingrad’s greatest resources, so their battalion had instead congregated on the ruins of a building already destroyed.
Sandis was fine with staying away from the prison that had always haunted her. The place she would have ended up if the government had found her before they needed her. The place that had nearly driven Rone mad. The place that might still hold her great-uncle captive, if it had not yet already killed him.
Soldiers in steel blue clustered together ahead of her, waiting for a signal, a strike . . . Sandis didn’t know what was planned. General Istrude didn’t invite the vessels to his war meetings.
In the distance, the demon’s red light brightened.
“Wh-What’s north?” Bastien asked, eyes locked on the sky. His teeth chattered, but from cold or from fear, Sandis wasn’t sure. Maybe both.
What was north? What did Kazen want to destroy this time? The homes of priests? The wall itself?
General Istrude, mounted on a horse Sandis swore could challenge Ireth in size, rode in front of his men. “Lieutenant Martal, your men with me.” He turned to Oz, who lingered several feet away, standing beside Teppa and Inda. He looked haggard, older than before. Kazen, too, hated losing his vessels, but he saw them merely as assets. Oz behaved as though he’d lost family.
Family. The word hardened in her chest, hurting her. She thought of Rone. Tried not to think of him. Celestial, anyone, please, please protect him.
He wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be.
“Are you ready?” Triumvir Var asked, and Sandis felt as if she’d caught Bastien’s shivers. Kazen had used her as a weapon to frighten his enemies, but now she would be an actual soldier. Under Oz’s direction.
She didn’t like the thought of someone else controlling her. Didn’t like the bruise on the inside of her arm, where Oz had taken her blood—along with Bastien’s—earlier. She didn’t know Oz. Didn’t trust him. Bastien said he’d been a good master, but he’d been a master all the same. Sandis hadn’t been used like that for so long . . . her stomach clenched at the thought of bowing under Oz’s hand and disappearing until afternoon. If she came back at all. But Ireth was more useful in a separate summoner’s hands. Sandis, by herself, could only hold on to the fiery numen for mere seconds.
She glanced back to that red light. It hadn’t moved. The ground, too, remained still.
“I’m ready,” Oz said, catching Sandis’s eye. He gestured to the carriage pulled by a team of six horses—another extravagance of the triumvirs. It would give them the speed they needed, so long as the roads held up. Many had been crushed or buckled by Kolosos’s trampling.
Taking Bastien’s clammy hand in hers, Sandis pulled him toward the carriage as General Istrude’s small cavalry headed north. Each step was a struggle. She wanted to fight Kolosos. Truly, she did. But if they won . . . didn’t that mean Anon would die?
Her fingers grew cold at the idea. Could she stop Kazen and also save her brother?
Inda entered the carriage first, followed by Teppa and Bastien. Eyeing her, Oz slipped in. Sandis moved to follow, and—
Warm pressure filled her head and shoulders, strong enough that she gasped. Ireth. He was hale, he was present, he was—
A strong impression pushed through their connection. One Sandis had never felt from him before. Safe. It was clearer than Ireth’s usual messages, almost like he stood behind her, breathing into her hair. Safe.
Then, all at once, the warmth and the impression faded, winking out like a dying star.
“Sandis, hurry,” Oz said.
She blinked. Touched her heart. Turned that word over in her mind. She wasn’t safe at all. None of them were. Why would Ireth—
Warmth of her own bloomed in her chest. Rone. The moment she thought it, she knew. Rone was safe. He and Ireth were in the same place. Did Ireth watch over him? Tears sprang to her eyes. She could have laughed. Thank you, Ireth.
“Sir.”
Sandis turned, spying a scout jogging up to Triumvir Var. Several had been stationed atop buildings throughout the city. Sandis stepped away from the carriage, trying to listen.
“—stagnant, sir. It’s just . . . not moving.”
Kolosos?
“Sandis!”
She whipped her head back toward the carriage. Oz didn’t need to explain; Kolosos only existed for a short amount of time each night, and Celestial knew what kind of destruction Kazen had planned for tonight. Sandis hurried into the carriage, which took off before she even closed the door behind her.
The horses sped into a gallop, and the dark city passed in blurred shadows.
“He’s employed Kuracean to keep back soldiers.” Oz spoke as though in the middle of a conversation, and Sandis realized she may have already missed something. Not that it mattered; Oz would make her and Ireth do whatever he pleased. “If there’s no clear shot for Kolosos, I’ll aim for Kuracean. It has a soft spot under its neck. It looks up, it’s done for.”
Sandis stiffened. She had sat right beside Oz on the carriage bench, their hips touching. Now she moved as close to the shaking carriage wall as she could, craving distance. Bastien sat across from her, his eyes wide. His thoughts must have matched her own.
Rist.
“B-But Mas—Oz, that will kill the vessel.” Bastien was barely audible over the thunder of horse hooves and spinning wheels.
Oz’s dark eyes narrowed. “We’ve all had to make sacrifices.”
Jansen, he meant. But was that really Oz’s sacrifice? Did he know the meaning of the word?
Rist hasn’t volunteered for any of this. Ultimately, none of them had.
Sandis closed her eyes, listening to the cacophony of sound as the carriage dashed closer and closer to Kolosos’s light. They took a turn, and Sandis slammed into the carriage wall. Anon. Rist. How many more people would be crushed in their pursuit of Kazen? What would Rone do in her place?
Save him.
Sandis’s eyes opened. She stared at Bastien’s pale face. Right now, Anon was beyond her grasp, but Rist . . .
She could save Rist, couldn’t she? Didn’t she owe him to try, after Kaili . . .
She winced and hugged herself, her dark hair flowing forward and catching on her eyelashes. Rist had already lost his brother and his love. He shouldn’t have to lose his life, too.
Sliding her foot across the narrow carriage floor, Sandis pressed it against Bastien’s toe, urging him to meet her eyes. She stared at him, hard, begging him to read her expression. Some of his blood still remained under her skin. Together, they could save Rist and take back Kuracean. Then strike back at Kolosos tomorrow night.
She couldn’t do it without him.
Bastien’s light brows drew together as he studied her face. He didn’t speak, didn’t nod, but his lips pressed into a thin white line, and Sandis knew he’d support her.
The air in the carriage grew hot, and the dark city lightened. Multiple horses whinnied, and the carriage came to an abrupt halt.
“Out! Move!” Oz shouted.
Sandis threw open the door and leapt out, Bastien right after her. Red and orange light glowed hot and deadly between stacks of flats to her right.
She ran.
She aimed for the shadows ahead of her, relieved when she heard another set of footsteps following—Bastien. Almost immediately Oz shouted after them to stop, but Sandis ran until her lungs hurt. Turned a corner and stepped into a pile of trash overflowing from a garbage bin.
A moment later, Bastien stumbled through the garbage, wheezing. He bent over and put his hands on his knees, then recoiled as the smell of refuse assaulted him.
“We find Kuracean first,” Sandis said. She didn’t have her rifle—Triumvir Var had made her leave it behind, as a numen had no need for firearms. She regretted her obedience. “Mahk is too large to fit through these roads.”
“And if we don’t?” Bastien huffed. “Find him? We need to go back to Oz so he can fight.”
Sandis gritted her teeth. She didn’t truly believe four numen, even if two of them were Ireth and Mahk, could defeat Kolosos. Its power was too great. She’d felt it in her veins, seen it in her nightmares.
Even so, she knew part of her hesitance was because of Anon. Because she wanted to save her brother. Given the choice, could she kill him to save the rest?
She didn’t want to consider the answer, so she nodded her agreement. Kuracean first, and barring that, she would submit to Oz.
“Let’s go.” She took Bastien’s hand, in part to lend him courage, in part to help him keep pace.
They ran toward the light.
Its brilliance and heat were nearly overpowering. An explosion sounded nearby—a cannon? Sandis rounded a bend, seeing silhouettes of the gathered soldiers. Gunfire exploded. Kuracean was not here, else the enormous crustacean would be picking them off like weeds.
“This way,” Sandis urged, pulling Bastien past the soldiers and behind another building. A wail drew her attention to a trash heap and a young girl half-buried in it, tears streaming down her face.
Sandis cursed and released Bastien, running for the child.
“Get up, get up!” Sandis urged, grabbing her shoulders and hauling her from the garbage. She couldn’t be more than eight years old. Dragging her back to the road, Sandis said, “The soldiers will keep the monster at bay, but you must run as fast as you can, until you can’t run anymore.”
The girl cried, “My father . . .” She raised a quivering finger and pointed toward the red light.
The words were like a spear through Sandis’s middle.
“The police are in the other direction,” she said, not sure if she spoke the truth or not. “Run away from here until you find a grown-up. They’ll help you. Go. Now!”
The girl took off down the cobblestones on bare feet, not once looking back.
Still no earthquakes, falling rubble, roars. “Stagnant,” the scout had said. Why wasn’t Kolosos moving? Was Kazen making some sort of stand?
Sandis darted back the way she’d come, Bastien a step behind her, and then hastened down an alleyway barely wide enough to fit them both. They climbed over a short fence near its end, and she caught a glimpse of a hoof. Kolosos faced south, toward the soldiers. Another cannon fired, but still the beast didn’t move.
Why? And where was Rist?
Hunching, Sandis crept closer to the monster, the temperature rising with every step until sweat stung her eyes. The monstrosity towered above her, six stories tall, black and red and every bit a monster. It leaned forward, as if straining against invisible chains.
“What—?” Bastien asked. Sandis grabbed his arm, watching. Confused.
Seconds later, Kolosos lunged forward, as though those invisible chains had broken. Sandis nearly dropped to her knees as the ground bucked under the numen’s footsteps, and shouts from the nearby soldiers spiraled through the city. A scream wove between them.
In one swoop, the numen’s lava-dripping hand crossed its body and snatched a black form from its head. Its summoner. Kazen.
And crushed him.