I touched him, and like Veronica and Bronx, he screamed. Only, he cursed me, too.

He would thank me later.

“There,” Bronx groaned, pointing to a group of zombies that were dog-piled in the corner.

I sprinted over. Swipe, swipe. Ash, ash. Swipe, swipe. Ash, ash. Jaclyn! She’d come back to help us, only to be overcome. Now, she wasn’t moving. As I pressed my palm against her chest, a growl sounded behind me. I whipped around. A female zombie lunged at me, ready for dinner. I punched her, and she ashed.

Where was Cole? I combed the room... There! On the other side. He had no bites and remained steady on his feet, good, good, but his motions were slow, sluggish.

A zombie clawed at his cheek. I raced over, determined to help. Or tried to race over. Other zombies moved into my path.

A second creature snuck up behind him.

“Cole,” I shouted.

A mistake.

He looked my way, what was happening behind him forgotten.

I wasn’t going to reach him in time. The zombie was able to grab hold of his arm, lower its head and bare its teeth, ready to feast on his spirit.

“No!” I stretched out my arms, willing to take the bite for him. But, dang it, I still wasn’t close enough to do it.

Then the distance ceased to matter. A bolt of electrified power shot out of me, the air actually crackling with tiny zings of lightning.

Every zombie in the room catapulted into the air...and they stayed there.

What the heck had just happened? How? I tripped over my own feet and fell to my knees. Panting, shocked, I jumped up and spun. Slayers were on the floor, and zombies were still floating above us.

Impossible.

Reeling, I finished the journey to Cole and gripped his arm. My fire seeped past his clothing, past his skin, and did its healing thing inside him. He hissed in a breath, collapsing, crashing hard, but didn’t stay down long. He leaped up. Sweat trickled down his temples as he looked at the zombies, then me, then at the zombies again, probably trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

Good luck. I hadn’t yet managed it.

“Heal any slayers in need of fire.” I wasn’t sure how much longer the Z’s would remain suspended in the air. “And I’ll kill these suckers.” But...how? I couldn’t reach them.

As he hurried over to our friends, zombies kicked at him, but couldn’t make contact. They were too high up. He clasped Jaclyn’s hand with his fiery one and helped her to her feet. She hissed, as he had done, but remained upright.

I breathed a sigh of relief. She would be all right.

Then, knowing Cole would be taking care of the others, too, I focused on my opponents. I stretched out my still-glowing hands toward the one closest to me...and gaped as the others twirled.

I rubbed at my eyes...and the entire nest of zombies crashed into the floor, slamming into slayers, knocking them down, and curses erupted throughout the room. I threw my arms into the air, and back up the zombies went.

Seriously! What had...how did...

Zombies shadowed the movements of my hands? As if the bolt of power I’d felt leave me had created some kind of link between us?

Testing my theory, I rotated my wrists. Zombies spun, mimicking the motion. I rotated my wrists in the opposite direction. Again, zombies spun.

There was a link.

Could this be another ability? Maybe. Probably. Who was I kidding? Definitely. I’d never heard of anything like it, but that hardly mattered.

I made a mental note to check the journal I had at home. Written in some sort of spiritual code by one of my ancestors, a slayer. Through an ability of his own, he’d known secrets about our kind, our talents.

Beads of fatigue collected in my shoulders, snapping together, growing bigger and stronger, before rolling all the way to my fingertips; suddenly my arms felt as if they weighed a hundred pounds each. My hands began to sink down...down... The zombies inched toward the floor.

“Not yet,” Cole shouted, helping Veronica to her feet.

I gritted my teeth, focusing on one zombie in particular. I crooked my finger at him. If I truly controlled these creatures, I could end their torment—and my own. He flailed and fought...but actually inched closer to me. Excited, I jumped up and touched him.

He burst into ash—white ash, like snow, and good glory, it was beautiful, glistening as it descended.

Why such a significant change?

Did it really matter? I’m Super Ali.

I grinned and skipped to one creature after another, touching, ashing, touching, ashing, utterly enjoying my job.

Finally, there were no zombies left.

Can’t pout.

The fire in my hands died, and my tired arms dropped to my sides.

“You have to be careful with this particular skill.”

The voice jolted me. It shouldn’t be here, in this room. Baffled, I spun and came face-to-face with the mysterious blonde.

“You,” I gasped out. “How’d you get here? Did you follow us?”

“Ali,” Cole said, his voice dripping with confusion. “You want to tell me who it is you’re talking to?”

“Her.” I pointed. “Sami.”

“Ali,” he said, gently now. “There’s no one there.”

Wait. He couldn’t see her? But...she was right there. I knew she was there.

I reminded myself that he hadn’t seen Zombie Ali anytime she’d separated from me, either. But this wasn’t Zombie Ali, a spirit capable of shielding her presence.

Was this woman a spirit, though? A Witness, like Emma? That would certainly explain why Mr. Ankh’s security cameras hadn’t recorded her presence.