THE NEAR DEATHThe keys felt like lead in my hands. Every time they clinked together, the sound echoed off the damp stone walls like a funeral bell. I kept looking back at the door we had just closed. I could still see him in my mind—that gray man in that gray chair.

"Esme, stop looking back," Finn said. He was walking ahead of me, his torch flickering wildly. "We got what we came for. We need to get out of this hole before the whole palace comes down on our heads."

"I know," I whispered. "I ...