Lady Gisela’s eyes narrowed, studying Tam like she was seeing him for the first time—and making it glaringly clear that she’d had no idea he’d passed along any messages.

Which made the threat against Keefe all the more horrifying.

Sophie stepped in front of him.

“Oh, relax,” Lady Gisela told her. “Like I said, I’m only here for a quick chat.”

“Aw, but the setting is so perfect!” Keefe argued. “The misty air. The shadowy street. The strange human sounds—are those sirens? Seems like an awesome moment to murder your only son, don’t you think?”

Lady Gisela sighed. “Must everything be a joke to you?”

Keefe considered that for a second before he said, “I wanna say yes—but you know what I don’t find funny? I’m really not a fan of you thinking you can scare me.”

“I do scare you, Keefe. I terrify you. And only part of that is because of what you think you know about me.” She took a step closer. “We both know that what really frightens you is how very alike we are.”

“We’re nothing alike,” Keefe snarled, holding up the throwing star again.

“Go ahead,” Lady Gisela told him. “I guarantee the only person you’ll hit is Tam.”

“Wow, look at you—cowering behind your little Shade,” Keefe snapped back.

“If you realized how powerful Tam is, you’d be cowering too,” Lady Gisela insisted. “But that’s not what I came here to tell you. It’s time to focus, Keefe. Time to listen. Time to stop fighting who you are and what you’re meant to do. I’ve tried to be patient. Tried to push you and test you and prepare you any way I could. But you’re still not ready, and we’re drawing very close to the day when you have to step up and accept your legacy.”

Keefe cracked up again. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that.”

“I hope you do,” Lady Gisela told him. “Because you don’t actually get a choice in the matter. Either you embrace the change or it will destroy you.”

“What does that mean?” Sophie demanded.

Lady Gisela smiled. “You’ll see.”

Sophie glanced at Tam—and the horror in his eyes told her how seriously she needed to take these threats.

Ominous music filled the air, as if Sophie’s life had turned into the climax of a scary movie—and it wasn’t until the first BONG! that Sophie realized the sounds were coming from Big Ben.

Chiming midnight.

Telling them it was time to go.

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

“Why don’t you run?” Fitz shouted to Tam over the next BONG! “She’s just a Polyglot—you’re way stronger than she is. And we can keep Linh safe.”

“There you go with your arrogance again!” Lady Gisela shouted back.

BONG!

“I swear, Tam’s the only smart one in your entire group,” she added. “The only one who knows exactly what will happen to everyone he cares about if he defies me.” BONG! “The only one who doesn’t lie to himself about his vulnerabilities.” BONG! “But just in case he has a moment of foolishness—show them, Tam.”

Another BONG! crashed through the air as Tam raised his hands—and Sophie braced for an attack, wishing they had Maruca there to shield them.

But no shadows shifted, and no darkness poured out of his skin.

Instead, the sleeves of his cloak slipped down to his elbows, revealing an almost blinding glow.

BONG!

Sophie’s eyes burned as they tried to focus on Tam’s wrists, but all she could tell was that the light had a strange sort of solid quality, wrapping around like bracelets.

Or bonds.

BONG!

And there was such shame in his stare.

But also such strength.

And such pride.

And Sophie knew that regardless of what the light was, or how the Neverseen were trying to control him, Tam was still resisting them any way he could.

So when his shadow darted toward hers during the final BONG! and filled her mind with a single word, she knew he meant it—knew it was the last warning she’d get before things turned really, really ugly.

GO! he told her.

And Sophie would have enough time to grab Fitz’s and Keefe’s hands and levitate them high enough to teleport away.

But she was done running.

And with that surge of absolute confidence, something clicked into place inside her.

All the dark rage and terror that had been boiling away in her mind turned red-hot and ready to burst.

And she wanted to unleash it all.

Wanted to let everything boil and burn.

But something green lingered in the corners of her mind, cooling her thoughts enough to remind her that the real secret to her power was staying in control.

So in one smooth motion she tugged her gloves free and tapped her fingers, reaching for the two people in her life who always kept her anchored. And she clung to them with all the strength she had, feeling heat and lightning shock through their palms as her feet lifted off the ground and her rage found a new kind of clarity.

A new level of focus.

A single target.

She had to make it count, so she reached into her heart, gathering all the emotions pooled there too, a swell of purple and blue that mixed with the red—hot and cold, fire and ice, rage and love, and fear and courage blasting out of her mind exactly where she wanted it.

She couldn’t stop the frenzy once it started.

Had to let every drop of it pour out of her.

And when the fever faded and her feet drifted back to solid ground, she pulled her hands free and studied what she’d done.

Lady Gisela lay in a heap, limbs twitching, eyes rolled back into her head—in agony, but still alive.

And Keefe’s eyes were on Sophie—not his mom. Pure worry was etched between his eyebrows as he asked, “Are you okay?”

“I am,” she promised, amazed at how steady she was on her feet.

How clear her head felt.

How much energy thrummed through her body, despite how much she’d just blasted away.

Fitz cleared his throat. “So… that was new. Is that how you inflict now?”

“I think it might be.” But they needed to focus on more important things. “Someone grab her,” she ordered. “I’m not sure how long the frenzy will last, and we need to get her somewhere we can properly restrain her.”

Tam was the closest, and his eyes looked dazed as he squatted down and heaved Keefe’s mom over his shoulder.

“I told you to run,” he mumbled.

“I know, but isn’t this better?” Sophie asked. “Now we can rip that gadget off her head and probe her mind for all her secrets.” She turned to Keefe. “Anything we want to know. Your missing memories. Your legacy. We can find it all.”

Keefe blinked. “It’s… almost over.”

“It’s not, though,” Tam warned as he stumbled to his feet, his knees nearly buckling under Lady Gisela’s deadweight. “There’s so much more you don’t know. Keefe’s legacy is only one tiny piece.”

“We’ll figure out the rest,” Sophie promised.

Tam looked so heartbroken when he shook his head. “You won’t. That’s why I have to do this.”