For now, though, he needed to do something to get Seamus out of the way. As he was trying to figure out what that was, something struck him in the back of the head. Not hard enough to knock him out, but he saw stars as he rolled off Seamus and onto his back.

Magdalena stood over him, still holding one arm with the other. She had kicked him.

“Your girlfriend broke my wrist,” she said. “And I was just trying to help her up.”

“Somehow I doubt that’s all you were trying to do,” Sam said.

Magdalena stamped her foot. With her pink hair and an outfit that should be on a little girl, she looked like some kind of child playing dress-up. Sam had to remind himself that she was actually insanely dangerous. She somehow created the parasites and the grindles; who knew what else she had up her sleeve.

“Get up!” Magdalena shouted, not at Sam but at Seamus, who already was struggling to his feet.

The monster on the side of the hotel bellowed again. Sam reached out to it as he had to the dead grindle in the street. Because this one was still alive, it wasn’t quite the same as interacting with only the mechanical parts. This time, the creature’s living brain was part of the equation. He hoped that whatever control center operated the nonbiological parts could override it.

He told the monster to move. Because he couldn’t see it, he wasn’t sure if it was working. Then he heard the sound of claws piercing metal, and of glass shattering. The grindle was responding.

Hurry up, he urged as Seamus stood and prepared to attack him, the sound of buzzing insects filling the night air. Then there was another crunching sound, and Magdalena turned her head. Her expression changed to one of delight, and she clapped her hands.

Don’t get too excited, Sam thought as he sent more instructions to the beast. The grindle heaved itself over the edge of the roof, slowly pulling itself up. Sam saw that it was injured, and moving awkwardly. But it was moving, and that was all he needed.

“Tell it to attack!” Eleni shouted to Magdalena, pausing in her battle with Six long enough to move away from the grindle’s snapping jaws.

Magdalena let go of her injured arm and pulled something from the pocket of her dress. It was an ordinary phone. Sam watched her tap at the screen. Don’t tell me she’s got an app for it, he thought incredulously as he focused again on the monster, which was standing in one spot, leaning to one side and roaring.

He looked again at Magdalena’s phone. Within seconds, he had connected with it, taking over the app. He ordered the grindle to move. It took a step towards them, looking as confused as a giant creature could that its body was doing something its brain hadn’t told it to. It opened its mouth and bellowed in distress, but kept coming.