And then I saw the monster: something vaguely resembling a huge dog covered in thick, black fur loomed over us, standing easily five feet tal at the shoulder. It lumbered over on al fours with a snout ful of gnarled, viciouslooking teeth in the jaws of a heavy, oversize head. Its paws were the size of an elephant's foot and ended in talons that looked like they could tear a man in half.

But I wasn't afraid. A calmness washed over me, and my mind analyzed at a lightning pace. Strange memories and thoughts that didn't belong to me flooded into my mind: faces and violence I'd seen long ago in different times. I looked up at Wil , whose face sparked the clearest and fondest memory. I knew I had to fight now, but I needed my weapons. The beast leaped toward me, claws outstretched, and took a swipe with one of its front paws, but Wil appeared between us. He grabbed the beast's forelimb and kicked ful force into its chest, sending it flying back, shattering my neighbor's mailbox into countless little chunks of wood and brick.

It happened so fast that I knew I shouldn't have been able to see it, but I did. I stepped forward, watching the creature climb to its feet as it loosed a low, dangerous-sounding growl.

I held both of my arms out and wil ed weapons into my open palms. The twin Khopesh swords appeared out of nothing in a flash of shimmering light. The curving silver blades glinted brightly. I glanced over at Wil . I could now see intricate black tattoos twisting out from beneath his shirt al the way down his right arm to his knuckles. I remembered the beautiful symbols woven into the spiraling design, because I'd seen them before with different eyes, in another time. My thoughts were calm and unnervingly clear. The blades exploded into white flames at my command. Blinding light devoured the silver, and the power coursed through me. My fingers squeezed the cool, familiar helves as the scents of silver and old blood flooded my heightened senses. The swords felt right in my grasp, like hugging an old friend. The monster began to circle me, growling low and releasing an unearthly hiss. Its eyes were bottomless pits of blackness set deep into its deformed, terrible skul . I stared right back into those eyes without fear or hesitation. I moved with the creature so that it was never at my back, and in a voice that did not seem my own I chal enged the beast: "Come for me."

The wolflike monster charged, paws and talons outstretched, massive jaws gaping. I spun out of the way just as teeth clamped down on the hood of my sweatshirt instead of my throat. The beast yanked the cotton flap, wrenching me around awkwardly, twisting, growling. Its paws clawed at my body, pul ing me closer to its mouth so it could take a bite out of my face. I smashed my elbow into its nose, and it slumped back onto its haunches with a groan. Then my elbow slammed down on top of its skul and something crunched, but the monster only bit harder on my hoodie, shredding the fabric. Abruptly, it threw me to the ground, and I looked up. Wil had it by the throat, his arm buried elbow deep in its thick fur, forcing the beast backward.

"Now!" he roared.

It thrashed like a giant pit bul and broke free. My eyes locked on my target and my mind cleared to seize the opportunity. Quicker than my heart could beat, I was on my feet and shoving my fiery sword into its soft throat and straight through the top of its skul . The creature's legs buckled as its fur shimmered oddly before exploding in flames. It happened very quickly. Fire devoured the reaper, swal owing it in white light, consuming it until final y the head disappeared, leaving nothing but empty space and fal ing ashes where a monster had just been.

Then the shadows closed in around me.

4

THE NEXT MORNING, MY HEAD AND EVERY MUSCLE in my body hurt as if I'd run a marathon through six feet of snow in stilettos. Fragmented chunks of the nightmare I'd had the night before spun through my head. As much as it annoyed me to have dreamed about Wil , I was more unsettled because it had been way more vivid and scary than my usual nightmares. Why was I stil in my jeans and shirt? My hoodie, however, was AWOL. I dug through my dirty-clothes hamper and the blankets on my bed, but it was nowhere to be found. How had it just disappeared?

What if what happened last night wasn't a dream?

There was a knock on my door. "Is the birthday girl awake, yet?" It was my mom. "Come on, El ie! Get up!"

I headed to the bathroom to shower, straightened the obnoxious waves in my hair with the flatiron, and tugged on fresh jeans and a T-shirt. I hopped downstairs to meet my mom in the kitchen.

"I made you pancakes, since it's your birthday," Mom said cheerful y, and smiling brightly, she presented a platter stacked high. "I know you didn't eat the ones I made you yesterday, so I hope you're feeling wel enough to appreciate them more this morning."

"Thanks, Mom," I said, sitting down at the counter to eat.

"Happy birthday, honey." She kissed the top of my head.

"Love you."

"Love you, too. Where's Dad?"

Her smile vanished. "He had to leave early. He's got a meeting in Lansing. He told me to tel you happy birthday and that he loves you."

I forced a smile, pretty certain that she had made the last part up. More likely he had just left for his meeting without saying a thing.

Mom's face brightened. "So I thought we would go get your present after school. I know today is going to be very difficult with everything that happened yesterday, but hopeful y this wil make today a little less awful. Sound good?"

My heart lifted. "Yeah."

"Okay, then. I'm going to get some work done before we take off for school." She turned to go back to her office.