She gave him a dry smirk. “Bursting our eardrums.” True, but his scream had also stopped all their attackers. Each one was frozen solid into a terrifying statue of aggression. The students were on their knees, holding their ears in an effort to block out the piercing sound. Each one’s face was a mask of pain.

Keiko glared at Masaru as he finally rejoined them. “Where have you been?”

He turned to show them a body draped over his shoulder. “I went to nab Ryuichi’s shadow while the others were distracted by your clumsy attempts to do whatever it is you were doing. Not an easy task, mind you. So, your tone should be, ‘Thank you, Masaru. You’re amazing.’”

She scowled at the outline of a woman’s body. “That’s not Ryuichi’s shadow.”

“I’m aware,” he said dryly. “His shadow wouldn’t have tried to claw out my eyes.”

Koichi shook his head as he tried to understand this. “I’m so confused. What happened to his shadow?”

Masaru jerked his chin toward their shrieking charge. “Apparently, the shadow went back to him as soon as we crossed over. Like a magnet, the host automatically drew the shadow out of their custody. Who knew? Someone needs to write a friggin’ manual about these things so we don’t make that mistake again. Just like we need to know why he’s screaming like a banshee.”

Keiko gave him a droll stare. “That’s a different pantheon, you know.”

The sarcasm in that tone was quite special. “Having run across a banshee once, I’m not going to forget it anytime soon, or the moron who brought her to our shores. The Celts can keep them.”

Koichi cleared his throat. “Should we ask about the body over your shoulder?”

Masaru gave him an evil grin. “Probably, but it’s not important at the moment.”

Keiko looked past his shoulder as an idea occurred to her.

Yin and yang. As above . . . below. “Takara?”

Still cupping her ears, the girl’s shadow looked at her as Keiko motioned for her to join them.

“We need you to calm Ryuichi. Can you get him to stop screaming?”

“I can try.”

Koichi scoffed. “How can she calm him? No one can get through that⁠—”

He stopped speaking abruptly as Takara walked across the barrier.

Apparently, shadows could cross through whatever it was.

Rolling his eyes, he let out a disgusted breath. “The Great Evil’s right. We need a manual to instruct us.”

Keiko didn’t speak as she watched the girl kneel beside Ryuichi, who continued to scream. “Yamero! Yamero! Yamero!”

“Shh . . .” Takara touched him with a gentle hand. “No one can harm you.”

It took a moment longer before Ryuichi stopped his shrill screaming.

Sadly, in the same heartbeat he stopped, the statues returned to life.

And renewed their attack.

Masaru cursed. “That might have been a mistake.”

No kidding.