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I nodded

"Now," Cole said "Let’s try to transition from plastic strawsto sparks and flames Will’s explosives won’t mean much unless you can set them off"

We worked for what felt like hours, but I was reassured knowing they were only Everneath hours

By the time Cole took me back to the Surface, I had conjured up an ordinary Fourth of July sparkler Without hi to throw a rock at me

Now all we could do was hope that Will had actually built devices that could be lit with a sparkler and that he and Jack had found so in their research that would make Adonia weak

THIRTY-FOUR

NOW

The Everneath Ashe’s house

Cole sent Ashe up to the Surface to get Jack and Will, and then we all gathered in Ashe’s house

"We have the explosives," Jack said, leaning back in the chair at Ashe’s table "But we don’t know much more about Adonia’s life She was born in 1831 Grew up in rural England near the Cotswolds Fell in love with Nathanial Hawking, but before they could be married, he went to serve in the war That’s when she "

"Ashe," I filled in "When Adonia wouldn’t return with him, he betrayed her to the queen But we kno Adonia defeated the queen"

"That’s it Mostly stuff we already knew" Jack sighed "We saw the queen hours ago Do you reht back to our encounter in the vault "Her ie oscillates between a petite blonde and a tall redhead She wears a token around her neck"

"I didn’t get a good look What does the token look like?" Jack asked

I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on theit Like the ed "That’s all I have"

Jack threw aside the papers "It’s not enough"

I looked down at my wrist The second shackle was so dark

Jack looked fro "Hoas the training?"

"Our best hope are the bombs They have to work," I said "We have to hope the blast will be enough, because right now, if I face the queen, I’ll lose"

When we left Ashe’s house and stepped onto the narrow streets of Ouros, I really noticed how ed The city itself looked as if it had aged a century since we’d last seen it The building right next to us was round

Everlivingto search for soo, and sat with backs against walls, staring dejectedly at the ground

The scene was one of constantfallout from the lockdown event

Jack and I looked at each other, and for austhe opposite direction

"Are you ready for this, Becks?"

I nodded "Let’s blow up the Everneath Or die trying"

He gave , hard, end-of-the-world kind of way

Ashe broke us up "Let’s h the streets toward the secret chah Court, the evidence of the effects of the lockdown on display the entire way If we failed to destroy the Everneath, the place would still have a long ways to go to reach its forlory

At the very least, we struck it a blow

But that wouldn’t be enough for us to survive

Once at the chamber, Ashe took our hands and ere in the air just like before, gliding through the sky over the eles of the labyrinth But this tie branches eround to the s and the turrets, twisting and turning, entwining in thick braided knots high up into the air

As we got closer, I noticed thorns sticking out of the branches Sharp and jagged, and bigger than any natural thorns

"Slon," I said

"I can’t," Ashe said "It’s like autopilot"

We careened through the gigantic briar patch, the sharp thorns ripping through theat my skin I cried out in pain

There was no way to avoid the thorns They ranged in size fro out of the ground, the walls, everywhere

"The queen must’ve added this layer of protection since soher," Ashe said He pulled out his sword and began swinging

Sohtup my wrist The second shackle was just as dark as the first now Which meant I would have to Century Feed soon, or I would die I wondered how dark the line had to be before that happened

Jack came over and examined my wrist Then he lifted his eyes to meet mine

I was overco of the life ouldn’t get to have, the tiet to spend The pain of the unfulfilled potential was al in the world I wouldn’t give it up

"I love you," I said

"It’s not over," he said

"Over or not I love you"

"I love you too"

The vault of hearts was completely overrun by briar bushes They reached inside the red stained-glass door that Jack had srew so thick, only soh It was soh the door, ould be stuck

"Ashe!" Cole shouted

"I’ht on aBeauty" Thorns and branches exploded off the end of his sword, and yet our progress was slow

We took it inch by inch, shuffling forward I couldn’t help looking at the entrye’d just co and swung, slicing through the boughs

Suddenly, shadows filled the room

"Shades!" Cole said

Ashe tossed the sword to Jack, who caught it by the hilt "I’ll hold the his fists