“‘She has deceived us all,’” Damion reads. “‘A monster.’”
“‘The most beloved of us all, beloved no more. My sister, gone,’” I read. I stare at the tree. “Eugenia,” I whisper.
Carmen crowds behind me. “You tellin’ me Eugenia Spence is now…that?”
“‘The Key holds the truth.’ That’s what she said. And I’m ready for it now.” I put my hands to the walls and call out to Wilhelmina. “Show me.”
The lantern’s brightness grows, the walls fall away, and I’m in the Winterlands on the night of the fire. A hard wind blows black sand and snow. A huge beast of a tracker in a black cloak as long as the Queen’s robes holds tightly to Eugenia Spence’s arm. She is on her knees as she throws her amulet to my mother. “You must close the realms! Go, now! Hurry!”
Dutifully, my mother drags Sarah toward the Ea
