Joan and Scathach slipped under the flapping police tape and started to step through the piles of stone. Much of the rubble was dust, but some of the larger fragments still retained ghostly images of the figures they’d been before the twins had unleashed their elemental magic. Scatty saw traces of claws and beaks, sweeping horns and curling tails. A stone ball lay alongside a weathered hand. She glanced at Joan and both women turned to look at the front of the cathedral. The devastation was incredible: huge chunks of the building were missing, scraped or torn off, and portions looked as if it had been attacked by a wrecking ball.

“In all my years, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Scathach murmured, “and that was only with two powers.”

“And only one twin had those powers,” Joan reminded her.

“Can you imagine what would happen if they possessed all the elemental magics?”

“They would have the power to destroy the world or remake it,” Joan said.

“And that’s the prophecy,” Scathach said simply.

“Hey, you! You two. Stop there!”

The voice came from directly ahead of them.

“Stop. Stop right there.” The second voice came from behind them.

“Keep going,” Scatty muttered.

Joan glanced over her shoulder to see the young police officer attempting to extricate himself from Francis’s viselike grip. Suddenly, the count released him and the man tumbled to the ground. In attempting to help him to his feet, Francis stepped on the hem of his long black coat, stumbled and fell on top of the man, pinning him down.

“You two. You don’t belong here.” A shaven-headed, shaggy-bearded middle-aged academic jumped to his feet before them. He’d been lying on the ground, piecing together tiny fragments of an eagle’s wing. He came forward, waving a clipboard in their faces. “You are trampling over priceless historical artifacts.”

“I’m not sure we could damage them any further if we tried.” Without breaking stride, Scatty snatched the plastic clipboard from the man’s grasp and tore it in two as easily as if it were a sheet of paper. She tossed the pieces at his feet. The man looked at what had been his clipboard lying on the ground, then turned and ran off, shouting.

“Very subtle, very discreet,” Joan said.

“Very effective,” Scatty said, and strode onto Point Zero.