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The second we make it into the hall, I gasp.

The Eternal Tree—always pristine and whole, the combination of every color in the world—is bathed now in a glow of scarlet. Thousands, millions, of threads in its bark and leaves are an angry red, bleeding through its pale surface like cuts. And even without fully understanding what has happened, even without knowing what Raven might have done, I know those are souls. Souls, wrongfully taken, souls whose time is not up yet.

Somewhere among them, trapped within that ancient, twisted bark, is Étienne.

The sound of snarls makes me turn my head. Down the hall, dark figures emerge around the bend, heading in our direction.

Wraiths.

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The nearest one is humanlike, except its entire body is shrouded in black cloth, with metallic black wings extending from its back. At the other end of the balcony, more Wraiths have gathered. The sight of them raises every hair on the back of my neck.

“What are they doing in here?” I say to Laine. “Wraiths can’t enter the immortal world.”

Laine brandishes her crossbow. “Unless they’ve been invited in. Move.”

I don’t need a second suggestion. We bolt right as the Wraith spreads its dark wings and launches at us. Laine’s speed and grace takes my breath away. I have never seen her like this, lethal, a warrior, crossbow brandished. As the Wraith draws near, she fires an arrow straight at its neck.

The arrow pierces clean through. The Wraith shudders and falters in its steps. A hundred cracks lace across its surface, as if it were made of dark glass.

As I reach it, I slide sideways and grasp one of the metal blades of its black wings—I twist as hard as I can, and the blade breaks off.

I swing at the Wraith—and it shatters into a thousand fragments, disintegrating into nothing.

But there are already more coming behind us, swarming along the stairs. As we run, Laine twists around to clap her hands together—and in that instant, a dark fog explodes from her palms to engulf the stairway, the smoke swarming as if comprised of a million insects. As it blackens the air, the Wraiths halt for a moment to snarl and snap at the illusion. Overhead, a cloud of Wraiths resembling misshapen bats swarm, their wings beating back the fog.

“We have to reach him!” I shout back at her as we race down the stairs, my attention on the Eternal Tree.

“Forget him for now!” she calls to me. “Nothing’s more important than getting you to safety first. Go!”

As we make our way down the flight of stairs, I glance out the window to see the cityscape of London.

What I see takes my breath away.

Slashing through the city’s evening sky are thousands of crimson lines, thread-thin and bright, stretching from treetops and roofs to vanish into the gathering clouds. Even from inside here, the distant sounds of dozens of ambulances wail through the streets.

Then we’re moving again—and I tear my eyes away, forcing myself to focus on getting out of the building. The Wraiths behind us are closing in. They’ll reach us before we can get to the bottom of the stairs.

Suddenly, I halt at the second story. “This way!” I shout to Laine.

“Where are you going?” she yells, but I’m already breaking open the door to the study on the second floor, its fireplace blazing, its window opening out to the canopy of trees in the front courtyard.

As soon as I make a beeline for the window, Laine seems to understand. She slams the door shut behind us, then throws her weight against it as the Wraiths attack from the other side.

“Can you reach those branches?” she calls to me as she holds them back.

I grab a poker from the fireplace as I race to the window, then swing the iron rod and strike the glass as hard as I can.

The glass shatters—cold night air hits me as I look down to the courtyard below.

The tree is farther than I thought, but it will have to do. Beyond the expanse of lawn is the rest of the city.

“Come on!” I call to Laine, but when I look over my shoulder, her boots are sliding against the floor, her weight unable to hold it closed any longer.

“Go—” she shouts at me through clenched teeth. “I’ll catch up!”

“Like hell you will!” I shout back before darting toward her. I didn’t give up my life and get myself into this immortal mess just to see her killed.