ARCHER CLENCHED HIS FISTS. HE WAS TIRED. DEAD tired.
But not dead.
He strode slowly down the stone stairs. As he walked, he cursed the day he ever bargained with Bezeal. “So it was all a trick?” Archer asked. “All a ploy to get me into Shadowkeep?”
The Nightmare Lord laughed, a sound like heavy stone grinding. “Much more than a trick,” he said. “Or did you not notice the remains in the fire?”
Archer stopped walking and felt a chill.
“For so long you’ve wondered what became of Duncan and Mesmeera, your Dreamtreader friends. They were alive until just moments ago. They were imprisoned within the trees, the trees that you burned. You killed them, Archer. You killed Duncan and Mesmeera.”
“No,” he whispered. “No! But it was supposed to . . . you were supposed to die! It was supposed to be you!” He fell to his knees.
“No, Archer,” the Nightmare Lord rasped. “It was supposed to be the Dreamtreaders, all of you. The Tokens of Doom were yours. And now, your greatest nightmare has come true. You betrayed them. You killed them.”
Archer crumbled within himself, a thousand memories of Duncan and Mesmeera flashing through his mind. A tide of anguish and guilt threatened to drown him then. He saw, step by horrifying step, how he’d been played by the Nightmare Lord. He’d been a fool. Too inexperienced, just as Master Gabriel had warned.
Hopelessly, Archer looked up. The blade still held in Kara’s hand, wavering over Rigby. For a punishing moment, Archer wondered how Rigby Thames could have been made so fearful. What could have transformed this confident warrior into a motionless captive? What could have collapsed him to such fear that he could no longer create within the Dream to help himself?
That’s when the Lurker stepped out of the shadows and stood at the Nightmare Lord’s side.
“One can never have too many servants,” the Nightmare Lord said. “Scoville, you have done well. You have earned the right to speak if you will.”
The expression on Uncle Scoville’s face went from the slack, soulless glance of a zombie to something wrenched with anguish and sorry. “I . . . I’m sorry, Rigby,” he said. “After being trapped here, he offered me a goblet of wine. It was brewed from gort root. I didn’t know. But I am his now.” Scoville’s expression changed again; his eyes lost their focus and intensity. He went back to being broken and enslaved. Scoville was no more. There was only the Lurker.
“Now, my sweet Kara,” the Nightmare Lord said. “Shall we have one . . . last . . . dance?”
Archer stared. Kara had the dagger in her hand. She raised it over Rigby. Her arm swung upward. Rigby’s eyes were wide and riveted on to the tip of the blade.
“Kara, it is time,” the Nightmare Lord said. “You see, Archer, Kara drank my wine as well.”
“Rigby!” Archer yelled. “Look at the dagger. It’s not real! See that it is—not—real!”
Rigby’s head bobbed on the altar. He coughed, and blood trickled down his cheek. He still wasn’t thinking clearly enough.
“This is a dream, Rigby!” Archer bellowed. “It’s not real. Only a dream!”
The Nightmare Lord raised his arms high and shouted, “This is not a dream. It is a nightmare!”
“No, Kara!” Archer screamed. “Remember what I said! Remember? You would never do something like this. You are better than this!”
Her eyes were pleading and full of sorrow. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“I did not give you permission to speak!” the Nightmare Lord roared at her. “Kill him, now!”
In that moment, the ash falling like snow around them, Archer readied what was left of his creative will. He was ready to throw something at Kara, either to block the blade or knock her bodily off of the platform.
But Archer froze. There was something different in her eyes. The dagger seemed to tremble in her raised fist. What was that look? There was something more than sadness there. Archer blinked.
Wait! he thought desperately. The Nightmare Lord hadn’t given her permission to speak, and yet she had. That meant . . .
Archer’s heartbeat seemed to slow. He saw Kara swing the dagger down. He saw the terror in Rigby’s expression. He saw the ruthless gleam in the Nightmare Lord livid green eyes. He saw the ash falling . . . the dagger blade falling. Slowly. So slowly.
The ash.
Archer immediately knew. He saw the plan unfurl like a parchment map. There were the steps, a kind of diabolical recipe. All he had to do was follow. And it all began with Kara. He saw her ever-so-slight nod. Now!
Time sped back up. With a shriek of rage, Kara swung the dagger sharply down, but she halted the blade just above Rigby’s throat. In a whiplash instant, she changed the angle of the weapon and thrust it overhand into the Nightmare Lord’s left eye.
He roared in pain. At that moment, Rigby snapped awake, and the Lurker turned and disappeared into a tunnel. Archer was already moving. He dove into the air and ripped the silver crown off of the Nightmare Lord’s head.
“Catch me if you can!” Archer yelled. “You are lord of nothing!”
Archer raced away, bounding up onto a parapet. He glanced back once to make sure the Nightmare Lord was following. He wasn’t sure for a moment, but then he saw a team of black horses wreathed in crimson fire and pulling a black coach with a black rider.
Archer spared a glance to the altar and saw Kara releasing Rigby. “Come on!” Archer yelled. “Stand with me!”
The black coach wheeled in the sky and careened toward Archer.
Rigby and Kara stood on the table where Rigby had lain. They gazed at each other strangely and then back to Archer.
“What are you waiting for?” Archer cried out. “We can defeat him . . . together! Come on!”
There came the sound of laughter and hornets. Archer stared at the oncoming coach. He had little time left.
“Number 6, Rue de la Mort is ours now!” Rigby exulted. “We rule Shadowkeep now!”
Archer wanted to wake up. He wanted to wake up and never sleep again. This was impossible. This was beyond comprehension. This . . . was a nightmare.
“Kara, please!” Archer cried. “Come with me!”
“Stay with us, Archer!” Kara called. “We can rule together!”
Archer mouthed the word no. But there was no sound. No breath. No feeling. He wasn’t sure there would be ever again. He took one last look at Rigby and Kara and then turned to face the Nightmare Lord. Alone.