When he saw Nemo and Max standing there, his expression changed. He scowled. Then he moved his hands, pointing them at his former friends. The flies coalesced into a smaller ball and barreled towards Nemo and Max like a cannonball. Instinctively, Max and Nemo raised their hands and formed a telekinetic barrier. The flies struck it, many of them falling to the floor dead. The rest broke apart, swirling off to regroup under Seamus’s orders.

“I’m getting better at this,” Max said, grinning.

Seamus attacked again, this time forcing the flies to make several different balls. Nemo and Max turned in circles, trying to deflect all of them, but there were too many to fight simultaneously. Within seconds Nemo found herself at the center of a buzzing cyclone, with flies crawling over her face. Their tiny wings and legs scratched at her lips and eyes. She swatted at them, feeling them crush beneath her fingers. The sensation was almost worse than the actual attack, and yet the awfulness of it was enough to make her want to run from the hotel.

Which was exactly what Seamus wanted. Only when Nemo was able to get close to the lobby doors could she see that something worse awaited her if she left, as many of the guests had discovered. Outside, the real monsters were waiting. Three huge dinosaur-like creatures were in the street in front of the Saturn Hotel. People who had run out there trying to get away from one horror were now confronted with a worse one, as the things were blocking their escape. Dozens of people stood in frightened knots as the monsters circled them, seeming to herd them.

Nemo didn’t know what to do. Wiping more flies away from her eyes, she turned back to see what Max was doing. Seconds later, the flies lifted away from her face and disappeared. Nemo shuddered, wiping the few remaining ones off her. She didn’t know why the flies had given up, but she was relieved that they had. She scanned the lobby, looking for Max.

She spied him on the floor, on top of Seamus. They were fighting. Max appeared to have the upper hand, as he was straddling Seamus’s chest and punching him in the face. Seamus was blocking the blows with his hands and attempting to throw Max off. At first Nemo wondered why Max had resorted to fighting Seamus physically. Then she realized that the surprise and distraction were likely what had stopped Seamus from using his insect telepathy, at least temporarily.

She ran over to where the boys were fighting, determined to help Max subdue Seamus. But before she could get there, something hit the ground nearby and exploded, startling her. She stopped and looked around. On the other side of the lobby, near the check-in desk, stood one of the boys she’d encountered in Utah. Boomer. He was dressed in the same black clothes, and watched her with the same peculiar expression of disinterest that she remembered from before.