Brightness stabbed at Layla’s eyes. She hadn’t realized that the light in the underworld was dimmer than on Earth, but her eyeballs were telling her that it certainly was. Hunter helped steady her as she climbed down from his back. Fern was squinting in the bright light.

The first thing she saw when her eyes adjusted was her car, parked between two trees nearby. Layla clutched at the antidote, which was still safely in her sheath under her shirt.

The door opened, and Fisher stepped out. “Let’s go!” he called. Spurred by the urgency in his voice, the three of them ran to the car. Fisher had them bundled inside in seconds, without so much as a hello.

The moment they were all in, Phoenix started driving; it seemed they had left the engine running. Fisher slammed his door shut as the car kicked up dirt. Phoenix was driving like a maniac, and Layla worried they were going to crash into a tree.

“Phoenix, slow down!” Hunter yelled.

“Can’t,” Phoenix said tersely. “No time.”

Layla felt a rush of fear when she realized what this meant. Phoenix wasn’t a bad driver or a reckless one. For him to risk them like this, it must be life or death.

“Sophie?” she gasped.

“She’s alive, but barely. I’m not sure if she’ll still be there when we get back. We need to hurry.”

Layla fought back the urge to scream.

Phoenix was concentrating on the road; at least they’d gotten out of the forest alive. Cars were honking wildly at them as they zigzagged across lanes, but Phoenix didn’t even seem to notice.

Fisher turned around in his seat, finally greeting them.

“Welcome back. Did everything go ok? I’m Fisher, by the way.”

“Fern.” Fern shook hands with him.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. Are you coming to help with Sophie?”

“She’ll be fine once she takes the antidote, though of course, I’ll check on her. I came here to escape Swift. He had me locked up. I’d be dead soon if it wasn’t for Hunter and Layla. Hunter says he can help me find a place to live.”

“We’ll all be happy to help however we can. We all owe you a great debt for the antidote.”

“Aren’t you going to ask if we have it?”

Fisher laughed. “Clearly, you haven’t known Layla long. She wouldn’t be back without the antidote.”

“I just hope we’re not too late.”

Fisher didn’t say anything, which scared her. “Can I have your phone? Mine is dead.”

He handed it over, and Layla opened skype, calling Damaris.

Damaris answered on the first ring. “Fisher, do you have it?” She blinked when she saw Layla’s face on the screen. “Layla! Please tell me you have the antidote.”

“I have it. We’re on our way.”

“Hurry.”

“Let me see her, Damaris.”

“Of course. Here.”

Cord’s face appeared as Damaris handed the phone over. “Cord! You’re better?”

“Yes, of course, I was back to normal within a few days. Here she is. Don’t panic; she’s still breathing.”

It was good Cord had told her that, because Sophie was as pale as death, and her chest didn’t seem to be moving. Layla stared hard for a few seconds before she could make out the movements of small, labored breaths.

“Sophie? Can you hear me?”

“She’s unconscious, Layla, but hanging on. Just hurry.”

“Leave the phone there, Cord, please, and put Damaris back on the line.”

There was some shuffling as Cord positioned the phone on the bedside table so that Layla could see Sophie. Cord plugged in a set of headphones and took them out of the room to Damaris.

“Layla? Are you nearly there?”

“No, we only just left,” Layla moaned. “It’ll take hours to get back, even with Phoenix driving like a crazy person. Damaris, is there a way I could use magic to speed us up? What if Sophie doesn’t have hours?”

“Not a good idea, Layla. Magic at this point could cause more harm than good. What if it drained Phoenix and you crashed? Sophie would be dead, then.”

Layla had heard the speech about the dangers of magic many times before, but she was in no mood to hear it again. She desperately wanted to be able to do something other than sit helplessly in the car and hope they made it in time.

“Damaris, there has to be something!”

“Believe me, Layla, if I thought using magic would give Sophie a better chance, I’d be begging you to do it. I care about her too, you know.”

“Of course, I know,” Layla said, regretting losing her temper and snapping. “Let me know if you think of anything.”

“I will. Can you link the GPS here so that I can watch your progress?”

Layla did, and then sat back to watch Sophie’s chest rise and fall. A few times, she clutched Hunter’s arm, sure that Sophie had stopped breathing, only to breathe again herself when her friend’s chest rose again.

The ride was tense and almost silent, the quiet broken only by an occasional exchange of information by Layla and Damaris, and by the honking that followed them as Phoenix did everything he could to get there in time.

When they finally screeched to a halt outside the demons’ place, Layla was the first out of the car. She was up and running before Phoenix had turned the engine off. Rose was there, holding the door open for her. Layla brushed past Cord as he tried to block her entrance to Sophie’s room. They had Fern now; it didn’t matter if any of them caught Sanmortem from Sophie. Even without Fern, Layla didn’t think anything would have kept her out of that room.

Sophie looked worse in person than she had over the phone. It was all Layla could do not to break down and panic. She took a steadying breath and pulled the antidote out of its holder, barely aware of the others all gathered behind her. Damaris knelt on the other side of the bed, propping up Sophie’s shoulders and holding her head.

Sophie mumbled something incoherent as Layla pressed the vial of antidote to her lips. Slowly, careful not to spill a drop, Layla gave Sophie the antidote. It was slow going, as Sophie was only partially conscious, but eventually, the whole thing was gone.

Damaris laid Sophie back. They could see a difference immediately. A little of Sophie’s color started to return, and her breathing seemed easier. She drifted off into what seemed a more natural sleep than the state of unconsciousness she’d been in before.

“I’ve never seen a case of Sanmortem that bad,” Fern said, coming to examine Sophie. “I don’t know how she survived this long.”

“She’ll be ok, won’t she?”

“Yes, she’ll be fine, now that she’s had the antidote. She’ll sleep for about a day, and when she wakes, she’ll be weak, but it won’t take long for her strength to return.”

“Thank you, Fern,” Lizeth said, clasping her hand. “If you ever need anything in return, you have but to ask.”

Fern thanked her and said they should leave Sophie to rest. Layla was reluctant to leave her side, but Fern told her that it would be better for Sophie to be in a quiet, still place so that she could get the best rest possible. Layla reluctantly followed the others downstairs.

She left the phone on Sophie’s bedside so that she could keep watching her. No way was Sophie going to wake up alone. At the first sign she was waking, Layla would be by her side.

Phoenix made everyone tea, and they all sat down and drank. Layla couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a hot drink; that hadn’t exactly been a priority in the underworld.

“What happened down there?” Cord asked.

Layla glanced at Hunter, not knowing where to begin, and not really wanting to. She was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and all she wanted was to sit back and watch the phone screen until Sophie woke up.

Hunter must have sensed some of her feelings, because he started to tell the story, leaving her to her thoughts.

He left out most of the fights the two of them had gone through, but he told everything else. Everyone was alarmed to hear of the political upheaval in the underworld, as well as the continued disappearing land. Layla had hardly noticed those things while they were down there, having been intent on only the antidote.

“What will this mean for us?” Damaris asked, looking at the demons.

Hunter sighed. “We can’t expect Earth not to be affected by this. The underworld has had revolutions before, but combined with the land problem, I think we’re in for difficult times ahead.”

“What do you mean?” Layla asked, tearing her eyes away from the screen on which Sophie was still sleeping peacefully.

“If the underworld disappears, there’s only one place for demons to go: Earth. Worse, these are demons involved in a fight over kings. When demons fight, people around them get hurt. That’s one of the reasons other immortals don’t like us leaving the underworld.

“You’ve seen for yourself by now that demons have very different laws than humans. Those of us who come here voluntarily respect those laws, but those who are forced because their homes are disappearing? I’m not sure we can expect the same from them.”

Layla began to understand the alarm on every other face. “What do you think will happen?”

“I don’t know,” Hunter said grimly. “It’ll be tough, though, of that much I’m sure.”

“Then we should start preparing,” Damaris said briskly. With Sophie out of commission, she was the temporary high priestess, and she took that role seriously. “We need to protect ourselves and each other.”

“I can redouble the protection spells around our houses,” Rose offered, “but I’m not sure what else we can do.”

“There isn’t much else,” said Cord heavily. “We have no idea what will happen. It could be some time before anything happens, or it could be next week. Maybe the demons will keep to themselves, or maybe they’ll decide to overthrow the government here. We really have no way of knowing.”

“We should keep a watch on the portal. At the very least, we’ll know who’s coming through.”

Layla thought Lizeth had a good point, but Fisher was already shaking his head. “It won’t work, Lizeth. There are hundreds of portals all over the world. The one we used is just the closest. There’s no way you could keep watch over them all.”

“What about hidden cameras?” Layla suggested.

“Even if we could get to every portal in the world to install them, it wouldn’t help.”

“Why not?”

“Phoenix is right.” Hunter put a hand on her arm as he explained. “The portals are things of magic. Creations of science tend to malfunction around areas of high magic. That’s why we never parked the car too close to the portal, because it could have fried the engine.”

“We should let other Covens know,” Damaris mused. “At the very least, we need to tell them to be on guard for trouble.”

Fisher winced. “That may cause more trouble than it solves. Most witches still hate demons. If they know a lot of demons are coming to Earth, they may decide to send them right back, with force if necessary.”

Layla thought that was preposterous, but Damaris seemed to take it seriously. The discussion moved to other ways they could try to prepare themselves for whatever was coming. Layla didn’t follow it, content to watch Sophie sleeping. The difference was amazing. She still looked pale, but a far cry from looking like she was breaths away from death.

Fern sat in a chair beside the bed, checking on her regularly. Confident that Sophie was in good hands, Layla slipped away. There was something she needed to do.

She thought of Claw and wondered whether her mom still cared for him, as he did for her. Layla knew she could never tell her. Apart from her mom not believing her, knowing could put her in danger from Claw’s enemies.

Meeting Claw and hearing his story had changed things for Layla. She realized that everyone had mistakes and regrets in their pasts. If you couldn’t forgive them, you’d end up with no one. Layla had forgiven Claw. True, Claw was much less at fault than her mom was, but seeing Sophie dying had made her realize that anyone could go, at any time, just as Sophie had told her.

She didn’t want to miss a chance to make things with right with her mom and regret it for the rest of her life. Maybe her relationship with her mom couldn’t be fixed, but Layla was willing to try, at least once more.

She dialed the number, but her fingers hesitated over the call button. What if her mom was drunk? What if she’d reconsidered her text and didn’t want anything to do with Layla? What if she just wanted money for more booze?

Though he was still inside, Layla could almost hear Hunter’s voice telling her that she was overthinking it, that she should just take the plunge and do it. She smiled faintly, wondering if the voice was simply her memories, or if Hunter was using the bond between them to communicate. She didn’t know if that could be done, but if it could, Hunter would be the one to find a way.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed the call button.

The phone rang and rang. Finally, it went to voice mail. Layla wasn’t sure whether she was disappointed or relieved.

“Hi Mom, I got your text. I can meet up for coffee tomorrow, if that works for you. Let me know. Bye.”

Layla hung up, her heart racing as though she’d run a marathon. She went back inside to find the others still engaged in discussion about demons and the underworld. Layla went to sit beside Hunter, listening but not talking much.

She just wanted to sleep. Even though it was barely past lunchtime, she felt on the verge of collapse.

It must have been pretty obvious, because it wasn’t long before Damaris sent her upstairs to take a nap. Layla knew she was in no condition to argue and went without protest after securing a promise to get her the moment Sophie woke up.

Sophie’s spare bed had never looked so inviting. It had been so long since she’d slept on a real bed. The blankets were puffier than she remembered. She fell onto it, asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Her dreams were strange, but not bad. She saw the glowing plants in the underworld, the swelling purple ocean. Sophie was there, sitting in a forest clearing, telling her that the moon was rising.

At some point, Layla came partially awake to find herself in Hunter’s arms. He was carrying her somewhere.

“Just sleep,” he told her. “Everything’s ok. I’m taking you home.”

“Sophie…”

“She’s still asleep. Fern says she won’t wake before tomorrow. I’ll take you back at first light, ok? Right now, you need rest.”

Perhaps Layla would have protested, but before she could say anything else, she had already fallen asleep. She had confused images of her and Hunter’s cabin, of him tucking her in, and drawing the curtains.

The last thing she remembered was his voice telling her that he loved her.