“Do you think they have security telling them we found the hidden room?” Fitz asked.

Dex frowned. “I don’t feel any tech or signals.”

“And wouldn’t someone have come to check it by now?” Biana asked. “Tam and I found this over an hour ago, before we came back to wake up Sophie and get you guys.”

Sophie’s cheeks flushed. “Sorry I overslept.”

“Yes, how dare you take a few hours to recover after manifesting a new ability?” Biana scolded.

“What new ability?” Linh and Sandor asked at the same time.

Sophie held up her gloved hands. “Enhancer.”

Linh nearly knocked Della over as she scrambled back. “Sorry.” She hugged her arms around herself. “It’s not you. It’s just still such a struggle for me to maintain control. I can’t imagine what kind of flood I’d cause if someone enhanced my ability.”

“Yeah, that would not be a good idea,” Tam said, peeking his head through the glass again. “Not unless we want to wipe out a couple of cities.”

“Why does this sound like an ability that’s going to increase the challenge of protecting you?” Sandor asked Sophie.

“Because it will.” Mr. Forkle explained about the gloves, and how they’d do everything they could to keep the ability secret. But how it was a part of Sophie now. Always.

Grizel peeked her head through the mirror, locking eyes with Sandor. “Don’t blame me. We all know Sophie would’ve triggered the ability even if you’d been there.”

“Still, I leave you my charge for one night,” he grumbled.

“So what’s it like on the other side of the mirror?” Sophie asked, eager for a subject change.

She’d expected Tam to answer, but Biana jumped in. “It wasn’t at all what I’d imagined. I was rooting for creepy furniture and crazy gadgets and all kinds of cool villainy things. But it’s just a cramped, empty stone room that looks like it’s been there since they built the tower.”

“Does that mean the Neverseen have been around for thousands of years?” Linh asked.

“I suppose it’s possible,” Mr. Forkle said. “But most likely the room once served some other long-forgotten purpose, and Fintan or Brant—or maybe their Shade—stumbled across it and made it their own.”

“Either way, it’s definitely how they got in,” Grizel said, climbing back out through the mirror. “Their scent is everywhere—but it’s also stale, so I don’t think they’ve been back since they took Wylie.”

“Am I the only one who still doesn’t understand how they actually get into the tower?” Dex asked. “So . . . they get here”—he pointed to the floor in the Hall of Illumination—“by coming through there”—he pointed to the swirling Cimmerian mirror—“where there’s another secret room. But how do they get in that room?”

Biana grinned. “Go see for yourself.”

Dex didn’t need to be told twice, practically sprinting through the mirror.

“Ohhhhh, it has one of the Lodestar symbol gadgets!” he breathed.

That was all the invitation Sophie needed to go charging after him, shivering from the waves of cold that rippled across her skin as she passed through the glass. Fitz was right on her heels, and they nearly tripped over each other in the claustrophobic space.

“I’m fine,” she told Sandor as his head peeked through the mirror, which looked like a swirling black square on the other side. “Better wait for me out there—we can barely move.”

She couldn’t imagine how the Neverseen managed to fit Alvar, Ruy, Trix, Umber, and Wylie’s unconscious body within the narrow, musty walls. But they must have. The Lodestar symbol glowing across the floor proved it.

“It has runes,” Fitz said, stepping back to uncover the letters in another circle at the end of one of the rays. “Looks like it says Pallidrose. I’m guessing that’s another star.”

“Another solo star,” Sophie agreed as her mind connected with the memory. “It also glows with pure white light, so those definitely seem to be their criteria. But how does this thing work? I’m assuming we have to do something?”

“We’re hoping Dex can figure it out,” Biana called through the mirror.

“I’ll have to get a closer look at the gadget.” Dex levitated up to the ceiling and traced his finger along the curved edge. “Weird—I don’t feel a lot of mechanisms in this thing. I can’t even figure out where it opens.”

“I wonder if Tam has to do something,” Sophie said. “Or maybe Biana. Gethen made it sound like it relied on someone using their abilities, and they’re the only ones that match.”

“We already thought about that earlier,” Biana said. “I tried everything I could think of.”

“So did I,” Tam admitted.

“Do you think it would help if you enhanced them?” Fitz asked Sophie.

“I . . . don’t know.” The ability was so new, she hadn’t even thought of it. But she peeled off her right glove and offered Tam her hand, wondering if her stomach would always feel this churny whenever she went to touch anyone now.

Tam looked just as nervous as he curled his fingers around hers and the shadows sprang to life on the floor, creating a thick black outline around the glow of the Lodestar symbol.

“That’s so crazy,” he mumbled. “I couldn’t feel that darkness before.”

He tightened his grip on Sophie, pulling her with him a few steps as he followed the shadows to one of the rays they had yet to discover the rune for.

“I think this is how they left,” he whispered. “See how the shadows are gathering?”

The bits of darkness were puddling together, like rivers of selkie skin flowing into the empty circle.

The darkness rippled like water, parts of it rising up with a rune.

“I think maybe . . .”

“Wait,” Fitz said, lunging to grab Sophie’s arm as Tam stepped down on the pool of shadows. His fingers connected with her skin right as an arctic rush blasted up and tangled around the three of them, dragging them into the darkness and blasting them away.

SIXTY-NINE

OKAY, WHAT JUST happened?” Fitz asked, still clinging to Sophie as she and Tam fought to regain their balance on the mossy, uneven floor.