Electricity coursed through her veins.

  Deep inside her chest, energy shot outward, racing down her limbs to the very tips of her fingers, to every single strand of hair on her body.

  It zapped and sizzled its way from every nerve to every cell to every atom of her very being in an instant. For a split second, she felt as if she held the very world in the palm of her hand, and on instinct, she flung that energy outward with all her might.

  Her arms outstretched, it felt as if there was a push and pull on her body as she called out to anything, to everything, to save her friend.

  To save Jesmine.

  The sound of water exploding and the force of a hurricane-force gale whipped around her. Her loose hair and ponytail whipped this way and that as the force slammed into her, almost knocking her clean off her feet—but she stood her ground, letting the searing energy surge around her, through her.

  Leaves and petals were whisked by on shimmering rain as thousands of droplets formed a streaming, wild ribbon of sparkling projectiles around her. The rushing water picked up speed in seconds, spiraling all around her before whipping out—

  The frog monsters were knocked away mid-leap and thrown out of sight.

  Thunder hammered in her ears as the streaming ribbon of sparkling rose-infused water surged upward.

  Right toward the demon.

  To Jesmine, whose legs had gone still.

  One second, the winged demon hovered above the garden, hand falling toward Jesmine.

  The next, the river of water smashed directly into the devil’s chest with bone-cracking intensity.

  Its body was speared clean out of the sky—and her friend was ripped from its claws.

  Jesmine’s unconscious body fell—hurtling straight for the ground.

  “NO—”

  Soraya, heart lurching, whipped out a hand, and the wild, airborne river streamed downward, aiming straight for Jesmine.

  In a heartbeat, the water wrapped around her unconscious form and, in a swooping wave, dropped to the ground. The wave crashed gently into the asphalt, with Jesmine’s prone body floating on top of it.

  The wave dispersed into the street ahead of Soraya, splashing outward and leaving Jesmine in the middle of the asphalt.

  Soraya could see pieces of leaves and rose petals stuck to her soaking hair and clothes.

  Bone-shaking relief washed over Soraya to see Jesmine’s chest rise and fall with a breath.

  She was okay.

  Legs still shaking, Soraya tried to take a step toward Jesmine when her legs buckled out from underneath her.

  All at once, as quickly as that surge of energy came to her, it simply winked out of her. Taking with it all her strength.

  Falling forward, Soraya couldn’t move her hands in time to cushion her fall as her numb body slammed into the street. She didn’t even have the energy to lift her head.

  All she could do, cheek pressed to the asphalt, was watch Jesmine’s form lie unmoving a few feet away. Her head turned in the opposite direction, so Soraya couldn’t see her face.

  Too tired to think, Soraya fought a sudden spell of drowsiness. Eyes growing heavy, she almost lost the battle when she heard scraping and uneven, booted footsteps, tromping down the science-centered concrete steps to her left.

  At the same time, the sound of a familiar hissing drifted around her. Coming from multiple directions.

  Fear gripped Soraya as she realized that the spectacular waterworks hadn’t killed any of the frog monsters. If anything, it only served to enrage them.

  Then, it stepped into her line of sight.

  The winged demon, clothes now tattered and soaking wet, limped toward her.

  Anger pulsed in its blood-red eyes. Black sludge oozed down the right side of its body, its arm dangling at a weird angle. One foot was twisted backward, and it dragged itself across the asphalt with a limp.

  All amusement had vanished from its face as it came directly toward her with cold fury.

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  This is it, Soraya thought numbly. She felt absolutely nothing as the devil inched its way closer to her.

  The energy surge had zapped away any semblance of feeling from her body. If this were the end, she had no control over it. Even if there was something primal in the back of her mind shouting at her to move. To fight.

  It was helpless.

  Giving up, all she could do was watch as death got closer and closer until a frog monster crawled over the rose garden fence to her right.

  Its milky eyes were trained on Jesmine’s prone body.

  Soraya flexed her hands against the asphalt. Digging her nails into the street. She felt a spark of energy zap through her, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

  Suddenly, the devil stopped in its tracks, its body tensing.

  Its nostrils flared, and it snapped its neck this way and that as it took in deep whiffing breath like a bloodhound scenting the wind.

  With a sound that reminded her of grinding metal, the winged demon screeched before turning around and snapping its crooked wings up.

  It soared with a wobble down the street, and within the blink of an eye, it grabbed Jesmine.

  It turned its head back toward Soraya—making direct eye contact, pure hatred embedded within them, and then…it disappeared into thin air.

  Taking Jesmine with it.

  Soraya screamed internally. Straining, she tried to get up, but her body wouldn’t respond. Like she was just a marionette puppet that someone had cut the strings to.

  The frog monsters circled her, and she sent up a prayer to whichever god would listen to save Jesmine. To get her back.

  The monsters snarled and darted around her. They weren’t attacking outright—still wary of the earlier water display. Waiting to see if it would happen again.

  If she died there—if she were slaughtered and torn and swallowed limb from limb, who would know about Jesmine?

  Who would save her friend then?

  Soraya tried to stir, to call back that…power. She had to try; she had to get up. She just had to.

  Her fingers twitched against the rough street, the smell of asphalt and death flooding her senses as the monsters got closer—bolder.

  The water wasn’t coming back.

  She could see the exact moment those things understood they were safe, and she wasn’t moving…that she couldn’t move.

  As one, they lunged.

  Soraya was helpless as they converged on her. She knew that there was nothing left to give. This was the end.

  A ripple of water and fire rushed over her—blue and crimson—before cutting through the creatures. The nearest monsters to her were sliced clean in half. They were disemboweled before they could make a sound.

  Their severed remains hovered mid-air before exploding into dark green dust. The slurry of dust was then blasted apart and scattered on a strong gale borne on shadows that whooshed over her. Bisecting more monsters that didn’t have enough time to duck.

  More exploding green dust and the stench of decay swirled in the wind.

  From her prone position, Soraya watched as the remaining monsters tried to flee down the street when spikes of glistening ice and black rock shot up from the ground, impaling the monsters clean through. She watched as they exploded into clouds of green dust and dissolved into the air. No trace was left behind.

  Soraya didn’t have any energy left to comprehend how the frog monsters were destroyed. She didn’t feel the same surge of energy she had before, but she could feel another type of energy in the air.

  And the winged demon—it had looked almost frightened before fleeing and taking Jesmine with it.

  What scared it off?

  The ice and rock retreated into the ground, with little chunks of asphalt the only sign of damage on the otherwise cleared, quiet street. She couldn’t even hear the fountain splashing anymore. Just silence.

  In the stillness, all she detected was the very air humming. A sort of vibration that was slowly tapering off. She couldn’t see it, but she could feel it all around her. Swirling in the air and brushing against her, making her skin tingle.

  That was when she realized—she wasn’t alone.

  The question was…friend or foe?

  Behind her, she heard the crunch of boots against asphalt.

  Before she could react, gentle hands turned her over. She was so weak she couldn’t put up any resistance.

  “Let me take a look at you, sweetness.”

  Her gaze lifted to meet bright, hazel-green eyes. The man cradling her head had olive skin that glowed in the dawn’s early light, and his sun-kissed brown hair, which looked almost like ash, swept down over his eyes.

  He looked familiar.

  A flash of memory—a mirrored elevator, searing hands, and pleasure-filled madness.

  Sorenth.

  “The area’s cleared,” rumbled a deep voice to their right.

  “Draugur got away,” a raspy voice sighed.

  “How is she?” Another man asked as he came to stand behind Sorenth.

  Sorenth’s palm hovered an inch above her body, moving in slow, methodical sweeps. When his hand got to her chest, he paused. Hovering over her sternum, where the demon had kicked her earlier. It still ached, but it wasn’t unbearable like it had been earlier.

  Her skin tingled, and she could feel his…heat seeping into her body from his palm. At first, it was only skin deep, but his warmth sank deeper into her muscles—into her very bones—relaxing and soothing her as it went.

  When he withdrew his hand, his warmth retreated from her body like clouds covering the sun, taking the ache with it.

  “She had a few scratches on her arm and sides, and I just healed the worst of her injuries on her chest.” His voice turned lethal as he spat, “The fucking mongrel caved in her chest.”

  A low guttural snarl echoed down the street.

  “It won’t have long to live,” a voice like ice promised as another figure stepped over her. Sorenth tensed a fraction but didn’t move from where he crouched over her.

  A few more figures appeared around her, looking down at her. She could feel their intense gazes roaming over every inch of her body.

  “Soraya? Can you hear us?” A rich, timbered voice asked.

  “Her energy…it’s everywhere,” someone breathed in awe.

  “She expended all of her energy—”

  “She’s completely exhausted.”

  “How is this possible?”

  “Our little badass.”

  “I don’t want to hear that coming from you,” someone drawled in response.

  Soraya’s vision swam. Everything about the men around her became too much to take in. Before she knew it, her eyes slid shut, and she was swallowed whole into a restful oblivion.