Over his shoulder I watched in horror as the Unseelie Prince jumped effortlessly back to his feet and charged for us again.

Everest didn’t wait for a response from us, he just turned and leapt toward the Prince. He flexed both hands and long swords with a gnarly curve appeared in his hands. The Unseelie Prince was picking up speed and distance fast. Everest rolled to the balls of his feet, then lunged forward, expertly wielding his weapons as he engaged the Prince. They parried each other’s strikes back and forth. I’d never seen Everest fight with a sword, and he was fierce. They both moved so fast it was hard to see every move they made. Everest leapt forward, spun around in a tight circle, then jumped backward. The Prince followed his steps, turning to keep his stance facing Everest.

But he didn’t seem to notice the black shadow coiling around his feet until Everest flicked his wrists and pulled that black tar out of the ground. It shot up and wrapped around the Prince’s body. Everest raised his hand and the tar covered the Prince’s entire body. When Everest thrust his hand back into the earth, the tar pulled the Prince into the ground with it . . . and then he disappeared.

Everest turned to us and yelled, “NOW!”

Tenn and Tegan grabbed each other’s hands, then threw them in the air. Hurricane-force winds slammed into the battle in front of us. Unseelies were thrown into Central Park. The Knights and my Coven-mates dropped to the ground to lie beneath the wind. Only Everest stood in the wind unmoved.

Tegan cursed. “CONNIE!”

Constance raced over and grabbed Emersyn’s arms, lifting her back onto her feet. “I’ve got you, Em⁠—-”

“I’m sorry, twin. Guard the school. Light it on fire!” Tegan snapped her fingers and a portal opened. “Get moving, Constance.”

As the two of them vanished into the portal, white light flashed all around me. Once again, I only recognized Central Park from all the movies, but there was no doubt as to where we were. The wind from Tenn and Tegan whipped through the park, slicing through the tops of the trees and forcing the Unseelie to the ground. Every time they tried to fly, the wind pushed them back down.

That made me grin—-and then that gave me an idea. An idea I’d seen done in Seelie. I scanned the park for Everest only to spot him fifteen feet away with half a demon under his boot and the other half impaled on his sword.

I slid to a stop in front of him. “Saffie ripped them apart with tree roots.”

He nodded but didn’t look to me. He sliced his sword through an Unseelie’s armor. “I know. I saw.”

“Why can’t we do that?” I fisted his shirt in my hand. “Royce or Tegan or Tenn?”