“You’ve told them?” I asked Brody, staring at a craggy peak that rose over State Street.

“I told them. They’re changing routes.”

“Then we’ll meet them at the rendezvous. We’ll go the rest of the way on foot.”

We walked through Millennium Park, Cloud Gate shooting our reflections back at us, then over to Randolph and up Columbus to Aqua, which rose nearly nine hundred feet above our heads. Its undulating edges looked more organic than glass and steel, like a bridge between the two worlds we faced right now.

Yuen wore a black jacket with OMBUDSMAN in white letters, and he directed members of the CPD into action.

“No Dearborn?” Connor asked, glancing around.

“He’s monitoring with the mayor,” Yuen said dryly. “You’re all okay?” he asked, looking us over.

“Dented, but fine,” I said. “The SUV’s a total loss. The fairies?”

“Claudia is waiting. No sign of Ruadan.”

“The trembling is starting,” Connor said, and we all went quiet. The vibration was subtle, but it grew stronger. “They’ll be here soon.”

“Then we’ll be quick,” Yuen said. “Connor, Elisa, this is Hammett. His people will be backing you up out there.”

Hammett was short but stocky, with muscle packed into dark fatigues. His hair was cropped, his eyes bright blue. A dozen men and women in the same ensembles stood behind him.

“Hammett,” he said, shaking my hand, then Connor’s. “I saw the footage from Grant Park,” he said, smiling at me. “You have nice moves.”

“I had good teachers.”

He nodded approvingly. “Good answer. We’ve got Tasers”—he pointed to the weapon belted at his waist—“and guns if we need them. But we’re hoping to incapacitate if we can.”

“Always a good strategy,” I said. “Once they figure out what’s happening, they might try to rush Claudia.”

“We can stay on them, let you run the field.”

I nodded, glanced at Connor.

“Fine by me,” he said with a nod. He lifted his shirt, showed the gun holstered there. “I’m fighting in this form. There’s going to be too much confusion otherwise, and too much magic.”

“Understood,” Hammett said. He gestured toward another group of uniformed cops. “That’s the round-up team. Off to the brick factory they’ll go.”

“Here’s the lay of the land,” Yuen said, and offered a larger screen with an overhead plan of the park.

“Claudia’s here,” Yuen said, pointing to the largest spot of open lawn.

“She said it’s possible there will be some stuttering,” Petra said. “You should be prepared.”

“What do you mean by ‘stuttering’?” I asked.

“Incomplete phase shifting,” she said. “Ruadan is going to try to bring more of the green land here, while she tries to reverse it. In the meantime, the green land might stutter in and out of existence.”

“So, you’re saying you could be on a bridge over the river,” Gabriel said, “then it’s a nice, green hill, then it’s a bridge again, and you might or might not end up in the water?”

Petra smiled at him. “Yep.”

Gabriel just shook his head. “At least I know how to swim.”

* * *

• • •

Connor and I crept in from the west, came to a stop behind a copse of trees while Claudia waited in the grass, looking perfectly serene in her gown. Petra and Theo were on the other side of the park, and members of the CPD’s SWAT team surrounded it.

The earth was vibrating harder now, an unnerving sensation since the leaves above us didn’t so much as rustle.

“You can feel that, right?” I whispered.

“Yeah. I don’t like it.”

Magic flashed, and the fairies appeared in their single-file formation over the ley line, Ruadan in front.

He walked forward, confident and calm, and looked over his queen. “You are well.”

“No thanks to you.” Claudia let her gaze dance along the fairies behind him, then back to Ruadan. “You sought to dethrone me. Your betrayal, Ruadan, was keenly felt.”

“I have proven—have I not?—that it was necessary. We have done what was required of us, what was necessary to bring back our kingdom. To place our kingdom here, in this world, where it should be.”

“And you have succeeded . . . in part,” she said, the phrase perfectly calibrated not to compliment. His face didn’t register it.

“Ouch,” Connor murmured beside me.

“Seriously,” I agreed.

“I did not think this much was possible,” Claudia said. “And so I was wrong. But I believe there are . . . improvements to be made in the process.”

“And you would show us how to correct them? To fully repair our world?”

“That would depend on what you have to offer.”

“Your kingdom,” he said. “And our fealty.” He took a step forward. “We would rule together, as in old times. As queen and king.”

She closed the distance between them, lifted her hand to his face. He leaned into her, and I saw that same desire in his eyes, recognized it for what it was now. Not for love, but for power.

“There would be power between us,” she said. “Such as the world has never seen. My magic is ancient and wise. Yours is young and vigorous. Together, they would be . . . unprecedented.”

“She’s going to betray us,” Connor said, but I put a hand on his arm to keep him from running forward.

“I don’t think so.” I thought of Claudia at the reception, the arrogance and confidence, the seeming refusal to acknowledge Ruadan as anything other than her companion. “I don’t think she really wants to share power.”

“Then let us begin,” he said, and offered his hand to her. She placed her hand atop his.

Power began to ripple through the park again, in slow undulations that were different from the frenzied vibrations Ruadan had managed.

“Yes,” Ruadan said as light began to glow between her hands. “Yes.”

But in the gap between the buildings, we could see the grass that had been Lake Shore Drive. And once again, as Claudia began to reverse the magic he’d wrought, well-lit concrete took its place.

Ruadan saw it, too, and stared back at her, looking confused.

“If you’re going to attempt to depose your queen,” Claudia said, her voice darker and rougher, “you should be more careful. The fae have never needed a king before, and they do not need one now.”

Ruadan screamed, and his magic faltered as fairies stared at their powerful queen and the man who would depose her, uncertain what to do.

“No!” Ruadan screamed, holding a hand behind him, pointing at those who looked more than willing to run. “You will stay and we will finish what we have wrought.”

“We will finish it together,” Claudia said, and grabbed Ruadan’s wrist.

Ruadan might not have been as ancient as Claudia, but he was still capable and skilled. The burning fury in his eyes said he knew that he’d been beaten, but he wasn’t going down without a fight.

Magic filled the park, thick enough to fog the air, as they battled for control. I’d wanted Ruadan for myself. But I’d known that wasn’t going to happen. Not when Claudia could get to him first.

The world paid the price for the war that they waged. The neat lines of sidewalk across the park lifted and fractured, then spread with a thick carpet of undulating grass. Trees disappeared, reappeared.

The stuttering had begun, and the rest of the fairies wanted none of it. They scattered, trying to leave the field of battle to the generals. And we were there to meet them. Humans and supernaturals emerged from their positions on the edge of the park.

Connor and I stepped out of the trees, into the paths of two running fairies.

“I’ll take the right,” I said, heart speeding as I unsheathed my katana.

“I’ll take left,” Connor said, pulling a dagger from his boot.

The monster clawed at me. And this time, instead of pushing it down or giving it control, I let the monster step beside me. It didn’t so much as hesitate. Two consciousnesses in one body, with all the combined strength and power.

I looked back at Connor, saw the acceptance—the encouragement—in his eyes.