In the riveting final volume of Zoë Marriott’s urban fantasy trilogy, all hell is breaking loose in London. Literally.

It’s been a long few days since Mio stole the ancient, magical katana from her family’s attic. She and her friends have defeated the demonic Nekomata and banished the Goddess of Death’s plague-spreading Shikome. But at a terrible cost: Mio’s beloved Shinobu is lost to her, imprisoned again within the katana. With no time to succumb to guilt and grief, Mio must find a way to defeat the vengeful gods Izanagi and Izanami once and for all. Her only hope lies in the one place immortals can’t go: the realm of dreams, a shifting dimension of water and ice, echoes and memories, beauty and danger.

Zoë Marriott’s inventive, Japanese-inflected urban fantasy raises the stakes in a sweeping second installment.

Against all odds, Mio has defeated the evil Nekomata and seen her love, Shinobu, restored to life. But in the wake of the battle, Mio’s unsettling connection to the katana—an ancient sword her family has been compelled to guard for generations—has grown more frightening. And now the Underworld has sent the Shikome—foul women whose feathers carry death—to spread a supernatural plague through London. With her best friend in the hospital, Shinobu’s very existence at risk, and the city in chaos, Mio realizes there is no way she can keep everyone she loves alive. What terrible sacrifice must she make to save the world?

Ancient Japanese gods and monsters are unleashed on modern-day London in this first book of an epic trilogy from acclaimed fantasy writer Zoë Marriott.

When Mio sneaks the family’s katana — a priceless ancestral sword —from her parents’ attic, she just wants to spice up a costume. But the katana is much more than a dusty antique. Awakening the power within the sword unleashes a terrible, ancient evil onto the streets of unsuspecting London. But it also releases Shinobu, a fearless warrior boy, from the depths of time. He helps to protect Mio — and steals her heart. With creatures straight out of Japanese myths stalking her and her friends, Mio realizes that if she cannot keep the sword safe and learn to control its legendary powers, she will lose not only her own life . . . but the love of a lifetime.