And Keely’s screams of terror turned into a shriek of rage as she let go of the rose bushes and grabbed one of the creature’s legs. “Not my girl. You can’t have my girl! EARTH!”

The ground around Keely moved, shifted, churned. She sank into the earth so fast there was no time for the creatures attached to her to escape.

Breanna watched Keely disappear. Watched her mother’s hand convulse around the leg it held, pulling the last creature down with her until it was buried up to its waist. It screamed, clawing at the ground as it fought to free itself. She watched, too numb to move, until an arrow whistled past her and buried itself in the creature’s chest.

Silence.

Keely.

She wanted to scream to break the silence, to beg Keely to come back. But she couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.

“Liam, get Breanna away from here. Get her away now.” She recognized Selena’s voice, but it was just a sound.

She knew Liam picked her up. She knew he got her on his horse somehow and they were galloping to her house. But she was too far away to feel him, too far away to feel anything. Even the wind.

“Mother’s mercy,” Ashk said, her voice rough with pain and pity. “That bastard turned children into nighthunters.” She closed her eyes and shuddered. “He turned them into nighthunters.”

“Could they still be alive down there?”

There was something cutting about Selena’s voice—and there was something odd about that cutting tone.

“They’re buried in the earth,” Ashk said. “Buried alive.”

“But they might be able to survive longer than her?”

What difference does it make? “I don’t know.”

Selena raised her hands and pointed at the nighthunter that stared at them with dead eyes. “I call fire to cleanse and air to give it breath.”

The nighthunter burst into flames, burning so hot Ashk took a step back. Moments later, spears of fire shot out of the ground, and she thought—she imagined—she heard something shriek.

The fire was gone as quickly as it had been summoned. It was only her refusal to give in to the urge to back away—and keep backing away—that made Ashk stand where she was.

Mother’s Daughters. House of Gaian. They aren’t the same as the witches who live among us. And this one…Mother’s mercy. This one.

Selena watched the tendrils of smoke rising from the ground. “You said nighthunters feasted on spirits as well as flesh and blood. If, by some chance, they were able to live even a minute longer than she did, they could have destroyed more than her body. I couldn’t save the flesh, but I could save the spirit.”

“She wouldn’t have survived long in any case, but she might have been alive when you sent your fire into the earth.”