Sebastian

than I already have. Then, I think, it's time to find out why Sebastian is here."
    Thank all the Guardians of the Light , Sebastian thought when he saw Nadia and Lynnea walk out of the house. Nadia had put something on under that dress. He'd already seen more of his aunt than he wanted to.
    "Jeb?" Nadia called. "Why don't you show Lynnea the flower gardens?" After giving Lynnea a friendly push, she walked off in the opposite direction, toward the back of her personal garden.
    Figuring that was his cue to have a private talk with Nadia, Sebastian set the watering can down and followed his aunt. He caught up to her when she stopped at the fountain and frowned.
    "The statue is gone," she said, sounding annoyed and resigned but not terribly worried.
    "Statue?"
    "The statue the three of you bought me for my birthday one year. It's gone."
    Being related to Nadia and Glorianna, he knew more about how the Landscapers' magic worked than most people. His heart raced as too many awful possibilities leaped through his mind. "Someone stole it?"
    " 'Stole' is a harsh word, since I know Glorianna took it. I told her it wasn't necessary, but I think she's going to alter the landscapes to bring Aurora and all my other landscapes into her garden."
    His heart still raced, but the feeling of relief that swept through him left him shaky. "Good. That's good."
    "It's not good. She has enough to deal with without taking on more."
    "Aunt Nadia. There's something I have to tell you."
    Nadia stared at the fountain. "The Eater of the World is loose among the landscapes. I know, Sebastian.
    Glorianna already warned me."
    "Does she know about the school?"
    Frowning, Nadia looked at him. "What about the school?"
    He rested his hands on her shoulders, offering silent comfort. "The Eater has taken over the school. The place is crawling with Its creatures." Even through the thin material, he felt her skin growing cold beneath his hands as her face paled. "The Landscapers are dead, Aunt Nadia. The Bridges are dead. Everyone who was at the school—" Lee?
    "We saw him in Sanctuary. He knows. He said he was going to break the bridges that linked Glorianna's landscapes to any others."
    Nadia sank to the ground. Sebastian dropped to his knees with her, holding her upright while she swayed.
    "Aunt Nadia?" he asked sharply. He wouldn't like it if she fainted, but he could deal with it. What brought him close to panic was the fear that he'd shocked her so much she was having some kind of attack.
    "We're the only ones left?" Nadia whispered. "Glorianna and I are the only Landscapers left?"
    Sebastian rubbed her arms. "Maybe not. Plenty of Landscapers would have been traveling, checking up on their landscapes, so—"
    "But they don't know!" Nadia's voice rose.
    Out of the corner of his eye, Sebastian saw Jeb look in their direction and take a step toward them. Saw Lynnea reach out and stop him.
    "The Landscapers who are traveling won't know about the danger." Nadia sounded panicked.
    "If the Eater tries to connect one of Its bad landscapes to a daylight one, people will notice. Word will spread, right?" He wasn't sure why he was arguing, since Lee had already told him what could happen to Ephemera without the Landscapers, but seeing Nadia distraught had him grasping for anything that might steady her.
    Then something occurred to him. "Even if the surviving Landscapers have to use bridges to avoid going back to the school, and even if the Eater has been in a landscape, the Landscaper who controls that piece of Ephemera will be able to alter it back to—"
    "No."
    "Glorianna did it," Sebastian insisted. "The Eater had connected one of Its landscapes to the Den, and she altered the Den to break that connection."

    Nadia looked at him, her dark eyes full of despair. "Glorianna is the only Landscaper who can alter landscapes like that. The only one who can rearrange pieces of the world, bringing them together to form a new pattern. The only one , Sebastian."
    He sat back on his heels. "Then she's the only real enemy this thing has, isn't she?"
    "Yes, she is. And the landscapes she holds will be islands connected with one another but no longer quite part of the world, like a reflection you can see in a pool of still water, but when you turn to look at it directly, it isn't there."
    Food, clothing, metal for tools, wood for building and fuel. How many of those things were in Glorianna's landscapes?
    "Well," Nadia said. "There's nothing we can do right this moment, so