“Remington,” Dullahan growled, cradling my legs and pulling me tighter against his chest.

“Too bad you don’t know my real name, Dullahan. You’re kind of fucking useless without it,” he said with a laugh. Puca stepped forward and Remington danced back, wagging his finger. “Nun-uh,” he said, pulling out a vial.

“What’s that?” Puca asked, his head slanting to the side. Remington smirked.

“Really should have listened to the leprechaun. I’m afraid this,” he said, pinching the empty vial’s top in his fingers, “is my ace in the hole.” It felt like I was dipped in freezing water, the breath taken from my lungs as my instincts screamed inside me.

“No!” Dullahan yelled, seeming to know what was going on, but it was too late.

As the top popped off the vial I felt my power being pulled from me, siphoned out, and called to the glass tube. It poured out of me, glittery and gold, sparkling beautifully as it filled the vial to the very brim. I clawed at Dullahan’s shirt as it happened until finally, I sagged, feeling depleted and hollow. Remington corked the vial.

“What have you done?” Dullahan hissed, turning his body to shield me in his arms. His size always made me feel small but now I felt tiny, a speck of dust in the arms of something greater than me.

“I took her luck,” Remington said.

“You have no focking idea what you just did,” Dullahan growled.

“Won is what I did. No more luck, boys, and I’m afraid in a fight with me, three against one ain’t even. No army in the world would make this a fair fight. Leastwise, not no more,” he laughed, pocketing the glowing, golden vial.

The lights went out suddenly. Red emergency lights glowed ominously in the dark hallway. A siren wail started in the distance and grew louder and louder until the whole island would hear it.

They all turned towards the entrance and looked outside. The sky went dark, a cloud rolling in with the speed of an apocalyptic racehorse. There was a loud crack in the sky and then water poured down as if the ocean were above us, gushing into the streets of Neo Atlantis.

“You're gonna want to give that luck back,” Dullahan said deeply in the dark, half his face in shadow, the other half-bathed ominously in the red light.

“Fat chance,” Remington snarled as he went to grab his gun. Puca leapt at him, shifting into a bird and going for his eyes. Dullahan ran with me, heading back to the elevators. A moment before they closed the bird raced in and then changed to Puca in an instant. He panted as he leaned against the wall. He looked over at Dullahan still clutching me in his arms and came over, his hands grabbing my face.

“Lacey, please say something. Are you okay? Please, Lacey,” he said but I just burrowed into Dullahan’s chest. “Please,” he murmured in my ear, his hands gripping my arm tightly.