She stopped talking as I shook my head firmly. I wasn t ready to think about that, not just yet. Concentrate on our enemies, I said. Who is there left, who could have done this to us? We stamped out Manifest Destiny, stopped the invasion of the Loathly Ones and the Hungry Gods, wiped out the Immortals and crushed the Great Satanic Conspiracy. I mean, who s left?

Clearly, someone you missed, said Molly. There s always someone.

I thought about it. The Droods are supposed to have made pacts with Heaven and Hell, back in the day, for power and influence and protection, I said. Could this have been the day when all our debts came due?

No, Molly said immediately. I d know.

I managed something like a smile. You worry me sometimes when you say things like that.

She managed a small smile of her own. Can I help it if I m a girl who likes to get around?

I took her hand in mine and squeezed it firmly. Sometimes I forget that I m not alone anymore. That I don t have to do everything myself.

You always were too ready to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, Eddie. Whatever you decide to do, I ve got your back.

Good to know, I said. Because I m pretty sure this is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

I gave her hand a final squeeze, let it go and turned away to look into the open doorway, where the huge and specially reinforced front doors should have been. The empty gap was like an open wound. I moved slowly, steadily, forward, Molly right there at my side. Gravel crunched loudly under our feet in the quiet. The remains of a lone gargoyle lay shattered on the ground before us. As though it had been shot down while flying against our enemies and plummeted to the ground. And maybe it had. I d always been suspicious about the gargoyles. When I was just a kid, sleeping in one of the great communal dormitories along with the other young Droods, I was half-convinced gargoyles would creep down from the roof at night and listen outside our windows, so they could report all our sins and bad intentions to the adults. And maybe they did. Drood Hall is full of secrets. I stopped then and made myself rephrase that. Drood Hall was full of secrets. It was important to remember everything I d lost.