“No!” Nick yells, pushing against Russ and Fitz both. His elbow flies into Fitz’s nose, knocking the other boy down, but Evan takes Fitz’s place before Nick can break out of the circle. Blood from an injury streams down Evan’s forehead, but he stands firm.

The demon lifts Davis high in the air. Nick’s father scrabbles at the demon’s grip with both hands, wheezing for breath, eyes bulging. The color in his face goes red, redder.

“I will kill both of them while you watch, Pendragon,” the demon snarls, squeezing Davis so much the man turns purple, “and then I will take you.”

“You talk far too much.”

I never thought I’d be happy to hear that voice. Sel drops onto the demon’s back, wrapping his opponent in a headlock. The demon roars, dropping me to the ground and flinging Davis across the clearing. Nick’s father hits a tree with a stomach-turning crunch and falls to the stone surface in a loose pile of limbs.

I scramble backward, just missing the stomp of one enormous foot. The demon grabs at Sel’s back and hair, trying to dislodge him, but Sel hangs on tight, his face tucked away from their claws.

A pair of strong arms loop under my armpits and haul me up and away from the fray.

To my surprise, it’s Sarah, the pixie girl. “Stay back,” she urges once we’re far enough. Then she runs over to where half of the group, Nick included, have gathered at Davis’s side. Nick’s father is not moving. Oh God.

The demon and Sel brawl in a blur of black and green. No one else dares to enter the fight, and why would they? No one else could keep up. When the two opponents lunge for each other, the force of their collision makes the earth shake. They twist and roll on the ground, fists connecting in deep thuds. After a few minutes, Sel’s shirt is torn and darkened with slime and sweat.

The demon kicks at Sel’s chest, and the Merlin goes flying.

Sel hits the ground with both feet in a sliding crouch. A feral grin crosses his face. He launches himself back at the creature like a bullet.

The sight turns my stomach. Nick’s father could be dead, and Sel’s enjoying himself.

“Hold him steady!”

Back at the tree, the boy who had daggers presses his hands over Davis’s chest. A light film of silver liquid covers his fingers. As I watch, the liquid spreads down onto the man’s shirt. A heartbeat later, Davis gasps awake. “Steady,” the boy orders. “Not done…”

William, I think. Their healer.

William continues to work on Davis, but the relief around him is palpable. Nick’s father is alive.

Everyone is so focused on Lord Davis that no one notices Nick until it’s too late.