She screamed as she was dragged toward the opening. Without much thought, I brought the circular blade down, slicing through the tongue. Saving her.

“We are even now,” I said. “A life for a life.”

She shivered where she lay and nodded.

The Veil snapped shut and we were alone in the place of death. Norm crouched, shivering. There was a groan from the pile of bodies.

Norm scooted over and dragged Miko from the stack. “I am a fool . . .” He coughed and spit up blood that splattered his silver and gray fur. “I thought the rakshasa would stop him from taking her.”

I crouched beside him. “What are you talking about?”

“Talan,” Cassava said. “He wants Peta back.”

Miko nodded. “Peta . . . she must not go with him. We had to stop him, but he controlled us. Controlled all we said and did. The rakshasa . . .”

“Was a last-ditch effort.” I closed my eyes and shook my head.

“So many of my family are gone. So many dead,” Miko whispered. “All my fault.”

I touched Norm on the arm. “I’m sorry, my friend. But I need your help. The snow leopard is buried under the dead, and she may still be alive. Will you help me? Please.” I all but begged him.

He nodded and I turned away from Cassava, thinking it was safe to do so.

Norm’s eyes widened as he looked over my shoulder, and I spun, but I was too slow. The blade ran me through, my own sword taken up and used against me.

Norm howled and grabbed me, tugging me backward as Cassava laughed softly, a tear trickling down her cheek. “Peta slipped my bonds, you fool. She’s a cat; you can’t leash a cat indefinitely.”

A blur of black and white shot from the darkness. “Truth, bitch. For once you speak it.”

Peta tackled Cassava to the ground, snarling and slashing with her wicked claws. I slumped in Norm’s arms. He petted my head, smoothing my hair back. “You’ll be okay, friend. You’ll be okay.”

I knew I wasn’t, though. I knew a fatal blow. The blade had angled up through my belly and into my chest cavity. Without a healer, I would die. Not today, though, tomorrow or the next, as the wound festered and grew gangrenous. I glanced at Miko with the faintest of hopes . . . but he was as me, close to the Veil.

Peta cried out, and I forced myself to sit up. She lay on her side, and the last thing I saw was the tip of her tail as the ground swallowed her whole.

Cassava stood slowly, her body raked from top to bottom, flaps of skin hanging off and blood flowing freely. She swayed where she stood and then slumped to her knees, falling to one side. “Ah, to have it all go to hell now, it is ironic,” she whispered and then was silent.

The crackle of the flames behind us was the only sound besides my labored breathing. I put my hand to the ground and beckoned the earth to spit Peta out. She emerged, covered in filth and spitting mad as she whipped around to Cassava. “That bitch!”

“Peta,” I called to her and she hurried to my side, her green eyes going from rage-filled to horror.

“Ash, we have to get you to a healer.”

I shook my head. “Tell Larkspur I love her, that she was the only one I ever loved in all my years.”

Norm sniffed. “I think you should tell her.”

Peta nodded. “The Yeti is right.”

She stiffened and glared into the darkness, a low growl rumbling over her lips. “You bastard, I’ll kill you too!”

She moved as if to leap and then froze as a sharp snap of air caught her up and then pinned her to the ground.

I didn’t have to look to know it was Raven. “You didn’t really kill her, did you?” he asked.

I stared at Cassava’s prone form. The rise and fall of her chest was slight, but it was there. “No, she’s not dead.”

“Good. Because we need her yet, Ash. All of us do.” He crouched in front of me. Norm tightened his big arms around me as if he could keep me away from Raven.

“You survived the witch, then,” I said. He grinned and nodded as though we were two old friends reminiscing over long-ago memories.

“We came to an understanding. Something I hope you and I can now do.”

I coughed, spitting up blood. “I’m dying, what do you want, forgiveness?”

“Perhaps.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Just remember, you are not the only one caught in this madness. You are not the only one who will be caged. Talan is playing a deep game, as is Cassava.” He waved a hand forward and the witch from Romania joined him.

Caged. What the hell was he talking about?

“It will take both of us to change him.” She ducked her head, a wash of white-blond hair spilling forward. Her eyes were as blue as the sky above us, and the air fairly crackled around her.

“I know.” Raven took one of her hands and they pressed their other hands over my heart. I stared up at them. What the—

There was a twist in my belly, as though the blade had been jammed in again, and Norm was shoved away from me. Raven spoke softly.

“This is the only way to save you from yourself, Ash. The only way to help Lark now. She needs you, no matter what Talan thinks. He does not know her like you and I do.”

From myself? What madness did he speak now? A thousand breaks in my bones shattered me apart, tearing my mind from any thought of survival, of revenge, or the sweet embrace of the mother goddess. As if lightning had been bottled inside me, my body jerked and danced to a tune I could not hear. To a command I did not understand.