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The noise is deafening. It bounces off the walls, magnified tenfold, so that my eardrums feel as if they might pop. Hunks of stone and iron fly everywhere. Sil and I use Air to deflect the larger stones away from the girls. Sloe is trembling underneath me.

“You’re okay,” I say. My ears are ringing faintly, and I’m reminded of how I felt after the explosion in the Bank.

I lift my head and survey the damage.

It seems as though most of the girls made it to the door. But there are bodies littered around and under the rubble. A girl with curly hair lies a few feet away from me, her neck twisted at an unnatural angle, a bullet hole in her chest. I don’t recognize her—she must have been one of the last ones in the holding facilities to gain her powers, when I was already in the Jewel. Regimental bodies are everywhere.

“Raven,” I croak, sitting up. Dust settles in my hair and on my eyelashes. “Raven!”

“I’m all right!” She stands up, shaking the dust from her hair.

“Sienna? Indi? Olive?” I call.

I hear a cough and Sienna’s braided head emerges from behind a chunk of rubble. “We’re fine.” Indi pops up beside her, her pale skin smudged with gray. I see Olive rubbing her eyes blearily.

“That was a very good idea,” Indi says.

“That was only the beginning,” I say. “This number of Regimentals is a fraction of what’s guarding the Auction House.”

As I look around the ruined station, though, I think, We may be small in number. But we are a force to be reckoned with. Then I add, Lucien, wherever you are, I hope you’re seeing this.

“Sil, Raven, Indi, Olive,” I say. “Get everyone to the wall. You remember the way, right?” They nod in unison. “Fire won’t do much but maybe you can use the water here. Earth and Air will be crucial. This wall is thick. Really thick.”

“We know,” Sloe says. “We saw it.”

“Where will you go, Violet?” Amber asks.

I catch Sienna’s eye. “We’re going to signal to the rest of this city that it’s time. Let’s show the royalty that they can’t control us anymore.”

Several girls whoop and cheer, but Sil shouts, “Quiet!”

“The Countess,” Raven says to me with pleading eyes.

“She’s here,” I promise her. “With Frederic. Don’t worry. You’ll have your chance. But these girls need you now. They’ll follow you.” I turn to Sienna. “Let’s go.”

I lead everyone out the door and back to the stairs I took to get down here. As we climb, adrenaline pumping through me with each step, I wonder if the royalty felt the earth shudder as the chandelier crashed down, or if they are still blissfully unaware of the danger that is about to befall them.

There is a door to the outside on the lower floor of prep rooms, right at ground level. “Be careful,” I whisper to Raven. She beckons to Indi to follow. The other girls are so quiet, even the ones who look frightened. They file out into the hall, determined and alert. Sil is the last to leave.

“We’ll see you up there,” she says, pointing above us, where the spire waits. I grip her shoulder for a brief moment, then she’s gone.

Sienna and I climb up another floor to the top level of prep rooms. There will be Regimentals here for certain—the lower level is used only when lots of surrogates are being Auctioned, but this level is in use every year. I pause behind the door and listen. I can make out at least three different voices—Regimentals.

I grab the handle and nod to Sienna’s lighter. We need a distraction. The flame bursts up, a fiery orange. I open the door and she sends the fire racing down the halls. We hear screams and cries as the Regimentals guarding prep room doors run from the blaze. We wait a few seconds, then enter the hall. Flames devour the carpet and climb the walls, but the hallway is empty. Sienna and I quickly put the fire out together.

I see the door we need and throw it open with Air, the handle too hot to touch. This staircase is narrow, with slitted windows, and it curls up in a spiral. We start to climb—up and up and up . . . and when we reach the top of it, I can see the pink curve of one of the smaller domes of the Auction House a few feet below us out the window. If I crane my neck, I can see the wall. There is a short hallway that takes us to a long ladder.

I go first, tying the skirts of my lady-in-waiting gown so I don’t step on them. Sienna wears pants; the rungs pose no problem for her.

Halfway there, my arms are aching and my breath comes out in heavy pants. I can hear Sienna gasping behind me, but neither of us complains or slows our pace. I know we’re close when I hear the wind whistling shrilly above us. We climb out onto a tiny, round landing made of the same golden material as the spire that surrounds us.

As I stand up and look around, I find myself grateful that I’m not afraid of heights.

The spire is hollow, thin strips of gold shooting up into a point and forming a sort of cage around us. We are a few feet above the top of the wall, and can see its vastness stretching out before us.

“Whoa,” Sienna breathes. I agree. The wall is immense, and maybe fifty yards away. I look down and see the figures of the Paladin on the swath of green lawn that separates the Auction House from the wall. Indi’s blond hair is easily identifiable and I watch Raven lining girls up on the grass.

“It’s so big,” Sienna says.