Faye sprinted down the endless corridor of the Groken palace, shoes pounding over cracked marble while the light poured through arrow-slit windows high above.
Apex wolves poured from every side passage, eyes glowing amber with the last dregs of the broken curse, teeth bared in confusion and fury.
She twisted sideways as the instant the first wolf lunged, driving a her needle through the soft spot beneath its jaw and into the brain. The beast dropped mid leap, momentum carrying the corpse sliding past her heels.
Faye never slowed. Needles flashed between her fingers like silver rain.
Another pair burst from an alcove ahead, shoulder to shoulder, blocking the corridor. She flicked her wrist and sent her threaded needles spinning end over end.
The first buried in the left wolf's eye, the second in the throat of the right, the third time pinning the second wolf's ear to the wall so it thrashed and screamed while its partner died.
Faye vaulted over the collapsing bodies, rolled beneath the swipe of a third attacker, and came up running.
The corridor narrowed, forcing the pack to funnel. Perfect! She slapped her palm against the floor as she slid, leaving a circle of black salt and bone dust that flared crimson the moment pursuing paws crossed it.
Half a dozen wolves behind her slammed into an invisible wall, skulls cracking against the barrier, bodies piling while the spell held.
"See," she joked. "I remember some spells."
Blood slicked the marble now, making every step treacherous. A massive gray brute rounded the corner ahead, fully shifted, shoulders brushing both walls. It lowered its head and charged.
Faye waited until the last heartbeat, then dropped flat. The wolf sailed over her; she jammed both needles upward into its belly as it passed, riding the momentum to flip herself onto its back.
One more needle slid between vertebrae at the base of the skull. The beast crashed, skidding, and she rode the corpse like a sled until it stopped.
"WOOOOOO!"
She vaulted off, breathing hard but steady. Somewhere ahead, Sous waited, and hopefully the others. Faye wasn't sure what happened. All she knew was she, Tany, and Kara were teleported to some other dimension. The witch was waiting. Rather not have Faye fight the witch, Kara and Tany teleported Faye back here to help with Sous.
More wolves spilled from a staircase on the right, cutting off retreat she had no intention of taking. Faye snatched a fallen Apex banner from the crimson wolf on black cloth and whipped it around her forearm like a shield.
The lead wolf leapt; she caught its jaws on the pole, twisted, and drove a needle through the roof of its mouth. The banner became a garrote as she spun the dying beast into its packmates, bowling them over in a tangle of limbs and snarls.
She left them choking on their own blood and sprinted on.
The corridor opened into a gallery lined with shattered pixie statues. Wolves circled here, wary now, learning respect the hard way. Faye walked into the center of the open space and waited. Ten heartbeats. Twenty. Then they rushed from every direction at once.
Needles flew in a storm. She danced through the chaos, a blur of black cloth and silver death. One needle pinned a paw to the floor so the wolf behind tripped and broke its neck on a statue pedestal. Another needle severed the tendon behind a knee, dropping a beast that she finished with a thrust through the ear.
She used elbows, knees, the sharp ends of her needles when steel ran momentarily dry, reloading from hidden sheaths without breaking stride.
When the last wolf fell whimpering, Faye stood in a ring of corpses, chest heaving, needles dripping with blood.
Blood painted her arms to the elbows, some hers, most not. She wiped her face with the back of one wrist, flicked the gore away, and started running again.
The final stretch slanted upward toward the throne room doors, great slabs of moon-oak bound in iron, still closed. Two sentries guarded them, the biggest yet, half shifted, axes raised.
Faye did not slow. She hurled her remaining needles in a wide arc; the wolves flinched, lifting shields, buying her the heartbeat she needed. She slid feet first between them, boots connecting with shins, toppling both giants. Before they hit the ground she rolled, slammed her palms against the doors, and shoved.
The doors boomed open.
Faye stepped over the threshold, leaving bloody footprints on pixie marble, and let the doors swing shut behind her with a sound like a judge's gavel.
Sous was crouched over holding onto something, someone. Faye ran to her and knelt down. Sous was holding this man while Shadow stood to the side with a little girl that looked like Sous.
"Sous," Faye whispered.
Sous looked up from her son, her eyes filled with tears, her upper body covered in blood. She went back to cradling this man, her son. Faye remained with her, they all were quiet, just watching.