“Only a few loops left,” he said. “Get ready to take over.”

“Let me fight it,” I said. “You have no energy.”

“With what weapon? Use your head, girl.” I looked around quickly, my heart constricting. Oh God. I’d forgotten to grab the bat again after I’d pried the amulet off the wall.

The hyena rammed us and Jember winced as he handed me the needle. He didn’t have much shield left. “Finish it. I don’t need energy to shield you.”

“Shield me?” My heart dropped into my stomach. “Jember, no—!”

The hyena rushed, a dark swift shadow, and I knew in my heart the next time it charged the shield would shatter. There was no time for anything else. I had to finish this.

Two loops.

Jember’s body canopied me into the corner, his forearms resting on either wall.

Another.

I heard claws on wood and a savage sound. Jember cried out in pain and my fingers faltered. “No,” I begged, but no one was listening to me. He whimpered and huddled over me, blocking out the light, but I could still hear the clawing and tearing, Jember panting over me, my own heart sprinting, splats of liquid on the hardwood.

But I could also sense the last two loops.

Jember screamed again just as I finished one, and his body moved to let in more light. It was only a second, a breath. But I saw the hyena’s green eyes glint at me, even as its jaws were sunk securely into Jember’s side. It threw Jember across the room, and I leaped up and ran to the desk, climbing on top of it, watching it the entire time. I saw blood drip from its mouth. Saw it charge at me.

One more loop, Andi.

Saw it leap—

I knotted the last loop and screamed as a body slammed into me, arms wrapping me tight. I caught my hand on the desk, staring at a naked chest.

A chest. A human chest.

“You did it,” Magnus’s beautiful voice whispered, trembling with relief.

I wrapped my arms around him, and then shoved him away abruptly, remembering where I was.

Remembering where Jember was.

Saba had put herself together and come in sometime—I had never processed when among the chaos. She had a cloth bundled at the wound on Jember’s side, but already I could tell it was soaked. I tore off my sweater as I ran to Jember, dropped to my knees, and pressed it over the wound with both hands.

“Finish the job,” he said through gritted teeth.

“The Evil Eye’s not going anywhere.”

“Exactly. You have to bar it from coming back.” His gloved hand grabbed mine, trying to remove them. “There’s no point.”