Liv Phillips was standing on a cliff, literally overlooking a whole new world, and all she could think about were cheeseburgers. Greasy take-out burgers that left drippings trailing down your palm, fancy LA bistro burgers you had to cut with a knife and fork, straight-from-the-grill backyard burgers slapped onto a paper plate . . .
Liv’s stomach rumbled.
Standing next to her, Cedric West, an honest-to-God, full-on prince who also happened to be full-on icing her out, gave Liv a quick side-eye.
“I can’t help it!” she said, putting one hand over her noisy stomach.
“We will eat as soon as we make camp. First, we have to get as close to the castle as possible before night falls again.”
“I know, I know,” Liv replied helplessly. “I’m aware of the plan. It’s just that my stomach isn’t.”
Cedric didn’t respond, but looked out again over the landscape in front of them.
The cliff they were standing on was large. Which was fitting, considering that everything in this world was large. The whole of Caelum appeared to Liv like someone had taken a picture of a European forest and enlarged the image one and a half times. Everything was just a little too big to be completely believable, from the rock she stood on to the tall evergreen trees that loomed up behind her and cast their small group into shadow.
They’d been walking through this world for hours, only stopping once to sleep for a bit and twice more to eat. They’d gone through their provisions quickly—their provisions being a couple of water bottles and granola bars found in the bottom of the earthquake kit backpack Daisy had pressed into Liv’s hands the day before, when she’d still been standing on a normal California beach about to jump through a portal. Now the black backpack carried nothing but a flashlight, some walkie-talkies, and the empty water bottles.
For breakfast, Liv, Cedric, and Kat had made a meal of mushroom tops that were larger than Liv’s hand. Since then, she’d passed flowers that came up to her knees and tree trunks as thick as cars. At her back was a mountain peak that reached for the sky, and although she’d been walking away from it for the better part of a day, when she turned around, it always appeared to be the same distance behind her. But though everything in this world was large, it also seemed oddly flat, as though drained of some color, some dimension. Like she was looking at an old painting where the perspective was slightly off. When she’d tried to explain this to Cedric, his eyes had narrowed, but he hadn’t said a word in response. Then again, he wasn’t saying much of anything to Liv.
So she’d spent the day trudging on behind him and Kat, trying not to slow them down with her wide-eyed wonder and questions. Both the royal teens seemed to be changed now that they were back in their home world. Cedric was full of purpose. It was as if there were an invisible string between him and the castle, and it was pulling tighter with every second.
Kat, meanwhile, was a different person altogether. Back in Los Angeles, the beautiful, dark-haired warrior had been wary and caustic, unable to trust Liv or anything else she saw around her. But now she moved with an actual bounce in her step. Her brown eyes lit up, and she seemed to almost float at Cedric’s side as she walked through the world that was hers. She was home.
Liv tried not to think about how at ease Kat and Cedric looked walking side by side in this never-ending forest. They communicated in shorthand, sometimes using a single word or even just a look that Liv could barely decipher. They were two people who had known each other since the cradle and would go on knowing each other until the end. They were betrothed, meant for each other. Sure of their place together and in their world.
The term third wheel didn’t even begin to cut it.
All Liv could do was try to push aside the part of her that was still stinging after Cedric rejected her on the Santa Monica Pier. It wasn’t easy, but at least she had a plan. Or more of an objective, really. Find Peter. Then get the hell out of here. It would be much easier to get over Cedric once he was a whole world away.
She hoped.
After several hours of walking, Cedric and Kat stopped suddenly at the cliff edge. Liv looked down and saw that the cliff dropped more than a hundred feet to the dark forest floor below, where a thick, white-gray mist swirled around the tree trunks. She felt, not for the first time, that nothing around her was quite real. Almost like she was in a dream, or a movie adaptation of one of Grimm’s fairy tales.
“We should move back from the edge.” Kat’s voice cut into Liv’s thoughts. For the first time since they’d crashed through a portal and onto Caelum’s leafy floor, Kat sounded uneasy.
“What is it?” Cedric asked, immediately on alert.
Kat nodded toward a group of thick trees in the forest below the cliff. At first, Liv couldn’t see anything. But then she noticed a slight movement—not so much in the trees themselves, but in the dense shadows around them.
“Get down,” Cedric said, his voice low. He dropped to his stomach on the cliff top, and Kat and Liv followed suit on either side of him.
With her chin pressed against the hard rock, Liv watched as the movement grew closer and closer, pushing through the forest below in a slow but purposeful trail.
“What is it?” she whispered.
Cedric put a finger to his lips.
And then the first creature burst through the trees.
Liv had to bite down on her lower lip to keep from screaming. The being—the thing—below was unlike anything she’d ever seen in real life. It stood upright like a man, but was covered in the thick, gray skin of an elephant. And it had two horns that curled up on each side of its head and ended in fine points. In one hand, the creature held a sword and, in the other, a mace. It looked like a movie monster come to life, and Liv had to remind herself she wasn’t on a set. That wasn’t makeup and a costume, dreamed up in storyboards and brought to life by human hands.
There was nothing human about it.
The thing was joined by a second creature, and then a third. They kept coming, walking in a straight line just at the base of the cliff, pushing aside saplings and bushes in their way. Their heads swiveled to look around them, but, mercifully, they never looked up. Liv’s muscles felt tight with the strain of staying still when they wanted so badly to get her far, far away.
Finally, the creatures moved out of sight. The forest swallowed them back up until they were shadows cutting through the mist, and then nothing.
Liv saw the tension leave Cedric’s shoulders, which was her own cue to finally exhale.
“Wraths,” Cedric said, answering her earlier question.
“That’s what wraths really look like?”
Cedric just gave a quick nod and jumped to his feet.
Liv stared at the direction in which the wraths had disappeared. She’d been close to wraths before—much too close for comfort, in fact—but that had been back in Los Angeles. There, the wraths were affected by quelling, which was the Earth’s way of covering up any magic that crossed its borders. To human beings, wraths looked like any other man or woman you might pass on the street. But Liv, who had her own bit of magic on the very skin of her back, could see snippets of the truth behind the human facade—the all-black eyes, the too-many teeth, the pointed nails. Remnants of the wraths’ true, unrepressed form.
Which, apparently, included horns.
Kat also stood up and put her hand to her hip, where Liv knew a knife was hidden in the lining of her pants.
“I have never seen wraths this close to the city before . . . aside from our last night in the castle.”
Cedric’s eyes were still in the direction of the retreating wraths. “Is it possible they already have free rein over our lands this far from the castle? There must have been some sort of resistance after the takeover of Westing.”
“Westing?” Liv asked.
“The main city surrounding the palace.”
“Wait, Westing as in . . . West? Like your last name?”
Cedric nodded, his eyes still scanning the distance. Kat just rolled her eyes, like Liv’s questions were too dumb to merit a verbal response.
“Those wraths looked as though they were scouting. But for what?” Kat said, turning to Cedric.
“I do not know.”
“I would feel much more comfortable if we had silver weapons before advancing after them,” Kat said, once again gripping the knife hilt at her hip. “It is no use cutting down wraths with this single steel blade only to have them rise up again moments later.”
Liv shuddered at the image. “Like Freddy Krueger.”
Unsurprisingly, both Cedric and Kat ignored her.
“The largest cache of silver weapons is in the castle,” Cedric finally said.
Kat shook her head. “But it will be impossible to get to the castle if we do not know how far out from Westing the wraths have spread. We have no idea how many lie in wait between here and there, or even how many are still within the city walls. It makes more sense to first find any Guardians who made it out of the city. Maybe we can gather more information, more fighters. . . . We should head south toward the villages, and prepare to launch a full assault from there.”
Cedric seemed to consider this.
This time, Liv stepped forward. “Wait. That’s the opposite direction of where we’ve been going. You said that Peter was most likely at the castle. That’s where we need to go.”
Cedric turned to Liv. When he spoke, he didn’t meet her eyes. He looked at her forehead, her ears. “I can only guess that is where Emme took your brother. I do not know for sure.”
“All we know for sure is there are more wraths outside Westing than we anticipated,” Kat said. “We will need better weapons and more men to cut through them.”
“But . . .” Liv felt panic creeping over her as she imagined what might have happened to Peter, what might be happening to him at this very moment. “My brother went through that portal alone, and he might not have known how to do it right. If he went through like Malquin did the first time, without wrath blood on him, he could be hurt. He could be dying.”
Liv’s thoughts lingered on Malquin, once just Joe’s brother and a scroll, like her. But he’d gone through the portal incorrectly years before and been twisted up by it. His arm was permanently withered . . . not to mention his mind. Liv wouldn’t risk that with her own brother.
“I need to find Peter as soon as possible. It’s the whole reason I’m here.”
“Yes, I am aware,” Cedric said, voice cold.
Of course he was. And of course he was mad about it. After learning that Malquin wanted to use Liv, Peter, and Daisy to open up a giant portal between their worlds, Cedric had wanted to keep them out of Malquin’s hands at all costs. And instead here she was, playing right into them. Liv knew she was probably walking right into a trap set by Malquin, but this was her brother. She’d only just gotten him back after years of being apart—and she wouldn’t lose him again. She would run into a trap for him if she had to. She would sprint.
Only, she needed Cedric at her side. She’d threatened to come through the portal alone, but a part of her knew that he wouldn’t let that happen. He’d abandoned his own plans to come with her—she’d left him with no choice. And he’d barely looked at her since.
She missed the Cedric she’d first met in Los Angeles. The one who’d spooned maple syrup right into his mouth, the one she’d been able to open up to about her parents, the one who used to look right at her, just look and look and not turn away. . . .
“I know you’re angry with me,” Liv said, choosing her words carefully. “But if Peter is at the castle, that’s where I need to go.”
Kat responded first. “You cannot find it without us.”
Cedric looked off into the forest and said nothing. As if sensing his weakening resolve, Kat moved toward him and put one hand on his shoulder. “Remember, we must make the choice we know to be right, no matter what . . . else . . . gets in the way.”
Cedric took a deep breath and was quiet for a moment. Then he lifted his head, and his voice was clear. “I still believe Emme would take Peter straight to the castle, as that’s the most likely place for Malquin to be as well. But you are right, Kat. We need to know more about the movements of the wraths before we get too close.” Cedric paused. “We will follow them. The wraths are heading in the direction of the castle already, so it will not send us too far off track. If we get close enough, we may be able to hear them speaking. We might find out for sure that Peter is there, and we might gain information enough to launch an attack, if necessary. Is that acceptable to everyone?”
Liv and Kat both gave tentative nods. When they noticed their mirrored movements, they each quickly looked away.
“Wonderful,” Cedric said. “Now, to get down from this cliff.”
Growing up in the city, Liv had sometimes wondered if she was secretly an outdoorsy person, the kind who might like camping or even horseback riding, if given a chance. Now she knew the answer was a definitive no. Unfortunately, Caelum was pretty much only outdoors. They hadn’t passed a single home, shop, castle, or even another person on the way from the portal. They weren’t even following an established trail. After making their way down the side of the cliff, Kat and Cedric began looking for signs in the dense woods to point which direction the wraths had gone. Liv followed a few paces behind, mostly trying not to trip on the rocks and roots in her way.
Kat reached out to a tree with thick, green-gray leaves. She touched a branch that was snapped clean in half. “They are not exactly hiding their tracks.”
Cedric shook his head, his expression troubled.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Liv asked.
Kat and Cedric just exchanged a look and said nothing. Liv fought not to roll her eyes and instead forged ahead, one foot after another. Every step she took would bring her closer to Peter. Of course, she didn’t know what would even happen once they got back to LA. Would they have to go into hiding? Or leave the city she loved and start a whole new life?
She sifted through her enemies in her head. The Knights wanted her dead because she was a scroll. Malquin wanted her and one of her siblings to help him open a highway portal between Earth and Caelum. One that was powerful enough to stay open on both ends and provide passage for his monster army. Earth’s quelling prevented portals from staying open on that side, while in Caelum they remained forever, a gash torn in the sky. But even though Malquin had forced Liv and Daisy to help him open a portal in the warehouse, it hadn’t stayed open for very long. They’d been interrupted, and the portal had closed, bringing down a whole Venice block with it.
Was the other end of that portal still open somewhere here on Caelum? And could Malquin still use it to bring his wrath army through to Earth, even if it would now be a one-way trip? Liv didn’t know, but she shuddered at the thought of those monsters filing through the portal, landing less than a mile from the bodybuilders, stoners, and smiling tourists of Venice Beach.
Though if Malquin could still use that portal to get back to LA, he might not need Peter and Liv at all anymore. He might even let them go. . . .
Liv heard a sharp snapping sound on her right.
She whirled her head around, but saw nothing. Well, nothing aside from leaves the size of her face and tree trunks that might have broken a chainsaw in two.
Up ahead, Cedric and Kat were talking in low voices. Liv ran to catch up.
“It does not make any sense,” Kat said, trailing her fingers over the top of a bush that looked like it had been recently trampled. “They did not veer from this trail.”
Cedric shook his head. “Wraths are slow, particularly when they move in groups. We should have reached them by now.”
Liv heard another snapping noise, this one directly behind her. She forced herself to turn her head slowly. Again, she saw nothing. Green and shadows, shadows and green. Close to the ground, the grayish mist thickened over massive tree roots.
“We should be right on top of them,” Kat said.
“Unless . . .”
Another snap.
“Um, guys?” Liv said. Her voice sounded muted, as though it were being choked by the denseness of the surrounding trees.
Snap. This time, the noise came from Liv’s left.
“Unless . . . ,” Kat echoed, her eyes wide.
“They are on top of us.”
The words had barely left Cedric’s mouth before the forest erupted with noise—breaking, growling, snapping, yelling. The wraths came from every direction. They pushed themselves forward from behind trees, sprang up from positions near the ground, knocked over smaller saplings and bushes.
Up close, the wraths were so terrifying, so alien, that Liv momentarily forgot how to breathe. The creatures were tall, some nearing at least seven feet, and many of them had horns that were longer than her arms. Their eyes were flat, black circles tucked deep behind mounds of gray flesh that was pocked, bunched, and stretched over squarish faces. And their mouths . . . their mouths were wide, with cracking lips that spread apart to reveal overcrowded rows of teeth.
Liv forced herself to move toward Kat and Cedric until their backs were to one another. They looked out onto the ring of monsters that surrounded them. There were nine . . . ten . . . eleven? They kept coming.
The wrath nearest to Liv moved forward on its thick legs, which were covered in a rough-looking brown fabric. In LA, the quelling had disguised some wraths as human women and some as men, but here the distinction wasn’t at all clear. As the creature approached Liv, she saw a belt strapped to its waist, and secured to the belt was an axe. The sharp edge of the axe was a disturbing brown-red color.
The wrath stopped, six inches from her. Half of its mouth stretched upward in a sneer. Or was it a smile?
Liv screamed.
That’s when the wrath’s arm shot out. Its thick, coarse hand wrapped around her throat. And squeezed.