“My room,” I said, shoving Kelela in the right direction, just as the hyena snapped at Saba and got loose. My amulet took the full force as it charged at us, its head shifting an entire foot forward.

My blood ran cold, but only for an instant. That much of my shield gone at once?

Saba grabbed the hyena around the neck, wrestling it to the ground, and I got back to work on my amulet immediately. But I’d only done three strokes before the giant paw clawed Saba’s arm, breaking it off at the shoulder. She kept it at bay with her other arm for another two strokes. And then it bit down on her chin, breaking most of her face off and throwing it across the hall.

Kelela and I ran in opposite directions at once. She’d shut herself inside my room by the time I reached Saba’s face—thank God she tended to break in larger pieces instead of shattering into shards. The hyena tore at the floor in front of my room, scraping deep lines into the wood like it was trying to dig a hole underneath the door. Instead of handing Saba her face, I got back to work on the amulet. Two strokes. Saba reattached her arm and face and took a few steps toward my room. I ran ahead to block her way.

“Don’t do it, Saba.” I held out my hands to block her from getting around me. “It can’t get inside there without your help. Leave it alone to try, that’ll buy time for me to finish sealing it.”

Saba gripped her stomach, like she’d been stabbed. Her face was straining, her eyes blurring with tears.

“Don’t listen to it, Saba,” I shouted, grabbing her arms and shaking her. “Please, you have to fight back!”

She burst into tears, shoving me out of the way to get to the door.

This plan should’ve been simple. Why was everything going wrong?

I ran and rammed into the hyena’s side, my shield knocking it out of the way just as Saba opened the door.

But it was on its feet a second later, ignoring me for Kelela. It ran into my room, and I cringed at the screaming.

“Help, help!” she kept repeating, more and more frantic each time. I pulled my knife, dodging out of the way as the hyena backed out of my bedroom door, snapping its jaws and clawing at the fireplace poker Kelela was swinging at it. “Andromeda!”

I stabbed the hyena in the back so it would turn on me, but—oh God—Kelela ran away from my room instead of back inside, and I had no time to say anything but “Stop!”