Chapter 52

Hours after Erebus imprisons Bree, Nick, Zoe, and Mariah in a cold underground cell, the group waits with no clear route out. Nick keeps Bree warm but continues shuddering from a cold that seems worse than the dungeon itself, while Zoe does the same for Mariah. When the rear wall begins to rumble, Bree, Nick, and Zoe prepare to fight what they assume is an approaching threat.

The wall breaks open, and Nick clashes blades with a rescuer before Mariah recognizes Valec. Valec and Emil have tunneled in from the Lounge after hearing about the disaster at Penumbra. Emil uses root to hold the tunnel open, revealing that his Rootcraft can move and support earth, not just heal.

Valec greets Bree warmly, but Bree hesitates, making clear that something has shifted in Bree's relationship to him. Nick and Valec meet uneasily, and Valec quickly notices that something is wrong with Nick. Nick admits that the cold is coming from the shard hidden in Nick's chest, though Nick does not fully understand why it is reacting now.

As the group prepares to leave, Nick senses an echo of the shard and realizes that Erebus's crown is still nearby. Bree, Zoe, and Valec bend the cell bars enough for Nick and Bree to get through. Nick follows the pull to a warded alcove, where the crown has been left under a cloth. Bree stops Nick from touching it because the crown may react unpredictably to the broken piece inside Nick, then Bree takes the crown herself while keeping it wrapped away from her skin.

On the way back, Bree realizes Valec can contact William and urgently asks Valec to send William to the Institute. Bree reasons that Gabriel and the Regents would hide the missing Rootcrafter girls in a secure place with labs, doctors, and loyal staff, and that the Institute fits that need. Valec reaches William, and Bree gives instructions for bypassing security by claiming Gabriel sent them and going to the sixth-floor residential suite before Erebus discovers the truth.