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I turned to look at her so fast I nearly lost my footing in the mud. "I'm sorry, what?"

"At Hoopingarner House."

"And you forgot to mention this?"

"I didn't forget."

"OH, THAT'S BETTER." Now, I was madder than a wet hen, and yes, that topped furious.

There was no time to fully appreciate how much I wanted to strangle my best friend, because Zelda was already moving, already throwing everything she had at the swamp thing standing in front of us — and unlike Kai's Magic, unlike mine, hers worked. Gold light slammed into that mud-and-moss body. Blood-red and green gave the swamp thing the old one-two punch, and it didn't just stagger.

It exploded.

Water and silt and that strange silver light burst outward in every direction, and then, just as fast as it had risen, the swamp thing was gone. Swamp water, splashing back down into swamp water, like it had never been anything else at all.

Silence.

Then, all at once, Magic came flooding back — I felt my fire return like a held breath finally let go, and then felt the Shift settle back under my skin right where it belonged. Roy came roaring back into Kai's head so loud I actually heard Kai wince. Aideen's power filled our bond again, strong and solid, though she felt shaken in a way I'd never felt from her before.

For about three whole seconds, I actually thought it might be over.

Then Barney looked down at the journal in his shaking hands.

New words, crawling fresh across the page.

THE DOOR HAS OPENED.

"What door?" I didn't want to know. I asked anyway.

Another line, slower, more deliberate, like it wanted to make sure every single one of us understood.

THE ONE MARGARET CLOSED.

And then, right underneath it, ink still wet and gleaming in the swamp light: SHE WILL NOT STAY BELOW AGAIN.

3

Istood there in the mud, staring at four freshly inked lines that had no business being that ominous, and offered up what I felt was an extremely reasonable, extremely profound response to the situation.

"Well, that's fucking inconvenient."

Nobody argued.

Then I turned. Slowly. Toward Zelda.

And Zelda — my best friend, my Witch, the woman who'd stood beside me through Fairy politics and dead relatives and an entire apocalypse-adjacent engagement — looked at me like a woman who already knew just what was coming.

"Martha…"

"No."

"I can explain."

"Oh, you are absolutely gonna explain."

Kai took one careful step backward. Barney did the same, half a beat later, journal clutched to his chest like it might shield him from whatever was about to happen.

Chewy looked at Arthur. "Should we leave?"