Finally, there’s a sound of footsteps from the tunnel, and Liv appears in the opening, holding her bag up victoriously. “Look, Reece! I have them,” she says to Maurice. “All five books.”

“That’s my girl,” he says, lips twisted in a cruel smile.

She steps through the magical doorway as nonchalantly as if she were exiting a subway. “Let’s go!” she says impatiently, pointedly avoiding looking at me and Siaka.

“We’re not quite done yet.” Maurice’s words are like lava, hot and glowing with malice.

“What do you mean?” Liv replies. “We have the books and the gift.”

“Yes, but the gift won’t work for my purposes until you’re transformed,” he replies.

Her brow furrows. “Transformed into what?

“You want to be the numa Flame-finger? You have to be a numa first.”

Liv looks confused. “And?”

“You might not be clear about the fine print,” Maurice says. “To become a numa, you must betray someone to their death. You took the first step by bringing your cousin here and stealing his gift. Now all that’s left is the part where he dies. Would you like to do the honor, or should I?”

“Wait a minute,” Liv says, with a haunted expression. “I agreed to the betrayal part, though it should have been my gift in the first place. Whatever. But you swore you wouldn’t hurt Siaka.”

“Technically speaking, it will be so fast, it won’t hurt him. Not much, at least.” Maurice lifts the knife and aims it at Siaka’s head.

“No!” Liv and I yell as one. But while she freezes, my reaction is immediate.

Lunging down, I scoop up my sword and swing it hard, knocking the knife from his hand. It lands with a thud on the ground a few feet away.

“You are starting to annoy me,” he growls, drawing his sword and thrusting it my way. I squeeze the hilt tightly to keep his powerful stroke from knocking my blade to the ground.

“Run!” I yell and brandish my weapon toward Maurice. In my peripheral vision, I see Siaka charge toward Liv. He attempts to pull her away.

“Stop it!” Liv yells, twisting to break free.

Siaka shoves her behind him, shielding her with his body. “You idiot! He plans on killing you right after he kills me!”

“Her death will only be temporary,” Maurice replies calmly. He spins sideways and deals me another heavy blow. I skip backwards and his sword strikes the ground with enough force to send up a spray of dirt and pebbles.

“You don’t know she’ll turn into a numa.” I back away, readying myself for another round. “Gaspard says it’s impossible to detect if someone’s predisposed to become a revenant.”

“Well, he doesn’t have access to the same source materials Violette did,” Maurice says. He charges toward me, initiating another violent round of sparring. I’m just able to keep the pace.