Three more vehicles followed the first, bulldozing the herd down. Martha popped her door open and stepped out. A shadhavar tried to ram her. She grabbed its horn and slapped it upside the head. The shadavar moaned and collapsed, its feet jerking. On the other side George exited the vehicle, grabbed the nearest shadhavar by the head, twisted it off its feet, and stomped. Dear God.

The vehicles disgorged shapeshifters. It looked like George’s entire extended family had shown up.

“If it moves, kill it,” Martha called out. “I don’t want to hear anything but us breathing in this parking lot!”

I held my arm out to Derek. “Pinch me.”

He reached over.

“Ow.”

“She’s the alpha of Clan Heavy,” he said. “Martha is really nice but only until someone tries to screw with her family.”

CHAPTER

22

BY THE TIME Curran and Mahon arrived, together with six knights of the Order, and Luther, Patrice, and another Biohazard mage whose name I hadn’t caught, the parking lot was filled with shadhavar bodies. Clan Heavy sustained no casualties.

“You missed the slaughter,” I reported.

Curran grimaced. “You missed me carrying horses over the rubble.”

Curran and horses didn’t get along. He thought they were unpredictable and untrustworthy, and they thought he was a werelion.

I waited until Mahon was out of earshot. “Why didn’t you tell me Martha was a terminator in disguise?”

He smiled. “She was Aunt B’s best friend. I thought you’d figure it out sooner or later. Where is your ride?”

“He went into the hospital to scout.”

“Then we should follow.”

It took about thirty seconds to gather everyone. We went through the doors single file: Derek first, tracking Adib’s scent; Curran and me; then Bahir, leading Amal gently; the knights; the mages, protected from all sides because they squished easily; and finally Clan Heavy. George walked between her parents. She and Martha wore identical pinched expressions. Mahon was clearly in the doghouse.

We passed through the deserted hallway of the ER, then through the doorway, its doors lying on the floor. A light glowed ahead, in the gap of a crumbling wall. Derek moved toward it. We followed.

A vast garden unrolled before us. Lush flowers bloomed among the greenery. Ponds offered crystal-clear water, reflecting the delicate petals of pink, white, and lavender lotuses. Palms rustled overhead, over curving paths of golden sand.