“We didn’t ask you to save us,” the girl said just as her brother craned his neck with bugged-out eyes.
“Look!” He pointed to the sky.
The second we snapped our gazes upward, the twins bolted past me. Ugh! Runners are the worst.
“Hey!” I started after them, but Quinn held me back. “We’ll grab them. Wait here.”
She and Brooks shifted into their giant bird selves. The twins didn’t get very far before Quinn swept up the girl by her shoulders.
“Adrik!” the godborn hollered, flailing her legs.
“Let her go!” Adrik screamed, chasing the eagle with his arms outstretched as if he could somehow reach her.
Quinn rose higher and higher. It didn’t stop Adrik from racing through the rows of cars, successfully evading Brooks’s talons. “Alana!” he shouted.
Okay, I know Quinn asked me to stay put, but I was so not going to stand around when this was my job. I went after Adrik.
Quinn screeched a warning, but I was already closing in, thanks to Fuego. Brooks was right above Adrik when he quickly dropped out of sight. Had he rolled under a car? Okay, the guy really was a ninja. I felt bad for him for all of three seconds. Then the fourth second ticked by, bringing with it a familiar smell: Iktan’s signature scent of death.
She was here.
But where was the double-crossing demon?
I spun in circles, scanning every inch of the parking lot, every car hood and roof. Instantly, the security lights in the corners shattered, plunging us all into blackness.
Ik must not have remembered that I have perfect night vision and didn’t need any light to battle her. I hurried over to the sedan where I’d last seen the boy twin.
“Adrik!” I whisper-shouted. “Where are you?”
Quinn, still clutching the girl, circled above in silence. Brooks hovered nearby. They sensed Ik, too. I was glad that Alana had wised up and was staying quiet now.
My eyes cut through the dark.
There.
A mere twenty feet away, five demons were perched on top of the chain-link fence, their yellow eyes glowing. Ik stood in the center, her silver braid whipping behind her like a scorpion tail. I quickly crouched between two cars, hoping they hadn’t seen me.
Phipp. Phipp. Phipp.
I peeked over the car hood. Each of the demons had a long narrow tube pressed to their lips, aimed at the sky.
Crap!
Darts whizzed like white bullets toward Brooks. She zigzagged to avoid them.
I launched Fuego at the demons, but my spear could only hit one at a time. It went right through the gut of the biggest beast, who vanished in a thin trail of black smoke.
Every demon eye shifted.
That’s right. Keep your focus on me.
“I’m the one you want!” I shouted as I threw out my hands and blasted torrents of blue fire. The remaining four beasts leaped down, fangs bared. Fuego circled back to me as fireballs shot from my eyes, tagging two of the demons in their shoulders, arms, and legs. They howled, oozing sizzling yellow goop/blood onto the asphalt. Ik ignored the two demons writhing on the ground and stepped toward me, smiling evilly.
Brooks swept in like a rocket, talons extended. Her screech echoed across the lot. Keeaar!
“Brooks!” I shouted. “No!”
I watched in absolute horror as the other uninjured demon aimed its blowgun at her. As the hawk continued to dive, I flung Fuego at the demon, piercing its chest. It disintegrated with an agonizing shriek, and Brooks pulled up.