Lee burst from the group and dropped down by Andrew. The fallen minotaur had a bullet hole right through his chest, not far from his heart.

No. No no no—

"Someone get a hamadryad!" Lee shouted, pressing his hands onto the wound to try to stem the bleeding. But so many people had already been hurt, and so many hamadryads had already left to heal them. . . . Would there be any left to help Andrew?

"Lee." Andrew spit out the word through the pain. "Lee, I can't come with you."

"No!" Andrew was supposed to help cast magic to get Bill out of Lee's body. But more than that — Andrew was the one with the knife. The one who had promised to do what nobody else could. "Andrew, you have to be there," Lee said. "I can't — I can't do it. You have to."

Andrew shook his head, though that simple act seemed to hurt him. He was losing a lot of blood — where was that hamadryad? "You'll have to, now," he said. "This will take—" He paused and groaned from a wave of pain. "This will take a long time to heal, even with the hamadryads' help. I can't be with you."

"Andrew—"

But Lee didn't know what else to say. Andrew reached down to his side and, with shaking fingers, tried to untie his belt, from which his sheathed knife hung. "Help me," he said to Lee.

Lee sat there in shock, still pressing down on the wound, somehow less able to move than the person who had been shot in the chest. "Stanley," Andrew said, his voice weak but commanding. "Help me get this off. Take it with you."

So Lee helped untie the belt and took the knife. "Please. Don't leave me with this."

"Tie it around your waist. Hide it under your clothes, just in case."

In case of what? Getting captured by the servants? Lee glanced over his shoulder and noticed that Ford wasn't watching. He was hurrying the other Symbols up the stairs, after a path had been cleared. Maybe hiding the dagger was in case of Ford seeing and trying to take it.

A moment after Lee had secured the knife, two hamadryads ran up. Finally! Where had they been? They lifted Andrew into the air, with one hamadryad wrapping her arms around his chest and under his arms, and the other securing his legs.

"Papa!" cried a voice. Enoch ran up to them.

"Enoch. Stay with the Symbols," Andrew instructed. "Make sure they're safe. I'll be okay." That last word turned into a tortured moan.

And with that, the hamadryads hurried away.

Enoch looked to Lee with anguish in his eyes. Lee wiped his bloody hands on his pants and waved to the young minotaur. "Come on. Let's get to the others."

The two of them hurried up the stairs to get to the other Symbols. A stray gunshot pinged off the banister, but Lee and Enoch made it up safely. They ran into the nearest hallway, where they could see the others Symbols.

"Andrew?" Gideon asked when they had caught up.

"The hamadryads will heal him," Lee said. "But I don't think he'll be back to help us. He. . . has a lot of healing to do."

Enoch let out a high-pitched moan of fear.

Immediately Dipper was by Enoch's side. "He'll be okay," he said, though his voice was shaking a bit. "The hamadryads know what they're doing."

Enoch nodded, swallowed a few times, and managed to speak to the group. "Papa told me to stay with you. I — I'm not nearly as good as magic as he is, but I might be able to help with exorcising Cipher."

Ford caught Lee's eye. Lee could guess what he was thinking, and it wasn't good. Their plans had been to use different kinds of magic, including Andrew's. They still had Gideon and his amulet, plus three dryads with their magic. That was pretty much it. The hamadryads originally meant to be with them had broken away to help the injured, and the two adult minotaurs were good at fighting, but not at magic.

Their options were dwindling. The knife by Lee's leg seemed to burn his skin.

"We have to keep going," Gideon said. "We have to get to Bill."

Ford nodded, turning away from Lee. The group started down the hall, with the minotaurs scouting ahead to check for traps.

Lee mechanically started walking. The hallway was quiet, though the sounds of fighting — from both groups, which were scattered throughout the Manor by now — were still audible, muffled through the carpet and tapestries. Those sounds, quiet but violent, provided a soundtrack to Lee's thoughts.

He felt the same urgency to get to Bill that Gideon did, but what were they going to do without Andrew? Trying to imagine Lee himself using the knife — stabbing it right into his own chest — it was impossible. He couldn't imagine it; he couldn't do it.

But someone had to. Lee hadn't had much hope in the magical plans to exorcise Bill, and without Andrew it seemed even less likely.

He glanced around at the small group. Almost immediately, his eyes caught on Fidds, who was looking at him in worry. The two men held gazes for a moment before Lee shook his head and looked away.

Wait.

He looked back. Fidds was walking with his sad gaze trained on the floor. The two of them were at the back of the group. On impulse, Lee reached out and grabbed Fidds by the arm, pulling him away from the others.

Fidds gave a startled little noise, but otherwise didn't say anything until Lee had led him around a corner into another hallway. "Lee, what is it?" Fidds asked quietly.

Lee looked at him in a silence. His gaze clearly made Fidds uncomfortable, but neither of them said anything. Could Lee say what he was about to say?

"Lee?" Fidds said slowly. "Are you all right?"

"No. But that's not. . ." Lee took a deep breath. "Fidds."

"Yes?"

It was the best option Lee could think of. So he said it. "Do you remember saying you would do anything I needed?"

~~~~~

Despite his papa getting hurt, despite his fear of the servants' traps and guns, Enoch had to focus.

He was in charge of the Symbols now. He was in charge of helping them. So he went with their group, listening to Gideon give directions, letting Kálux and Lutsali (the other two minotaurs) scout ahead. Everyone was understandably tense, but Enoch also sensed a growing anticipation among the Symbols. Almost like they were excited for this.

It wasn't long before they set off another trap. Kálux and Lutsali turned a corner in the hallway, and—

Crash!

Lutsali immediately ducked back as two red beams of light shot past her head. "Kálux!" she called. Ducking down, just in case there were more lasers coming, she moved out of sight.

"What happened?" the black-haired teen asked. Enoch was pretty sure his name was Robbie.

"That sounded like my mother's china set," Gideon said. "The servants must've rigged it."

Sure enough, Lutsali dragged Kálux back into view. Kálux had cuts across his body, with small porcelain shards embedded in his skin. He moaned incoherently.

"A wooden shelf fell on him, with dishes on it," Lutsali reported. "Enoch, can you heal him?"

Enoch stiffened in fear. Could he? They were just cuts, but some of them looked deep, and besides cuts Kálux had also suffered the blunt force of the shelf falling on him. "I can try," Enoch said. "But I should probably go get a hamadryad."

"No," Kálux said. "Keep going. Get to Cipher. I'll be fine."

"Kálux—"

"I'll be fine," he insisted, though his words were a little slurred.

"I'll go find a hamadryad," one of the dryads said. "The rest of you keep going."

Enoch glanced at the dryad and nodded. They couldn't just leave Kálux here.

Lutsali went back to scouting and didn't come across any more lasers or shelves of dishes. The lasers must've been a spell that was activated when the shelf fell — Enoch had felt the power from them, though it seemed a little. . . off.

He didn't have time to think about it, though. Lutsali was beckoning them onward.

Their group was now reduced to the ten Symbols, Enoch, Lutsali, and two dryads. Nothing else jumped at out them or fell on top of them. At one point, Lutsali stepped on something sharp hidden in the carpet, which thankfully didn't hurt her because of her hooves, but which did cause some concern for the humans and dryads. Gideon flew through the hall, looking for signs of more hidden objects, then levitated everyone over the dangerous area. Enoch didn't like being levitated by the amulet, but it was better than the alternative.

"There," Gideon said, a minute later. "We'll turn right, just up there."

Lutsali nodded and went to go check it for traps. She was just fine going through the hall, but when she got to the intersection, she seemed to bump into something. She stumbled back, looking confused.

"Lutsali?"

"There's a wall," she said. She stepped forward and put her hand out. "An invisible wall."

"A wall?" Gideon went over to her. "Bill is through there," he said, reaching out his hand. "We have to—"

His hand didn't stop.

"There's nothing there," he said. He stepped forward — he could get through.

"What?" Lutsali tried to move forward, but for her there was some kind of barrier. She pushed against it in vain.

Something about this was wrong. Enoch went up and found that the barrier was there for him, too. He couldn't get through.

"It's like the barrier at the minotaur village," Ford said. He stepped through the barrier himself. "The one keeping Lee prisoner. Except opposite. Only humans can get through."

Lee followed his brother, tentatively reaching out and stepping forward. He got through. "Yeah," he said, "but the barrier at the minotaur village knocked humans out if they touched it, and these guys are fine."

"Wait," Enoch said. "Everybody wait. Something's wrong."

The two dryads also came forward, and they were stopped by the barrier. "This isn't good," one of them said.

Dipper and Mabel started moving.

"Stop," Enoch said. "Please. We have to figure this out. I. . . I can feel the power of that barrier. It's obviously meant to keep everyone out but humans. But—" Enoch's voice faltered.

"But what?" Dipper asked impatiently.

"This is minotaur magic," Enoch said. "These barrier spells — they can make people unconscious, or they can just form walls. But Cipher shouldn't be able to have something like this — humans can't cast it."

"Bill's a demon," Mabel said. "Can't he do a lot of magic?"

"Not in a human body," Gideon said. "He's stuck in Lee's body and stuck with human magic. So how did he get minotaur magic like this?"

Enoch blinked, his head buzzing with possibilities. Only one seemed likely.

"Caleb," he whispered. "Maybe Caleb came yesterday to help Cipher."

"What? That doesn't make sense," Dipper said. "I thought you and Andrew were the only ones who knew magic. And Caleb was with Candy and Yingtai yesterday, right? Candy would've told us if he left."

"How else could Cipher have minotaur magic?" Enoch asked. The buzzing in his head increased, this time with pain and fear. Caleb could easily know magic if he'd been learning it in secret all these years. If Caleb was betraying them again — if he was still helping Cipher—

Lutsali put a comforting hand on Enoch's shoulder. Enoch didn't know how much she knew about Caleb and his situation, but surely the rumors had flown through the minotaur village by now.

"I'm sorry, Enoch," Lee said. "But we have to keep moving."

"Without us?" Lutsali asked.

Enoch looked up and noted with alarm that more Symbols had crossed the barrier. Only Dipper, Mabel, and the adult woman — Melody? — were still on this side.

"Wait," Enoch said. "We need to stay with you. Don't you need our magic?"

"We still have Gideon and his amulet," Ford said. "I don't like it, but we have to move forward."

Lee jerked his head to look at his twin, his eyes wide and his brows furrowed. Enoch was confused; wasn't Ford the most adamant about having all the magic possible with them to exorcise Cipher? What were they going to do with just Gideon and his amulet?

The three remaining Symbols started moving forward to cross the threshold. "Stop!" Enoch said. He reached forward and grabbed Mabel's arm. "It's not safe! You can't just—"

Mabel tore her arm away with more strength than Enoch expected. "We have to get to Bill," she said simply. Though her actions had seemed angry, her tone was neutral.

"No! You're walking right into a trap!" Enoch lunged forward, trying to grab Mabel again, but he hit his nose on the barrier. It was too late.

All ten Symbols were behind the barrier.

"Please, come back," he said.

"We have to reconsider our approach," one of the dryads said. "Step back, and we can talk about this."

"This hall is the only way to access the room that Cipher is in," Gideon said. "You can't come with us, and we have to go."

"Why? Why do you have to go?" Enoch said. They still had time to figure all this out, didn't they? Why were the Symbols acting like this?

"We have to stop Bill," Dipper said.

And with that, the Symbols turned and started walking away.

"No! Stop!" Enoch threw himself against the barrier, trying to push through the invisible wall. Lutsali and the dryads joined him. It didn't budge.

"If it's minotaur magic, can't you undo it?" Lutsali asked desperately.

Enoch closed his eyes and tried to feel the magic, tried to undo it. But it was too big, too complex. Enoch wasn't powerful enough to put up a barrier spell, much less undo one put up by someone else. His cousin Xítway had been able to — Andrew had taught her some magic because she asked, and she picked up on the instruction far quicker than Enoch did — but Xítway was dead. Xítway was dead and it was Caleb's fault and now Papa was hurt too and he was counting on Enoch to help the Symbols but there was this barrier spell here and Caleb must have put it up and that meant he was still working for Cipher even though he said he wasn't—

Enoch gave a keening cry and sank to his knees.

He couldn't handle this.

The Symbols kept walking. They didn't turn around at the sound of Enoch's cry. They didn't react at all.

They kept walking. Kept walking to Bill Cipher.