I reached for Chris and shoved him to the floor as we all hit the deck.

When the gla.s.s settled, I lifted my head and my eyes found Meeta's.

"Take them now!" I yelled, rolling off Chris, coming to my feet and pulling him up with me, pure instinct prompting me to finish. "Take them to the wolves!"

Meeta rose, coming off of elan who she'd thrown herself on, dragging the weight of the girl up in her arms and starting to run.

"I stay with Miss Maddie!" Chris shouted, and I looked to see Loretta was pulling him to the doors, but he was resisting her.

"Go with Loretta, Chris, please!" I shouted as the room started filling with mist.

Red mist.

Blue mist.

Black mist.

Bad mist.

All of it swirling around me, Cora, Finnie and Circe.

The men outside surged in and I saw all of Apollo's men there and some of Frey's.

s.h.i.t!

"Miss Maddie!" elan shrieked and I saw her stretching her arms my way as she and Meeta disappeared around the door.

In her place, another Circe raced in, trailed by Valentine.

They lifted their hands and gold and green sparks filled the room.

I felt my hand tagged and I looked right.

Cora had me.

I felt my other had tagged and I looked left.

Circe had me.

I looked in front of me.

Circe and Cora had Finnie.

"s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t," Finnie whispered right when the room faded away.

Apollo Apollo followed Lahn into the stone room in the bowels of the Winter Palace, a room full of men.

And one woman.

The moment they hit it, Lahn turned to look over his shoulder at Apollo.

"Is this her?' he growled.

Apollo had no idea what was asking and didn't care.

Maddie was gone. Knowing his children were under heavy guard of soldiers, witches and wolves, getting her back was the only thing on his mind.

Lahn decided to take his non-answer as answer and stalked directly to Franka Drakkar, who was cowering in the corner under Oleg and Laures.

He shoved the men aside and Apollo watched as he lifted the woman by her throat and threw her across the room.

She didn't even have time to scream.

Lahn followed her where she landed against the stone with a thud and he bent over, his face an inch from hers.

"Betrayal," he barked, "carries harsh punishment."

Frey, already in the room, got close to Lahn.

"For now, we need her alive," Frey said quietly, but his voice was tight, controlled. There was anger in his frame making it stiff and he was avoiding looking at Franka, likely for fear of what he himself would do if he looked at her.

"I did as you asked," Franka whispered, and Apollo forced his eyes to her.

Her gaze shifted from Lahn to Frey.

"I did as you asked!" she cried.

"Bring her to me."

All the men turned to see the other Circe and Valentine in the room, Tor having come in behind them.

Apollo moved until he was toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose with the witch, and he clipped, "You said they were safe."

"Bring the woman to me," she demanded then stepped leisurely to the side and turned her eyes to Frey. "Call your elves. We meet on Specter Isle."

Tor moved to her side, ordering, "Send us there now."

Valentine turned to him. "With the triad intact, their magic is too strong. I can't get you there. I can't get me there. And Lavinia has fallen to Helda."

Apollo's gut twisted at this news and Valentine kept talking.

"We will have to be clever. For the elves to do their work against our foes and for Lavinia, we will have to be swift. And we will have to have hope."

Apollo opened his mouth to speak but Valentine continued before he could utter a word.

"As I suspected, this is a battle of sisters and magic. Just sisters and magic. Both the same thing. Not all good. Not all evil. We shall see which side prevails. But you must trust in good for our side knows allies whose bonds are formed in ways that cannot be broken."

Apollo felt something unpleasant shift inside him and whispered, "You knew. You knew our plan would fail."

She looked to him. "I told you, mon loup, I do not have the sight."

He leaned into her and thundered, "You knew!"

She didn't respond to that.

She said, "Keep your wolves at the ready around the palace and bring the woman to me." Her eyes stayed locked to his. "Bring her to me, Apollo. To win, we need our own evil. There is only one thing more powerful than vengeance and if you bring her to me, we will have both on our side."

Apollo held her gaze and clenched his jaw.

Then he stepped to the side and turned to Frey and Lahn.

"Give her Franka."

Frey didn't move. Lahn only moved to straighten away from the woman still on her back on the floor.

It was Achilles who shifted forward, helped Franka from the stone, and escorted her as any gentleman would do, as only Achilles would now do, to Valentine.

"Take hold of my arm," Valentine ordered her.

"I don't-" Franka started, shrinking away.

Valentine pinned her with her gaze.

"Do you seek vengeance?" she asked.

Franka hesitated before lifting her chin and answering, "Yes."

"Then take my arm," Valentine bid.

Franka wrapped her fingers around Valentine's arm.

Valentine looked to the other Circe. "Gather the children. If the choice is to be made, you know the only protection that will keep them safe. Your life for theirs."

The mood in the room, already dark, turned pitch.

Circe nodded.

Valentine lifted her hands.

Frey, Lahn and Tor gathered around Apollo.

"Bring them back," Apollo growled.

Valentine smiled a cat's smile.

"Oh cheri, have faith."

G.o.ds, the woman was b.l.o.o.d.y infuriating.

The green mist formed.

Franka and Valentine disappeared.

But Valentine's final words could still be hard.

"Remember, love is everything."

Maddie Holding tight, we'd been falling but we landed with a thud that buckled our knees, each and every one of us.

Recovering, I jerked my hands, pulling Cora and Circe closer. Obviously, they did the same for Finnie was just as close, we four forming a tight huddle.

"All right?" Finnie asked.

"All right," Cora whispered.

"Yeah," Circe said.

"Okay," I replied.

We looked at each other then we looked around.

"f.u.c.k," Circe breathed.

She had that right.

We were in a mammoth room that had to be at least the size of a football field. It was entirely made of grayish-white blocks of stone.

There were two gigantic wooden doors behind Finnie. They were at least two stories tall and made of grayish-white wood with what looked like pewter hinges. It also looked like it'd take half a dozen men to open them.

And last, they were closed.

But that wasn't the bad part.

No.

The bad part was that we could see this beyond the glimmering, flickering, ethereal blue bars that formed a cage.

I looked up, seeing the bars curved in at the top, making an enormous, magical birdcage.

Well, one thing was certain, Minerva had a thing for birds.

Cora shuffled closer and I looked her way to see she was looking over her shoulder.

"Not good," she mumbled.