On the horizon ahead, a flicker of blue sparks rose up from the desert.

“What’s happening out there?” he asked her.

“Dess is holding them off. And they’ll scatter once they taste the flame-bringer on her way.”

Jessica frowned. “What about Rex?”

“Don’t worry about him. Moron—he said he’d warn me before he tried anything like this.”

“Anything like what?”

Melissa shook her head. “We should keep moving if we’re going to get there before Dess blows a fuse.” She looked at them both, pleading with them not to ask any more questions. “Let’s just keep going, okay?”

Jonathan glanced at Jessica, then bent his knees again. “Okay.”

They jumped again, eating up the landscape in long, bounding leaps. Melissa flew as if she’d practiced for months.

Half a mile from Dess they passed over a patch of small, stubby cacti. Jessica spotted a big black car with blown-out tires at its edge.

“That’s not Melissa’s, is it?” she asked.

“No. Grayfoots’,” Jonathan said. “Real ones.”

“Oh.” No wonder things had gotten messed up.

At the height of their next jump Jessica saw a huge black cat rising onto its haunches among blue sparks, surrounded by a whirling cloud of slithers. A thirteen-pointed star was traced out on the desert floor in glowing wires, Dess inside it, the darkling just outside. Melissa’s car sat nearby, looking battered and broken.

“That cat smells blood, Jess,” Melissa said. “It’s too young to be afraid of you.”

“Blood?” Jessica said as they landed, but the mindcaster didn’t answer.

They jumped again, hurtling toward the struggle. Jessica saw Dess’s long spear swing through the air, the panther batting at it with its claws, catching the spear point with a flash. The weapon spun out of Dess’s grip as the creature screamed, leaping backward from the contact through its entourage of winged slithers. It rolled across the desert, salt and sand flying into the air.

But like a cat, it sprang to its feet in an instant and bared its fangs.

Dess stood glaring back at it.

“Close your eyes,” Jessica warned through clenched teeth.

Enlightenment’s beam shot across the blue desert, reaching the darkling at the limit of its power. White fire played across its fur, bringing another howl of anger. All around it slithers burst into flame, wheeling to escape the scorching light.

But the darkling didn’t flee. Its purple eyes flashed as it glared at Dess, directing all its wounded fury toward her.

It readied itself to spring.

Jessica kept the flashlight steady as they flew, squeezing it with all her strength, sending every ounce of her will through it. The white fire grew stronger as the darkling leapt, enveloping it in a hissing ball of flame. Jessica felt the blue world shudder around them, the mountains in the distance seeming to warp as her power surged through Enlightenment.

The beast screamed one last time, disintegrating in midair like an exploding meteor, scattering glowing white coals across the desert floor.

“Eyes open,” Jessica said hoarsely. Another jump took the three of them into a skidding landing near the circle of singed earth and metal stakes. Dess stood inside, dusty and scared-looking, blood running from her forehead.