Then a sound reached me, an animal wail, wretched and broken. I spun around. There’s another one here. But no. Tegan shoved past me, staggering toward Aden’s shattered body. Those horrible, wrenching sobs were coming from her. Beyond her, half the student body had their phones out, probably blowing up the emergency dispatch, calling for a completely unnecessary ambulance. Or snapping pics to post on Facebook. Ian and the rest of Aden’s teammates were still huddled by his SUV, all the blood drained from their faces.

A hand closed over my shoulder, and I jerked away.

“Are you all right?” Malachi asked as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “What happened?”

I nodded toward Aden’s body, which was now surrounded by a bunch of people, gray-green-faced teachers holding out their arms to shove students back, the weeping school nurse on her knees beside his head, the principal wringing her hands and shouting at everyone to calm down. The red-haired school counselor, Ms. Ketzler, had folded Tegan’s waifish body against her own and was rocking back and forth, mascara-laced tears falling from her round cheeks into Tegan’s hair.

“Mazikin,” I said quietly. “I think it was Ibram.” The Mazikin responsible for the death of Ana, Malachi’s former Guard partner.

Malachi’s expression sharpened. “Say that again.”

“They got Aden. He’d been possessed.” I jogged out of the way as an ambulance with screeching sirens pulled up to the curb and disgorged two frowning paramedics.

Malachi followed me back to my car. I didn’t realize I was still clutching Tegan’s phone until it started to ring in my hand. I put it in my pocket and then told my Lieutenant what had just happened.

“You know, Friday night? When Aden asked you to go out with him and his buddies? They were hunting the Mazikin. Jim and I ran into them as we were patrolling in south Pawtucket.” I looked over at the baseball team, still hovering around Ian. “I should have had you go with them.”

Malachi looked back and forth between the carnage and the pale-faced baseball players. “You think they found the Mazikin?”

I nodded. “If Ibram possessed Aden, he would have had access to his memories. He must have recognized you. And me.”

“They sacrificed Aden to make a point,” Malachi said.

And what a point it was. They could kill our friends, and from the outside, it would look like suicide. No way to prove otherwise. “What if Aden wasn’t the only one they got?” I asked.

The baseball players watched as the ambulance, sirens silent, carried Aden’s body away from us. The voice of the principal blared over loudspeakers, announcing that school would be cancelled for the day, but that any student who wished to talk could convene in the cafeteria. Parents were being alerted, which meant Diane would probably be home within half an hour, waiting for me.