Lilly pulled the hood of her jacket tighter as they turned left into another identical pathway. Their flashlights illuminated the shimmering beads of condensation dripping from the rusted pipes and down the brick-lined New York sewers. The scents of city waste were heightened by damp tunnels. If she hadn't cast a scent-blocking spell, she might've gagged. Lilly walked a step behind Julia and Quentin, studying the puffs of breath that would appear at her exhalation.

"Look, you guys didn't have to come with me. I don't think that you should." Julia's voice brought her back to focus. She'd been silent during their trip, only piping up to offer direction to her companions.

"Noted, but we're coming," Quentin replied, looking back at Lilly in confirmation.

"I'm not about to let my best friend go to the underworld without backup." Lilly shivered as she spoke. She and Quentin weren't exactly on the best of terms, but the words had slipped out before she could think twice. She love him, even if she wanted nothing more than to throttle him for being so irresponsible as to set Alice free. "And despite our past disagreements, I don't think you deserve to live your life as a shell of a person." A ripple of energy went up her spine, and they instinctively turned right. "How'd a Hedge Witch learn Ancient Greek, anyways?"

"Marina Andrieski. Brakebills Alum turned Hedge Witch. She took me in after Brakebills rejected me. It's complicated. Or it was. Reynard murdered her, too." Lilly frowned deeply.

"I'm sorry." A thick silence fell over the group. While Julia didn't feel any of the pain she would have with a Shade, it was still an unpleasant subject. Lilly was sure the images of Marina's murder were dancing behind her eyes, just as Alex's did in her own.

"Oh!" Quentin stopped short and began fishing through his little backpack. He pulled out a handful of three little black devices and held them out with his flashlight shining on them.

"Pagers?" Lilly scrunched up her nose and gave Quentin a dubious look.

"They're spelled to work literally anywhere. Even The Underworld. If any of us get separated, we'll still be able to find the others."

"Huh, surprisingly insightful."

"You flatter me, really," he deadpanned. To Lilly's surprise, she giggled, despite being with two of the last people she'd want to share a laugh with right now. Julia caught her eye and smiled lightly, though there was no spark of amusement that should have been there. It was Julia's shade that would've laughed along, and Lilly could tell, the smile she mustered now was merely an echo of what was once there. Julia was performing based on memory, going through the motions of human emotion like it was a choreographed dance and not an instinct like breathing or drinking. Lilly didn't let her smile drop when she met Julia's gaze, she might've before, but there was a part of her that knew that Julia was clinging to any semblance of human connection, of pure kindness.

So Lilly gave it to her, not caring that she'd double-crossed them so many times. Because, at the core of it all, Julia was only a woman. A woman who had been battered and bruised at every turn. She tucked the pager into her back pocket, thankful that Quentin had the foresight to bring them along. As they continued on their path, they began to see little things that didn't belong in the underbelly of New York City. Their flashlight beams glimmered and Illuminated giant wooden barrels, typewriters, jewels and pearls, dresses and statues, anything and everything they could think of.

"We must be getting close." They nodded as they approached a turn. The moment they stepped up to the edge of a dimly lit cathedral subway room, their lights flickered out. Quentin thumped on the side of his to no effect.

"This dragon better be fucking cool," Quentin grumbled, side-eyeing his friend. It was enough that they had to climb into the sewers of New York, now they'd be forced to traverse its depths without their flashlights.

"I certainly like to think so." A rumbling female voice echoed through the tunnel-like a great gong. "Come into the light, Little mammals." Lilly glanced at her peers and hesitantly stepped into the lit area. She looked up and around for any sign of where the dragon hid. The hulking outline of something scaled and massive was tucked behind tiled pillars and shrouded in darkness.

"Uh, greetings, your Ladyship." Quentin gave a slight bow, but it ended up more like a curtsy because of the way he tucked one foot behind the other. As she stared up at the towering pillars and the dark shadows they cast upon the floor, she was overwhelmingly aware of how minuscule she and her companions were.

"Your Ladyship? I am a Queen of the Great Worms." The Gatekeeper's voice was elegant, condescending, and had a slight rasp to it like she'd smoked one too many cigarettes. If the legends were true, and it could breathe fire, Lilly thought that would explain it.

"Of course you are. Uh, that's awesome--I wasn't suggesting that you weren't." Quentin looked over at Lilly in a panic as he stumbled over his apology. She reached out to tug on his sleeve gently, a sign to get himself under control. It was safe to assume that a dragon wouldn't be the most amenable creature out there, and she worried that any weakness, or even false praise, would result in a less than desirable outcome.

"Your manner does not endear me to you, human." It was a statement laced with disdain. Julia took this as a cue to step further into the light and raise her voice.

"We seek passage to the Underworld, oh, Ancient One." Julia was quite the opposite of Quentin. Steady, cool-headed, regal even. They peered into the darkness, straining their eyes for any hint of the being with which they were speaking. As if intrigued by Julia's declaration, a single glowing golden eye blinked open. Lilly had to clench her teeth so as not to flinch when a dark charcoal scaled head shifted into partial illumination. The Gatekeeper remained in shadow but close enough for them to make out her enormity when she straightened to what must nearly have been her full height. It must've been at least fifty feet to the top of the arched ceiling.

"Hmm. You seek to die."

"Uh, no, actually, we were hoping to come back after." Quentin swallowed hard, his eyebrows knitting together to form a peak in the middle.

"Suit yourself," The dragon sighed, and a puff of gray steam hissed into the light. "I require a gift."

"A gift?" Quentin glanced at both women with a nervous yet hopeful expression. "Um yeah, I mean, name it, and we'll get it for you."

"You already have it. It's in your pocket." For a second, none of them understood, not even Quentin himself. But then he reached inside his pocket, and when he opened his hand for them to see, the portal button rested in his palm. Lilly and Quentin froze.

"No. Pick something else." To their surprise, it was Julia's sharp denial that cut through the hot thick air of the sewer.

"No, if it gets you your Shade back--" Quentin lowered his voice and turned away from the dragon.

"If that deal is not to your liking, I would accept the Shifter in place of the portal." The greed in The Gatekeeper's voice sent a shiver of unease up her spine. Lilly raised one brow in defiance and placed both hands on her hips.

"Uh, no," she held up a finger. "I'm not on the menu."

"Could we please have a moment to discuss?" Quentin stepped forward to stop that suggestion from progressing. With a huff, the dragon begrudgingly agreed, but Lilly could practically feel its beady eyes and uncanny hearing assessing every one of their moves. Julia lowered her voice to a harsh whisper.

"No. Fillory is your home. And what about your friends? What if they need you? We can't."

"If it takes giving up my way home to save my people, I'll do it happily. It won't matter if I can't find a solution for Alice." Lilly pursed her lips. The Valley was still a very closely guarded secret, despite having more outsiders within its barriers than they'd had in over seventy years. However, if Alice wanted her blood, Lilly wouldn't put it past her to begin hunting all Shifters. They were making such positive progress with Eliot and Margo as the rulers of Fillory. She wanted her people to be free, not hunted.

"Queen of the Great Worms. What if we, uh, needed to borrow it in the future, just super briefly?" Quentin asked this as one would a favor from a friend. The dragon's gold eyes flared to a crimson like the embers of a dying fire had been stoked back into flame.

"No. If you wish to return home, you must find other means. The first door remains open, little mammal."

"Great, um, I super love riddles." A low rumble radiated towards them from the shadows, vibrating through their very cores. The Gatekeeper lowered her head and pushed forward until her muzzle was illuminated. They stared down a steaming maw of razor-sharp teeth.

"Are you giving me the button or not?" Lilly looked at Quentin and swallowed hard. She tried to push the growing dread down. With a decided nod, Quentin placed the button before the great beast. "Your bodies will stay here, and your souls will travel. You have 24 hours to return to the portal."

"Or?" Julia asked.

"I sit patiently, waiting for you to come back." The dragon's response was sickly sweet. "No, I eat you--I'm a fucking dragon. What do you expect?"

"Great, good to know," Quentin mumbled. Lilly scrunched her face up and nodded like she understood the creature's logic. It was an expected response, though it was still quite jarring when staring straight into glowing reptilian eyes and a steaming maw of prehistoric fangs.

"Then it's settled." Before anyone could speak another word, The Gatekeeper let out a huff of thick smoke, which blew over all three and enveloped them in a silver cloud. Sparks stung at Lilly's skin, and without thinking, she inhaled a deep lungful of air. Her body instantly rejected it, and she began hacking up any remnant of it.

"Ugh, ever heard of a breath mint?" Lilly waved her hand in front of her face to dispel the rancid mist.

"Jesus, a little warning next time, honestly." It was then that Lilly spotted the bizarre sight before them. Three bodies lay sprawled across the tiled floor of the sewer.

"Really." Julia agreed, clutching her chest in discomfort. "Q, look." Her eyes had settled on the bodies, and she pointed to it with wide eyes. Lilly blinked a few times and lifted her eyebrows to her hairline, wondering if she was somehow hallucinating an out-of-body experience. But when she looked at her companions, they were equally unnerved.

"Time to go." None of them particularly enjoyed walking away from their bodies. Lilly felt a sharp pull in her chest the further she got. It was like her soul was still tethered to her body, and as she got further and further from it, it pulled taught. She wondered if she got far enough, would it snap her back like a rubber band or break apart completely?

As it turns out, the entrance to The Underworld was an elevator. Lilly tapped a finger against her thigh, watching anxiously as the roman numerals across the top lit up in rapid succession. She didn't believe that The Underworld was limited to just ten floors, and she had the sneaking suspicion that the numbers really meant ten thousand or million. They wouldn't give a soul access to the entire Underworld on their first day. Her stomach sank as the elevator settled on level 5, and the chrome doors went from reflecting three anxious faces to opening on a floor that looked more like a hospital waiting room than the gates to hell. A man dressed in a bellhops uniform of red and gold stepped up to greet them with his best customer service smile.

"Welcome to the Underworld. Please take a number." He held out a hand towards a ticket dispenser as a deli might have.

"The fuck?" Quentin looked around the lobby with a slack jaw. Lilly and Julia shared amused glances, overwhelmed by the absurdity of it all. With a shrug, Lilly walked towards it and ripped off a number. 168 it read in small black type. Quentin and Julia took theirs and meandered into the room, joining the other departed souls.

"Congratulations, you're dead." A gentleman's voice sounded from her right. She turned her head, expecting to find another bellhop or even an usher of some sort, but instead, there was a small flat-screen TV, crowded by a handful of others. On it was a man in a tan suit, sat in an armchair by a roaring fireplace. A golden retriever sat dutifully by his side. It was comforting, in a superficial way. "You've passed through the veil to the Underworld. Is this your final destination? No. It's the first leg of your journey." Lilly made her way over to the back of the crowd, and Quentin grabbed a pamphlet that read-

'Don't Panic. You Probably Aren't Going To Hell.'

"Isn't that reassuring," she mumbled, her voice drenched with sarcasm.

"We designed this part of the Underworld for you, based on your life and personal expectations to facilitate a comfortable transition. You've been grouped with others who have similar expectations. Perfect, right?" There was a sharp intake of breath, and Lilly jerked her head to the side. Julia winced, clutching her stomach.

"Ow."

"What?" Quentin asked. With meticulous hands, Julia rolled up the hem of her shirt. Lilly sucked in a harsh breath.

"Fuck," she hissed. "That's not good." Where Julia's stomach should've been was a gaping hole through her body. It was so big that Lilly could see through her to the elevator. At the edges, her skin was shredded like string cheese.

"Settle into this next stage of your existence. In the unlikely event you're missing your Shade, please report to a bellhop immediately. Enjoy your wait." The program ended with a closeup of the golden retriever, gleefully panting, and it went dark with a click.

"I guess we need to find a bellhop." No sooner had Julia finished her sentence than a blaring alarm cut through the lobby with nerve-shredding shrillness.

"Security, we have a Shade-less patron!" Someone shouted, and all three of them whirled when two uniformed men strode across the lobby and hooked their arms around a middle-aged man and began dragging him along with them.

"What? Hey!" The man protested, his head jerking every which way in a panic. Lilly opened her mouth to say something and took one step towards the scene. Julia clamped her hand around Lilly's wrist and pulled her back.

"We can't." She whispered, her eyes sharp with meaning. Lilly almost tried to break free, almost ignored her warning, and barreled after the man. But she couldn't. It was too late for him, and if she tried to help, they'd be in even worse trouble.

"Take him away." A young man in a black suit and tie and slicked back blonde hair instructed. He wore a name tag that said, Tom. Just Tom, no last name, no title.

"Why? Where are you taking me?" The man bucked and squirmed in the guard's grasp.

"Thank you, thank you." Tom smiled as if they'd cleaned up a simple spill on the tile, not just dragged a man off kicking and screaming.

"Read me my rights! Hey, let go! Wait, ow!" Lilly clenched her teeth and watched it all unfold.

"Or, you know we don't say anything about the shade situation." Julia corrected. The man and the guards were gone now, and Lilly had a pit in her stomach that wouldn't go away.

"168!" Lilly's head shot towards the call. Tom had returned to his station behind a marble-topped desk, as cool as a cucumber. When he caught her looking, he beckoned her forward with a full-toothed smile. Quentin and Julia trailed after her until they reached the counter, and Lilly presented Tom with her number.

"Place your hands on the counter for identification, please." He pointed to the line of circular lighted screens on the counter. They did as told, and the light began to pulse and swirl.

"Hey, do you know where they were taking that guy just now?" Quentin asked him, nodding in the direction they'd disappeared. He tried his very best to look nonchalant, but Quentin was never a good actor.

"Oh, his soul is missing a little piece. They just took him somewhere where he would be more comfortable." Tom's tone was condescending at best. It was like being back in kindergarten and asking the teacher a question too adult to receive a truthful answer.

"So he could be reunited with it?" Julia pressed, and Tom shook his head.

"I doubt it. That's very difficult to do. Especially after a prolonged separation."

"Yeah, but you can't just take--"

"I assure you, all the Shades are safe and well protected for their eternity. Nothing to worry over." Tom cut Julia off without a second thought, and as soon as he'd finished brushing her off like a common pest, he returned to scanning his computer screen. "Ah, here we are. Cole, Wicker, and Coldwater. Oh. Oh, my." Tom looked up at them with concern, and for a moment, Lilly thought they'd been caught.

"What?"

"You've both died 39 times. Lilly Rose Cole, 23 times." They all nodded awkwardly. "Aha--time loop. Thought so, our computers do not handle these well. This will take a bit to sort out." They all visibly relaxed at that. Tom pulled out a massive black book and began flipping through it. "Once you're in the system, we'll reunite you with your immediate karmic circle, but until then, I'll need to stick you somewhere. Do you like skiing?" He asked with his signature sickly sweet smile. Lilly truly wanted to gag looking at him.

"Look, I thought this was just a waystation. -- We're kind of in a hurry."

"Oh, it is. But souls do stay a while until they're ready to move on." His expression sobered to one of pity, then lit up with false enthusiasm, going from sympathetic to hyperactive in half a second. "Snorkeling? Art museums?" It sounded like a parent who didn't quite know how to occupy their children and avidly suggested options to get them out of his hair. They shared looks of uncertainty. It was Julia who finally offered up something.

"Actually, is it possible to check on a few names?"