“You son of a bitch!” I shouted, burned hand cradled as he pulled the ring from Trent and let him fall to the ground, a slumped shadow in the dark. There was a quiver in my chi as the connection failed, but it didn’t matter.

He was going to take him, I thought in anguish as Ku’Sox made a fist around the ring and let the twisted mass of metal hit the ground beside Trent.

“Mustn’t play with demons, little elf,” Ku’Sox mocked as he leaned over Trent and nudged him with a foot. “You’ll end up dead, and I need you. Come with me of your free will, or I will cause you more pain, more heartache than you can bear.”

“No-o-o,” Trent breathed, the pain in his voice cutting me to my soul.

“I’m not going to let you do this!” I shouted, and Ku’Sox straightened, the lamplight making his expression on his long features ugly. Looking at him past the strands of my hair, my hatred grew. “I know how to fix the line, and we will stop you,” I vowed. “This will see you dead. I’m done being nice.”

Trent’s head came up. With a lip-curling sneer, Ku’Sox dismissed my words. “Kill me? Chances are you won’t, but no need to take chances.”

I stiffened when the circle surrounding Ku’Sox and Trent fell, but he wasn’t interested in me anymore. “You, I can take. Come with me,” Ku’Sox said, pointing at Bis, and the gargoyle spread his wings in alarm.

“Bis!” I shouted as both he and Ku’Sox vanished in twin pops of inrushing air. Shocked, I stared, unbelieving in the new silence. Ku’Sox had taken Bis? Why? But the answer was obvious. Without Bis, I couldn’t fix the line, rings or no rings.

Ashen-faced, I stared at Trent. He was as stunned as I was. The lantern’s glow fell upon the three of us, Jenks’s dust shifting to a dismal blue. They were gone. They were gone!

I stared for three seconds at where Bis had been. “No!” I shouted, unbelieving this had happened. “This is not fair!” I shouted at the sky, staggering three steps, but there was nowhere to go. “It’s not fair,” I said softer, then began to cry. I didn’t want to, but the tears came.

Sobbing, I dropped where I was, curled my knees to my chest, and just cried. He had Lucy. He had Ceri. And now he had Bis. Bis. He had Bis, damn it. I was responsible for the kid. And Ku’Sox took him like plucking a flower from a field. I was so stupid.

“Rache? You okay?” Jenks asked from my shoulder, and I lifted my head, wiping my eyes only to get grit in them. Jenks was okay. I knew he would be. Ku’Sox must think he wasn’t a threat.