With a sickening series of cracks, Nico sat up. She stretched out her arms, and the joints snapped back into place. As she moved, the terrified dust flung itself off her, creating a low cloud that obscured her movements. Even so, Miranda could feel when Nico turned, feel the girl's regard sliding over her skin. Then Nico opened her eyes, and Miranda's blood turned to lead. The girl's eyes, which were too large to be human anymore, glowed with a steady, otherworldly light. They shone bright as candles through the terrified dust, brilliant but illuminating nothing. The rest of her face was lost in shadow, but Miranda could see clawlike hands sc.r.a.ping as the girl edged to the rim of her crater, and that was enough.

Nico moved along the wall, gathering herself for another leap, but Gin didn't give her the chance. He charged with a howl, barreling toward the demonseed. She snarled in answer and sprang to meet him, winking through the darkness faster than Miranda could follow. But Gin's sight was better than Nico's, and the ghosthound's teeth caught Nico's arm just before she landed a killing strike on his skull. She whipped her other arm around and caught his jaw before he could bite down, stopping his momentum like an iron wall. Gin struggled against her grip, and Nico cackled, her terrible eyes narrowing to glowing slits. She slammed her feet into the screaming stone and lifted the ghosthound off the floor. Gin yelped in surprise as Nico swung him over her head and slammed him into the cracked wall where she had landed before. The hound rolled as he flew, landing on his feet. His paws barely touched the stone before he pushed off again with a roar, barreling straight for Nico. The demonseed had no time to dodge before the flat of Gin's head hit her square in the chest and the two of them went flying in a tangle of shifting fur and snapping fangs. But when they landed, Nico was on top. With a triumphant cry, she plunged her claws into Gin's back, and the ghosthound howled. He fought her as hard as he could, rolling and snapping, trying to knock her off, but her hand was deep in his muscle, and he couldn't dislodge her. Dark red blood flowed down his sides, matting his fur and hiding his patterns. His movements grew sluggish, but he would not stop fighting, even when his legs collapsed. Miranda's throat was raw before she realized was screaming, though she couldn't make sense of her own words, or if they were words at all.

Without thought or warning, her spirit flung itself open, and Miranda's power roared to life. Spirit voices shot through her, clearer than ever before, flooding every sense until she could almost taste where one soul ended and the next began. Without thinking, she swept her spirit across them. The response was immediate. Every spirit was desperate for action, desperate to fight the intruder. A direction was all it took. She thrust her hand toward the demonseed, and the spirits leaped forward, screaming vengeance. A volley of broken gla.s.s, stone, and metal came from every corner of the throne room to strike Nico wherever there was room to strike. The impact ripped her hand free of Gin's back, and she toppled over. The marble floor was ready for her. The moment she hit, the stones sank beneath her, going as soft as clay at Miranda's command. As soon as Nico was mired, the stone surged over her arms, legs, chest, and neck before hardening again, pinning the demonseed to the ground. Miranda ran forward, flinging out her hand. The throwing knife that Nico had flung away clattered across the tiles and leaped into her grip. Miranda clamped her fingers on the hilt as she jumped, aiming the point to land deep in Nico's exposed throat.

But the blow never connected. The demonseed ripped her legs free of the stone at the last moment and caught Miranda in the chest. The Spiritualist grunted in pain as the new impact hit the old bruises, and she tumbled backward, cracking her head on the stone floor. Nico sprang to her feet, flakes of dead stone falling off her like dried mud.

"Stupid girl," she hissed, her eyes glowing like lanterns in her shadowy face. Her hand shot out, grabbing Miranda around the throat. Miranda struggled violently as Nico lifted her off the ground, but her head was ringing and the demonseed's grip was like iced iron against her skin. Nico pulled her close, close enough that Miranda could smell the strange, metallic stench of the girl's transformed skin. The demonseed's mouth curled into a sharp-toothed grin as she dangled Miranda from her outstretched arm, the Spiritualist's still kicking weakly as her air ran out.

"That's enough."

The deep voice cut clean through the spirits' clamor, leaving only silence in its wake. Nico froze, her lantern eyes flicking past Miranda to the tall figure standing in the ruined doorway, outlined by the falling dust.

Josef stood lopsidedly, Heart of War under his shoulder, like a crutch. Very slowly, he hobbled past Eli, who was still on the floor, clutching his ribs, past Gin, who lay motionless on the ground, and stopped right behind Miranda.

"Put her down."

Nico obeyed, and the Spiritualist landed in a heap on the shattered floor, coughing and clutching her throat. Neither the demonseed nor the swordsman paid her any attention. They stood face to face, Nico cowed and heaving, Josef still and calm. With great effort, he shifted his weight to his own feet and lifted the Heart of War over Nico's trembling body.

"Time to come home," he said, and he brought the sword down.

Miranda could barely breathe. She knew the Heart of War was an awakened sword, but that did not describe what happened next. As the blade connected with Nico's shoulder, the Heart of War's spirit opened like a wizard's. Miranda had never even heard of a spirit that could open its soul, yet the Heart's presence was doubling and doubling again, growing exponentially until it filled the hall with its oppressive, immobile weight. It was as if a mountain had fallen on the castle with the sword at its center and Nico beneath it. She crashed to the floor, and Josef followed her down, sinking to his knees.

With a shuddering sob, Nico started to shrink, the terrifying light in her eyes fading away. Her claws dulled into fingers, and her frame shriveled to skin and bones again. As she shrank, the aura of fear receded, and Miranda felt the spirits calming as the Heart of War's weight pushed them into a deep sleep. Only when the room was still did the Heart's spirit begin to pull back. When the mountain was just a sword again, Josef lifted the black blade and slammed it into the stone beside Nico's head. She was lying on the floor with her eyes closed, small and feeble again, as if nothing had happened. Josef slumped down the dull blade of his sword, resting on his elbow beside her.

"Stupid girl," he muttered, brushing the wild black hair out of her sleeping face with a gentle finger. He smiled and, his eyes rolling back in his head, fell forward to lie beside her, the Heart of War standing over both of them like a guard.

Miranda didn't realize Eli was moving until he crawled past her, Nico's silver restraints tucked under his arm. He pulled himself to her and began clamping the manacles back into place, a grim look on his face. "Gin's still alive," he whispered roughly, locking the silver ring onto Nico's neck. "Get him up and get them out of here." He nodded toward Josef and Nico. "We're not safe yet."

At this point it was meaningless to argue. Miranda climbed slowly to her feet and stumbled toward Gin's collapsed body, almost crying with relief when she saw his b.l.o.o.d.y chest rise and fall.

"Gin," she whispered, fisting her hands into his coa.r.s.e fur. "We have to move."

The ghosthound's orange eyes cracked open, and he shifted just a little. "Gin." She shook him, blinking back tears. "Come on, mutt. We have to get you out of-"

"Leaving so soon?"

She had never hated Renaud's voice as much as she did at that moment. She turned slowly, putting her back against Gin's shoulder. On the other side of the throne room, still safe on its dais, the pillar waited. But, she squinted in the dim light, it was different now. All the black, rotten sections had vanished and, instead of its original dingy gray, the pillar's surface was now white and fragile as crusted snow.

A wave of spirit pressure burst out from the dais, and the room began to shake. Long cracks raced across the snowy surface of the pillar, and as they spread, the castle began to shake from its foundations. Showers of white dust poured down as cracks blossomed across the marble arches that held up the roof. Fissures sprouted on the walls, running like dust-bleeding capillaries from floor to ceiling as the stone spirits, already traumatized by multiple enslavements and a demonseed, finally started to lose their grip. Whole sections of wall began to come loose as Miranda watched, shattering the gla.s.s windows as the ceiling's weight began to shift.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, the shaking stopped. The room became deathly still, as though the world were holding its breath, waiting.

In the silence, the pillar split open.

CHAPTER 25.

Gregorn's Pillar split cleanly. The crystallized salt fell away in two neat halves, dissolving into fine crystals that spattered like wet snow against the marble. Where the salt crumbled, watery light swelled in its place, blue and calm like the noon sun seen from the bottom of a clear lake. At the light's heart, casting long, dancing shadows across the ruined stone floor, was Renaud.

He stood at the center of the dais, the last of the salt falling around him, and across his shoulders, draped like the pelt of some mythic beast, was a glowing waterfall. It roared in a torrent over his shoulders and down his back, and then, just before it spilled onto the floor, it hit the wall of Renaud's open spirit and turned in midair. The water's own momentum forced it back up his chest and over his shoulder, where the cycle began again, an endless circle of water churning in furious anger. But no matter how it writhed and tossed, its flow was contained by the barriers of the enslavement. Renaud's control was well entrenched, and the water could not break free even enough to wet his clothes, which were completely dry despite the flood rushing across them.

Renaud held out his hand and the water followed his movements, charging down his arm to form a long, thin spike at the tips of his fingers, which he leveled at Miranda's head.

"That's two kings of Mellinor your little group has murdered," he said. "Not to mention the destruction of our throne room. I don't think anyone could object to your execution, at this point."

"The only murderer here is you, Renaud," Miranda hissed, clutching Gin's fur. "Release that spirit!"

Renaud chuckled, and the water flowing across his shoulders roared even faster. "I don't think you want me to do that. I see now why Gregorn was willing to die to keep this spirit. He's barely awake, but just look what he can do."

Renaud swung his arm, and the spike of water flew out in an arc, striking the wall like a cannon shot. The stones exploded outward, sailing into the night. Wind rushed in, and Miranda ducked as a shower of rubble flew toward her. When Renaud pulled back his hand, the entire northwest corner of the throne room was gone, leaving a gaping hole where the wall had been.

The stones in the roof squealed, but with one of their corner supports gone, it was a losing battle against gravity. One by one, they hurtled to the ground, cracking the floor where they hit. Renaud cackled, and the water's light flashed wildly around him, shifting from blue to white to almost black in sickening confusion.

"Renaud!" Miranda shouted, putting her arms up in a desperate attempt to shield herself and Gin from the falling rocks. "Enough of this! You're going to destroy everything if you keep this up!"

"And what do I care?" Renaud's voice trembled with the force of the spirit he held back. "Mellinor is mine to do with what I like!" He held out his hand again, and the water rushed over it in a fountain of white spray. "This is the heart of Mellinor," he shouted, raising the water high over his head. "Everything else is just an empty sh.e.l.l!"

As he clenched his fist, Miranda could hear the water's own deep voice, warped by the enslavement, screaming in frustration as it fought Renaud's hold. And as it screamed, the palace began to shake worse than ever.

"We have to get out of here!" Miranda turned frantically to Eli, trying to cover Gin's head as ever-larger pieces of ornamental stonework crashed down around them. "That idiot won't stop until he brings the whole place down!"

Eli looked up from where he was fixing the last of Nico's restraints, but whatever he'd been about to say was interrupted as a large chunk of stone arch landed not half a foot away from Josef's head, covering them all in a shower of grit.

"All right," Eli growled. "That's it."

The naked fury in his voice shocked Miranda out of her protective crouch, and she looked up just in time to see another, fist-sized stone hurtling toward Nico's unprotected shoulder. Eli caught it without looking and hurled it as hard as he could at Renaud's grinning face.

"Do you think this is fun?" he shouted. "Do you think this is a game? Is beating us so important that you'll bring down your own roof to do it?"

Renaud shattered Eli's stone with a flick of his hand. "Don't flatter yourself, Monpress. This was never about you. You and your collection of oddities were just in the wrong place at the wrong time when fate decided to hand me my birthright." He grinned maniacally. "Consider this my thanks, a throne room for your tomb, my way of repaying the unknowing kindness you did me."

The water hissed as he spoke, changing its flow as Renaud's triumph rippled through his wide-open spirit, subtly altering the shape of the enslavement. Suddenly, Miranda had an idea.

"You might want to watch your captive before you speak of kindness," she said, turning to face Renaud head on. "I don't know what that spirit used to be, but Gregorn died trying to control it." She smiled her most infuriating smile. "No matter what you say about birthrights, Renaud, you're no Gregorn. I give you fifteen minutes before the water breaks your soul and eats you alive."

"What would you know about control, girl?" Renaud thrust out his hand, and a wall of water surged down from the dais, rising over Miranda in a great wave. "You Spiritualists know nothing about control! You go on and on about balance, about our duty to the spirits, but we wizards are the ones with the power! The spirits obey my my will, even one who bested Gregorn!" He was shouting now, his face scarlet. This close, Miranda could feel the chains of his enslavement vibrating with his rage, and the suspended wave he held over her head began to tremble. "Soon," Renaud crowed, "even you will learn that this is the proper balance! With the wizard on top, and the spirit below!" will, even one who bested Gregorn!" He was shouting now, his face scarlet. This close, Miranda could feel the chains of his enslavement vibrating with his rage, and the suspended wave he held over her head began to tremble. "Soon," Renaud crowed, "even you will learn that this is the proper balance! With the wizard on top, and the spirit below!"

"If that's the case," Miranda said and smiled at him through the wall of water. "If you're so in control"-just a little more-"why is your shirt wet?"

Renaud's arm shot up to his shoulder. Sure enough, his black shirt was soaked through. He s.n.a.t.c.hed his hand away, but not before a tremor of uncertainty fluttered through the enslavement that held the water captive. A tremor was all it needed. The wave roared in triumph and crashed against the enslavement's barrier. Renaud staggered and slammed his control down again. Then, with a snarl, he crashed the suspended wave down on Miranda's head.

The force of the water knocked Miranda off her feet. She spun in the freezing, dark water as the current batted her back and forth, crushing the air out of her lungs. Her chest burned as she tried desperately to hold on to what breath she could, but no matter how she struggled, the water would not let her go. It hadn't been enough, she realized as cold crept in. He'd regained his control too quickly. But even as she sank, she could still feel the echo of Renaud's uncertainty, and far below her in the icy depths, she felt a tremble of hope. As the water darkened around her, the last bubble of Miranda's breath drifted from her lips in the shape of a request. Deep at its heart, as far as possible from the iron walls of the enslavement, the water listened.

Eli was on the move as soon as the wave crashed down. Enslaver, king, Gregorn's heir, whatever he decided to call himself, Renaud was still human, and he could concentrate on only so many things at once. Eli didn't know what had possessed Miranda to taunt a man bent on destruction, but she had his full attention, and the thief was determined not to let the opportunity pa.s.s him by.

Using the water to keep himself out of Renaud's line of sight, Eli crept to the fallen ghosthound.

"Mutt," he whispered, poking Gin's side. "Wake up, mutt. Your mistress needs you."

The ghosthound was unresponsive. Only the shallow rise and fall of his chest showed that he was alive at all. Eli put a little more weight into his voice. "Gin, wake up. Miranda's going to die."

The ghosthound's breathing hitched as the spirit voice trembled through him, and one of his ears swiveled in Eli's direction.

"You are very forceful, aren't you, wizard?" Gin's voice was barely a whisper. "I'm an inch from death myself. If you have the energy to use your tricks, why don't you save her?" The ghosthound opened one enormous orange eye and focused its menacing gaze on Eli. "We both know you can."

The thief grimaced. "I'd like to, but the price of playing the hero isn't one I can afford right now. It's you or nothing, mutt."

"Not... quite..." Gin closed his eye, but one of his ears flicked toward the water, and Eli looked up.

Miranda's body hung limp at the heart of the wave. On his dais, Renaud was grinning triumphantly, but as the enslaver lowered the water to get a better look at her, the Spiritualist's head jerked up. She met Renaud's grin full on, and her spirit opened like a flower.

Despite having no bound spirits to resonate the power, Eli took a step back as her spirit washed over him. It filled the room, warm and strong as a desert wind. There was no fear in it, no doubt, only the practiced, controlled power of a master Spiritualist nearing the peak of her craft, and that power struck Renaud like a wave of lead.

The enslaver fell to the ground, unable to move. With so much power coursing through the room, Eli could almost see the outline of Miranda's fully opened spirit bearing down, not on Renaud himself, but on the channels of the enslavement, cutting away the banks that held the water spirit captive. Using the current's own ebb and flow, Miranda sawed the cutting edge of her soul against the prince's overstrained will. With every surge of Miranda's power, the feedback through Renaud's connection with the spirit slammed him into the floor, grinding him into the stone. Cracks began to appear in his enslavement, and the well-contained wave began to sprout leaks. Shouting in triumph, Miranda and the water pushed together one last time. Then, with an explosive crack, Renaud's control shattered, and water burst in every direction.

The wave holding Miranda splashed to the ground, and she landed on her back, soaked and gasping beside Gin. The ghosthound shifted his head so that his nose pressed against her heaving side.

"I told you before, thief," he said, looking at Eli as he nudged Miranda into a sitting position. "My mistress is no weakling."

Miranda looked at Gin in confusion, still coughing, but there was no time to ask what he was talking about. Renaud was still on the ground. Miranda's spirit had closed when she fell, but the effects on the enslaver didn't seem to be fading.

"What did you do to him?" Eli said, reaching down to help her up.

"Exactly what he did to me," she said, taking his hand and letting him pull her to her feet. "He's learning the ultimate difference between Spiritualists and enslavers. You see, my my spirits serve me willingly, so when I'm knocked on my back from spirit feedback, spirits serve me willingly, so when I'm knocked on my back from spirit feedback, my my servants don't try and take advantage of the situation." Her face broke into a triumphant grin. "Renaud's may not be so considerate." servants don't try and take advantage of the situation." Her face broke into a triumphant grin. "Renaud's may not be so considerate."

With a thundering roar, the water surged toward the dais. Renaud raised his head, his spirit swinging wildly as he tried to rea.s.sert his control, but nothing he mustered could stop the wall of furious water rolling toward him, growing larger and faster with each moment. By the time it reached the dais, the wave's crest brushed the collapsing roof. In a final act of desperation, Renaud threw the brunt of his power at it, stopping the wave for a moment at its peak. But the enslaver's exhausted, overextended will could not hold back the water's rage, and his soul crumpled. The wave crashed down with a scream, shattering the stone dais. Miranda got one last look at Renaud's body as the water tossed him up, his pale face contorted in terror as he plummeted head first back into the swirling water and disappeared beneath the waves.

The moment he hit, the whirling spirit light in the water vanished, plunging the room into total darkness. Miranda gripped Gin's fur, letting the ghosthound's heavy breathing be an anchor for her thudding heart. Slowly, her eyes adjusted, and the world began to reinstate itself. The wind whistled softly through the shattered windows and the gaping hole in the wall, peeking in to see what the fuss was about before quickly blowing away. From the darkness where Renaud had fallen came the gentle sound of flowing water, but Miranda could see nothing. The dim moonlight seemed to avoid that section of the throne room. The quiet stretched on and on, and, at last, Miranda took a tentative step forward. She jumped back immediately as something freezing and wet touched her foot. Shivering, she pressed herself against Gin's warmth and squinted into the darkness.

In the indirect glow of the moonlight, she could just make out a thin layer of water spreading out from the ruined dais. It ran past the fallen stones, over the ruined floor, and under Josef and Nico's bodies. Gin shivered when it touched him, and Miranda tore a strip out of her ruined skirt to try and stem the flow.

"We have to move," she muttered. "This water's like snowmelt. They'll die if they sit in it much longer."

"I think temperature is the least of our worries," Eli muttered, staring into the darkness where the dais had been.

Before she could ask what he meant, a flash pulsed in the darkness and warm, blue light blossomed through the room. Blinking the spots out of her eyes, Miranda turned toward the dais as well, bringing her hands up to shield her eyes. In front of them, floating above the pile of rubble that had been the royal seat of Mellinor, was a tall column of pure, clear water. It hung in the air as if weightless, spinning slowly. The light at its heart was blinding bright, like the glint on a far-off wave. Water poured from its sides like a fountain, rushing in little streams down the rocks to join the spreading pool that was quickly carpeting the entire room in clear, cold water. The turning column slowed, then stopped, and though it had no face, no distinguishing features, Miranda felt its gaze land on her.

"Wizard," the deep, deep voice shook the castle to its foundations, making little waves in the freezing shallows the throne room had become. "Thank you for freeing me from Gregorn's legacy. You have saved me from a life of madness and servitude, and I owe you a great debt. To show my appreciation, I will hold back my waters until you and your companions have escaped."

Miranda stared at the water, dumbfounded. "Hold back your waters?" She looked down at the shallow river lapping at her feet. "Spirit," she whispered. "Who are you?"

The castle trembled again as the water chuckled, sending little waves splashing against her calves. "I forget," he rumbled. "My imprisonment has been a long time by my reckoning, but how much longer is it for you humans, with your lives like mayflies? Very well, as another part of my thanks, I will give you my name." The pillar of water twisted and brightened until its light banished the shadows from the room. "I am Mellinor, spirit of the inland sea."

CHAPTER 26.

The inland sea..." Miranda's voice wavered.

"All of this land was once my basin," the spirit rumbled. "From the foothills of the mountains to what is now desert, it was all mine. Until that man came." The water's light turned a deep, angry blue. "Though he trapped me deep in the cold stone and stinging salt, I remembered sunlight and moonlight, the wind on my waves, and the madness did not take me." His voice trembled, and the water began to flow more quickly. "Now, thanks to you, I shall feel the sun and wind again. I shall retake what was stolen, and, after so long alone, my waters shall lap against my sh.o.r.es once more."

"An inland sea," Miranda said again. She looked up at the brilliant spirit, shaking to her toes with something that had nothing to do with the freezing water covering her feet. Now she understood how this spirit could have overpowered even the great Gregorn, and why the famous enslaver had used his own life to keep it trapped. The pillar of water floating over the ruined dais was no common spirit that could be trapped in a ring or compressed into a ball. This was the glowing heart of a Great Spirit, one of the masters of the spirit world. Miranda swallowed against the lump in her throat. A Great Spirit who wanted its land back.

"Wait!" Miranda stumbled forward. "Great Spirit Mellinor, wait. Mellinor, that is, the kingdom Mellinor, which now lies in your basin, is home to thousands of people. Millions of spirits have made homes there since you were trapped four hundred years ago. If you reclaim your land, then all of those people and spirits will drown."

"And what concern is that to me?" Mellinor rumbled. "If it was not for that enslaver, those spirits would never have taken root here. They should be grateful for the time they had."

"I know Gregorn did you wrong," Miranda cried. "If I could undo your imprisonment, I would, believe me! But those people, those spirits are innocent! Please, you can't just drown them!"

"Do not tell me what I can and cannot do, wizard!" The spirit's deep voice was choppy with rage, and the column of water swelled into a breaking wave. "I take no more orders from your kind," the water roared, and Miranda braced for impact.

"Now, just a moment." Eli stepped in front of Miranda, hands in his pockets. His voice was bland and casual, but something in his tone was enough to stop the wave in midcrash. "Is that any way to talk to the Spiritualist who risked her own life to free you?"

The water retreated a bit. "And who are you to defend her?"

"Just a common thief who doesn't like the idea of drowning." Eli smiled. "But this girl here"-he slapped Miranda on the shoulder-"she teamed up with her enemies, disobeyed her orders, and stuck out her own neck, all to keep Gregorn's descendant from enslaving you. Now," he said, arching an eyebrow, "don't you think you should at least hear her out?"

The wave fell a bit, almost as if it was embarra.s.sed. "Very well," it gurgled. "She may speak."

Eli nodded and nudged Miranda forward. For her part, Miranda was too shocked to do much besides gape.

"You can't talk to a Great Spirit like that," she hissed when Eli nudged her again.

"I just did," Eli whispered. "Now you'd better do your part, or we're all in the drink." He pushed her hard, and she stumbled out right in front of the wall of water.

She straightened up, squinting into the blinding light. The spirit loomed over her, and she wished more than anything she had not left her rings behind. Even if her spirits' powers were nothing to the sea before her, maybe they would at least have some idea how to talk to it.

"Great Spirit," she started shakily. "I know we have no right to prevent you from reclaiming your land, but if you could just wait a day or two, I'm sure we could move people and some of the spirits out of the way. Then you could reclaim your basin, and we could limit the loss of life."

She finished hopefully, smiling up at the glowing water. It did not respond. Miranda's smile faltered, and she began to fidget. "Of course, it might take some convincing to get people to-"

"Are you finished?" the great wave rumbled.

Miranda jumped. "More or less."

"Then I have heard you out. Your offer is unacceptable. I will not delay my freedom for the convenience of those who have profited from my imprisonment."

"Now hold on," Eli said, stepping up to stand beside Miranda. "If you're a Great Spirit, isn't it your responsibility to watch over the lesser spirits?"