A fourth bang on the door made me shudder as I jumped out of bed. A fifth one followed, as the sound of footsteps rumbled out in the hallway.

“What the hell?” I growled, furious that I’d been torn out of my connection with Vita. She was trapped in a glass bubble, and there’d been no sign of Bijarki or Patrik anywhere. My mind instinctively assumed the worst, and my stomach tightened.

I opened the door and saw Rebel’s protective detail, the full garrison of about forty Bajangs running down the hallway. They kept knocking on the doors, growling as they headed for the cloaking spell’s limestone wall leading outside. They carried weapons and large metal plates on their chests and shoulders. And they looked incredibly pissed off.

Some of the doors they knocked on opened. Bajang cubs came out and ran in the opposite direction. I saw the two little ones that had shown me to my room running toward me from the left, their faces pale with fear.

“What’s happening?” I asked them, my heart thudding already.

“We’re under attack!” one of them said. “There were some of us outside, going out to hunt, and the monsters came out of nowhere! They were hidden beneath the steps, waiting! We have to hide in the grand hall if we’re under attack. There’s an escape hatch there that leads down to the beach!”

“Come with us!” the other one cried out, with tears in his eyes.

I felt a pang in my stomach, but I knew I couldn’t go with them. I shook my head, then grabbed my sword and one of the shields we’d nabbed from the Destroyers.

“I can’t, I’m sorry!” I said. “You go. I’ll come get you as soon as I can!”

They both nodded, then shifted into their feline forms and tumbled up the hallway toward the grand hall along with the rest of the kids.

I ran after the garrison and slipped through the limestone wall with the last of them. My pulse was erratic, and my skin felt hot. We rushed through the courtyard, and I stopped at the top of the stone stairs, staring in disbelief.

My stomach dropped at the sight of about two hundred incubi and succubi attacking Stonewall. Except they weren’t really themselves. Their skin was pale, almost white, their bodies twitching and their eyes black. A chill ran down my spine.

“Sluaghs,” I gasped, realizing what I was looking at.

I looked down and saw some of the Bajangs, Anjani, Jovi, and Field standing at the bottom of the steps along with Jax, his wards, and the mutated shifters, shooting poisoned arrows and chopping limbs with their swords whenever the Sluaghs got too close.

The rest of the Bajangs came down and immediately joined the fight, going forward and slashing left and right. But the Sluaghs weren’t easy to kill. They were fast, and they could keep going even with a stab wound or two.

“Chop off their heads!” I cried out.

It was the only thing they could do to render the bodies useless, leaving the Sluaghs in their weaker, worm form. I drew my sword and mentally prepared myself to join the battle.

Phoenix rushed to my side, loading his crossbow with nervous hand movements.

“Azazel must know we’re here,” he breathed out.

“But how? He can’t feel us anymore!”

“He must have traced us till here, before we got the Druid’s spell.” he grunted, and ran down the stairs.

I followed, anger simmering in my muscles, quickly replacing the initial feeling of dread. There was no way I was going to let these disgusting fiends ruin our plan or threaten the lives of innocent Bajangs sheltered in Stonewall.

Rebel swiftly ran past me, morphing into a large feline mid-jump. She was huge, and I couldn’t help but admire her graceful sprint. She reached the living wall of Sluaghs trying to break through our defensive ranks and pounced on them, viciously tearing off heads wherever she could.

The others in her garrison quickly took note and changed into their feline forms, following her lead. It left Anjani, Field, Phoenix, Jax, and Hansa to use their swords and fight with all their might, aided by the wards’ mind-bending skills. Phoenix pushed out barriers, while Field flew over and came down with the hatchet, chopping away at the Sluaghs.

Hansa and Anjani were particularly energized, baring their white teeth as they sliced through the Sluaghs, while Jax had his double swords out, his eyes glimmering yellow as he planted suggestions in the hostiles’ heads before he chopped them off.

The worms crawled out and scattered into the grass, but there were still many Sluaghs standing, well over a hundred.

I had about twenty steps left. I picked up the pace, nearly flying over them.

I heard hissing above. My stomach churned. I looked up and saw a massive black shadow seconds before it rammed into me.

I screamed as I was picked off the stairs mid-jump, dropping my shield and sword in the impact. A Destroyer riding a flying horse had gotten hold of me, his arm coiled around my ribcage and squeezing tight, cutting off my air supply.

“What the…” I looked up in horror as I recognized Goren, who was sneering at me, his forked tongue flitting in the air.

“Don’t be stupid, little Oracle!” His mocking laughter boomed in my ears. “Azazel knows what you and the other one look like. While he could still sense you, he did a few spells and tracked you here before you fell off the radar. You’re done for!”

“No!” I screamed again, then looked down.

I watched as a second Destroyer plunged down from the sky and knocked Field down, letting him fall in the middle of a knot of bloodthirsty Sluaghs.

This can’t be, my mind screamed at me.

“Field!” I cried out, and struggled against Goren’s hold, but it was no use. I could only feel my ribs cracking, not his arm loosening.

One of our mutated shifters jumped up and morphed into a flying horse, coming after us. I prayed to all the possible gods for it to reach us and get this monster off me before he threw me at Azazel’s feet.

A third Destroyer swooped in and snatched Phoenix before anyone could react. Jax tried—I could see his eyes glowing yellow—but the Destroyer flew upward in a zig-zag, and the Mara couldn’t catch him with his mind-bend in time. Phoenix struggled against his captor before the hilt of the Destroyer’s sword smashed down against his skull, and he went limp.

None of this was okay.

With every step we took forward, Azazel managed to pull us back by two.