I slithered around the corner, down the hallway, and past Dr. Derric's stupefied stair as I rushed at the belligerent transformee with Yuta and Geoffrey at my side. The spirits struck first, piercing the monster's eyes with their phantom blades. He screamed in pain.

True, it was only a matter of minutes before his eyes regrew, but the brief delay was all that I needed. Seizing the opportunity, with my claws bared, I threw myself onto the transformee and promptly began to tear into him. I opened him, gutted him, and ripped him to pieces, using his wounded human parts as leverage.

What can I say? When it came to clawing the fudge out of jerk-wads like this guy, I was just a natural.

"Yuta, Geoffrey, help Kurt!" I said as I ripped the transformee in half.

They nodded and then ran down the hall back the way we'd come, toward the snarls and the sounds of thumping bodies. My hunger rose in steady spikes as Yuta and Geoffrey joined Kurt and the others in their "cavalry charge".

Leading my former patients out of Room 286 had met with an unexpected complication: the hallways weren't roomy enough for all of us to move forward as one. So, we'd made the decision to split into three groups. Kurt had gone with me, and we'd been taking the antique stairwell when we'd heard fresh screams, roars, and gunfire, and then rushed out onto the ground floor to discover that the attackers had entered the hospital.

Obviously, we had to fight back.

"Genneth!?" Heggy yelled.

I turned to her. "I really don't have time for this right now, Heggy,"

I looked down the hallway, and then winced as I saw Kurt make mincemeat of Verune's goons. He was vicious, using his psychokinesis to surround his claws with whirlwinds of force that dug into his enemies like diamond-studded drill bits. It was a nice trick, and I kept it in mind for later, when I wasn't busy empowering my spirits to fight on my behalf.

I almost felt bad for Kurt's opponent. Yuta and Geoffrey struck the transformee from behind and from the side, respectively, lopping off his fingers and arms, and then stabbing him in the snout and eyes.

Stretching out my arm, I created a small sheet of force to shield Kurt from an oncoming blow. Kurt then went in for the kill, tearing the transformee in two with strikes from both claws, spattering streaks of puréed wyrmflesh on the walls.

The transformee's severed chunks fell to the floor. Half the humans around me stared at Kurt; the rest, at me.

"Kurt, I'm going to keep moving! Stay here." I told him. "Keep my colleagues safe!"

Yuta, Geoffrey, come, I thought-said.

The ghosts sheathed their weapons and ran over to my side.

As I turned around and slithered away, Ani came out and yelled:

"You're just going to leave us here!?"

"I'm setting free as many of our transformees as I can," I said, turning around to face her. "We need all hands on deck for this." I looked up at the ceiling. "Brand, Greg, and the rest of the Self-Help Group should be here momentarily."

"What are we supposed to do?" Jonan asked, coughing as he staggered to his feet.

I glanced at Dr. Marteneiss. "Take as many people as you can and find someplace safe to wait out the storm." Thickening my wyrmsight showed riotous displays of power playing out within the hospital and without.

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Just how many of them were there?

I shook my head. "This fight is gonna get messy."

Heggy turned to face the rest of her group. "Though I don't like saying it," she nodded begrudgingly, "Dr. Wyrm is right. We need to get to shelter."

"Where could we go?" Jonan asked.

"I think the basement levels will be our best bet," Dr. B'zool said, staring down one of the hallways at the intersection. "From there, we can flee through the underground tunnels, if it ever comes to that. Better that than getting sniped out in the open by these monsters, don't you think?"

Heggy nodded. "Some of Vernon's men should still be down by the Mark III matter printers. We'll head there."

I nodded. "I'll be sure to send some of our reinforcements down there." I looked at Kurt. "Keep them safe, Kurt."

The blue wyrm nodded as he slithered toward the group. Heggy and the others reloaded their guns and then went down one of the side hallways. Kurt followed behind them, staying downwind to protect them from his spores.

Andalon appeared at my side, floating above Yuta and Geoffrey. "Where to now, Mr. Genneth?"

I looked her in the eyes. "I've got some souls to save."

Nodding, I slithered off, but then my whole body went tense as a wave of dizziness staggered me, forcing me to push off the wall to prop myself up. Static and blurs danced across my vision in equal measure, and when I squinted, I could see flickering blue flames trickle through the crazy haze and pass through my body. Wisps of pale blue light wafted off Andalon's body like fiery kisses.

It had taken Ampersandalon long enough, but she was finally coming through for me, providing the blue flames that were my reward for having transformed a little more. I would have said I'd almost gotten used to their odd effects—more memories remembered for Andalon, and fancy new powers for both of us—but this… this time, the blue flames' arrival was different. I swear, leaning against the wall, I could feel the power that lurked on the other side: &alon's power. It was like the wall was a layer of skin on top of physical space itself, and that this thin, flimsy membrane—stretched to its breaking point—was all that was separated me from channeling &alon's might in full.

I screamed, and Andalon screamed along with me. Her body flickered like static.

"No! No! It's too much!" she yelled. "I can. She can—" She clutched her head as she shook it from side to side. "Too much! Too—"

—Yuta and Geoffrey yelled to get my attention, but I couldn't make out their words.

Digging my claws into the walls, I focused on my own mind, picturing stillness, emptiness, and calm. I don't know if it was that which made a difference, or if it was my connection with &alon that was fluctuating, but the torrent came to a stop a couple seconds after that.

Andalon fell to the floor, onto her hands and knees, panting for breath.

I blinked and groaned. One moment, my body felt like a shake-weight skating off a glacier. Now, everything was still. The flames seemed to have stopped. But then I realized: no, no they hadn't.

It wasn't that they'd stopped. No, they'd gotten… stuck, like a kidney stone, only jammed somewhere beyond space and time, between two edges of being, desperate to come through. If I focused, I could feel it: pressure, vibrating beneath space itself.

"Dr. Howle, what happened?" Geoffrey asked.

"Genneth, are you alright?" Heggy said.

Turning, I saw that Dr. Marteneiss had come back, along with Kurt and the others, no doubt drawn by the sound of my distress.

Ani stared at me. "You… you screamed…"

I stuck out my palm at her and pushed off the wall. "Just… hold on. Hold on."

Bending down, I slid my arms underneath Andalon and imagined she was solid. I lifted her up.

She groaned in pain.

"Andalon, what happened?" I asked.

All of the mortals watched me in awe.

Andalon looked me in the eyes. "It's Amplersandalon," she said. Weakly, she looked off to the side. "She's almost here. She…" Andalon looked back at me. "She felt me. And… I felt her, too." Andalon floated up, grabbed my arm. "She's scared, Mr. Genneth. She's so scared." Andalon turned to a different wall. "The darkness…"

Her words trailed off.

"She's almost here?" I asked. "Is that why the flames paused?" I asked.

For a moment, Andalon looked at me with uncertainty, but then nodded.

Jonan cleared his throat. "Please don't leave us hanging like this," he said.

I turned to face them.

"Another Angel is coming," I said, looking up at the ceiling, "maybe even the Moonlight Queen herself. She'll be here soon, ready to spirit us away to safety."

"Great!" Jonan said, with feigned excitement. "What do we do until then?"

"We fight like heck," Heggy said, reloading her gun. "Now, c'mon," she said, "let's get moving!"

I slithered off, too, with Andalon, Geoffrey, and Yuta following. Though I didn't know what would happen when my connection with &alon finally blossomed in full, in my heart, I knew that once it did, things would never be the same.

I just hoped we'd come out in one piece.

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