His father laughed at his despair. “Which is it to be? Your sacred principles? Or the lives of the people you care about most?”

Tears swam in his eyes. But he knew what his father had done.

Ryuichi had no choice.

There was no mistaking the determination in his father’s features. The mercilessness. It was true. The Ryukage had no feelings. No humanity. He didn’t care about anyone. Not even his own son.

Heartbroken, he opened the gate.

Ryukage laughed, then vanished.

Still, the school burned inside the flames. “Wait!” Ryuichi cried. “What about your word?”

It was too late. His father was gone, and so were the flames that had surrounded Ryuichi.

And the other monsters were on the move. Coming for the throats of all those he cared about. Everyone who meant anything to him.

His heart pounded as he looked through the flames to see his friends besieged by his father’s monsters, while he was unable to do anything.

I have to stop them!

He had no idea how, but he had to find some way. Ryuichi rushed back to Masaru and the others, who were fighting off the dragon and the dogs. “We have to leave these and get back to the school.”

Koichi scowled at him. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Keiko pointed to the shadow castle on the hill, which was also on fire. “It’s burning. What happened?”

“My father set fire to it. He’s trying to kill my friends. We have to save them!”

Masaru let out a disgusted sound. “Well, that just sucks, doesn’t it?” He retrieved Haruki’s unconscious body from the ground, where he’d placed her during the fight.

“Why were you carrying her?” Koichi asked.

“I don’t know. Stupidity, probably. In my defense, it seemed like a good idea when I knocked her out not to leave her behind to tattle on me. I figure when she wakes up, she might have information about our enemy. If not, we can throw her at them and use her for demon fodder.”

Koichi scoffed. “Sure. Why not? Nothing else has worked out for us. Why wouldn’t this blow up in our faces too? By all means, kidnap the hag and bring her. I can’t imagine how this could work out badly. Her being our enemy, and all.”

Keiko held up her hand. “For the record, I can imagine an infinite number of possibilities where this can end badly for us.”

“Well, at least one of us has a working brain.” Koichi ducked a blow from one of the demons that came out of nowhere to assault him. “Shall we leave the fight unfinished? ’Cause really, we’re just getting slaughtered here.”

Masaru slung the unconscious Haruki over his shoulder. “Yes. Let’s go get slaughtered elsewhere.” He turned to Ryuichi. “Now that you have your shadow . . . seal the gate behind us.”