The group approached the corridor to the grand entrance, but as they hurried Sami began to notice something odd: it seemed to be growing darker within the castle, the atmosphere humid and heavy.

Picking up the specific density of the shadows. Natala’s thoughts streamed back as they ran. Her hand was lifted, her rings flashing deep blue and topaz. It’s odd. Its matrix thickens. Much like that of—

The gloaming, Ashrafieh finished.

No analysis or fears now, Flickers, Dorsom put in. Focus on the castle doors.

By the time they got near the entry, the air was thick as custard and so murky they couldn’t find the grand entrance.

What is this? Sami wondered, slowing and turning in place beside the others. The Flickers moved their hands through the air, marveling at the gloom.

Ashrafieh moved closer and silently took Sami’s arm.

Natala punctuated the silence with a single thought: Look. She was staring straight up.

It was almost impossible to make out anything in the murkiness, but something was moving on the ceiling, dense and shapeless. Two great red eyes near the center glared down at them, and Sami heard it thinking: You broke my prison!

It massed like a thunderhead, growing and crackling along the ceiling, filling the high, vaulted spaces.

“Whoa.” Sami craned back to look. Ashrafieh squeezed Sami’s arm.

Dorsom took her other hand. Hold still, he thought quietly to the group. All hold.

For a moment there was no movement, then a loud, red crackle burst from the cloud. A pure white bolt hissed over their heads. The group gasped and for an instant the entire room was lit up. Sami realized the arched doors to the outside world had once again disappeared.

No, no. The thunderhead rumbled with laughter. You won’t be slithering free this time. The Shadow palace is sealed. I shall take my time deciding how I will dispose of each of you.

Another bolt sliced through the air, and Natala cried out. The air smelled singed and hot.

Ashrafieh’s grip tightened, but Sami pulled away from the Flickers, calling out to the dark creature, “I’m the one you want—aren’t I? Let the others go.”

“Yes,” the Nixie screeched, just as Sami heard No flash through the Flickers’ minds. Then a tiny snippet of light caught her eye. It spun like a pinwheel near a corner of the ceiling and she heard a familiar chittering and flapping. “Bat,” she breathed.

The Nixie grew thicker and ever more condensed, grumbling angrily. A bolt shot through the room and Sami saw everyone’s face frozen in place, staring up at the beastly Shadow. The creature mounded high, about to strike again, when Sami noticed another thread of light spiral into the dark, followed by another and another. It was the will-o’-the-wisp creatures Sami had drawn out of the Nixie’s pit. Bat was leading them as they bounced and coiled and bounded into the room, igniting the space with sparks and tinselly light. They followed the Shadow bat in brilliant scrolls around the Nixie and filled the space with sparks and gouges of light. Infuriated, the Nixie bellowed wildly, shaking the walls and slashing bolts through the air again and again.

Sami backed against the wall, the lightning strikes so close, she could smell a dusty char in the air. She tried to search the room with each flash, but they came and went too quickly. Her knees trembled and for a second she felt too frightened to move.

Sami, Dorsom called to her. Remember the pit. How you clawed your way free.

She nodded. She was still that person. She was a SilverWalker. The faces of her family returned to her—her wise father and strong mother, there was Tony, laughing and running on the sand, the beautiful beach, and Teta, smiling, telling her: It is within you, everything you need. Then she was seeing the faces of her new Silverworld family as well—Dorsom, Natala, Bat, and Ashrafieh. Both families joined in her, in two sets of memories yet the same self.

Then she heard Rotifer, its deep current of a voice tolling, saying again: A double-being shall emerge, a child of Actual Nature and Flicker-lit, a child that shall Cross and See, a child named of soil and sand. That is the one who Stands Between and Restores.

She closed her eyes against the scorching Shadow flashes and felt herself growing inside her skin. Strength and breath rushed like new blood through her body; she grew more alive and more powerful than ever.

True Silverwalker, Samara Washington, the question is, do you accept your powers—and your fate?

Her eyes flew open.

Nixie. Sami stepped in front of the Flickers. Enough.