A wail tore from Twelve’s lips as her heart broke all over again. Standing in front of her was not Poppy but an Ygrex, the creature from Silver’s room, the dreamstalker who invaded your memories, twisted them to trick you. Its spell broken, it stood before her in all its horror: taller than her by a head, horns gleaming and fangs dripping with venom.

With an enraged squeal, Widge sprang toward it, bounding onto its shoulder and sinking his teeth in deeply. The Ygrex swiped him off with barely a glance, then lunged at Twelve, its clawed fingers reaching out hungrily. She dived aside on instinct, but, as its talons raked past her and Twelve spun away again, a new emotion boiled to life inside her: rage. This monster had worn her sister like a costume, spoken with Poppy’s voice and copied her gestures. And it had just tossed Widge, her best friend, to the ground. Cursing her idiocy in leaving her axes behind, Twelve swung her bag at the creature hard, catching it in the face and knocking it back into the damp wall while she scrabbled her dagger free from her belt. It was a short, curved blade but sharp enough. And it was all she had.

“Widge, are you all right?” she gasped, her eyes searching the shadows for him. Horror beat through her until she saw him behind the Ygrex, dazed but shaking himself awake.

The Ygrex snarled at her as they weighed each other up.

“Starling,” it whispered in Poppy’s voice. The scene shimmered before Twelve’s eyes as the Ygrex tried to re-exert control, but she’d already seen through its trick. With a howl, she threw herself toward it, the blade a blur in her hand. The Ygrex surged forward to meet her and caught her wrist, halting the downward plunge of the knife. They struggled in the center of the den, the bones of the nightmare creature’s previous victims cracking under their feet, its teeth snapping dangerously close to her face.

Determined to help, Widge sped forward again, springing onto the Ygrex’s back to bite and scratch frantically there. It was enough to distract the creature. With a superhuman burst of strength, Twelve managed to knock the Ygrex aside so it stumbled back, tripping over the moonstone. The howl it let out when it touched the stone rang in Twelve’s ears long after it had ended and, with grim satisfaction, she realized she had another weapon after all. The stone lay a few feet away, if she could just get to it.

Beside her she could feel the gentle touch of fresh air trickling down the tunnel. Just for a second, the idea of grabbing Widge and running crossed her mind, then Silver and Victory flashed through her thoughts, lending her strength. Just because she might not win this fight didn’t mean she was going to hide from it. That would never happen again.