Chloe bounced excitedly on the balls of her floral-print Doc Martens. “Here they coooome!”

Before I could process the dizzying effect the rumbling was having on my senses, Riley pushed me back over to the shelter of the marble columns.

“You will be safe here,” he said as he released me.

“No, don’t go!” I begged, clutching his arm desperately. The thought of him joining the others in battle when I didn’t know the first thing about what could happen to him up there terrified me beyond endurance. I wanted to stay in his arms until the last moment. If they failed, I couldn’t die alone!

Riley looked as pained to leave me as I felt. “I must try,” he winced. “I may provide the last bit of strength required.” He reluctantly pried my fingers from his arm and slipped back, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Do not move from this place,” he commanded.

I slid down the pillar with a whimper, wrapping my arms around my bare knees, but I kept my eyes glued to his every move.

Neil glanced back at us from where he’d positioned himself at the apron of the stage. “You might want to look away for this,” he said to me. “I mean, only if you want to keep your marbles. It’s time we all slipped into something a scoch more comfortable.”

Riley crouched before me, taking my face in his hands, and his lips brushed away each of my hot tears. “Whatever you do, Andromeda,” he said between kisses, “do not allow your eyes to fall upon the chaos. My heart may not protect your puny mind from the insanity of the other Old Ones.” His hands clenched the sides of my face urgently, his glowing eyes boring into mine. “Swear to me!”

“I swear!” I gasped.

He held me that way for a trembling moment, his look almost violent with the passion of his concern for me, but then he released me with a great shudder and slipped away to join Neil and Chloe. All three of them had begun to glow. I watched Riley intently for a second before realizing I was doing exactly what he’d just told me not to.

But I couldn’t look away!

Immense amorphous shadows were trickling into the cavernous expanse of the theatre independent of the widening darkness above, as if they would attempt to blot out the light that poured off the three of them. And then it seemed as if the very air began to fissure, and time ceased to have meaning.