He vanished. I pulled on the warmer clothes and then crept silently from my room through the Grim and down the stairs to the back door. I darted around the house on the concrete sidewalk and down the long driveway to my car. Will waited in the driver’s seat, and I jumped in the passenger side.

“Where are they?”

“Downtown.”

“Oh, God.”

Will sensed Ava and Orek at the precise moment that I did. He parked my car in a safe place, and we tried to gauge their positions. I focused harder on the reaper energy, and my eyes widened with shock as I realized that they were fighting somewhere above us.

“The rooftops!” I cried, and sprinted into an alley.

We climbed a fire escape and spotted Orek’s massive body plainly visible several rooftops away. I didn’t see Ava. I took off like a shot, both my Khopesh swords in hand, alight with angelfire, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, praying the busy street below wouldn’t take notice.

Orek was atop one of the tallest buildings on the block, six stories above the street. When we got close, I saw that he had Ava pinned beneath one of his powerful hind legs.

“Ava!” I cried.

Orek swung his giant dragonlike head and long neck to look at me with his pale, unseeing eyes. His nostrils flared and his jaw dropped to hiss at me. “Preliator! About damned time. I’ve grown bored with this one. She doesn’t scream.”

He stepped off Ava and stomped toward me. The front of Ava’s body was soaked red, and she wasn’t moving. She had to be alive, since her body hadn’t become stone in death, but she was very badly hurt.

Orek’s wings spread wide and menacing, and for a moment he looked twice his normal size. “I was hoping you could make it tonight.”

“Ellie,” Will said in a low voice. “I’m going to distract Orek. Make sure Ava is okay. Get her out of the way so she can heal without further damage.”

“He’s after me,” I said back. “I’m the one he’ll follow. Let me distract him.”

Will called his sword, the silver shimmering in the city lights. “Not a chance.”

He charged forward, his blade sweeping, and the nycterid reaper reared up like a dragon. They collided; Will’s sword cut through flesh as the reaper’s jaws snapped at his body. The giant reaper moved fast, limbs striking and stomping, wings and tail lashing, keeping Will’s blade from striking a deadly blow. Orek’s teeth gnashed lightning fast, nearly taking a chunk out of Will with each strike. I darted toward where Ava lay as Will and Orek fought above and all around me. I pulled her to the opposite edge of the roof, clear from Orek’s thrashing tail and stomping feet.

Her stomach had been slashed open. Her skin was ashen, and blood soaked her clothing and flecked her face. Her eyes drooped and her teeth clenched in pain.

“Ava?” I called to her, brushing her wild hair out of her face. “Ava! Stay awake. It’s Ellie. Can you hear me?”

Her lips moved, and she sputtered something unintelligible. She looked up at me, clutching the wound in her abdomen. “I’m … I’m not …”

“That’s good,” I said. “Keep talking. Keep your eyes open.”

I checked on Will, who had various cuts on his body, and whose shirt was torn and bloodied. Orek had Will’s sword sticking out of his shoulder.

“I’m not … ,” Ava tried again.

“You’ll be fine!” I said, applying pressure to her wound. She squeezed her eyes shut, knocked my hand away, and scowled. “I’m not … going to die … you moron.”

I blinked at her and then gave a nervous laugh. I pulled at her shirt and saw that her wound was closing. When her breathing started to return to normal, I wished that I’d brought something for her to eat in order to speed up the healing process. Will always got better faster when he ate, and after every battle, he ate a lot.

Ava sat up and picked at her torn-open shirt. “Damn it,” she growled. Then her eyes shot wide. “Look out!”

I spun and ducked as Orek’s jaws came gnashing down. Ava and I leaped apart, and his snout smashed into the rooftop between us. We scrambled to our feet and got out of the massive reaper’s way. Orek lifted his skeletal head slowly, growling, bleeding rage and blood, chunks of concrete falling out from between his teeth. As the reaper recovered, I looked around desperately for Will, but I couldn’t see him. Orek rammed into my body, slamming me to the ground, and I screamed as the dagger-sized claw on Orek’s wing drove through my shoulder and deep into the concrete beneath me.

Orek’s neck snaked back and forth with a dark hunger as he surveyed my wound. “You murdered my Eki. Now I am going to take your head off with my teeth.”

I grimaced through my pain and lit my sword. I swung with all my might, and the blade hacked through Orek’s wing. He released me and screeched. The force of his claw releasing my body sent me sliding across the roof. He wavered on his hind legs, his balance thwarted by the catastrophic damage to his wing. The angelfire burned through the leathery membranes and hard bones so violently that the reaper shuddered and whined in agony. He staggered back and lashed suddenly with his teeth, clamped down on his wing, and ripped the damaged half from his body. The torn chunk of his wing shimmered and erupted completely into flames as the angelfire destroyed it.

I clutched the bleeding wound on my shoulder, grinding my teeth as the muscles and veins repaired themselves.