WINSTON LET OUT another high-pitched scream as the tentacle dragged him down the hall. He slammed into other godlings and darkbringers alike, taking some down with him. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered in and out until they died, plunging JMS into darkness. Sparks of magic lit up sporadically, revealing flashes of blue, barbed tails, curved horns, and wings. By my count, there had to be at least two dozen darkbringers in the hallway.

We learned months ago that darkbringers had been sneaking into our world through tears in the veil. There’d been so many tears that Papa, Eleni, and I couldn’t close them fast enough. How many had crossed already? Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands? The Lord of Shadows had a sleeper army right under our noses. Was that why Nulan had come—to join them? The bigger question was, why had they attacked JMS of all places?

“We gotta save our boy!” Tay shouted.

He and Candace charged around me. Candace bulldozed through darkbringer after darkbringer like a bowling ball knocking down pins. Tay leaped over the carnage left behind her. Soon they turned the corner where the tentacle had disappeared with Winston in tow.

Nearby, three darkbringers had cornered a group of sixth graders who hadn’t mastered their godling magic yet. “Not so fast,” Frankie said as she sent balls of crackling energy that slammed the darkbringers into the lockers.

Eli had shimmered into a semi-invisible state down the hall. I could never get used to seeing him and seeing through him at the same time. “The OGs to the rescue!” he shouted.

“OGs?” one of the godlings near him asked.

“Original godlings,” he announced proudly.

I knocked back the darkbringers who had surrounded me, but the one wearing a skull-and-bones T-shirt dodged my attack. He wasn’t much taller than me, lanky, with hair shaved close to his scalp. His barbed tail whipped out and almost caught me across the cheek, but I ducked and jabbed the staff into his belly. That didn’t stop him for long, though. He doubled over for a split second before his wings melted into writhing, black shadows that seared against my skin. I yelped in pain. “Time to die, guardian,” the darkbringer snarled.

“Not today,” I said through gritted teeth.

Real Talk: I was putting on a brave face, but I was scared. I swung my staff wildly, and it passed straight through the skull-and-bones boy’s shadows. These darkbringers were much stronger than the ones we went up against last summer. How were we supposed to defeat them when most godlings were only just exploring their magic for the first time?

I concentrated all my energy on the staff, and the symbols grew brighter until several of them peeled off the wood and smacked the darkbringer square in the chest. That stopped him in his tracks. Literally. He fell flat on his back.