"Queen...Irine?"

No, that couldn't be right. Queen Irine is Addy's mother. Addy's mother couldn't have plotted with Scion to destroy the world.

I scowl at Onyx. "Why are you pointing your finger at that lunatic all of a sudden? She's a pain, and listening to her speak is like swallowing sharpened fire quartz, but she's human, Onyx. How would she even meet Scion? Why would she want her own planet destroyed?"

I do not think she wants the planet destroyed, Onyx answers. I believe her reasons to be more personal.

"You think she'd help destroy the world just to one-up me." I roll my eyes at the cat, who has the audacity to curl up into a little furry ball in response. "She hates me that much, huh? She really cares about the world that little."

Onyx fixes half-opened eyes on me. A world of black peers out at me from between his eyelashes. There is one thing she loves more than the world.

Addy, I realise. He's talking about Addy. My mind goes back to the conversation I overheard back at Witch Doctors Inc. Queen Irine wanted Addy away from me. She blamed me for Lima's death. That girl is the Dark Witch, she'd said.

But surely, she wouldn't go that far. Surely she wouldn't put the world at risk to save Addy. Addy was part of the world. Without it, there was no Addy, and no Irine. Surely she knew that.

Queen Irine blames you for much of her own troubles, Onyx says, and much of the world's troubles. She believes that Adamantine will only be safe once you are gone. Scion is her best chance of getting rid of you.

"With the demon - King Dionysus, or whatever his name is - out, the Ariadni will find us. Even if Irine knew the demon didn't want to destroy the planet, I'm sure she understands the threat an alien army poses to us. Without the world, there is no Addy."

Without Addy, there is no world.

His words sit heavy in my chest. Without Addy, there is no world. Is that what Queen Irine thought? Did she love Addy more than the world?

"This is crazy," I mutter. "How do I know you're not lying? You've been pretending to be a cat this whole time."

Onyx huffs. I am not pretending to be anything. I have been a cat for a thousand years. This is my preferred form now.

"Whatever. How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Onyx sighs. It is quite insulting, he says, that you find it harder to believe that Queen Irine is the traitor than that I am the traitor. If you want proof, switch to energy-sensing. Queen Irine is here in the Laran Valley.

My mouth falls open.

Direct your mind east, to the Laran village beside the large boulder. The boulder will feel like burning stone.

My mind flies over the forest, east towards the village Onyx mentioned. The human energy here is slow, stilted. Injured. Physically or emotionally, I can't tell. The energy moves like it wants to stop, but can't. And in the middle of it all is an energy signature I know all too well. I've sensed this energy, with an without a heart.

I yank myself back to the illyrite cave.

"She's injured," I say.

Onyx closes his eyes. Yes. A skreevar tore out the inside of her right arm.

"We have to tell Addy."

Onyx is silent.

"Onyx, we have to tell Addy! Her mother's injured, and it sounds bad. The Larans don't use fire quartz. If we don't get her to Zilitron, she could succumb to infection."

Onyx shakes his head. "It will destroy her."

He's right. It will. But she has a right to know her mother is injured.

"Does she have a way to reach Zilitron?" I ask Onyx. "I could teleport her there."

Onyx looks at me like I'm crazy. Lily...this woman wants you dead.

"I know that, and I'll deal with that later. If she dies here, that will destroy Addy."

Onyx regards me, then sighs. I do not want Adamantine to mourn any more than you do, Lily. I will keep watch on Queen Irine to make sure her healing is going smoothly. The Larans have herbal remedies that would surprise you. Fire quartz is not the end all. But there will come a time when you must choose, Lily.

I bite into my lip. That time was not now. Addy's mother, treacherous as she is, isn't dying on my watch. What we do with her, and what we tell Addy, can wait until after her recovery. She's no threat while she's injured.

Honestly, I should have known. Queen Irine has always hated me. That hatred ran deeper than I'd once thought, but even after hearing what she'd told Addy, I didn't think she'd actively plot my death.

Because that's what she was doing, wasn't it? She had the best chance with Scion, Onyx had said. The best chance of getting rid of me. I'm not naive enough to think she'd planned on having me locked up in an orb somewhere.

"How did you know?" I ask Onyx quietly.

Onyx shifts in the dark. I suspected for some time, but I was not sure until after the skreevar attack. That is when I discovered that she was here in the Laran Valley.

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Who else knew our plans? Who else had shown a significant shift in behaviour lately? The signs were all there. I just hadn't been looking.

The First Witch is going to love this. Irine wasn't my friend, but I'd been betrayed all the same. And now, what? I had to betray Addy? Hide things from her? Go after her mother?

I almost killed Irine once. Every day, I thank fate that it didn't go down that way. Addy would never have forgiven me. I would have destroyed my best friend. But I spared her, and she stopped being a threat, and everything was okay.

Except that I wasn't that lucky. Fate wasn't that kind to me. My problems didn't go away. They grew and hardened, unseen, powerful, like crystal deep within the earth. They were fire quartz, burning eternally.

Until I snuffed their lights out. Until I made them go cold and dark. Dark, like the death whisper of butterfly wings.

Yes, the First Witch will love this. She wants me to let her in. Needs me to, even. Though she did say she wouldn't need me eventually. She could walk the earth again, she'd implied, and soon.

"Onyx, what are the portals?"

Onyx blinks. Lily, what in the name of Phaedra are you talking about now?

"The portals that are opening soon," I clarify.

Onyx continues to watch me incredulously.

"The First Witch spoke to me," I sigh. "When I was unconscious. She wanted me to merge with her. The she said she wouldn't need permission soon anyway, because the portal between this world and the next would open. Do you know what she's talking about? Is there another world?"

There are many worlds, Lily. His eyes rest on something beyond the illyrite-dusted ceiling. The world of the living, the world of the dead, the world of everything that has been, and everything that will be. Past, present, future - these all exist at the same time, as different dimensions. At the crossroads of these dimensions is the World Between Worlds. While all dimensions can be accessed from the World Between Worlds, one cannot usually travel between these dimensions due to the barrier between them. One night a year, these barriers weaken. This is referred to as the thinning of the veils. On that night, for one hour only, the portals between all worlds and the World Between Worlds are open. That hour is from midnight to 1am, and that night is All Hallows Eve.

"All Hallows Eve?" I repeat. "That holiday where we make pumpkin lanterns and dress up?"

It is a celebratory night these days, but it comes from a serious tradition that humans honoured in the old days. On All Hallows Eve, the pious would take measures to ensure that that which did not belong in this world was kept out.

I shiver, though I'm not cold.

When the barrier thin, some see things that frighten them. Things that existed once, but do no longer, or things that will not exist for a long time to come. Lost things that only return to us in dreams. Visions of a now that has not come to pass. Spectres.

"Ghosts," I say.

In a way.

I let this sink in. All Hallows Eve was a month away.

"You're saying that the First Witch can walk this earth again on All Hallows Eve? She can enter this world again?"

If I was hoping Onyx would say no (and believe me, I was), I was in for some disappointment.

That is correct, he says. You have let the dark power in, and it serves as a conduit between yourself and the First Witch, who is the darkness within you. It is possible that she can use this on the night of All Hallows Eve to gain a footing in this world once again.

"That isn't happening." I grit my teeth. "I'm not letting her in."

You are not strong enough to fight the darkness, Lily. You have proven this. It swims freely in your veins. You are now more connected to the First Witch than you have ever been.

"I had a few slip-ups," I argue. "A few things disappeared, so what? That doesn't mean that I've succumbed to darkness."

Lily... Onyx's eyes are wide now, twin black lights glowing in a void. You are here in the illyrite cave. Queen Irine is recovering safely. Did you not wonder why?

"Why? You brought me here after I collapsed - Scion left, you said so..."

Lily, what is the last thing you remember?

"The skreevar were attacking. The villagers were dying. Dionysus held Scion off while we went to save the Larans..."

And were we winning, Lily? Did we save the Larans?

"We...saved some. But others died. I...couldn't save them all..." The memory is like a finely-cut fire quartz shard embedded in my heartbeat.

Are they dying now, Lily?

Those obsidian eyes, like dead planets, or lightless stars.

"No...they're injured, but the attack has stopped..."

Who stopped the attack, Lily?

"Maybe I did? Before I collapsed. I felt a rush of power. It must have driven the skreevar back."

Where are the skreevar now, Lily?

You will change your mind, when you see what you have done.

The First Witch's memory laughs poison darts.

I search the forest for the skreevar's energy. I search the whole valley.

There is only heat, still and empty.

No shadows.

Not a single one.