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“So you can’t” Josh said, but he trailed off

“But then—” Janet said She couldn’t finish her sentence either She’d been sure this was it The answer, the end of the quest, at last She’d been so sure

The iot a lot of her best impulses these days It suddenly all linked up in her head: Umber had taken Martin’s humanity, and He made it all sound like a lark, like what else could He do? But Martin had become the Beast, the Beast had bitten off Penny’s hands and crushed Quentin’s collarbone and irl back in school, as her name That all went back to Umber

She ripped one of her axes from its strap on her back and in the same motion clouted Umber in the head with it She didn’t even have time to put an ice blade on it, it was just a cold steel spanner straight to the ram-jowls

“Yah!”

Uain, a lot harder this time, and His front knees buckled

These crazy axes She’d give the Fore he’d said they were and od with them, and He would feel it

Uelse, and Janet has folded under Him and He sank down and lost consciousness Then she hit Hiht on His ear, knocked a tiny chip out of one of those big horns Blue sparks flew

“That’s for everything You did! And everything You didn’t do! You fucking jerk!”

“Janet!” Poppy said, losing her cool a bit for once “Jesus!”

“Who cares? It’s not Hi” Plus who knoas the next tiod? Especially one who so obviously deserved it? Umber sprawled on His side, unconscious, the tip of His thick tongue poking out of His slack mouth

“Loser” She spat on Hi anyway You’re too much of a pussy”

The others just stared at her, and at the slurass under a tree on top of a hill in the Chankly Bore

“That was for Alice,” she said “And, you know, Penny’s hands All that stuff”

“No, we got it,” Josh said “Message received”

“We should go,” Poppy said

But they didn’t, or not yet In the distance, through a gap in the Nameless Mountains, they could see that the sun had al

But then it didn’t quite set It didn’t quitebelow the horizon, the sun seemed to come to rest on it Bit by bit, incree flattened, and distant flares and gouts of fla the sunset There was a flash of light, then another, a distant bombard boom, and the tremor a few seconds after that, a heavy industrial vibration passing through the earth, like so a belt sander to the rim of the world A few leaves shook down from the tree behind them

“What,” Josh said, “the fuck is that”

Janet wished she didn’t get it, but she did

“It’s the end” She sat down on the crown of a hill in the Chankly Bore and hugged her knees “It’s starting We’re too late The apocalypse has begun”

CHAPTER 25

Alice slept She slept for twenty hours give or take, in Quentin’s bed, flat on her back, mouth propped open, perfectly still under a thin sheet, not once stirring or rolling over Quentin stayed awake as long as he could watching her, listening to her faint wheezing Her hair was long and lank and , and she was bruised on one arm from when she’d fallen to the floor But she was healthy and whole She was her

Quentin looked at her and looked at her: she was finally back He felt like the rest of his life could begin now He didn’t know if he was still in love with Alice, but he knew that being in the same room with her otten he could When he couldn’t stay awake any longer the others took over

He was downstairs eating breakfast at noon, getting ready for another shift, when she woke up

“She said she was hungry,” Plum said

Quentin looked up from his Cheerios to see her in the doorrapped in Plu like the palest, most wan, most precious, most vulnerable creature he’d ever seen There were purple shadows under her eyes

He stood up, but he didn’t go to her He didn’t want to crowd her He wanted to take things at her pace He’d had a lot of time to think about this et too excited Cal her at the arrivals gate after she’d been away on a long, disastrous journey

It was easier than he thought He was just happy to see her There were no road ure it out They had all the time in the world now

“Alice,” he said “You’re probably hungry I’ll get you so to eat”

Alice didn’t answer, just shuffled over to the table, then stared down at it as if she were uncertain as to how precisely this apparatus worked He put out a hand, to guide her maybe, but she shied away She didn’t want to be touched

She lowered herself cautiously into a chair He got her some Cheerios Did she like those? He couldn’t remember It was all they had He placed the bowl in front of her, and Alice regarded it like it was a bowl of fresh vomit

Probably niffins didn’t eat Probably this was her firsta body in seven years After another minute she clumsily dipped a spoon in it There was a sense of everybody trying not to stare at her She chewed for a few seconds, robotically, like so food looked like but had never actually tried it before Then she spat it out

“Told you we should’ve got Honey Nut,” Plum said

“Give her time,” he said “I’ll run out for soo down easier”

“She ht be thirsty”

Right Quentin got her a pint glass of water She drank it in one long s, then she drank another, gave a colossal belch and stood up

“Are you all right?” Plu?”

“Because fuck yourself,” Alice said in a hoarse whisper She went back upstairs and back to bed

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