Danny didn’t believe in ghosts, necessarily, but he knew what to do about viruses. Sax didn’t hear a thing when they went to get Alana and Eric.

By the time they got to Alana’s hotel, Eric had just told her about Grace.

It wasn’t completely his fault, he pointed out. He didn’t know that Colchester was back. He didn’t expect the wizard to show up in his hotel room. By that time, Wade was already well on his way to take Grace. He did what he could to keep her from being hurt.

These were not mitigating factors, at least as far as Alana was concerned.

First, she lifted him off the floor by his throat, and held him there, and squeezed.

Then she threw him into the wall of her hotel room, cracking the drywall above the headboard of the bed.

Danny and Carrie burst in through the door and saw what was happening. They tried to stop her, but Alana threw them aside like they were pillows. Danny bounced off the wall. Carrie was pitched into a closet.

Alana turned back to Eric. She probably would have beaten him to death if Eric didn’t use a spell to slow time down around her, warping Einsteinian physics enough to keep Alana from reaching him.

He took a deep breath, and saw that she was still moving. She should have been a statue, but she was still advancing a millimeter at a time, her face etched with rage. Her strength and speed were still amazing. Her eyes were locked onto him. Despite the time distortion, she was coming for him.

So he talked fast. “I know. I know,” he said. “I didn’t have any choice, Alana.”

Danny and Carrie listened, too. “Eric, what did you do?” Carrie demanded.

Eric ignored her as Alana moved forward almost a quarter-inch. Alana was the one he had to convince.

“Yes, I know how that sounds, but listen to me. Colchester had me. He had me on Snake Hill, and he would have killed me anyway, and I didn’t know what he was going to do. So I went along with him.”

Alana’s arm twitched. She was going to break through his spell. He could feel her pressing against it.

“I didn’t do it to save myself, Alana. He has a child. He has a little boy, and he’s using that kid to do all this.”

Maybe he imagined it, but it seemed like Alana’s glare softened a bit.

“I think the kid is still in there somewhere,” he said. “I think we can save him.”

Alana vibrated. He saw it. She was almost through. She was so strong. She would turn him into a smear on the wall, and then she’d get her sword and go after Colchester.