She rolled into a crouch and brought the rock up over one shoulder, ready to swing it forward.

Mohserran was down on his knees close to her, almost close enough to touch. His yellowed eyes were wide, his mouth drooped open, his long hair was splayed over his shoulders, heavy with dried mud. He reached for her with one clawed hand. His neck and left arm were coated with a smooth, dry fur, and here and there it was singed and smoking. Lightning danced back and forth across his bared teeth.

Though he reached for her, he was looking at Sammi. He was frozen to the spot, knotted muscles quivering but not obeying his silent commands. He was a sculpture of fury.

Sammi was on one knee beside Angela, left hand resting on the ground, right hand still held out before her. She held onto white fire. It rolled across her palm and back and forth between her fingers, a pet eager to do its master’s bidding.

“Francine!” Bone shouted.

Sammi knelt up and swung her hand around, and Angela felt the bolt of white fire—

Lightning, that’s lightning coming from my niece’s hand!

—surge past her on the right. She rolled to the left and turned just in time to see it striking the werewolf as it leapt. The creature was knocked from the sky, writhing in the dust as sparks coursed across its withered body. It set its denuded fur on end.

“Oh, no,” Sammi said, swaying where she knelt. Her eyes were wide and she drooled. The arm supporting her against the ground shook, and Angela went for her just as she fell. She dropped the rock and caught her niece in her arms, but her skin was so hot that Angela gasped and let her go. Sammi fell to the dusty ground, breath knocked from her with a gentle sigh. Angela reached for the girl again, but she could feel the heat radiating from her, and she didn’t know how Sammi wasn’t burning up, her brain and organs shrivelling and melting beneath the ferocious onslaught.

Maybe she will die, maybe she’s not ready for this and doesn’t even know what it is. The Kin have screwed with my family and this is the end result, this sweet innocent girl burning to death from the inside out before my eyes while I can’t do a fucking thing about it.

“Sammi!”

“Grab her!” Lilou said.

“I can’t, she’s burning hot and she’s in pain, can’t you just—?”

“We’re not out of trouble yet,” Bone said. “The gargoyle’s coming. You look after her, we’ll look after you.” He was wielding the metal chair leg, and Lilou had found a heavy spiked branch somewhere. They stood between Angela and the third Kin.