“My roommate, Trish, is in there,” Michaela said. “We snapchat all the time. I can take care of that.”

“Okay, good,” Corbin said.

“And I’m good at locating,” Josh said. “I can work on finding all the kids who are hiding.”

“Perfect, and I’ll work on masking our thoughts and intentions from Victor so he doesn’t sense our plan and ambush us,” Corbin said, nodding definitively as the roles for their four-person team were established. Sarah Beth felt some of her mentor’s calm confidence infect her.

This might work. It has to work . . .

“Okay,” Corbin said. “Let’s get going, and, Sarah Beth, once we’re on the move, find Victor so we can avoid him.”

Sarah Beth nodded, saying a silent prayer she wouldn’t choke when the time came.

“Hold up just a second.” Josh jogged over to the fountain of St. George and the dragon.

With the power out, the water jets weren’t running and it sat eerily quiet in the middle of the room. Sarah Beth watched, perplexed, as Josh climbed up onto the statue.

“What are you doing?” Michaela called.

“Arming myself,” he said as he carefully slid the six-foot-long bronze spear out of their patron saint’s marble hands. With a grin on his face, he jumped down clutching the weapon. “That’s right, girls—now I’m a dragon slayer.”

Michaela rolled her eyes, but Corbin seemed pleased and gave him a nod of approval before turning to open the window. Outside, the wind whipped violently and rain streaked past almost horizontal. A lightning strike illuminated a massive thunderhead in the distance. The effect backlit Corbin’s head, making her look like a superhero with a crown of electricity for a fleeting instant.

“I’ll go first,” Corbin said and climbed out onto the fire escape balcony just as thunder roared.

Josh followed her without discussion, angling his spear awkwardly to finagle it out the window. Once outside, he popped his head back in and shouted over the wind, “Just wait there for a second while we get the ladder down. It’s only big enough for two people out here.”

Sarah Beth nodded and, while she waited, tried to project, but her mind’s eye stubbornly clung to the inside of her skull. A loud kachank, kachank, kachank followed by an even louder kaching reverberated outside, making Sarah Beth cringe.

“Idiots,” Michaela said under her breath.

“Sorry, that was the ladder,” Josh said, poking his head back in one more time.

“If he didn’t know we were coming before, he certainly does now.”

Josh shrugged and waved for them to follow.

“Why don’t you go next,” Sarah Beth said to Michaela, sensing that if given the opportunity to go last, Michaela might chicken out and not come at all.

“No, that’s okay; you go,” Michaela said.

“Probably better if I go last; that way I can help talk you through it.”