“Take one more step and she dies!” the priestess shouts, holding the blade to Temra’s throat now. “Sotherans, grab the other.”

“No!” Volanna says, but her sons start toward me anyway.

Kellyn puts himself in front of me, blocking their path. I almost make the mistake of feeling gratitude before I remember how he didn’t immediately agree to help me save my sister.

From beside me, Petrik asks, “Should I throw the spear?”

“No, it might hit Temra. It’ll hit any flesh. That won’t work.”

For all of two seconds I consider the usefulness of Secret Eater, but that won’t work either. Temra can easily get injured if I start swinging that around. And so can Petrik and Kellyn. It’s a weapon of mass destruction. Utterly useless if you’re trying to protect someone other than yourself, unless you have the training to use it with precision.

Midnight isn’t helpful right now. That leaves …

“The staff, Petrik. Give it to me.”

“What? Why?”

“Now is not the time for your endless questions!”

He swaps me the staff for the sword.

I have impeccable aim when it comes to swinging a hammer, but throwing a projectile is another matter. Still, if it hits Temra, it won’t kill her.

I take aim and throw for all I’m worth.

The metal cuffs on either side of the wood cause it to turn end over end, and the magic gives it even more strength.

But I still have to direct it.

The staff misses the priestess completely, as I’d intended, but I shove into Petrik hard, altering the path between me and the spinning weapon.

Because when the staff starts turning end over end, back toward its caster, it hits the priestess in the head on the return. Her eyes roll into the back of her skull as she slumps to the ground, dropping the knife. The staff twirls back toward me, and I catch it round the middle.

“Boomerang staff?” Petrik asks in wonder.

I forgot that I never told Petrik what the staff did. Kellyn interrupted the conversation by demanding Secret Eater be used on him.

I set Twirly—Temra named it—on the ground and grab the shortsword from Petrik before racing toward my sister. Now that Petrik knows how the weapon works, I trust him to use it wisely.

And so he does.

I watch it spin out of the corner of my eye. Volanna’s sons are in a line, trying to reach Kellyn. The staff clonks all three of them, turning over itself, hitting a different one on each rotation. The first takes it in the stomach; the second, the head; the third, the crotch.

Kellyn doesn’t pause before stepping forward to finish dispatching the men, knocking each one out with the pommel of his sword. He dodges the staff as it flies back toward Petrik.

I reach Temra and use Midnight to cut her bonds. She removes her gag as I work at the ties on her ankles.

“I’m so sorry for what I said,” Temra says. “Ziva—”