"—the fuck did I do?" Rika asked, landing in a chair with a thud.

  "We need your help," Rachel replied. "You said you would."

  "I didn't expect you to ask me two hours later," Rika muttered. She looked at her shoulder, where a large patch was now missing from her jacket. "And did you have to send a fucking wolf after me?"

  "You weren't answering your phone. Natalie volunteered."

  "Rika, they just want to ask you some questions," Alden added. He wanted to defuse the situation and believed that their connection might be enough to smooth over the discussion. He was completely mistaken. Rika ignored him entirely, her focus completely dominated by Rachel.

  "Well, you've got me. What do you want?"

  "We're going to kill him, but we need to keep him in one place. You've fought him, you've seen how he moves. I need to know how to counter that."

  Rika's head snapped around to Alden. Now, sitting across from her in a meeting instead of by her side, Alden could see why everyone else was so reluctant to get close. She had a constant intensity under pressure that never wavered. Every word—every motion—was pumped up to eleven, as if Rika were perpetually on the verge of exploding. Alden felt like he had to weigh every single action for fear of setting her off. It was painfully different from the Rika he'd gotten to know in private over the past week.

  "You told them?" she asked accusingly.

  Alden forced himself not to recoil. Despite all appearances, he believed Rika wouldn't hurt him. It wasn't like her. "We all want to live. You're the only one with that spell. Tell us how we can stop it."

  Rika shook her head. "Not in a million years."

  "Girl, we are all gonna die, damnit!" Jackie shouted, getting to her feet. Rachel held up a hand, and Jackie faltered.

  Rachel cleared her throat. "Just explain how we can counter his abilities so we can beat him."

  "And what if I don't think he's entirely wrong?" Rika shot back.

  The room could not have been more silent. With the total absence of ambient noise, the lack of noise was actually painful. A few mouths dropped open, Rachel's included.

  Rika continued in a lower, more reserved voice, while electricity crackled along her blue hair. "This shit is too powerful. You don't know what you're doing."

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  "We're the only ones trying to keep this under control," Josh pointed out.

  "You're doing a shitty job," Rika snapped. "And now you want to let out the most powerful branch of magic without considering what it'll do. If you think shit like these dimensions or making electricity from nothing are special, imagine what you could do with faster-than-light spells. This is the goddamn Manhattan project with even less of an idea what the long-term consequences are, and way more potential for blowing up the whole fucking world."

  "So just tell me. I'll do it myself," Rachel said.

  Rika laughed. "Like hell you will. You'd change your mind as soon as you thought it'd help your master plan."

  "Is there anyone in this summit you'd be willing to share the secret with?" Cinza asked, while Ruby leaned against her heavily with her eyes half-focused. The silver-haired cult leader looked even more determined than Rachel, if that were possible. Even Rika seemed to momentarily waver at her fierce expression.

  "'Course not, she's already decided we're all too stupid to handle it," said Ryan. "She doesn't care if we die because she thinks she can get away."

  "Guilty as charged," Rika agreed. "I really don't care if you die, Ryan."

  "I love you too, honey."

  "You can't outrun him," Hailey said. "He'd just keep following you. I saw you up in the attic. You were getting tired after just running across the room. There's no way you could keep that up."

  Rika sighed. "So I'm trapped here. Doesn't mean I'm suicidal enough to go up head to head with that lunatic."

  "We're all going in," Alden said. Rika looked back at him with surprise.

  "You too, Alzack?"

  "Yes," Alden said firmly, though he hadn't been planning such a thing until that moment.

  The terror of facing Jackson was fresh in his mind, but Alden had to fight back. It was that or die. Up until only a day ago, he might have just given up right there, but in spite of all the terrible facets of magic he'd encountered, he believed in it as much as Rachel or any of them. It wasn't what Rika or Jackson feared. It was something worth fighting for.

  "Then you're as crazy as the rest of them."

  "Yeah, I probably am. You're coming too."

  "Fuck no."

  "You don't have to tell us anything. Hell, you don't even have to be on the front lines. All you have to do is be close enough to interfere with him long enough for Cinza to do her thing." Alden glanced at the leader of the Greycloaks. "How long is that, exactly?"

  Cinza shrugged. "No more than a second."

  "Can you do that?" Alden asked. He could tell Rika was actually considering it. He decided to press on. "It's your best chance of survival, same as the rest of us. You keep your secret, Omega dies, we all go on with our lives and you go find your father."

  Rika frowned. "All great, but there's one problem with your grand plan Alzack."

  "What?"

  "I do have to be close to him to stop him from running," Rika sighed. "I'm putting a lot on the line here. What's your weapon, anyway? Big ritual?"

  Rachel nodded. "Cinza and the four most powerful feeding her energy to drop a magnetic field on him and kill him instantly."

  "...Okay. That could work. But if there's any interference…"

  "We know," Lily replied.

  "So we've gotta keep him busy. I'm gonna need people with me out there."

  "Whoever you want," said Rachel.

  A small smile crept onto Rika's face. Her eyes flicked across the room.

  "...Oh, fuck me," muttered Ryan.