We all saw the light sphere take off and go up into the night.

It went smoothly for about thirty seconds. It shrank as the distance between it and Neraka’s surface increased.

Then it exploded into a bright yellow flash that rippled across the sky.

It was followed by a loud bang and our gasps and screams, as we helplessly watched the disaster unfold.

My stomach dropped, and I clutched my throat, heat burning through me as if I’d been up there with her.

“Avril!” Heron roared, frozen in place.

Blaze darted toward the edge of the terrace. He leaped over the stone fence and burst into full dragon mode, stretching his wings. His clothes were torn to shreds, blown away by the wind.

“Avril…” Fiona breathed, tears glazing her eyes.

We were all stunned and broken. I could barely breathe.

“Stay here,” Jax urged Heron, holding him back, though the Mara desperately tried to free himself and go after her. “Blaze will handle it. There’s nothing you can do.”

“She… Avril… I… I have to…” Heron was at a loss for words, pale and stricken with horror and grief. Tears rolled down his cheeks, his lower lip trembling as he tried to keep it together but failed miserably.

“Blaze will get her.” Jax tried to reassure him, but the tremor in his voice left room for doubt.

We couldn’t do anything other than wait. Fiona dropped to her knees, sobbing. Scarlett and Caia got down and held her close, no longer able to control themselves, either, as tears sprang to their eyes. The pain was almost palpable, and it burned through my chest, clawing at my heart.

I used my True Sight to follow Blaze as he cut through the sky at high speed. I followed the smoke trails left behind by the explosion, and saw Avril falling.

“She’s up there—she’s falling,” I breathed, my fists balled and tightening till my nails pierced the skin on my palms and I drew blood. I yelped when Blaze managed to catch her on his back, breaking her fall, then turned around and glided back toward the city. “He got her! He got her!”

The girls jumped back to their feet, their eyes wide and suddenly hopeful.

Blaze landed on the terrace with a bone-chilling growl, and lowered his head. Heron pushed Jax off and rushed to get Avril off the dragon’s back. He scooped her into his arms and brought her over to us, while Blaze shifted back to his original form. The Correction Officers were fearful of his presence, but one still found the courage to remove his cloak and give it to Blaze for cover.

Avril was severely burned, her skin red where it wasn’t completely missing. She was unconscious, but I could still hear her heartbeat. It was strong and willing to put up a fight.

It’ll take a lot more to kill you, Avril…

Her leather suit was destroyed, just patches clinging to her body here and there. Heron put her down and bit into his palm, lifting her head slowly. We gathered around her.

“Come on, beautiful, drink,” he murmured in her ear. “I’m here, Avril, I’m here… Just drink and you’ll be okay… Drink.”

Avril’s eyes peeled open. She moaned from the pain, but her lips parted as Heron put his palm over her mouth. She suckled slowly, her burns healing right before our eyes. The tissue regenerated, and her skin grew over strips of raw flesh, brand new and smooth.

I exhaled, able to function again when Avril’s instinctive hunger kicked in, her eyes wide open as she looked up at Heron and continued to feed on his blood. He pulled her closer so she could rest her head on his chest, and held her tight for a couple of minutes.

The smile on his face said everything. Relief washed over us all as Avril slowly recovered.

“What the hell happened?” Hansa said, still pale from everything that had just happened. She ran her fingers through her hair, then looked at Patrik with sheer befuddlement.

“I don’t know.” Patrik shook his head. “I did the spell perfectly, just like Viola taught me. It was supposed to work and take Avril away, not crash into the atmosphere. I can’t… I don’t know…”

“It nearly killed her,” Jax muttered through gritted teeth, his eyes set on Avril and Heron.

“It… It was going smoothly up there,” Avril managed, gently pushing Heron’s hand away from her bloody lips. He didn’t let go of her, though. He stayed down there, his arms wrapped around her and his head resting on top of hers. His pained expression wasn’t something I’d thought I’d ever see on Heron. I had a feeling there was more beneath his playful façade, at least where Avril was concerned. I was even willing to bet that he was into her.

I waved the thought away, refocusing on the bigger problem. The interplanetary spell didn’t work.

“Then, as soon as it reached the atmosphere,” Avril continued, her voice weak as her body continued to mend itself, “it started buzzing a little too loud, and then… it… it just blew up…”

A minute went by as we all processed the outcome of our attempt at leaving Neraka. It didn’t look good. And I sure as hell wasn’t ready to endorse another attempt at the swamp witches’ interplanetary spell.

“Does this… Does this mean we can’t leave Neraka?” Caia croaked, looking at each of us with a hopeful expression, as if waiting for someone to tell her the opposite.

“I don’t know.” Hansa sighed. “I don’t think so… Damn it, this isn’t right! Telluris isn’t working! The interplanetary spell isn’t working! We’re completely cut off from Calliope!”

“We can’t risk another attempt, either,” Jax added. “It’s risky, and, by the looks of it, it might have something to do with Neraka’s atmosphere. It will most likely yield the same result, or worse.”

“So what do we do?” I asked, feeling my blood pressure rise.

“I’m not sure,” Jax murmured. “This wasn’t exactly part of the plan.”

“You mean to tell me we’re stuck here?” Caia asked, visibly infuriated. Her chest moved up and down with each angry breath.

“There’s something really shady going on here,” Heron hissed, then pointed at the upper levels of Azure Heights. “And these bastards have something to do with it, for sure!”

“Yeah, it really doesn’t make sense,” Patrik groaned, pressing his fingers against his temples to relieve some of the tension. “We were able to get here using the interplanetary spell, but now we can’t get out.”

“Maybe it has something to do with the asteroid belt?” Scarlett offered a potential source for our woes. We all looked up, glaring at the shimmering string of purple celestial bodies cutting through the night sky. The second moon was slowly coming up, casting its amber light over us.

“I wouldn’t exclude the asteroid belt. But Rewa was able to get out when she came to us for help. This doesn’t make sense…” Patrik’s eyebrow rose.

“Seriously, what do we do?” I asked, unable to get my own brain to function and produce some viable options. This was getting even weirder, and I hadn’t even thought it was possible.

Hansa opened her mouth to say something, but a sky-splitting bang erupted from above. My instincts went into overdrive. My muscles jumped and turned to stone as I looked up. Massive fires erupted from the top level, bright orange blossoms consuming everything in their path.

“Crap,” I breathed, my hands instinctively clutching my swords.

The entire top floor, the Five Lords’ mansions—it was all engulfed in fire, tall flames that licked at the sky and sent black columns of smoke billowing. People screamed. An alarm went off, a constant wail that made my blood freeze.

This was all too sudden. The first question that flashed through my brain was: did it have anything to do with what had just happened to Avril? Or was this something else entirely, with extremely odd timing? I’d thought I was done with the increasing weirdness and turns of events here, but… I had been wrong. I didn’t even have time to properly process this.

Imen and Maras alike tumbled down the stairs, some set alight by the greedy blaze.

The Five Lords… Caspian…

“Let’s go,” Hansa breathed, and ran up the main alley.

We followed, leaving Heron and Avril behind—she needed a bit more time to recover. The Correction Officers from the infirmary came with us, the horror on their faces almost heartbreaking. Their Lords were up there.

I ran fast, shooting up the stairs and alleys with a thundering heart struggling in my chest.

Caspian was up there.