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Her voiceland She was the brightest thing in Fillory at that moment
“It is time”
That word time echoed from coast to coast Everyone on the battlefield, beasts and humans and whatever else, stood still Julia commanded bipartisan support
She walked toward Janet and Poppy; as she walked one of the roots extended and flattened itself and e to the parapet where they stood Another root scooped up Josh froround in front of the gates, and set him down next to them
“Insert joke here,” Julia said, in so like her normal, nonamplified, predivine voice, “about how I leave you alone for five oes to shit”
Janet didn’t knohat to say She had nothing left She e so huge and all, Janet more or less had to throw her arms around Julia’s waist, but it felt wonderful Her robes were the softest thing ever Janet thought it ed by a mortal, but she allowed it
“Queens of Fillory,” Julia said “And king of Fillory This is it It is tio”
“Where are we going?” It was Josh who asked, in the voice of a lost child “Can you take us to the Far Side of the World?”
Julia shook her head, no
“The Far Side is ending too We are cooling the sun and stilling the waters We are rolling up thedown the stars”
“Then where are we going?” he asked again
“I don’t know,” Julia said “But you can’t stay here”
She held out her hands to the each other for the enchantment to work Poppy took Janet’s hand on one side, and Julia—her fingers felt big and tingly—took the other
Janet bent her head and let herself cry Her face streaht She would live Of course she would, she didn’t have a scratch on her, for Christ’s sake Everything was going to be fine It was just that she would never have a hoain
CHAPTER 27
I’m sorry,” Quentin said, when Alice had finished
“No, you’re not So don’t keep saying it”
“I’ht you back I’m sorry it all happened I wish it hadn’t been you But no one else had the courage and the selflessness and the cleverness to do what you did”
“Fuck your courage and whatever else I’lad I did it I’m just sorry you ruined it”
Alice continued to regard hi could make it
“It’s hard to coet that I didn’t understand how hard it would be” Quentin soldiered on under withering fire “It’s hard to be human, but there’s more to it than that You knew that before You don’t remember it yet, but it’ll come back to you”
Quentin didn’t know if it would or not, but he wasn’t about to give ground now He sensed that if he even flinched, she would take that as proof that she was right about everything And she wasn’t right—was she?
Eliot cleared his throat tactfully
“There’s no very good time to say this,” he said, “but I have to leave” He clapped his hands on his knees “The end of the world is co, and I should really be there for that”
“Sure,” Quentin said “OK”
“Probably I should try to stop it Probably I shouldn’t have stayed this long”
“I know You should go”
He was being uncharacteristically hesitant Quentin ive his love to Josh and Poppy, and ohAnd pregnant? Good for theet out of here
“I’ll just get s”
“I understand”
“Actually I haven’t got any things”
Having gone through the for hi to find the words to say soain
“Will you coure this out, it’s you Or Julia, but Julia isn’t taking my calls We need you, Quentin Come back”
“To Fillory” It hadn’t even crossed his o back I can’t leave Alice now, and Ember would never let me in anyway”
“I’ve been thinking about that second part I told you how the Lorians invaded us, even though they aren’t supposed to be able to? And then Alice found a way to get here through thea bit porous in her old age Border security isn’t what it used to be If there was ever a h, it’s now”
There was a time when Quentin would have seized on that possibility like a drowning , the dull ache of an old wound, but that was all That time had passed He shook his head
“I can’t, Eliot Not now I’m needed here”
Alice snorted at the notion that anybody anywhere ht need Quentin
“I was afraid of that,” Eliot said “Well look, just come with me as far as the Neitherlands That’s all I ask For all I know there’s a s crater where the Fillory fountain was I don’t want to face that alone”
“Ooooh,” Pluo to the Eitherlands!”
“Neitherlands,” Eliot said, suddenly peevish “And it’s not a field trip for interns”
They were interrupted by so at the front door The roo visitors Nobody knew they were here, or nobody should have Quentin put a finger to his lips
More scratching It stopped and then started again He got up and walked as quietly as he could over to the door and peered through the spy hole Empty street There was nobody there He looked at the others Eliot shrugged
He cracked the door a few inches, keeping the chain on, and so small and frantic burst in past him, and he reeled back a step It was the blackbird
It flapped crazily around the roo seconds, with that special horror that birds have of being indoors, before it settled on the Sputnik chandelier Even then its gaze darted everywhere, constantly, like it was expecting danger from any and all directions It looked different: thinner andsoloss
“Do not kill me!” it said
Plum and Eliot were on their feet Only Alice hadn’t moved
“What are you doing here?” Quentin said “Are you alone?”
“I am alone!”
“Why should we believe you?” Plu asshole You betrayed us And you probably murdered Pushkar He had a family, you know Quentin, should we kill it?”
“Maybe Not yet” If this was a trap, or a feint, or a diversion, it was a weird one, if only because he figured the bird for a physical coward It wasn’t like it to lead fro to look around for anybody else”