Gretchen watched Penelope step inside the Greymalkin House and disappear.
A trail of ice and frost clung to the railing and spilled over onto the stone path, all the way to the door. She couldn’t see Godric anymore. For all she knew, he was trapped inside as well, dragged by Sophie’s spell.
Fear and rage made the back of her throat burn. She lunged for the gates, but she was too late. The spell that locked them in flung her away in a shower of yellow sparks. Tobias caught her before she hit the lamppost. Keepers stood around them, stunned. Their brothers on the other side of the fence were expressionless and cold.
And then the London night was broken into shards of light. Fire shot into the sky, like columns of fireworks and Catherine wheels, spinning violet sparks over the Tower, Temple Bar Gate, and Blackfriars Bridge. Lavender smoke billowed to eat the stars.
“Portals are opening,” Tobias said grimly. “She’s nearly got all Seven Sisters through now. With their bones, she can materialize them fully.”
“London is doomed,” one of the Keepers whispered.
The last portal opened on the sidewalk in front of them. The light from the opening portal was too bright to look at directly. Gretchen shaded her eyes, waiting for the jagged forks of light to dim. It didn’t disgorge one of the Sisters. Instead, the silhouette of an antlered man stepped through the violet light.
“Ewan!” Theodora’s voice was fragile. Her bird-familiar dropped red feathers all around her.
Ewan froze, clearly both desperate and terrified to believe he’d found her at last. He turned his head. Theodora struggled to get to her feet, not yet recovered from Sophie’s magical attack.
“Emma’s in the Underworld,” Gretchen broke in. She might have felt badly for them if there was any space left inside her body not currently devoted to fear for her cousins and brother. “You have to get her out.”
Ewan paused. The air around him seemed to shiver, so cold was his expression. Blue lighting arced between his antlers. The portal wavered, starting to seal itself. “I’ll be back for you, princess,” he said to Theodora, bowing his head to her before stepping back into the portal. The fissure closed behind him.
“No!” Theodora yelled, crawling brokenly toward him. “Take me with you!”
Gretchen turned away, mind already racing with plans and plots.
Tobias’s hand was warm on her shoulder. “We’ll get her out,” he promised.
Gretchen lifted her chin. “We’ll get them all out,” she corrected.