My gaze slid to the catwalk that encircled the warehouse’s perimeter. I gulped, taking stock of my options. Even assuming the Carapace’s nearness wasn’t hindering my artifact’s magic, the Queen hadn’t had time to recharge yet. I couldn’t count on the reflector spell.

“Round two, Twiggy. Can you slow it down with vines again?”

“One more time only.” He shivered where he stood. “I do not have much magic.”

“What you don’t have in magic you make up for by being the bravest fae I’ve ever met.” As bashful delight lit his face, I measured the distance of the golem and the speed of its approach. “I’m going up on the catwalk, and the golem will come after me. When it’s close enough to hit me, stop it with the vines.”

He bobbed his head, and I raced away. The stairs onto the catwalk beckoned. Ignoring the monster’s footfalls vibrating the floor, I sped up the steps and onto the platform.

The golem, oblivious to Twiggy, stomped after me, and I stared into its helmet-like face, the two eye sockets black and empty. The catwalk was level with its shoulders, which put my head higher than its hollow helmet. It plodded closer and closer, and I braced a hand on the railing.

“Now, Twiggy!” I bellowed.

Vines burst out of the concrete and spun around the golem’s ankles. Its stride stuttered—and I vaulted over the railing, a move I’d practiced more than any combat skill so I could hop my bar without making a fool of myself.

Soaring over the railing, I landed on the golem’s steel shoulder. Its body lurched as it tore free from the vines, and its bladed fists whipped up to impale me.

I jammed the Carapace into its empty eye socket and leaped off the back of its shoulder. Unforgiving concrete rushed up, and I tried to remember the fall-break techniques Aaron and Kai had taught me but my mind was blank and I was going to shatter my leg bones and oh god—

Wind burst around me, and a sinuous silver tail looped around my torso. I thumped gently to the floor, with Hoshi clinging to my middle, her paws clutching my jacket.

“Hoshi!” I gasped, hugging her as I sprinted away. “You’re back!”

“Tori, look!” Twiggy cried.

I spun around.

The golem stood unmoving, half the Carapace hanging from its helmet like a stream of purple tears. The runes on its head had vanished, and the Carapace’s magic swept downward, dousing the runes all across its torso. Five seconds later, the last runes blinked out, and the only source of light came from the radiant cloak and Hoshi’s faintly luminescent body.

With a groan of steel, the unanimated golem tipped over backward. I slapped my hands over my ears just before it hit the ground, and the thundering crash was so loud I felt the boom in my chest.

The echo rebounded off the walls, then finally, it was silent.

Uncoiling her tail from my waist, Hoshi touched her nose to my cheek. A vision filled my mind: Zak, geared for battle as I’d last seen him, leaning against a pillar in a dark space with the look of a man waiting for something.

Emotion twisted in my chest, painful and confusing. Was he waiting for Varvara? If she’d told the truth about him trading Ezra for his grimoire, she’d be meeting with him to complete the exchange.

What was Zak playing at? Did he have a plan? And if he did, why the hell had he left me in the dark!

“Goddamn you, Zak,” I snarled as I pulled the Carapace out of the golem’s helmet, folded the enchanted fabric into a square, and shoved it in my front pocket.

Twiggy trotted out of the darkness, carrying my combat belt. I reclaimed it and buckled the leather around my hips. If Varvara was meeting with Zak before taking Ezra to her yacht, we still had time to stop her.

“You did great, Twiggy.” I exhaled roughly. “I have one more job for you, then you need to hide because you used up all your magic.”

He tilted his face up attentively.

“Find Aaron or Kai—they should be just north of this building—and tell them … tell them we couldn’t find the golems, and Varvara has Ezra. I’m going after her. Got that?”

He nodded.

“And …” I swallowed hard. “Tell them Zak might’ve double-crossed us.”

His huge eyes widened. “The Crystal Druid betrayed you?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I will tell them. I’ll go right now!” He scurried away, but at the warehouse door, he looked over his shoulder. Puffing his chest, he said in the deepest, growliest voice he could produce, “I’ll be back.”

He vanished out the door, and I blinked. Blinked again. “Oh.”

Action movies. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fearless musclemen saving the day. Twiggy had picked up new “human” behaviors from his latest film binge. That’s why he’d followed me on my dangerous, adrenaline-fueled mission—and thank god he had, or I’d be dead.

“It’s you and me now, Hoshi,” I whispered. “Let’s find Zak—and hopefully Ezra.”

She swirled around me in a quick, encouraging circle, then undulated toward the door. I ran after her, muscles trembling and joints aching, but there was no time to stop and whine about it.

I burst outside—and a cacophony of booms, bangs, clangs, shouts, and screams assaulted my ears.

Terror flooded my chest. When Varvara had said her animated golems were waiting for my “guild friends,” I’d hoped she was wrong—that Zak had pulled the wool over her eyes and she only believed her golem army was ready to fight.

But even as I followed Hoshi, sprinting back the way Ezra and I had come, the dissonant roar of battle continued. At the train tracks that ran behind the warehouse, the sylph swung right—and somewhere on the other side of a long line of freight cars, a fireball erupted. Orange flames spewed into the sky, belching black smoke, and masculine shouts rang out in a nonstop clamor.

I burst into a mad sprint. Hoshi whirled, confused, as I jumped the first set of tracks. Grabbing a freight car, I hauled myself onto the back, then scaled the metal ladder attached to the butt end. I had to know. I had to see.

Scrambling onto the roof on my hands and knees, I squinted across the scene. A street. A parking lot. Then the building where the rogues had hidden during the day.

Now all three were a war zone.

Smoke billowed, fire burning everywhere. Shadowy figures darted in chaotic patterns, some wielding weapons, others glowing magic. I couldn’t tell who was who, guildeds and rogues impossible to tell apart, but the canine golems were easy to spot as they stomped among the combatants, belching fire or acid and snapping their crushing jaws.

Varvara’s golems were attacking my guildmates—along with no small number of rogues. All our strategizing to ensure our teams wouldn’t face both the rogue and golem forces had failed, and now over half my guild was fighting for their lives.

Choking on dread, I slid back down the ladder and forced myself away from the train. Ezra needed me. I had to find him.

I rejoined Hoshi and she led me into the maze. As we approached the facility with the giant reservoirs, I wondered if we would follow my and Ezra’s route in reverse, but she sped past the fence. I ran along another set of train tracks to a different fence—a taller one with much meaner barbed wire at the top.

As I started to climb, Hoshi grasped the collar of my jacket. With a tug from her, I flew up and over the fence. I dropped onto the grass, stumbled down the embankment, and trotted into a parking lot. Water sloshed loudly, city lights reflecting off its black surface. We’d reached the marina.

Passing a never-ending storage building, we cut through the narrow gap between buildings and came out in a boat … lot. Like a parking lot, but for boats. Lots of boats. I sprinted down a row and squeezed between two speedboats.

With a warning flick of her tail, Hoshi ducked behind a retaining wall. I followed suit, then cautiously peeked above it.

Yet another parking lot. Behind it was a low, wide building with several overhead doors, one open, and a dozen covered boats lined up in front. A repair business? That was my best guess.

Hoshi bumped me with her nose, and a vision appeared in my head—zooming across the parking lot, rushing between two covered boats, sweeping through the overhead door. A dark interior, interrupted by concrete pillars. Most of the bays were open, while yachts and equipment waited in the far bays for work to resume Monday morning. In the center, leaning against a pillar, Zak waited.

That’s what Hoshi had seen before coming to get me. This was the place.

I was about to stand up but caught the faintest glimpse of movement—a dark figure shifting his weight. Two big, bulky men stood on either side of the open overhead door. I couldn’t be sure from this distance, but they looked like Varvara’s goons.

Varvara was in there. She had to be.

I could do this. Find Ezra, get him away from her, and run like hell. That was my plan. First, I had to get past the henchmen, and there was no way to approach without being seen.

I dug into my pouch. My brass knuckles went on one hand. I looped the strings of my fall spell and interrogation spell crystals around my other wrist, then unholstered my paintball gun. Lastly, I tugged the elastic hair tie from the end of my braid, slid it over my hand, and tucked my Queen of Spades under it, snug against my inner wrist.

“Hoshi,” I whispered, “can you make me invisible long enough to get close?”

Her tail flicked nervously back and forth. She blinked her huge eyes and rustled her insect-like wings, then booped me with her nose. I interpreted that as, “I’ll try.”

I set my feet and Hoshi curled her tail around me, small paws holding my shoulders.

“Now,” I breathed.

Cool magic rushed over me and the world faded to a phantom landscape of white and gray. The boats were dark, semi-transparent shapes, and Varvara’s goons were even more transparent shadows.

I launched from behind the retaining wall and sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me. Stare locked on my shadowy targets, I raced toward them. Forty feet. Thirty feet. Twenty—

Shimmering color swept across my vision. With a faint hiss of dismay, Hoshi fell off me, her body shimmering out of my perception.