After what felt like days of waiting but was probably a couple of hours, there was a rush of activity in front of us. Two guards landed, joining the group of five we'd been watching.

"Escape at the arena! All of them got away," one of them yelled loud enough for me to hear.

"We need to round them up and get them back in the cage before Crystal finds out. I won't be put in the trials." He turned to his friends for agreement, and they all looked sick at the thought.

I glanced at Tate, and he winked. Everything was going according to plan. We stayed still and quiet, but I could tell Jolie was doing all she could to hold herself back from running to Emily.

It didn't take the guards long to decide to leave only one of them behind to watch the cell. As soon as the others were out of sight, Tate started to move, but Ash stopped him. Shaking his head, he motioned for us to stay put. He walked back into the forest, and a few seconds later, popped out of the treeline across from us, sneaking up behind the lone guard.

He was a step away when the guard heard him. He swung around with his knife, but Ash was ready. He knocked the hand with the weapon away with one arm as he grabbed the guard by the neck and swept his feet from under him, slamming him to the ground. Leaning close, Ash spoke, and the guard slept.

We joined Ash at the edge of the path the sleeping man had been securing. Jolie ran ahead of us and down the hill that led to the darkened cell. The dirt had been dug out to make a small room just tall enough to stand, with a row of thick bars separating us from the prisoners. As my eyes adjusted, I saw Emily comforting a distraught Hedera.

"Mom!" Jolie pulled on the bars looking for a weak spot.

"Jolie! Mark! You shouldn't be here. It isn't safe." Emily stood and rushed closer, trying to hug us through the bars. "You need to get out of here. Ash, Tate, take my babies home."

"We're not leaving without you, Emily." I squeezed her arm and looked behind her at Hedera. "We're not leaving without both of you."

Hedera looked up, "Jolie, I'm so sorry. I told you I'd look after them. I didn't see Dahlia coming with that damn sleeping powder." A sob escaped her, "Thank goodness Bea was still at work."

Jolie shook her head, "I'm not mad at you. This isn't your fault."

Tate stepped forward and gave Hedera the bag with her vines. When she glanced inside, she grinned, "Finally, I can do something." She set it on the ground at her feet. Glancing at us, she said, "Help me with the bars, but watch your hands."

A look of concentration took over her delicate features. Raising her hands, her arms shook as the vines shot from the bag and wrapped themselves around two of the bars. Her hands became fists, and she strained to draw them apart. Ash and Tate stepped forward and carefully helped her pull on the bars.

They were beginning to bend when Jolie and I joined them, and a creaking sound could be heard. The metal was straining against us. After a few minutes of pulling, they had finally bent enough for Emily and Hedera to slip through. Hedera relaxed her arms, and the vines retracted into the bag.

Her head fell forward in exhaustion, and Emily wrapped her arms around her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She patted her hand and gave her a small smile, "I can catch my breath as we walk. Let's go home." Lifting her plant bag, she put the strap over her shoulder.

"Come on." Jolie waved at them to hurry, "We don't have long."

Emily stepped through first, and Jolie pulled her in for a hug, "I'm so sorry, Mom."

"This isn't your fault, sweetie." Emily kissed her cheek.

I started feeling antsy and thought maybe we should run again. I'd rather get sick than be here a minute longer than we had to. I turned to Tate to make that suggestion, but his eyes widened, and he pulled me behind him. Ash looked up and stepped in front of Jolie as Hedera moved to block Emily.

Blocking our exit were Crystal, Blue, Sarsen, and five more guards. Crystal looked so lousy; it almost made me smile. Her skin was chalky, her shoulders sagged, and her eyes were dull. Apparently, she was still recovering from her time spent wrapped in vines.

Crystal spoke from behind her guards, "For crimes against the fae, you will all be put to death. Except for Ash. Cage him, kill the rest."

"Happily," Blue smirked at Jolie.

"You're a liar." Jolie ignored Blue and looked at Crystal, "You're just looking for an excuse to hurt people. My mother never did anything to any faerie." She looked at Sarsen and the unfamiliar guards, "You'll kill innocent people just because she tells you to?"

Crystal's eyebrow raised in bored annoyance. "She's no innocent. She caused the death of one of us. You don't believe me? Look at the guilt on her face."

Jolie glanced back at her mom as we stood ready to fight. I didn't expect any amount of reasoning to change their minds.

"Mom?" Jolie's voice was a disbelieving whisper.

Emily took a deep breath, and tears filled her eyes, "Flint died protecting us. I didn't kill him. We loved him."

Crystal sighed, "If it weren't for you, he wouldn't have died. I'm done here. Kill them."

Blue took a step toward Jolie, and the room erupted in action. Ash punched Blue, knocking him back into one of the other guards. Tate was immediately fighting Sarsen as one of the new guys went for Tate's back. I grabbed that fae by the hair and pushed him around to face me. Hedera wrapped one of the guards in a vine and then focused on the Queen.

It was hard to see what was happening as everyone fought. Jolie seemed to be trying to keep the fight away from Emily and Hedera. If anyone got close, she knocked them away, back into the melee.

Sarsen and Tate's struggle was blocking the Queen from Hedera. The guy I was fighting used my distraction to land a hit on my cheekbone. It made my eyes water and impeded my sight.

I pushed him into Sarsen, hoping to budge him enough to give Hedera a straight shot. I glanced at her in time to see one of them rush toward her with a knife. She didn't see him as she darted her vine at Sarsen, but Emily saw. She pushed Hedera out of the path of the blade and was stabbed herself.

I saw everything as if it was in slow motion, but I was too far to stop it. I grabbed the guard and pulled him away from them. With a look of horror, Hedera realized what happened and wrapped him in her last vine.

Emily looked down in shock as she pulled the knife from her chest. Blood bloomed across her shirt, and she collapsed. She gasped for breath as Jolie screamed and fell to her knees beside her.

"Mom! No!" She covered the wound with her hands, trying to stop the bleeding, but there was too much. It was too fast. Emily reached up to cup Jolie's cheek, and after a second, the gasping stopped. Her hand fell. She was gone.

Jolie trembled as she wrapped her arms around Emily. I looked behind us and found that the fighting had stopped. Blue and another guard were asleep. One was beaten unconscious. Sarsen, another guard, and the one that stabbed Emily were all in vines on the ground. The last guard and Crystal were gone.

Tate saw me looking for them. "They ran off as soon as things weren't going their way. I'll keep an eye out." Sadly, he walked toward the entrance, where he could see if anyone was coming.

Jolie gently let go of her mom and picked the knife up off the floor. She turned, and Emily's bloody handprint was on her cheek. Seeing it made everything too real. I wanted to grab her and run away from this nightmare. It couldn't be true. Not Emily. "Jolie-"

She pushed me out of the way and stared at the guard that killed her mother. He was on the ground writhing in one of Hedera's vines. Calmly, Jolie walked toward him. When Ash reached for her, she gave him a look that made him drop his hands.

Kneeling on the ground, she stared at the guard's face before raising the knife with both hands and slamming it down into his chest. Her arm was touching the vine, but she didn't seem to notice. Her eyes were on his face as his blood ran down his side and coated her knees. Ash stood behind her, ready to be there when she let him.

I sat next to Emily and took her hand in mine. She'd been like a second mom to me since I was a kid. Then she became my only mom, the one that loved me unconditionally. Tears dripped from my chin, and my heart squeezed in my chest. Hedera sat across from me, sobbing quietly.

When he couldn't take her silence any longer, Ash pried Jolie's fingers from the handle of the knife. "He's gone, love. It's over." She looked up at him but didn't say anything as he helped her stand.

Tate came closer, "I'm sorry, but we have to get out of here before she comes back with reinforcements."

"We need to take Emily home," I whispered.

Tate walked over and bent to lift her, but I shook my head. "I've got her. You need your hands free in case anyone shows up."

Ash said, "Wait." He went to the ones that were still wrapped in vines and made them sleep. "Collect your vines, Hedera. We might need them."

"I can go with you?" She looked from me to Jolie with surprise. "But, Emily...she was protecting me," her voice cracked, and the sobbing started again.

Jolie didn't seem to hear her. She didn't seem to hear anything. She just stood there staring at the ground.

I nodded, "Come home."

Hedera watched Jolie like she wasn't sure, but Ash said, "Her feelings aren't accusatory." He lifted Jolie in front of him, so her head rested on his shoulder. "Let's go."

As we walked, I couldn't stop glancing at Emily's face. I could almost pretend she was sleeping. I kept telling myself she wasn't, no matter how much I wanted things to be different.

She was one of the most loving people I'd ever known. She checked on me every night for months after she let me move in. She'd let me talk or just sit with me, whatever I needed, and she never mentioned it. Jolie didn't even know. I don't know what I'd have done without her. I hugged her tighter against me and let the tears fall.

I barely noticed when we got to the tree that hid the path home. Tate helped me with Emily, and Ash carried Jolie the entire way. Even through the cramped tunnel that stopped at the entrance to Bea's basement.

The door swung open under Tate's hand, and I knew we were safe, but I felt no relief.