She ran uphill, staying low. The trees and castle rose into view as she neared the summit. A look back. The Nephilim were moving again. She fired a third time. The shot fell short, throwing up a spray of snow ahead of them, but was enough to force them down once more.

At the top of the wrecked ski lift was a platform where riders could dismount. She reached it, and searched for an exit. Ski tracks and footprints showed the attraction was in use, even if only by the staff. She followed a trail of boot prints through the trees towards the castle, now revealed as a café selling hot drinks and snacks – then halted as an idea came to her.

The helicopter that had collected Major Wu from the excavation site headed for the city. Wu herself was on the radio to the incoming fighter jets. Their report was not welcome. ‘What do you mean, you can’t attack it?’ she demanded. ‘It’s huge!’

‘We can’t get a missile lock,’ replied the lead pilot. ‘It’s not showing up on our radar.’

‘Then use heat-seekers!’

‘It isn’t giving off any heat, Major. It doesn’t have engines; there’s nothing we can lock on to.’

Wu struggled to contain her anger. ‘You have eyes, don’t you? Use your guns! If you come in from behind, it won’t be able to target you.’

‘Yes, Major,’ came the reply, faint contempt behind the pilot’s professional calm. ‘Moving in now.’

She watched as the two sleek J-20 jets made long, sweeping curves over the city’s outskirts to swing behind the fortress. ‘Come on,’ she muttered. ‘Bring those bastards down!’

Sidona took her place beside the machine. She placed one hand upon the crystal inside it, then closed her eyes and laid the other against the chamber’s glowing wall.

The world of light rose around her, her inner sense expanding to take in her surroundings on a different plane of perception. She had trained in reshaping the other world her whole life, and could affect the flow of the earth’s power with more skill than anyone . . .

And now her own power had been increased.

The machine was a strange, unnatural interloper, jagged and harsh, disturbing the energy flowing through it. But however the humans had created it, it worked. With it, the boundaries of her perception increased enormously, letting her see the channels of power far beyond her past limits. And if she could see them, she could shape them. She didn’t need to try to do so in order to know: it was a simple truth of the world of light.

She moved her mind’s eye from the fortress, looking outwards . . . and upwards. She sensed birds in the air, the towering buildings – and beyond them, something moving.

Something fast.