Chapter 53

Bree anxiously rides back from Penumbra to the Crossroads Lounge with Nick, Zoe, Mariah, Valec, and Emil while waiting for news from William. Bree fears that if her deduction about the missing Rootcrafter girls is wrong, Gabriel may have hidden them beyond reach. Exhaustion finally overtakes Bree, and Bree wakes as Valec drives into the Lounge’s warded territory.

At the Crossroads, Valec explains that Valec has strengthened the Lounge’s wards and searched for Bree since learning the Hunter had taken Bree. Emil reassures Bree about Bree’s inherited Bloodcraft, framing Bree’s fight for the missing girls as proof that Bree is making Bree’s ancestor’s choice matter. Inside the Lounge, Lucille and Hazel greet Bree with deep concern, but Bree’s missing memories make the reunions painful and confusing.

Valec presses for an explanation of what is wrong with Bree, and tension rises among Valec, Nick, and Zoe. Bree finally admits aloud that Bree no longer knows Bree’s father, friends, or people Bree loves because Erebus stole something from Bree’s mind. When Valec asks whether Bree wants the loss restored, Bree says yes, and Valec prepares to examine Bree’s metaphysical body to identify the magic affecting Bree.

After Hazel makes everyone eat and Bree secures Erebus’s crown in a warded safe, Valec begins explaining the examination. Valec says Valec can sense innate and acquired magic, including oaths, bargains, and mesmers, though Valec cannot necessarily explain how a spell works. Before Valec can begin, a knock interrupts the process: William’s rescue effort has returned, and the missing Rootcrafter girls have been found.

The four girls enter the Lounge exhausted, still casting, and in need of care. Bree recognizes one of them as Nora Green, the girl Bree saw weeks earlier in a dive-bar bathroom. Nora thanks Bree for not forgetting Nora and identifies the others as Joy, Melanie, and Amber. Nora explains that warlocks abducted each girl during a working, kept their ancestral channels open, moved them through motels, transported them by helicopter to the Institute, and allowed Gabriel and a doctor to take their blood.

Lark confirms that Gabriel hid the girls at the Institute as Bree predicted, then helps Nora toward food, medical attention, and contact with Nora’s family. Bree realizes the Regents’ new interest in capturing and studying Rootcrafters is not random. Because the Order never valued Rootcrafter power this way before, Bree concludes that the Regents want Rootcrafters now because of Bree.