And then, instead of shifting out of fear, Isaac realized he could make a shapeshift from this combined bright goodness, and he pushed up to his feet and became taller and stronger even than Moloch.

Isaac moved to stand with Kat, holding her arm out and holding her up, frozen as she was.

The knights around Amelie dropped their swords, and the snakes vanished. Daemon slipped off Leo with a whimper and ran for the woods. The dragon descended without a sound onto the cliff edge and let Colin go, and Colin together with Amelie and Leo joined Isaac to support Kat.

Kat’s fist began to glow, then her fingers opened.

“What are you trying now?” Moloch snapped, but there was a tremor of fear in his voice.

The chatelaine was bright with blue light, and as Isaac concentrated—as he willed the dark magic he channeled into the chatelaine, as he willed the bright magic he channeled from his friends into his heart—a shot of blue light came from the thimble on the chatelaine, a light so bright he had to squint.

Something emerged from the thimble, and then a figure formed before Moloch, a ghost-witch woman. Isaac concentrated all his energy through her and against Moloch.

The blue ghost-witch stretched her arms toward Moloch.

Moloch’s red eye widened. “No! You can’t . . .” as she embraced him with a burning blue fire.

Moloch, in the arms of the ghost-witch, was consumed. He vanished with a strangled cry into a thread of smoke.

Before Isaac could react, Kat woke from her frozen state and fell against him. He still held her arm out as she clutched the chatelaine, and she cried, “Catch the soul in silver old.” The ghost-witch turned and became a wisp that fled back to the thimble as Kat closed her fist around her chatelaine again, and Isaac and the others kept her from collapsing.

The magical storm around them fell to silence, the sleet stopped, the trees stilled, and the clouds broke apart, swift and silent in stringers and bands, to reveal twilight stars.

*   *   *

The night stars filled the sky, the entire Milky Way a fat ribbon of light.

“His name’s Wyvern,” Colin said, as he patted the snorting dragon on the neck. “And he actually didn’t like Moloch at all.”

Kat shook herself, the chatelaine back in her pocket. Amelie and Leo had pulled themselves together, and there were hugs all around.

“Moloch knew that I hate snakes,” Amelie said with a shiver.

“He tried to take my mind,” Leo said.

“It’s horrible, being spelled,” said Kat.

Isaac looked from one to the other and managed a weary smile.

“You’ve grown,” Amelie said to Isaac, tilting her head. “You were always tall, but you’ve grown even taller.”