There had been no time for any pleasantries since Lilly discovered her friends were still alive. She'd imagined it a thousand times over in the weeks since she'd last seen them. If they'd somehow managed to get away. If The Beast hadn't killed them. But never in her wildest dreams did she believe it to be true.

The Kings and Queens of Fillory we're out for blood. There were no remnants of her friends in the vicious monarchs she saw now. Quentin and Margo hadn't even acknowledged her in the heat of their deathmatch. Saia had run off to retrieve their weapons from the tree they'd stowed them in. But Lilly remained with a crossbow pointed at her best friend's heart.

Penny hurriedly explained their predicament to her, between Margo and Quentin spitting insults at each other from across the room. Though she tried her best to keep Omari from the ordeal, he'd unsurprisingly sneaked his way in. Fen was more than happy to keep an eye on him, and Lilly was infinitely grateful to have an extra hand with the mischievous child.

"Bad news... you're cursed." Penny held his crossbow at eye level, ready to fire at any given moment. "Good news... I think there's a way out." The nine of them filled the cavernous throne room, with every door locked and guarded. Eliot, Alice, Quentin, and Margo stood as far from each other as possible, with bows and swords poised to strike if they made a move.

"Does it involve your beheading? 'Cause, that's the ending I'm voting for right now." Eliot cocked a brow in warning. Each monarch eyed the others with eyes full of murder and distrust. They had been sequestered to the throne room one by one. Saia and Lilly had handled the brunt of the conflict, while Fen wrangled Omari and Penny looked on in awe. The tension in the air was palpable, and the slightest shift in any direction could spur a rampage.

Lilly and Saia were more than capable of taking them out, but they weren't too keen on taking the risk of someone being killed before they stopped it. Penny and Fen were armed with palace crossbows, but with the right opportunity, things could easily devolve into chaos. Omari watched with wide eyes from the middle of the armed pack.

"I second that. My ass still hurts," Margo smirked maliciously at her opponents.

"I'm glad you're back, Lilly, but if you try to stop me from killing them, I'll add you to the list." Quentin narrowed his eyes at his best friend. There was no sign of the man she knew, only the curse holding him hostage.

"Good luck with that, Q." Lilly pointed her bow at him, "I've picked up a few things since I last saw you."

"Oooh, we're so scared." Alice's words were like acid off her tongue.

"Enough!" Penny silenced their squabbles by raising his crossbow higher. "Listen, we can't stop the curse, so the plan is we're gonna let it run its course. By killing you. All of you."

"No, likey." Eliot stepped towards the cover of a nearby pillar, but froze once he caught Lilly's threatening glare.

"What's to likey?" Quentin held his hands up by his head, with an expression of utter betrayal.

"The part where you're dead sounds perfect." Alice slinked towards them with the grace of a feline. Saia brandished her sword, twirled it above her head, and leveled it with Alice's neck. She stared the blade down with a saccharine smile. "Does mommy know you're playing with the kitchen knives?"

"Bitch, try me, I dare you. I'd love nothing more than to chop that pretty head of yours clean off." Alice huffed a mocking laugh, but Saia showed no indication of a bluff.

"Now, I took a little trip to get supplies." Penny gestured towards the table laid out with eight identical syringes. He held one up to the light for all to see.

"Oh, goody, heroin. I always suspected this was how I'd go." Eliot drawled, seemingly resigned to the possibility of a drug-related death. Lilly scrunched her nose up at him.

"Potassium chloride will shut down the heart. Adrenaline will kick-start it. You die. Curse ends. We revive you." Penny showed each in turn as he explained his plan. The others looked unnervingly blase for four people about to die.

"Except, what if any part of that plan doesn't work?" Penny whirled on Quentin the moment he formed the complaint.

"Look, asshole. You don't like my idea, why don't you go find someone else to save your annoying fucking life? I have about a thousand things I'd rather be doing right now." Just as the words left his mouth, an arrow shot from his crossbow and buried itself inches from Quentin's head. The weapon slipped from his fingers and slammed against the marble floor of the throne room. "What the hell?"

"Penny? What's wrong?" Lilly turned towards him, taking her eyes off of Elliot. Penny was slumped over the weapon, attempting to grasp the hilt with fingers as limp as a fish.

"You good over there?" Saia called out, her eyes still firmly planted on Alice. Fen had lowered her bow as she watched Penny flounder in confusion.

"I'm fine. My fingers are a little numb due to the anti-curse things." The crossbow hit the floor again and again. The clattering echoed throughout the chamber, making the hair on Lilly's arms stand on end.

"What?" Lilly furrowed her brows. Her attempts to both help Penny and hold Quentin and Eliot at bay were spreading her thin.

"It's a long fucking story, Lil." Penny's voice was frantic now. The energy of the room was charged with a sense of impending doom. The monarchs were predators, and they had just given them a clear shot at their necks.

"Well, that's just perfect." Margo's lips curled into a serpentine smile.

"It's fine. Uh, it's fine!" Penny's voice raised in pitch as they looked between each other. It was only a matter of time before someone stepped out of line. Lilly gripped the handle of her bow and pulled the string taut.

"So, are we still hostages or what?" Alice's tone was probing.

"Yes. Yes, you are." Lilly took a step back, blocking Omari from view. The boy made a grunt in protest, gripping the back of Lilly's armor.

"Would you point that thing at their fucking heads?" Penny shouted frantically at Fen, who fumbled with the weapon in her hands. "Everyone please, please just stand in your corners and just quietly..." a small groan cut through the chaos. Lilly whirled to find Margo had plunged a syringe into Quentin's neck.

"Damn it, Margo." Quentin choked out just before he collapsed to the floor with white foam leaking from between his lips.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Margo smirked maniacally at her remaining targets. "You're dead." Lilly and Saia shared a look of mutual dread before the throne room devolved into a war zone. All three of the remaining monarchs sprinted for the syringes. Lilly pulled back her bow and aimed.

"Don't shoot!" She hesitated, looking to Penny who had managed to fall back in time to avoid getting caught up in the fight. Grabbing the collar of Omari's shirt, Lilly hauled him off to the side and shoved him behind her. Saia twirled her sword between Eliot and Alice, ready to take down the first to lunge.

"Saia, stand down." The warrior immediately lowered her weapon and stepped back with Lilly to where Penny and Fen watched the fight with horror.

"I suppose this is one way to get the killing bit over with," Fen muttered. Alice went down before their eyes, and now only Margo and Eliot circled each other like dogs.

"Yeah. This is what I was planning." Penny had not planned this. With a vicious battle cry, Margo pounced, and Eliot dropped like the others. She wrenched the syringe out of his chest, turning on Lilly and the others with crazed eyes.

"Ha! I won, bitches. I'm High motherfucking Queen." Lilly stepped in front of Fen and raised her bow.

"Get the other needles. Hurry." Saia lunged for the table just in time to snatch up the four life-saving syringes.

"Hey! Stay back." Lilly cocked her head in warning. Her fingers gripped the bowstring taut. It'd only take the slightest twitch for the arrow to fly. Margo fell back, scanning for any weakness in their group.

"Margo, we don't have time for this. We've got to revive 'em now." Penny held out a limp hand in an attempt to reason with her. Omari tried to step between them and Margo, readying his slingshot for war. Lilly effortlessly sidestepped him and glared.

"Omari. Stay back," she growled.

"But I can help!"

"Omari!" Her tone was deadly, and the boy took a step back from the ferocity of it.

"What's best in life, Penny?" Margo spat.

"What?"

"What's best in life?" She repeated, gripping the needle so hard her knuckles turned bone-white.

"I don't know."

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women."

"Margo, put down the gods damned syringe before I shoot you." Lilly took a step forward, only for Margo to raise the needle higher in warning.

"Come at me, Elle Woods." Lilly was about to give her what she wanted. Margo's arm trembled in effort, as her limb seemed to betray her. Within seconds, the final syringe was stabbed into Margo's own neck, and she joined the other dead monarchs.

"That's one thorough fucking curse." Penny gaped at the bodies of their friends strewn about the throne room.

"Is it wrong to say I find her death extremely satisfying?" Fen asked no one in particular.

"Not at all," Saia smirked down at the body of the fallen queen. Penny was the first to pull himself from the shock of Margo's miraculous suicide.

"Okay, come on. We have to hurry." He grabbed the pile of syringes from Saia's grasp and handed one to each of them. Lilly hurried over to Eliot's body, splayed across the steps of the dais in a horrific display. It was a dramatic way to go, and she suspected he wouldn't be too put out if the death stuck. She abandoned the bow on the stone floor and hurried to rip open the front of his shirt, revealing his bare chest. With one steadying breath, she steeled herself for what was to come. Then dug the point directly into his heart and pressed down the plunger.

Three horrific gasps filled the throne room. Eliot shot up just as Lilly removed the needle. He gripped the top step to steady himself as he panted uncontrollably. It took a few moments before he registered the woman knelt beside him, rubbing comforting circles into his back.

"Oh, hey, Thumper. When did you get here?" He rasped, never failing to sound unfazed by the fact that he'd been certifiably dead a moment before. "Love the outfit, very Xena." Reaching out a hand, Lilly pulled him into her and placed a feather-light kiss on his temple.

"Why's everyone so serious? You'd think someone died or something." He joked, evoking a breathy laugh from the woman beside him. She glanced about the room to find all eyes on her. And for once, Lilly felt a sense of relief. They were all alive. Though Quentin seemed less than enthused about Penny being the one to stab him with a needle.

"Welcome back, Lil." Margo pushed herself off the floor with a groan. She knelt beside them gently and wrapped her arms around Lilly. She melted into the tight embrace of the woman she'd come to consider a sister.

"I think we have a lot to talk about." Quentin stood hesitantly off to the side, unsure whether he should join in on the reunion or not. Lilly decided for him. Quentin didn't fight the tug into Lilly's embrace. The gesture was so familiar and warm, that she felt a lump grow in her throat.

"In a minute." She smiled into his shoulder and breathed in the scent of his cologne. She was safe and happy, and with the people she loved. For the first time in a long time, all was right.

➺➺➺➺

"And that's how we ended up here." Lilly sat on the floor of the throne room, weapons long abandoned, surrounded by her friends. Omari sat beside Lilly with an expression of pure joy and curiosity. Lilly had taken the time to tell her friends of her journey since parting ways with them. The Valley, her grandfather, Saia and Omari, The Suriel, and the culmination of it all that brought her to this moment.

"So this kid just followed you into a war zone?" Margo observed Omari with one brow raised. He bristled at her condescending tone.

"I'm not a kid." Omari crossed his arms in defiance.

"That's exactly what a kid would say." Omari opened his mouth to argue.

"We couldn't bring him home, we don't even know if we can get back through the barrier," Lilly interjected a little louder than necessary to keep Omari from prompting a fight. She was sure Margo wasn't above arguing with children.

"It all explains so much about Jane's origins. How she escaped to Earth, how Martin never found her, or you and your mom." Quentin mused, the familiar spark of excitement igniting behind his eyes. "If she could create an entire dome around The Valley, who knows what kind of magic she used to cover her tracks."

"It just begs the question, how much of that power was passed down to you." Saia looked pointedly at Lilly, and instinctually her hand lifted to grip the clock necklace that had become a rock to her in tumultuous times. Silence settled over the room as they each contemplated her words. How much power had she been given?

Alice hissed and shook out her wrist involuntarily. The key to the wellspring, as explained to Lilly, had been acting as a meter of sorts. Only someone with god-level power could bear to hold it. Alice wore the tint metal ball around her wrist, and as her power began to fade, the harder it would be to hold it. The skin around her makeshift bracelet looked as if someone had poured acid over it. Lilly bit her lip at the sight. No doubt the pain was nearly unbearable by now.

"It's time. Don't know how long I'll have to cast the Rhinemann." She announced, anxiety tainting her voice. The last whispers of the god power she'd received from Ember was ebbing by the second. "Ugh, Eliot's right. It's a stupid name." Alice's brow creased in pain as she took a seat on a nearby settee. Penny shifted uncomfortably to her right, his hands still hanging limp.

"That doesn't look right." Quentin winced at the sight of his lifeless appendages.

"I can't believe you insulted the man who was helping you." Lilly raised her brows at Penny. He shook his head in slight irritation. He had missed her. Even when she called him on his shitty behavior.

"Yeah, I know. I deserve it." Lilly nodded decidedly as Penny turned on Quentin. "Does it require me playing Rachmaninoff? If not... we're fine."

"Look, you still gotta grab The Beast. What happens if you take the bracelets off?"

"That's a bad idea." Penny shook his head, remembering how the curse had almost made him choke three people before he'd gotten help from Professor Sunderland.

"Well, then, how are you..."

"All I have to do is touch him, right? So I'll tackle his ass, okay?" Penny seemed unsure, but it was all they had at the moment.

"Well, we are down two cacodemons. Any ideas on how to slow up The Beast now?" Quentin looked about the room. Everyone seemed to be at a loss.

"Actually, we only have one. I let mine go." Alice sheepishly admitted, bracing for the inevitable verbal assault.

"Oh, Jesus. Come on." Margo threw up her hands theatrically.

"I could feel it. Alive and in my skin. I couldn't stand the idea of it being trapped in there." Lilly felt herself begin to roll her eyes, but none of that would help their situation.

"Saia and I can fight, but that won't do much if the Beast is at his full potential. Magic trumps physical combat."

"Says you." Saia flicked out a knife and twirled it to prove her point.

"Okay. Idea. Do you guys remember the Sumerian shield charm we learned in PA?" Alice asked, and they all shared a look of surprise.

"Like, to keep you safe from shattered glass or something?"

"Yeah, we learned it on the first day of class." Lilly eyed Alice quizzically. The last time she'd tried to use that spell against The Beast, he'd pierced it like a tack through paper.

"It's a simple spell, but that doesn't mean it's not powerful."

"Yeah, especially if all four of us are casting it." Quentin straightened his back at this and peered over at Alice beside him.

"Use a first-year spell to stop The Beast? That sounds like suicide." Elliot scoffed.

"Which I've already tried today, and no, thank you." Margo flicked a hand to the side as if brushing the idea off the table completely.

"We already tried one method, and we all died." Lilly leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "If all of us cast the shield, it should keep him in one place so Alice can hit him with the Rhinemann."

"It just needs to distract him long enough for her to power up the spell," Quentin added. At this point, the others seemed to be considering it.

"Alright." Lilly balked at Eliot's easy submission. She'd expected more of a fight. "At this point, we might as well embrace the unexpected." Margo surprisingly nodded as well.

"We either kick his ass or go down trying."

"Alright then," Lilly surveyed her friend's faces with solemn conviction. "We're gonna need all the help we can get to pull this off. Alex, Dani, and Ava know battle magic. I'll go to Brakebills and bring them back. Then we fight." Furtive glances were cast throughout the throne room as an instant sense of unease settled upon the group. Quentin shifted in his seat, his eyes looking everywhere but at her face.

"Lilly, there's something you should know."

"What is it?" Her heart dropped like a stone.

"It's about Alex."