Jackie was relieved that he’d recovered his wits enough to speak.

“What do you want?” she added.

The one on the left spoke, revealing teeth that had rotted considerably. Its voice was surprisingly normal, neither deep nor high. Not even that creepy.

“We’re the in-between, kid. We want no trouble. We only want the girl. Give us the girl and we won’t hurt any of you. That’s a promise, sworn on the Flare. And she won’t be hurt either. The girl will be safe.”

“Why does everyone want Sadina so bad?” Jackie whispered, mainly to herself. How could one person be so important to all these people?

“Are you Cranks?” Isaac asked. “I didn’t think Cranks could talk.”

This time the one on the right answered, its voice a little deeper. “Don’t use that word, boy. It’s not nice. We come from a different variant, anyway. But I hear all of you are immune. What a sad thing for you. What a sad, sad thing.”

“Will you give us the girl?” the one on the left asked.

Jackie couldn’t take it anymore. She simply couldn’t.

“Isaac,” she said, not caring that their captors heard because it wouldn’t matter. “We have to do this together.”

“I know,” he replied, an answer that was somehow both resigned and brave at once.

Jackie balled her right hand into a fist and swung it upward, smacking the face that hung over her like a cloud. She’d never punched anyone in her life but surprise was on her side—the creature’s head jerked to the left so hard that it hit the wall. She grabbed its shirt and yanked, pulled it to the ground while it was stunned, then rolled on top of its torso. Holding both of her hands together in one tight ball, she smashed it into the thing’s nose, lifted her arms and did it again. It screamed, a wet sound of agony. She hit it again, ignited by enough rage that she knew she had another dozen or so in her.

To her left, Isaac was being strangled.

He knew there’d been other times when he felt as if he couldn’t breathe. They just weren’t coming to him as the bald-headed half-Crank squeezed his neck with both hands. Jackie was winning her battle, beating the ever-living hell out of the one she’d chosen to attack, all of which Isaac could see rather well since his eyes were half-bulged from their sockets.