And then she wrenched my arm right out of the socket. I screamed and crumpled, squeezing my eyes shut. Kelaeno dropped me, and all around where I lay, feet darted and splashed through puddles. I pulled my useless limb closer to my body with my good arm. It felt cold, numb, and lifeless. As the seconds dragged on, the pain intensified. I tried to get up, but shock paralyzed me and my body wouldn’t work.

“Ellie.” A hand lay on my uninjured shoulder. It was Nathaniel.

He touched my face tenderly and helped me turn over onto my back. He touched my dislocated arm, and I shrieked and twisted from him. As gentle as he was, any contact felt like a thousand knives were driving into my skin. My arm hung limp, like dead weight, and I tried to pull it over my lap, but my whole body was so weak that I could barely even raise my good arm.

Nathaniel murmured to me, trying to soothe me, but all I needed was a distraction from the agony. Will and Kelaeno were fighting, clashing like titans from another world. The earth beneath me roiled with their power, and the air sparked with electricity.

“Ellie,” Nathaniel repeated determinedly, snapping my attention back to him. I was getting dizzier with shock by the moment. “We have to put your arm back into the socket. You can’t heal otherwise.”

I closed my eyes tightly and nodded. “Just do it. I’ve got to keep fighting.”

He took a firm hold of my shoulder and my arm just above the elbow. The pain was blinding, and so brief that once it was over, I was almost a little confused. I could feel tendons and muscles healing themselves, and the sensation was sickening but necessary.

I met Nathaniel’s stern gaze and took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

“You’ll be fine in a moment.” He nodded once, and we both looked toward the battle.

Will grabbed Kelaeno’s arm and rammed his fist into the side of her head. She staggered about and his knee shoved up into her gut, making her grunt and choke. Will’s fist swung to hit Kelaeno again, but her hand shot up and deflected his strike before she closed her fingers around his throat. He gasped painfully from the strength of her grip. She stood, glaring at him, and squeezed as tightly as she could. Will’s teeth clenched as he held back his pain and dug his fingers into her wrists. Then his gaze darkened and he summoned his power. He blasted everything he had into Kelaeno’s face, and she screamed and released him, spinning away and shielding herself from the explosion of winding, smoky black energy. She hit the mud sliding, and Will, now free, darted toward his sword.

His sword that no longer pinned Merodach to the ground. My breath caught as I felt a rush of dark power close to me.

I heard a gargled, anguished cry behind me, and I spun. Nathaniel was doubled over, and Merodach, soaked with his own blood, had his fist buried in Nathaniel’s chest. Something glinted in the moonlight and I blinked. Merodach’s sword stuck out of Nathaniel’s back—stabbed right through his heart.

My entire body went numb as I watched Merodach tug his sword free and Nathaniel hit the muddy ground on his knees. He wavered unsteadily, blood leaking like a river from his chest. He looked up into Merodach’s face and then collapsed and rolled onto his back.

For a moment, I couldn’t scream for him, couldn’t look away. Nathaniel sputtered and trembled. His skin brightened and shimmered, slowly turning to stone.

He was dying.

Merodach stared at me curiously as I scrambled toward Nathaniel and threw myself over him, running my hands along his graying arms to cup his face. He was just fine this morning, stretching his wings and telling me that anything was possible and to love who I wanted to love. He was just fine moments ago, putting my arm back into its socket and telling me I’d be all right. This couldn’t be happening. Not to Nathaniel.

“No, no, no,” I moaned in a low voice, rocking back and forth, my entire body shaking.

Nathaniel gaped at me, his face full of surprise and pain. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. He started to lift a hand, but his limbs were growing heavier and stiffer as he bled out and his heart chugged to a stop. His iridescent copper eyes widened and froze as his face turned to stone. Raindrops hit his rock skin, leaving dark, damp dots scattered across the white. Each soft metallic copper hair became pale and brittle and colorless, breaking off at the touch of my fingertips. Then he broke apart, piece by piece in my hands. Tears poured down my face as I screamed his name over and over until he was gone.

I lifted my head and searched for Will as I sobbed hysterically. His green eyes stared at Nathaniel’s stone remains; the color drained from his face. His eyes brightened quickly, growing so vibrant that they blazed in the darkness. His hand squeezed the handle of his sword so tightly his fist trembled and I could hear the silver groan. With a cry of unrivaled wrath, he launched himself at Merodach at a speed so high it appeared that he skimmed the ground midflight, and then his white wings burst through his shirt, shredding the fabric. He swept his sword low and then swung it high over his head as he soared through the air. His blade slashed at Merodach, and the demonic reaper swung his own up to catch Will’s sword with a deafening screech of metal. They collided, and Will’s power slammed into Merodach, sinking the ground beneath Merodach’s feet into a crater. The dark flash of shadows and smoke of reaper power cloaked them for an instant, and when it cleared, I saw only Will in the bottom of the fissure he’d created. Merodach had leaped out of it, his own dark wings spread wide behind him. He stepped back on his heel and readied his sword. Will’s wings beat once and launched him high into the air, and he came down on Merodach, his sword streaking through the air, slashing, striking, cutting flesh, clanging off the other blade. He was consumed with rage, his attacks all power and no control. Merodach was going to kill him.