Or into the Beneath.

Above us, in the gloom, stars burned hot and red.

Goose bumps rose on my arms and neck. Now I recognized that keening sound all around us. I listened to it rise and fall, rise again. The city’s tornado sirens were going off.

I hurried down from the porch and took a few running steps until I reached the road, then stood on the sidewalk and searched down the block. The ground felt strange here, too, rough and uneven, and the grass on all the lawns was white-tipped, like it was slowly fading into gray scale. I pulled a leaf off the hedge beside me, rubbing it between my fingers. It flaked into ash, leaving a smear on my skin.

You’re going to die, Kin-child, a voice whispered into me. And then the far off sound of a laugh.

Panic surged. We were too late, my thoughts screamed. We should have returned sooner. The Beneath was no longer just seeping through, it was here, it was loose, twisting the city streets and turning everything to dust and decay. It was dragging the world back down into it. I felt it. I could taste it, that rancid tinge that curdled the air and stuck in my throat, nearly making me gag. I saw it in the winter chill that turned my every exhale to fog. I could sense the Beneath, its hostility and menace, in the stark gray sky above and the red shadows along the street, that sly hissing voice just out of hearing, the dread that choked me.

But no—that wasn’t wholly correct. I could still feel the Circle, too, my connection to it, like the drum of a heartbeat slightly out of sync with my own. The Beneath might have gained enough power to push through, but not entirely.

I spun to face the skyline, and when I looked, really looked, I could see it. The thin shine of the Circle’s power there, in the center of the city, where everything else was dark.

Leon had pulled out his phone. “No service.”

I fished mine out of my pocket and checked. “Me neither. I guess we know why no one was answering.”

“Lucy’s not here. We should get moving.”

I nodded. Our next plan was to try Harlow Tower downtown, where H&H Security had its main offices. Though there was no guarantee Mom would be there, either, someone there should at least have information on what the Guardians were planning—if they’d come up with a plan, anyway. I stepped toward Leon, and he set an arm about my waist, shifting me closer.

I waited for him to teleport, and when he didn’t, I glanced up to find him frowning.

He released his grip on me and moved backward. “Stay here a second.”

“Leon—”

He vanished, and I felt a split second of alarm, thinking he’d left me behind. But then he reappeared a short distance away, and came loping back to me, his frown deepening.

“I can’t teleport you,” he said.

I matched his expression. “What are you talking about?”

“There’s something wrong with my powers.”

The moment he spoke, I realized it. Not something. The Beneath. Kin powers didn’t work as well Beneath—I’d felt it when I’d been trapped there—and now that it had begun to leak through, it must be affecting the Guardians, acting as a veil.

“That’s bad,” I said. “That’s very bad.”

The Beneath escaping into the streets, gaining in strength. And the Guardians weakened.

I tried amplifying. I was able to do it, but though I felt the bond form between us, the quickening of heat in my blood, the connection was strained. I had to concentrate hard to maintain it, and it wasn’t as potent as it should’ve been.

And if Leon couldn’t teleport me—

“You’re not leaving me here,” I said.

“If I intended to do that, I wouldn’t have brought you in the first place,” he said. “Come on.”

Leon had left his motorcycle in the garage when he’d picked up Mom’s car, and now we took it downtown. I held tightly to Leon as we headed out of the driveway. I tried to slow the thrashing of my heart, but my mind was in chaos. This wasn’t just the end of the Kin, my thoughts whispered. This felt like the end of the world itself, like everything on the earth and beyond would be swallowed up and consumed—all the deserts and oceans and prairies, each forest and city, every inch of soil and molecule of oxygen and even the stars swirling out in the dark of the cosmos. Only the void would remain. Empty and infinite. I squeezed my eyes shut and clung tighter.

We avoided the freeway and took neighborhood streets, where up and down the blocks, people stood out in their driveways or on the sidewalks. Searching for the storm the tornado sirens were announcing, I guessed, or wondering where the sky had gone. Harrowers clouded the senses; I had no idea what the Beneath would do, if the entire population of the Cities was wandering about in a blank daze, or if they thought they’d fallen into a communal nightmare from which they couldn’t seem to wake. A nightmare that seemed to grow worse with every mile, every minute.

By the time we neared downtown, the sirens were blaring so loudly they sounded as though they were rising right up out of the ground. The streets were littered with dead birds. Leon had to swerve to avoid them, and then slow, as more and more of them tumbled out of the sky, plummeting down around us and blanketing the air with feathers. I closed my eyes again, trying not to see them. The red light pulsed out above us. The sirens wailed.

We didn’t make it to Harlow Tower. A few blocks away, we found the Guardians.

Some of them, at least. Leon brought us to a stop as soon as we reached them. The Guardians were clustered together, fighting. Ahead of us in the street, I saw the faint blur of colored lights glowing through skin. I saw bodies in motion, quick graceful strikes and evasions. Voices called out back and forth, shouting to be heard. I didn’t see Mom.

There were Harrowers all around them. I couldn’t count how many. Dozens, maybe. A writhing sea of silver pushing forward.

I began amplifying immediately. Diminished though the bond was, I felt it build in the space between Leon and me. His left arm was already shining in threads of orange, aqua, gold, pale violet. He glanced at me a moment, nodded, and then he was running. I ran with him, following his lead as he reached the Guardians and flung himself toward a Harrower.

We moved together, not speaking, communicating with action and instinct. I had to focus on sustaining the bond, but when a second demon lurched toward us, I thrust it backward. Leon’s hand caught a throat, tightening—but with his powers weakened, he couldn’t finish it. The demon broke free and staggered back, hissing. A Guardian I didn’t recognize caught the Harrower from behind, moving quickly to sever its spine. It slumped to the ground.

The second Harrower hurled itself at us once more, talons slashing. Leon spun, stepping in front of me, taking the blow with his shoulder before he shoved it aside. It sprawled onto the street and came up snarling. Leon parried, throwing it back again and again, and I moved up beside him. Together, we gripped its neck and snapped.

The third was stronger than the first two had been. It knocked Leon to the ground with such force that I felt the impact through the bond between us. Leon’s head rocked back. I let out a gasp of dismay. My concentration slipped. The link broke, and I struggled to reestablish it as the Harrower leaped toward Leon. But he rolled away and then teleported, coming up behind it. I felt the burn of the connection again, strength pulsing, and hurried to help. The demon kicked as we caught it, but I didn’t let my fingers loosen until its harsh rasping became a sigh and its body went slack.

A fourth Harrower watched me with its blank milky eyes. But it didn’t attack; it just hissed before retreating back into the hushed gloom of the city.

Leon and I were both panting by then. There were no more demons near us, but I whipped from side to side, searching. The Guardian who had helped us earlier was still fighting, but she killed the Harrower before we could assist. I shifted to face Leon.