Soraya fully expected the knock to go unanswered. If Seela and Sunny were sleeping, the sound wouldn’t be loud enough to wake them. And even if they weren’t, it was unlikely they were sitting within earshot, but then—

The door opened, a hand shot out, and Shim was dragged inside, the door closing behind him.

Soraya gasped and almost took off running right then and there. But just as she was about to launch herself from the shadows, a raucous sound erupted somewhere to her rear. It was a mixture of breaking glass and splintering wood and predatory snarling that made the small hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention and offer a salute.

She risked a peek out from the darkness, immediately spotting the massive creature silhouetted against the cloud-stitched sky. It was trying to get in a window, hence the devastation of glass and wood.

Wait, she thought. That’s not just any window. That’s our window.

Everything that came with a revelation of that magnitude spun through her mind as she watched the nightdemon bully its way inside the room, followed by the sound of heavy pounding. Why had it targeted their window of all the windows in Seer? Why on this particular night? And what would the monster do when it found the room empty?

The last question was answered almost immediately, the creature climbing back through the window, scattering shingles as its claws skittered across the roofing material. With a single, powerful bound, it leaped from the roof to the ground with a whump, making the two-story jump look as easy as a hop off a paving stone.

The creature was so close she could smell its foul breath.

Soraya mashed herself against the stone wall, afraid to breathe, clutching her satchel, feeling Morg’s squirming movements inside, as though he sensed his friend was in danger and wanted only to free himself to protect her. Please don’t make a sound…please please please…

Eyes gleaming golden and ratlike forehead dotted with three golden leaves—I know that hue, Soraya thought—the giant rodent scented the air, prowling closer. Could it smell her? Soraya was starting to regret her lack of a bath.

Closer still, two fangs overhanging its bottom lip in a way that might’ve been comedic if they weren’t the length of her forearms and utterly terrifying. The tension in her body felt like every muscle was trying to burst through her skin. She was about to run—what other choice did she have?—but then a shout sailed through the night like a thrown rock.

The nightdemon’s head lifted, its ears pricking in the direction of the sound. It bounded away on powerful legs, tail flicking like a whip behind it. Crossing the distance to its target in three long strides, the structure from which the shout had originated.

The Naughty Minx.

With a snarl, the nightdemon crashed straight through.