“Xander,” Reina whispers. She points down to the water beneath the bridge.

We hear a splash and the sound of someone thrashing in the water.

Laughter reaches us—and not the kind between friends. It has the cruel bite of joy at someone else’s expense.

“I’m going to burn you to ash.” Aristelle’s voice is a raspy growl.

“Not if you’re half drowned,” says a chipper voice.

Xander’s already gone, hopping over the railings of the walkway beside the tracks so he’s standing on one of the wooden beams that juts out over the water. Then he jumps. There’s a splash below. Yelling. Reina’s trying to climb over the fence as well, but her feathered skirt snags, and I have to yank her free before jumping over after her. She steps out onto a beam and then slides down so she’s sitting with her feet dangling.

“It’s not that far,” she says as she grips the beam in front of her with her hands and then slides off, hanging for a moment before dropping. I copy her, wishing I had stairs instead, but it can’t be more than a twelve-foot drop—six and a half feet since I’m dangling by my arms. I suddenly realize why this feels so familiar. I’m basically reenacting a scene from The Lost Boys. But the fool in that movie was joining a group of vampires. I’m joining a family. My stomach twists, and I let go. Water splashes up my legs. The impact shakes me, and I go down to one knee, but I hope it looks intentional. At least it gives me a chance to slide a knife from my boot.

I stand just in time to see Xander shove Adam into one of the giant blocks of cement that support the bridge above us. Adam’s skull cracks against the stone so hard my stomach lurches, and I scream Xander’s name. I may not like Adam, but I don’t want his head split open. What’s he doing here anyway? My mind scrambles to catch up with what’s happening around me.

But Adam doesn’t crumple to the ground like I expect. He lands crouched on his feet. He snarls, lips pulled back in a way that doesn’t seem human at all. It’s so jarring that I take a step back.

Stacie stands next to him, her body tense like she’s in a cage fight and ready to spring at Xander. Reina strides over to where two people I don’t recognize hold a flailing, sopping-wet Aristelle.

They got her in the water to stop her flames.

She must have come here to save Adam and Stacie. They were the ones who got taken by vampires, but they were just bait to land a magician.