“No!” I heard myself shout, and then a bolt of light flew from David’s fingers, crashing over all of the girls.

The light was blinding, and my blood was churning, and Blythe was still laughing, laughing, laughing in my ear.

Someone grabbed me from behind, yanking me off Blythe. Even as I struggled, all I could think was, I failed. All that training, all that trying, and I’d locked David in with Blythe. I’d let her turn him into a weapon. And my friends. Abigail, Amanda, even Mary Beth. And Bee. Oh God, Bee. My attacker had me turned away from the wall, and I was glad for it in a way. I didn’t want to see what that bolt of power had done to them.

I reached back, trying to dig my fingers into eyes, but clawed empty air. And then suddenly, there was a thump and I was landing on the ground, hard.

Whirling around, I saw that it had been Headmaster Dunn holding me, and standing over him, hands on her hips, was Bee.

I said her name, confused and relieved. She was okay? But I’d seen David blast her with that lightning thing, seen waves of power crash over her and all of the girls.

Mrs. Catesby, my old Sunday school teacher, ran into the room, wielding the ladle Aunt Jewel had dropped. I braced myself, but then Blythe grinned and said, “Show her what you’ve got, girls.”

Twisting my head to look at Blythe, confused, I almost missed seeing Mary Beth’s hand shoot out and grab the ladle. With a neat flip, she used the hook at the end of the handle to catch Mrs. Catesby’s ankles and the ladle’s bowl at the other end to knock her out. Grinning at her handiwork, Mary Beth brandished the long silver spoon at me. “Hard Fists!” she cried, and I could only shake my head.

Two more people, women I recognized from Junior League, raced in. Abigail and Amanda, working together, clotheslined them before spinning and using the inertia of the women’s bodies to push them back out of the room.

“Oh my God, we are ninjas!” Amanda squealed. “How did that happen?”

They weren’t ninjas. They were Paladins. All of them. David had made them Paladins.

David!

As my fellow debutantes kicked the ass of every person who walked through the door, I looked back to the middle of the room. David was on his knees now, no longer surrounded by light. But when he lifted his face to me, his eyes were still bright gold, like coins, behind his glasses.

“David?” I asked, kneeling down with him.

He blinked, and the light faded for a moment before growing bright again. “Pres?” he murmured, and I flung my arms around his neck.

“Oh, you’re still you,” I breathed. “You’re still in there.”