I ran after Patrik, Thadeus, and my two mutated shifters disguised as snakes until we came to a halt at a corner. The Druids morphed back to normal, peeking around the corner, then frowning at me.

“What?” I whispered.

“Four Destroyers guarding the door,” Patrik said.

“That’s new,” I muttered. “Aida didn’t see any guards.”

“Azazel’s tightening his defenses.” Thadeus shook his head.

“What do we do?” I asked, moving up to Patrik’s side to get a better look.

He bent forward, muttering something under his breath and reaching out a hand, wiggling his fingers. He sent out an invisible pulse, knocking torches off the wall at the far end of the hallway. It caught the Destroyers’ attention, and they slithered away from the door in the opposite direction before hissing and vanishing around the corner.

“That should keep them busy for a bit,” Patrik said as we darted toward Nova’s room.

“Ah, there’s the damn purple tree,” I mumbled at the sight of the potted tree that Aida had mentioned.

The door was unlocked. We ran into the room, and noticed the key on the other side. I locked the door behind us and stilled, my eyes nearly popping out of their orbits at the sight of Damion and Nova staring blankly at us.

The shifters rose to their feet, back in their original form, growling and putting out the green fire candles in the wall fixtures. Patrik and Thadeus moved closer to Damion, who drew his sword, equally shocked and cringing. I guessed he hadn’t expected to see Thadeus back in Druid form, and especially not next to Patrik, both of them buck naked.

“Nova, honey,” I said gently to the Daughter sitting up in her bed. “You might want to cover your eyes for this one.”

“What… What are you doing?!” Damion hissed, consternation imprinted on his face.

“What does it look like we’re doing?” Thadeus smirked. “We’re free.”

“How… How did you break free? This is treason! Azazel will kill us all!”

“Damion, we can help you,” Patrik said, raising his hands in a peaceful gesture.

“No one can help me!” the Destroyer snapped, then lunged at Patrik with his sword above his head.

Patrik dodged as Damion brought the sword down. Its tip hit the marble floor with a sharp clang. The Druid threw a heavy punch into Damion’s side, making him wheeze, while Thadeus moved around and jumped him from behind, wrapping his arms around the Destroyer’s neck in a tight chokehold.

“Stop it.” Damion struggled as his air was cut off.

Thadeus had a firm grip on him, making it impossible for the Destroyer to get free, his serpent tail flailing around the room and knocking into the furniture. He pulled Damion down to the floor. Patrik shushed him.

“We can help you!” he said. “Just let us help you!”

“No, he’ll kill me!”

“Do you want to see Cayron again or not?” Thadeus shot back.

Damion finally stilled, his yellow eyes wide. He looked at the Druids for a long minute, then nodded slowly.

“Then let us help you. Azazel’s reign is over. The whole of Antara is rising against him,” Patrik said. “You can hear the drums of war. That’s the sound of Azazel’s fear. He knows we’re coming!”

I drew closer along with the shifters, trying to get to Nova, who’d covered her eyes, listening quietly.

“Let us help you,” Patrik added.

Damion’s eyes flared green, breaking his attempt to go against Azazel. The Destroyer bared his fangs and coiled his tail around Patrik’s neck. Thadeus responded by tightening his chokehold on Damion, but it didn’t seem to work.

“I’ll kill you before he kills me!” Damion said through gritted teeth.

“I don’t want to kill you!” Thadeus retorted. “I’m trying to help you! Stop it!”

“You can’t help me! No one can help me!”

I moved toward them, thinking I could try to loosen the serpent tail from around Patrik’s neck. His face was turning white, his lips a dark shade of purple, and his eyes rolled back in his head. He was close to blacking out already.

“Enough!” I heard Nova shout.

I hadn’t even seen her when she’d snuck to Damion’s side. The shifters had been unable to keep her away, and were now growling by my side as we watched her grab Damion’s head and dig her fingers into his temples.

He stilled, and her eyes glowed violet. I’d seen this in Viola before. She was using her power to do something to him.

“What are you doing, Nova?” I asked.

“Making it stop!” She frowned, her gaze fixed on Damion, whose snake tail released Patrik.

The Druid fell back, coughing and choking as he gradually recovered his breath. Thadeus let go of Damion and stepped back. The Daughter’s fingers lit up in a bright pink. Damion grunted, his eyes shut. Beads of sweat bloomed all over his face.

His body shuddered, his arms twitching. The bones in his serpent tail began to crack, and he gasped from the pain. A green light flared out of him before his lower body returned to its original Druid form, two legs shaking against the cold floor.

Nova stood up, looking curiously at her hands as the glow in her eyes dimmed.

“How did you do that?” Patrik looked at her with genuine amazement, then at Damion, who was once again a Druid.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I just wanted to make him stop. I think… I think I knew I could do it…”

“Well done, Nova!” Thadeus gave her a warm smile, which faded when the Daughter fell to the floor, too weak to get up.

She was pale and fragile, and her trick of breaking Azazel’s hold on Damion had clearly taken its toll on her. I hung the sword on my belt and set the shield aside to scoop her up in my arms, and she rested her head on my chest. Patrik and Thadeus looked at her with visible concern, before Damion’s groans caught their attention.

“What happened?” he asked, peeling his eyes open and wiping the sweat from his face. He glanced at us, blinking rapidly until he realized where he was and what had happened. He noticed his legs and gasped. “Oh! I’m… I’m back?”

Thadeus gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder, chuckling with relief.

“Yeah, you’re back, you whiny bastard! The Daughter helped!”

They all stood up, Damion leaning against Thadeus for initial support, getting reacquainted with his legs. He grinned as he looked down at his toes, while I turned around to shield Nova from the nakedness of now three Druids standing in front of us.

“Are you okay, honey?” I asked her, scanning her face.

“Yes, I think so.” She blinked slowly. “Just tired, always tired…”

The little ruby pendant around her neck drew my attention.

“Azazel uses this to feed off your powers, doesn’t he?”

She nodded her response, clutching it in her little hand.

“He said I’ll feel worse if I take it off.” She sighed.

“He lied,” Damion replied. “It feels worse with it off, but that’s just to convince you to keep it on. You need to destroy it, and it’ll cut off the power link he made to you. I watched him set it all up with a spell.”

A moment passed as we all stared at him. He’d gotten so far so quick, going from the stubborn Destroyer to the helpful Druid in front of us.

“Look at you, so cooperative all of a sudden.” Thadeus smirked, then moved toward Nova and me. He quietly waited for her permission. When she nodded, he took the pendant off and tossed it on the floor.

He raised his foot, ready to stomp it.

“Wait,” I said, suddenly thinking about the repercussions. “Azazel will most likely feel the break.”

“He’s right,” Damion agreed. “Best to wait to break it until she’s out of here…”

“Where am I going?” she asked, half asleep already.

My heart broke to see her so weak, so exhausted, a victim of Azazel’s greed and desperate bid for power.

Damion stepped forward, looking at Nova and me. “I’ll get her out of here,” he said. “Thadeus and I have been looking after her from the moment we were turned. Thadeus can stay here and fight. I’m not strong or brave enough to face Azazel, but I can take her to Mount Agrith. I can take her to her sisters.”

Patrik, Thadeus, and I looked at each other—a brief and wordless exchange that ended in a collective nod. One of my shifters turned into a flying horse, spectacularly large for the size of the room. It reminded me of the proverbial bull in a china shop as it trotted over to the tall window, which was narrow but not enough to keep the horse from getting out of there.

The other shifter padded over to its mate and fiddled with the lock on the window until it was able to open it wide, then looked at me and stepped back. They never ceased to amaze me.

Patrik grabbed the bedspread and loosely wrapped it around Damion’s waist, a glimmer of amusement in his blue eyes. Damion gave him a confused look in return.

“You know, since you’re going to see the Daughters on Mount Agrith. At least make yourself presentable.” Patrik grinned.

“Ah, yes, true…”

“Get on the horse,” I said.

He climbed onto the back of the winged shifter, unable to take his eyes off it. I gave him Nova, whom he held affectionately close to his chest, then recovered my shield from the floor.

“How’d you get shifters to obey your commands like this?” he asked.

“One of Nova’s sisters helped.” I smirked, pointing at the flying horse’s glowing violet eyes.

“Oh.” He nodded, making the connection. He then looked at us, a pained expression settling on his face. “I’ll keep her safe and get her to Mount Agrith, I promise. It’s the least I can do, and not enough to right my wrongs.”

“It’s okay, Damion,” I replied. “Azazel’s hold is strong—you have every reason to be afraid. You’re free now. That’s all that matters.”

“Smash the pendant as soon as I’m over fifty yards away,” he said. “Azazel will sense it. You need to get out of here, too. He’ll be out for blood.”

“Got it.” Patrik gave him a curt nod.

The shifter-horse neighed and moved back a couple of feet. Damion grasped its mane while using his other arm to hold Nova. The creature then ran and jumped through the open window, expanding its wings and shooting upward into the sky.

There were plenty of Destroyers flying around, but none close enough to immediately notice Damion. The shifter was fast, too, covering the fifty-yard distance in just a couple of seconds. I immediately stomped my boot on the pendant, satisfied by the crackling sound. We all felt the pulse emitted by the crushed ruby, and looked at each other for a brief moment.

“I think Azazel felt that too,” Patrik muttered.

We ran out of the room and back around the corner in the direction we’d come from. Thadeus and Patrik took the lead, while the remaining shifter and I followed. My stomach tightened into a knot at the thought of a raging Azazel storming down here after us. We’d really kicked the hornet’s nest this time.

“Where do we go now?” Thadeus asked as we rushed down the hallway.

“The platform at the top,” I replied, breathing fast.

“Okay, I know a safer way up. Follow me,” Thadeus said before he morphed into his rather large anaconda form.

Patrik shifted into a small viper, and the shifter followed suit. We rushed up a narrow service staircase, and I reached out to Serena and Field.

“Telluris Serena!”

“Jovi,” came her voice echoing in my head. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, where are you?”

“We’re in the castle, coming up through the pipe system.”

“Oh, ew!” I grimaced. “Update—Nova’s out of the castle! The power’s cut off!”

“Fantastic!” I heard her gasp. “I’ll tell the Dearghs… You’re amazing!”

“I know.” I smirked. “See you upstairs!”

I then gave Field the signal he’d been waiting for.

“Telluris Field!”

“Wolf boy,” he muttered in my skull.

“Light’em up, Hawk! It’s go time!” I shot back, then ran faster up the circular stairs after Patrik, Thadeus, and my shifter.

“You got it,” I heard Field say before the line went dead.

That was it. The signal we needed for the alliance to begin its offensive. For the Dearghs to sacrifice six of their own and dim the volcanoes until they were rendered useless to Azazel.

The battle was about to begin. I gripped the handle of my sword, bracing myself for what we were going to find up on the terrace of Luceria. The day had finally come for us to pay Azazel back in kind for everything he’d done to us and the people we loved, our friends and our allies.

The concept of my impending death snuck into the back of my head, but I pushed it away before it could drill too deeply into my heart. I’d sworn to myself that I would do everything possible to survive, but I was also ready to die, if it meant protecting Anjani, my sister, and everyone I held dear.

We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, I thought, taking two steps at a time.