Mack bent down to grab something from the floor next to Declan’s bed, then started to stand and turn.

Luckily, Jetta noticed the unusual bracelet on Declan’s wrist and suddenly stepped forward, just as her brother swung around with a long wooden stick in his left hand.

The result was her being inside the arc of his sweeping strike with one of Declan’s escrima sticks, his left arm slamming to a stop against her right arm block to his forearm. The stick, which was moving fast enough to break bone, spun around behind her, clipping the very top of Declan’s head before coming free from Mack’s suddenly numb hand.

Jetta was still moving, wrapping her blocking arm up, over, around, and back under Mack’s, forcing up on his elbow joint while her right foot stepped behind his left and her left hand shoved up under his chin.

Head going back, balance compromised and pain forcing him upward, Mack fell backward onto the bed. But he was as well-trained as his sister and his lower body was twisting as far to the left as it would go, his right leg coming around and between his sister’s, getting her own right leg wrapped up in what their jiu-jitsu instructor called half-guard, basically a scissors of his two legs. The result was that she was pulled off-balance, falling with Mack and onto Declan, losing her leverage on Mack’s elbow.

Instantly, Mack struck his sister with his right hand in a looping punch that luckily lost some velocity when he forced it across his own body, as he was lying on his back. It still stunned her, which favored Mack as he fought his awkward position enough to turn from his back to his left side. This let him wind up for what could have been a fight-ending punch, were it not for Declan.

The escrima stick, one of Declan’s personal favorites, which had smacked the top of his head and left a ringing in his ears, had then fallen down the left side of his body, coming to rest lying parallel to his frozen left arm, the cylindrical end now with one rounded edge pressed right up against the copper bracelet on his wrist. When Mack twisted and punched the first time, it shoved his sister into Declan, which forced the young witch’s face against the top end of the stick, in turn pressing against the bracelet and forcing the copper up and partially off his wrist—all in one incredible string of fantastic events.