“Let’s get out of here!” she yelled as she decided to go for broke and sprinted for the door.

With a wobbly run, she made it to the opening and stumbled outside, falling into a clump of bushes. Tiny, sharp branches scratched her as she squeezed her arms even tighter around Kayla, trying to protect her. She kicked with her legs and used her elbows to maneuver their way out of the bushes and onto the front lawn.

The sounds of things breaking inside the house had been replaced with horrible, world-shattering cracks of thunder. Constant flashes of light illuminated their surroundings. Lisa saw people running, more people falling. The air smelled like burning plastic and tasted like . . . electricity. That was the only word she could think of.

Then, forty feet away, a bolt of lightning arrowed down from the sky and exploded around a woman in a bulb of pure incandescence. Lisa squeezed her eyes shut, though it was too late. When she opened them, she was completely blind, seeing only blurs of white in front of her.

Not knowing what else to do, she hugged Kayla and smoothed her hair, crushed by how the little girl’s body shook with sobs and terror. How could this be happening? What was happening?

The air around them exploded with heat and electricity. Pain ripped through Lisa’s body, and her arms suddenly closed on empty air.

Kayla was gone.

Tick didn’t know what he’d done.

He felt as though a chunk of his insides had somehow been squeezed through his skin and catapulted toward the black tree, engulfed by the pure darkness.

He fell from the chair, gasping for breath. His link to Chi’karda had vanished, replaced by a cold emptiness.

“Tick!” Sofia shouted, jumping out of her chair to kneel next to him. “Are you okay?”

Tick rolled over onto his back, looking up at her. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Paul stood and reached down to grab Tick’s arm, then heaved him to his feet. “What happened?”

Tick shook his head. He couldn’t have answered even if he felt like talking. He had no idea what had happened and began to worry that he’d done something really stupid.

“Take your seats,” Master George snapped in a tight whisper. “She’s coming.”

Tick quickly sat down, as did Paul and Sofia. Sure enough, Mistress Jane was almost to them, marching with determined steps, her red mask showing an anger that made Tick’s heart want to stop.

“What did you do?” she screamed into Tick’s face. “What did you put in the Blade?”

Tick leaned back in his chair and looked up at her, embarrassed and terrified. “I don’t know,” was all he could get out.

Jane’s chest heaved up and down beneath her robe. “You . . . don’t . . . know?”

Tick shook his head, dread exploding within him. What had he done? What had he been thinking? She was going to kill his family. He knew it. She was going to kill them!

“I felt a surge of Chi’karda slice into the Blade,” Jane said, her breath still quick. “It had to come from you. What did you do? If I have to repeat the question again, your youngest sister will be killed. Then the other one. Speak.”

Tick fought the panic thrusting up his throat, threatening to choke him. He had to have lost his mind. How could he have been so stupid to try something when he didn’t even know how to control it or what he was doing?

“What did—” Jane began.

“Wait!” Tick shouted. “I . . . I just . . . I tried to use my Chi’karda. I don’t know what I was thinking. . . . I’m sure it didn’t do anything!”

“What did you expect?” Master George said, coming to Tick’s defense. “You tell us you’re about to kill billions of people, and you expect the boy will sit there quietly? He has something you don’t, Jane. Morals!”

Jane’s head slowly swiveled around until her eyes paused on Master George. “Enough talk. Frazier!”

The man was at her side before the ring of her shout had faded away. “Yes, Mistress?”

Jane returned her gaze to Tick, the features of her mask melting into a void of expression. “Order the Ladies of Blood and Sorrow to kill the younger girl. Now.”

“No!” Tick screamed, vaulting to his feet as Frazier walked away. He felt like an arrow had just sliced through his chest, tearing a jagged rip across his heart.

Jane’s hand shot out from her robe, her palm flat and facing Tick. A thump of solid air slammed into his body, throwing him into the air. He flipped backward and landed on the ground behind the row of chairs. Jolts of pain made him shudder as he turned his head to look back toward Jane.

“Stop it!” Sofia yelled. She stood up as well, her hands clenched into fists at her side. She rocked back and forth on her feet as if contemplating whether or not to attack Jane. “How can you be such an evil—”

Jane’s hand flicked toward Sofia and sent her body shooting through the air to ram into one of the screens that currently showed a burning building. Sofia and the screen crashed to the ground with a clatter of clanging metal rods and ripping cloth.

Tick pushed himself off the ground, groaning from soreness. Anger lit his insides like liquid flame, and he knew his Chi’karda was welling up again, threatening to explode out of him. Kayla. All he could think about was Kayla. What could he do . . .

Movement by the chairs grabbed his attention. Paul had been sitting still, obviously waiting for the right moment. Just as Jane turned away from Sofia, Paul leaped from his chair and tackled Jane. He grabbed her around the waist and pushed her to the ground, falling on top of her. They’d barely landed when Paul suddenly shot straight up into the air, hovering ten feet above Jane. Then his body flew away until he slammed into another screen, with the same result as Sofia’s unwanted flight.

Jane got to her feet, brushed the dust and dirt from her robe, then looked at Master George. “You want to try something, George? Here, let me go ahead and save you the trouble.”

She pushed her hand toward the old man. He flew up and backward over the chairs, landing on his stomach just a few feet from Tick. He didn’t move, lying flat with his arms and legs twisted at awkward angles, his face on a rock. There was blood.

Tick couldn’t take it anymore. This woman was evil. She was too evil.

He got to his feet, staggering a little until he caught his balance. Then he held up a hand and pointed a finger at Jane.