He shook his head. “They’re killing each other. I’m just pushing them to do what they want.” He raised the staff. It glowed with white light. Teutonic runes floated in the essence. “Essence is mine to give or take now. The spell I have created is pulling it all to me. I will only allow those who share my goal to use it.”

She turned back to him with a start. “That’s not possible. No one has that ability.”

“No? Look around you. Tell me it’s not possible.”

He was right. Essence revolved around him like a vortex, feeding into the staff. He held it with his body like a wild animal on a leash.

She balled her hands into fists. “You are starting a war you can’t win.”

“You can only fight me with essence, and if you use essence, you will be mine. Your choice is simple: Fade and die or bow to my will.”

Eorla turned and looked down into the grave pit.

Gerin leaned forward on the staff. “Stand beside me, Eorla. Together we can remake this world. We can take the Power that the Seelie Court and the Consortium squander. You were born to rule. You know that. Be who you are. Be my queen, Eorla.”

Eorla dropped her hand and crossed her arms.

“I don’t believe this. She’s considering it. Can you do anything, Meryl?” I started to move forward, uncertain how I could convince Eorla she had to resist.

Meryl grabbed my sleeve and held me back. “This is too big for me to handle alone, Grey. Every time I drop my shield to tap more essence, I get nauseated. We need to get help.”

Eorla turned back to Gerin. “I cannot.”

He smiled. “You will. I will have you by my side.”

“I will not do it,” she said. She raised her arms.

He shook his head. He thrust the staff forward. A shock of light burst out. Eorla threw out her arms, but she was too late. The light spun around her in a web of white-tinged green. I could feel Hala in that light, the direct Power of her essence binding Eorla with its strands. Living light swirled around her, and she became locked in a cage of essence.

“Watch, Eorla. See my Power. You will change your mind.” Gerin smiled and dropped his head back, and the essence of the spiral pulsed into the staff and from the staff to him. A shimmering barrier of white light began to grow around him.

A blast of essence exploded in front of me. Instinctively, I held Meryl to the ground behind the monument, as another bolt landed near us. On the other end of the gravesite, two elves aimed bows loaded with elf-shot at us.

I smiled apologetically down at her. “I’m thinking run.”

Meryl batted her eyes at me. “My hero.”

Another shot chipped the stone in front of us. I grabbed Meryl’s hand, and we dodged between stones to the top of the ridge. The elves kept shooting, but the essence spiral that Gerin had created was warping their aim. We dove through a yew hedge and landed in a circle of small mausoleums.

Meryl pointed vaguely west. “Gate’s that way.”

We ran among the graves, avoiding the lanes. All around us, we could hear the constant concussion of essence striking and the sounds of screams. Halfway to the gate, Guild security flew overhead. Keeva must have called in more airborne. We stumbled through yet another set of bushes and into the middle of a group of druids and brownies. They spun toward us, eyes glowing with essence, then relaxed when they apparently sensed that we were druid.

Meryl and I backed slowly in the opposite direction.

“Where are you going?” someone called. They all stared at us, waiting for an answer. Meryl and I exchanged looks. She shrugged, and we joined them in the lane. A brownie walked with us, her eyes glowing an unnatural yellow.

“I’m, like, so bad with directions. Is this the way to the gate?” said Meryl in fair imitation of an airhead.

A brownie looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Don’t you hear it? He’s calling us back.”

Meryl scrunched up her shoulders and stuck her fingers in her ears. “An elf hit me in the head. I can’t hear a thing.”

The brownie stared at her, then spoke to a druid next to her. They glanced at us repeatedly as we followed along behind them.

I poked Meryl in the ribs. “We’re trying to blend here.”

She wrinkled her nose. “What do you want me to do, a zombie shuffle?”

Elves swept suddenly down the slope to the left. They moved in a fluid unison, chanting great bursts of essence at us. The druids and brownies ran for cover, returning fire. Meryl and I backpedaled and took the opportunity to make for the gate again. We turned a corner, and another group of elves blocked the path. We backed away as they moved forward.

“I hate when this happens,” said Meryl.

“Can you take them out?”

She nodded. “But then I’ll be worthless until I recover. I only have my own body essence to work with, remember? You’ll have to leave me.”

I shook my head. “Not an option.”

The elves began to work a binding spell.

“I’m going to do it,” Meryl said.

“No.”

We backed against an oak. Meryl lifted her arms and began to chant. I felt a surge of essence behind me and something grabbed my head. An arm slithered around and grabbed Meryl’s face. The oak tree became pliant, its bark slipping roughly over us as something yanked us inside it. My vision went gray. I felt dizzy with a strange twisting in my stomach and head. Then I was coughing on the cold ground beside Meryl. Off in the distance, I could hear fighting. We were in another part of the cemetery.

I got to my feet and helped Meryl up.

“We’re dying,” a voice said.

I turned to face the oak tree. Molded into the surface of the bark was a small woman, pale ivory skin, long silvery hair covering most of her nude body. “Hala?”

She ignored me, looking at Meryl instead. “I do not have much time. The druid is distracted. He strikes at the heart of the oak. He devours my sisters. We have nowhere to hide, little one. You are called.”

“What do you want me to do?” Meryl asked.

“You are the only pure vessel left. We call on you for help,” said Hala.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

Meryl waved me off. “Shhh. This is girl talk.” She turned back to the oak. “I’m only one person.”

“You are strong. Remember your vow,” Hala said in that same matter-of-fact tone she had used with me back at Carnage. It’s hard to resist, even if she isn’t pushing a little essence on you when she does it.

Meryl stared down at the ground.

“Meryl? What is she talking about?”

She looked at me, her face set grimly. “Looks like I’m it.” Her eyes were haunted, resigned as someone on death row. It was a look I’d seen a few times, one I didn’t like seeing on someone who was beginning to mean something to me.

I grabbed her shoulders, a little afraid of what she was saying. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged out of my hands and stepped away from me. “Get out, Grey. Find someone who can help.”

“Dammit, Meryl, you’re freaking me out. What are you going to do?”

She looked at me, still resolved, but with a touch of fear in her eyes. “I have a duty. I need to save the drys.” She looked off toward the glow of Kruge’s grave, and her voice became low. “Whatever’s left of them.”

I stepped closer to her again. “How?”

She held up her hands and backed away shaking her head. “No time, Grey. You can’t do this with me.”

“Meryl, talk to me! I don’t like the sound of whatever it is you’re about to do,” I said.

She bowed her head, then looked at me. “Stay safe,” she said. With a blinding flash of essence, she dove at the oak tree.

“Meryl! No!” I reached after her, but she was too fast. Black spots danced in front of my eyes, and she was gone. Hala had vanished, too. Desperate, I spun in place, but they were nowhere to be seen. Meryl had disappeared into the oak.

I pounded on the tree. “Meryl!”

This sound came out of me, a strangled outburst of frustration. She didn’t answer. I had no idea what she had just done, but it scared me somehow.