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"David!"

David gave two hard blasts on the whistle around his neck Nadia dropped her goggles, and the Durastthe dish moved into position I didn’t wait--I liftedat the dish The whistle blew The dish tilted A single pure beaht blasted from the mirrored surface Even without the second dish, it skewered the sky, slashing through the nichevo’ya as they burned away to nothing

The bea black bodies before it, thinning the horde until we could see the deep Belyanoch twilight A cheer went up froht of stars, and a thin sliver of hope pierced ed the beas

Mal was on the creature in an instant, slashing and cutting A group of Grisha tried to seize itsshifted and skittered away fro froht into the back of the dish The ht faltered, then winked out

"Nadia!" I screamed She and the Durast leapt from the dish just in tilass as the nichevo’ya renewed their attack

I threw out arc after arc of light

"Get to the hall!" I cried "Seal the doors!"

The Grisha ran, but they were not fast enough I heard a shout and saw the brief flash of Fedyor’s face as he was lifted froht shower of cover, but the nichevo’ya just kept co If only we’d had both dishes If only we’d had a little more time

Mal was suddenly beside ood," he said "We have to get out of here"

I nodded, and we backed toward the stairs as the sky grew dense rithing shapes My foot connected with soei was huddled against the dome He held Marie in his arms She’d been torn open from neck to navel

"There’s no one left," he sobbed, tears running down his cheeks "There’s no one left" He rocked back and forth, holding Marie tighter I couldn’t bear to look at her Silly, giggling Marie with her lovely brown curls

The nichevo’ya were skittering over the roof, rushing toward us in a black tide

"Mal, get hi of shadows rushing toward us

Mal grabbed Sergei and pulled hiot hied the door shut behind us We half carried, half shoved hiht, we heard the roof door blow open above us I threw a slicing cut of light high, hoping to hit so other than the staircase, and we tuht

We threw ourselves into the main hall, and the doors crashed closed behind us as the Grisha rammed the lock into place There was a loud thud and then another as the nichevo’ya tried to break through the door

"Alina!" Mal shouted I turned and saw that the other doors were sealed, but there were still nichevo’ya inside Zoya and Nadia’s brother were backed against a wall, using Squaller winds to heave tables and chairs and broken bits of furniture at an oncoht swept forward in sizzling cords, tearing through the nichevo’ya one by one, until they were gone Zoya dropped her hands, and a sa

At every door we heard thu at the wood, trying to get in, searching for a crack or gap to seep through The buzzing and clicking seemed to come from all sides But the Fabrikators had done their ell The seals would hold, at least for a little while

Then I looked around the room The hall was bathed in blood The walls were smeared with it, the stone floor ith it There were bodies everywhere, little heaps of purple, red, and blue

"Are there any others?" I asked I couldn’t keep the trele, dazed shake of her head A spatter of blood covered one of her cheeks "We were at dinner," she said "We heard the bells We didn’t have tiei was sobbing quietly David looked pale, but calm Nadia had made it down to the hall She had her arm around Adrik, and he still had that stubborn tilt to his chin, though he was shaking There were three Inferni and two more Corporalki--one Healer and one Heartrender They were all that remained of the Second Army

"Did anyone see Tolya and Taht be dead Or maybe they’d played some part in this disaster Ta roo all along

"Nikolai ht not have left yet," Mal said "We could try to fisher"

I shook one, then he and the rest of his fae of Nikolai’s body floating facedown in the lake beside the splintered pieces of the Kingfisher

No I would not think that way I reht of Nikolai the first time I’d met him I had to believe the clever fox would escape this trap, too

"The Darkling concentrated his forces here," I said "We can ht our way out froei hopelessly "There are too ht coreater numbers, and the hope of reinforcements from Poliznaya

Fro crack of thunder

"He’s co"

"He’ll kill us all," whispered Sergei

"If we’re lucky," replied Zoya

It wasn’t the ht I’d seen the truth of how the Darkling dealt with traitors in the shadowy depths of his own mother’s eyes, and I suspected Zoya and the others would be treated far more harshly

Zoya tried to wipe the blood fro a set to the upper town I’d rather takefor the Darkling"