“Jesus, Kelsey, relax. You want to help your family or not?” She was obviously drunk, swaying on her feet, talking too loud.

The brunette hesitated, then tilted her chin up and adjusted her grip on the gun. “Hurry up, then.”

The redhead walked the small circle of the room, looking each of us over, pointing as she passed. “Eenie, meenie, miney, mo…”

“Just get on with it!”

Shirley-Rachel spun to face Kelsey. “Calm down. What do you feel like? I think we should go with something young.” She spun to face Slopper, who recoiled into Isaac’s shadow. Then she grimaced. “But nothing too fatty. I’m on a diet.” This made her laugh, and she snorted.

“Shirl…”

“Okay, okay, back to shopping.” She turned back to where she had left off. “Well, nothing fatty leaves you out of the equation,” she said to Wab.

The look on Wab’s face? Holy hell, if there hadn’t been bars between them, Wab wouldn’t have been the only person missing an eye tonight.

The woman in the beige tracksuit approached, head held at an odd angle, her face twitching. She took small steps on white sneakers until I could feel her breath on my cheek. I closed my eyes. I could hear her teeth snapping open and shut and then the low rumble of a growl, like a spool of ribbon uncoiling up her throat.

At the last minute, she turned and zeroed in on Zheegwon. “This one.” She pointed a thick finger at him, and Kelsey swung the gun in that direction.

“No!” Tree struggled to reach his brother. Zheegwon had gone pale and silent, not even breathing. There was a new look in his eyes, as if he had left his body. His lip quivered. He had been through this before, years ago. His eyes said he wouldn’t make it through a second time.

“Leave him alone!” Tree was frantic. Shirley-Rachel pushed the screaming boy, and he fell onto his side, arms twisted painfully behind his back. She started fiddling with the bike chain that held Zheegwon.

“Dammit, why’d we have to use this thing?” she snarled, kicking at Tree as she spun the numbers on the inset lock.

“Ran out of cuffs and rope. So much for being prepared,” Kelsey answered before yelling at Tree, “Calm down before you get shot!”

“Okay, okay, got the first three numbers. Do you remember the last two?”

Wab kicked at her cage. Slopper was wailing now, and Rania was trying to reason with them. “This is ludicrous. You can’t just take their dreams like this. I’m telling you, you’re making a mistake…”

“If you want the best dreams, you take the best dreamer.” Miig’s voice cut through the panic.

“What’s that, old man?” Shirley-Rachel answered without looking up.

“I’m just saying, if you have one shot at this and you want the most potent magic, you’ll take my marrow. I am the Elder of this group. Therefore, I have the best dreams.” He sounded calm and spoke evenly.