"Thessivane," Lanthar says.
The word lands. I look at Maximus. He looks at me.
"Humans have never crossed the Veil," I say. "Has that changed?"
"No. They haven't." Lanthar pauses. "But the Veil will hold them. Konstantin cannot follow. My court can provide shelter, food, and healing beyond what your mortal medicine offers." He looks at the building. "When this is over and Konstantin is dealt with, they go home."
"And the memories?" Maximus asks. "Humans who've seen Thessivane. Who've walked through the Veil. Who've met the Fae."
"We have ways. When they return, they will remember being safe. They will remember being cared for. The specifics will fade." He meets Maximus's eyes. "It is not erasure. It is gentleness."
Maximus looks at me. I nod.
"All three sites," Maximus says. "Can you move this many?"
"Not at once. But before dawn. I'll open crossings at each facility. My people will guide them through." He pauses. "I will stay behind to facilitate the transport. You will not have my forces for whatever comes next."
"Understood."
Lanthar inclines his head and walks toward the eastern farm entrance. I watch the teenager in the yard look up as he passes. She doesn't flinch. She watches him with the same steady gaze she turned on me when she asked if this was real.
"Julian, Marcellus," Maximus says through comms. "Lanthar is opening Veil crossings at all three sites. Fae transport for the survivors. Coordinate with his people on the ground."
"Copy," Julian says.
A pause. Static. Then Julian again, and his voice has changed.
"Maximus, I'm getting reports. Downtown Atlanta. Multiple feral attacks. Piedmont Park. Centennial Park. Midtown." A long pause. "They're being filmed. Cell phones. News helicopters. It's on camera."
Maximus looks at me.
"How many?" he says.
"Counting. At least a dozen confirmed. More incoming." Julian's voice tightens. "A livestreamer has ferals converging on a crowd in Piedmont Park. Erik's wolves are responding but they're on camera too. A wolf took down a feral on a live feed. It's already spreading."
Three farms. All hit at once. Every fighter we have deployed to north Georgia. And while we were here, Konstantin deployed ferals downtown.
My hand tightens in Maximus's.
"All teams," Maximus says. "Farm operations secure. Lanthar handles the survivors. Everyone else, redirect to Atlanta for multiple feral attacks. Now."
We run.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
We hear it before we see it.
Sirens. City sirens. Police, fire, ambulance, layered over each other and rising from every direction.
We come through the tree line at the northern edge of Piedmont Park, and the scope of it hits in a single frame. A 5K is running tonight. Was running. The course is chaos now. Runners in numbered bibs, glow sticks, and reflective tape scattering off the path, screaming, shoving past each other, tripping over timing mats. A woman goes down near the water station and the crowd stampedes over her. Three ferals cutting through the panicked runners, fast and wrong. Two of Erik's wolves in pursuit, one gray, one black. A news helicopter overhead, searchlight sweeping. Blue and red strobing from the road. Police cruisers on the grass, officers crouched behind open doors with weapons drawn and nothing in their training thatcovers what they're pointing at. Some of the runners are filming as they run, phones shaking.
"Julian, how many ferals?" I say through comms.
"Fourteen confirmed across three locations. Piedmont Park has the highest concentration. Eight here. Centennial Park had three, contained. Midtown had three more. Erik's wolves took two of them. The rest are still moving."
Celeste is beside me. Her jaw is set. Her stride hasn't slowed since we left the farm.
