Now there was just silence. My own powers, locked inside of me, seemed to beat against their invisible case in sympathy.

Tears dripped from my eyes, landing on his robes.

Rough hands grabbed my shoulders as the vampires pul ed me to my feet. Kristopher stood in the doorway, his face impassive. "Come along, Sophia."

I looked frantical y from Dad to Archer and back again. No, this couldn't be it. These couldn't be the last few seconds that I'd see them. There was stil so much I had to tel them.

"I'l look out for him,"Archer said, kneeling next to Dad. "And I'l see you when you get back."

"Right,"I said, licking lips that were suddenly, painful y dry. "I'l see you when I get back."I said it like it was a mantra, or a vow. And I kept repeating it in my head. When I get back, when I get back. If Dad could live through it, I could, too.

I shook off the vampires. "I can walk,"I said. Even though my knees were wobbling so badly it was a wonder I didn't slide to the floor, I made myself move toward Kristopher.

I fol owed him out of the cel , keeping my back straight and my head high.

But when we got to the base of the steps leading up to the rest of Thorne Abbey, my resolve wavered.

Standing there, waiting for me, was Mrs. Casnoff.

I could barely bring myself to look at her as she gestured for me to fol ow her up the stairs. I had never been her biggest fan, but I had trusted her.

Al I could think of was that night she and Cal had come for me after Alice, how she'd sat by my bed and held my hand. How she'd told me I had a destiny to serve the Council. Too bad she'd neglected to mention that they'd kil me if I didn't live up to their expectations.

We made our way up the twisting stone steps. "Sophie, I know you feel betrayed."

"Betrayed, pissed off, terrified...I have a lot of emotions going on right now, actual y."

Chapter 20

She stopped, placing her hand on my arm. "There are very valid reasons for al of this."

I threw her hand off. "Your sister already did the 'vil ain explains it al 'speech. I don't need another one."

"But that's just it,"she insisted. "We are not vil ains. We are doing what's best for al Prodigium. Our numbers are getting smal er as factions like L'Occhio di Dio and the Brannicks increase. You and your father were meant to protect us, and yet you both seem to prefer the company of our enemies."

"That's not what's-wait, what do you mean 'both'? Since when is Dad al cozy with The Eye? Or the Brannicks, for that matter?"

She shook her head and continued walking upstairs. "It's of no concern anymore."

We'd reached the top of the stairs, but we were stil underground. There were no windows in the long corridor. Suits of armor lined the wal s, but these looked different from the ones I'd seen in other parts of Thorne. The dimensions were strange, and many of the suits were freakishly huge.

Fear raced over me and through me, and once again, I felt my magic thump pitiful y, uselessly, inside me.

"If you'l fol ow me,"Mrs. Casnoff said, but before we got even three steps, a voice cried out, "Anastasia!"

It was Elizabeth, running down the corridor on her tiny grandma legs, her long skirt flapping around her.

Mrs. Casnoff looked annoyed. "What is it?"

Elizabeth reached us, panting, her round cheeks flushed. "Lara needs to see you immediately."

Frowning, Mrs. Casnoff said, "I'm taking Sophie to the Removal chamber. Tel her I'l be there shortly."

"No!"Elizabeth shook her head. "She said to come now. It's"-she glanced at me-"it's about Nick."

Even in the near-dark of the hal way, I could see the blood drain out of Mrs. Casnoff's face. "Is it-"

"It's like before,"Elizabeth said. "With his parents, but this time-"Her words dissolved into a strangled sob, and she pressed her hand to her mouth before saying, "Oh, God, Anastasia, it's happened again."

I had no idea what Elizabeth was talking about, but Mrs. Casnoff spit out a word I never thought I'd hear her say. She whirled on me. "Come with us, Sophie. And if you make any attempt to escape, so help me, I wil kil you myself. Is that clear?"

I nodded dumbly, too relieved that I wasn't being taken to the Removal chamber to feel scared. I fol owed Mrs. Casnoff and Elizabeth down the corridor, my brain whirring. If something bad had happened, maybe everyone would be distracted enough so I could formulate some plan for escape, Mrs. Casnoff's death threats notwithstanding. First I'd need to find Jenna. It startled me to realize that I hadn't even thought of her during al of this. Did she even know what had happened? Of course, if she'd heard about the Archer part, she might not want to leave with me anyway. I shook that thought away. Not helpful. And then there was Cal. I needed to find him and see what they'd done to him, if anything. Then maybe somehow, Cal, Jenna, and I could find a way to get Archer and Dad out of that cel , and we could make for the Itineris like the hounds of hel were at our heels.

Which they probably would be.

We final y reached the main foyer, and even from there, I could hear shouting coming from upstairs.

As Elizabeth and Mrs. Casnoff ran up the stairs, I thought about making a run for my room, hoping Jenna and Cal were in theirs. I'd barely made a quarter turn in that direction when a bolt of magic hit me squarely between the shoulder blades, sending me to my knees. I'd been hit by an attack spel before-Alice had done it as part of our training-but it hadn't hurt like this one. I felt like I'd been electrocuted and slammed in the back with a bat al at the same time.

When I lifted my head, I saw Mrs. Casnoff standing on the landing, her hand held out toward me. "I warned you,"she said. "Now get up here."

I did as I was told. Truthful y, I'm not sure if I could have done anything else; I could barely walk.

The rest of the Council was gathered in the hal way outside Dad's office. A couple of palms were overturned, spil ing black soil on the red carpet.

On the floor, I noticed smal bits of broken glass and two dark stains. Lara and Roderick stood in the middle of the lobby, shouting at each other.

"You assured us this wouldn't happen. You swore that he was completely under your control."

Lara's hands were clenched into fists at her sides as she glared up at Roderick. "He is. Clearly this is some sort of aberration. We can fix this."

"No,"Elizabeth cried, "we can't! Lara, he kil ed nearly twenty people tonight. Twenty, in just a few minutes."

My stomach lurched. So that was the emergency. Their pet demon had gone rabid. I felt a fierce dark joy at that. Serves you right, I thought. This is what you get for turning kids into monsters. But then I remembered Nick, and how sweet he'd been with Daisy, how his smile had reminded me of Archer, and any satisfaction I felt withered immediately.

"And The Eye knows we have Cross,"Elizabeth continued, her voice shril . "They're coming to Thorne. Oh God, it wil be just like before!"

"No,"Lara barked, her face manic. "Not this time. We stil have Daisy. We can fix this."

Kristopher appeared under the marble arch, his blue eyes bright with anger. "It's too late for that. Elizabeth is right. They're coming, Lara. I can feel it. I know you can, too."

But Lara stood there, her dark blond hair fal ing out of its bun. There was a wild look in her eyes. "Let them come, then. Anastasia, let Daisy out of her cel ."

But Mrs. Casnoff stayed where she was. "If we unleash Daisy on them...Lara, what if we can't control her?"

I felt invisible standing there, watching. In a weird way, I felt almost sorry for them. They'd done a stupid and dangerous thing because they were scared, and now they were paying the consequence. But that consequence was a war that was going to kil a lot of Prodigium, and probably a lot of humans, too.

It was stupid, but I tried one last time to summon up my powers. I don't know what I would have done with them if they'd worked, but once again, there was nothing. Just that helpless sense that my magic was right there, within reach but untouchable. Stil , there had to be some way to get to it. If there weren't, why would the Removal exist? Maybe the binding spel wasn't permanent.

In the silence, I glanced down at the carpet, and something shiny caught my eye. Those broken bits of glass. But no, it wasn't glass that was sparkling in the light. It was a thin golden chain.

A choking sound, somewhere between a sob and a shout, forced its way out of my throat as I knelt down and realized what I was looking at.

A shattered bloodstone.

"Where is she?"I asked Mrs. Casnoff. "This is Jenna's."I held up the chain. "What did you do to her?"My voice rose to a scream on the last few words, and I was shaking. If they had destroyed Jenna's bloodstone in the daylight, she would have died. Worse than died, she would have burned alive, screaming. I thought of the premonitions I'd had, that Cal, Jenna, and I would never go back to Hecate together.

The smel of smoke.

My fingers tightened on the chain until I was digging my nails into my palm. Lara looked at me with disdain and said, "It was time to clean house in more ways than one."

I gave a cry of rage and leaped to my feet. I might not have had any powers left, but that wouldn't stop me from kil ing her with my bare hands if she'd hurt Jenna. I don't know what would have happened if a loud crash hadn't reverberated through the house at that exact moment. But as soon as it did, al eyes swung away from me and toward the marble arch.

Another crash, then another, and then the horrible, screaming sound of cracking wood.

Without a word, Lara vanished in a faint rushing of air that told me she'd just teleported. Probably down to the cel s to release Daisy. Mrs. Casnoff was murmuring something over and over in a language I didn't understand, and as I watched, Elizabeth's grandmotherly attire rippled and flowed until she was covered in gray fur, her face stretching into a muzzle. Her glasses fel off, revealing yel ow eyes.

I think they were expecting someone to walk in through the arch, maybe offer "parlay"or whatever. That was the weird thing: they somehow expected this to go down in a formal, civilized manner. So they were caught by surprise when a silver dagger flew through the archway, hitting Kristopher squarely in the chest. He fel back soundlessly, his eyes staring at nothing.

What happened next was like something out of a nightmare.

The werewolf that had been Elizabeth howled and launched itself out of the lobby, headed for the stairs, Mrs.

Casnoff and Roderick right behind her. I stood, frozen. What the heck was I supposed to do in the middle of a giant magical battle with no freaking magic?

Al I could hear from downstairs were screams and howls and things breaking. Dad and Archer were stil trapped in their cel , and God only knew where Jenna was. Or Cal, for that matter. I couldn't stay here, waiting for more of those kil ing flashes of light to snake their way to me. And if any of The Eye downstairs found me, something told me they wouldn't care that I could no longer do magic, or that I was in love with one of their members.

I was going to have to make a run for it, and the only way out of Council Headquarters was out that marble archway and into an epic monster battle.

I took a deep breath and slid Jenna's chain into my pocket. If I wanted to find out what had happened to her, if I wanted to save my Dad and Archer, if I wanted to find Cal, then I had to get out of this alive, magic or no. "Elodie, if you're around and can offer any ghostly assistance, that would be great,"I said. I was half joking, but before I even had time to blink, she was floating in front of me, a vaguely irritated expression on her face.