"I'll see if the general would be willing to pay you in shiny objects going forward," Uncle Mike said, with a sly smile.

"Unnecessary," I said quickly. "I'll just consider the rock a bonus."

Even though he laughed, I was struck by how exhausted he looked. Dark stubble covered his face, with more flecks of gray than brown in the mix, and his eyes were puffy and bloodshot. Will looked only a little better, though, so I couldn't blame Mike's worn out expression on his age. A near-all-nighter was a beating whether you were seventeen or forty.

"So what's up, Major?" Will asked around his last bite of breakfast. He'd gone through two French Toast MREs already; I wasn't planning on sitting next to him on the ride out to the cliffs if Mike gave us a green light to go. Will could just puke on Johnson instead.

"I'm only going to say this once, because we're all dog-tired." Uncle Mike massaged his temples. "Cruessan, using Axe as an incendiary device is not an Army approved activity. Try that again, and I'll have to send you home."

"It's not his fault," I said. Annoyance flared in my belly. "I knew I'd need help, and since the Cats were vulnerable to fire, we came up with that idea together."

Mike threw up his hands. "If you needed fire support, Dorland has six flamethrowers. There was no need to play *aftershave of death' out here!"

Yeah, and every last one of Dorland's flamethrowers were off-limits to Will. I wasn't about to apologize; it'd worked, which was enough for me. "Sir, yes sir."

My uncle gave me a long look, like he didn't believe me for a second. "Okay. Zenka tells me you think you know where the Cats' leader is?"

"It's in those same cliffs," I said. "It was hiding before, but now it's restless so maybe we can find it."

"Setting us up for an ambush?" Will asked. "Because that's what it sounds like."

I shrugged. "Probably, but it's the source. If we take the head guy out, I doubt Zenka's peoplea"or anyone elsea"will see any more monsters out here."

"That may be true, but I agree with Willa"I bet it's lying in wait for us," Uncle Mike said. He turned his head left, then right, and I heard something pop in his neck. He sighed in relief. "Then again, it'll be easier to corner it during daylight hours. So far, we haven't seen many monsters come out during the day." He paused, thinking it over. "I think we have to go."

I nodded at Will. "You ready to walk into a trap?"

His smile could've put the devil to shame for all the trouble it promised. "I wouldn't miss the Boss Battle for anything, dude. Not for anything."

Chapter Twenty-Three.

We left early in the afternoon, traveling in a convoy of three Humvees. Half of our enlisted guys stayed with Lieutenant Johnson to watch over the village while we were gone. Even though it went unsaid, they also stayed behind to report to Colonel Black and recover our remains if we didn't come back. I didn't like to think about that, though.

The rest of my team, including monster-freak Tyson, came along with us. Ramirez brought Murphy and another few guys, and Brandt brought three of his own men. Every soldier had the same grim, wiped look on his face. But they weren't beaten; everyone seemed keyed up and ready to brawl as we began our drive.

The trip was hot, bumpy and dull. Sandy plains, dotted with scrub brush, stretched out as far as I could see, and the sun blazed down, baking everything, including us. I ran a hand over my head and it came away wet. I was really hoping the next op would call for mountaineering duty; this desert crap was getting ridiculous.

Ramirez sat across from me. His face was bathed with sweat and his right hand twitched in his lap. Last night's assault had been expected and planned out. Today was a different story. After what he went through last year, I was a little worried about what he'd do if we ended up facing some caves.

"You ready?" I asked him.

Ramirez met my gaze. "Have to be." His expression grew hard, drawing his dark eyebrows together in a V. "And don't ask me again."

I held up a hand, nodding. I should've known better than to question him in front of everyone else. Still, I was kind of reassured by how pissed he'd gotten. An angry wielder would fight tough.

"We're here," Murphy said. He'd ridden shotgun while Staff Sergeant Klimmett drove. Klimmett had been the medic on a number of my missions, but this was the first time he'd come out on a live op with us. That didn't give me much confidence, but maybe he just felt like some action. Medic or not, I'd seen Klimmett spar with Murphy and take him down once or twice, which was funny given that Klimmett looked more like an accountant with his neatly trimmed brown hair and average buildaand that Murph outweighed him by at least thirty pounds. Klimmett was a Green Beret, though, and I'd known for a while that looks could be deceiving when it came to badassedness.

The sand crunched under my boots as I climbed down from the Humvee. Like a scar running across the plain, an old, dry riverbed cut through the reddish earth, creating a chasm. I walked up to the edge. Twenty feet down, a wide canyon, bleak and devoid of plants, stretched on for miles. The only word I could come up with to describe the place was godforsaken. The knife hummed in agreement.

The dark voice muttered angrily in return, sounding offended that we came onto its land after it told us to leave. Gooda"that meant we were in the right place. I turned to Major Ramirez. "I think we need to go down there."

He checked out the canyon and a shudder ran through his entire body. "I think you're right."

Brandt came over, shaking his head. Sweat beaded along his hairline, and his face was red. "We can't just go down there and knock on its front door. Maybe we should wait it out up here. It'll come out at some point, right?"

"Yeah, but we lose the advantage of daylight if we wait for it." I closed my eyes, seeking Tink. "And what do you think?"

That we have little choice, unless you are willing to abandon Zenka's people. It ends here, or it doesn't ever end. It has the patience of millennia. You have the patience of men. Who do you think can wait longer?

Right.

I opened my eyes to find Uncle Mike had joined us. "We go now."

Without asking any questions, Uncle Mike, now in full Major Tannen mode, commanded the soldiers who'd approached the side of the cliff. "We're climbing down. Get us ready."

It took less than five minutes for Tyson and Lanningham to prepare gear to rappel down the wall. The other teams did the same. While Lanningham passed out climbing harnesses, Tyson looked for a good place to tie in. We didn't have much in the way of trees or big rocks for anchors, so Tyson used the D-rings affixed to the bumper of the Humvee.

He pointed at his handiwork. "This might be the safest tie-in point I've ever used. Nothing's gonna move that truck. Not even Murph."

"I heard that," Murphy barked.

Once we were good to go, Tyson and Lanningham went down firsta"if you tie the rope, you test it, apparentlya"and set up to belay for the rest of my team. When my turn came, I tossed my jacket over the side, thinking I'd die of heat stroke unless I shed some clothes. I did have enough sense to put on my climbing gloves, though. Will lined up next to me, gave me a thumbs up and we tipped over the edge together.

The canyon was harsh, cut from tan rocks bleached by the sun until they looked like bones, and heat radiated from the wall in waves. It felt like I was trapped in a brick pizza oven. Sweat ran into my eyes but I couldn't do anything about it because both my hands were occupied with keeping me from falling down the rock face.

When I hit the bottom, heat seeped through the thick soles of my boots, and the air shimmered. Will dropped next to me, took one look around and said, "Dude, if there isn't a gate to Hell open around here, I'll be totally shocked."

"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about." I scanned the rock line. The ground was broken in spots, lined with thin crevices that were rounded on the sides, like the rock had been worn away back when this was a river. While the rest of the team came down the wall, I knelt next to one of the long cracks and tried to see down into it. Nothing but darkness. Even when I poured sand into the hole, it whispered away. Despite the punishing heat, I got that cold feeling along my spine, and my nerves buzzed. The knife-spirit muttered something ominous, but unintelligible, in my head.

"We're close," I said. "Feel anything?"

Will squinted his eyes. "Something's off, but I can't put my finger on it."

"Exactly," I said. "Whatever's down there, it's making my hair stand on end. The knife doesn't like it at all."

Brandt and Ramirez came up behind me and Brandt shook his head. "I don't feel a thing, kid. Are you sure this is the place?"

I stared at him; Brandt hadn't been making fun of me. He sounded sincerea"and sincerely worried because he couldn't sense the danger. Maybe he was finally coming around to all this "knife-spirit mumbo jumbo."

Ramirez shouldered past Brandt. "Archer's right. This is the place."

The rest of the team assembled around us, Will at my right shoulder, Murphy at Ramirez's left. Klimmett and Lanningham set up mobile communications to do a radar sweep of the area and gave the major a nod when they went green.

"Anything moving out here?" Ramirez asked them.

Klimmett started shaking his head, then stopped and his mouth fell open. "God be good, sir!"

"What you got?" Brandt asked, sounding impatient.

The sergeant's face went pale. "Take a look, sir."

We all crowded around the radar screen. All around us, from every direction, masses of green advanced on our position. Will hissed a breath through his teeth.

"But where are they coming from?" Tyson asked. He kept turning in circles, scanning the canyon. "There's nothing out here."

Will pointed in the distance. "Don't be so sure about that."

Green fog oozed from between those crevices in the rock. As soon as it hit the sunlight, the fog broke up and started to form into solid creatures. It was the first time I'd seen demons coalesce in broad daylighta"we'd been so wrong to think the sun would protect us.

Unnerved, I had my knife out before they took shape, and Will was at my side with a rifle. After Afghanistan, his reluctance to carry a firearm had disappeared and I was very glad he'd turned out to be a good shot.

The green mist congealed together into squatty creatures. Their bodies were comically round, with no head to speak of. They had faces, sure, but it was all one piece with the rest of their torsos, and short legs somehow kept them upright. One held out an unnaturally long arm, and howled, giving us a good view of a huge mouth and three rows of pointed teeth.

The rest shrieked in response, then they charged us.

I expected them to waddle, given the little legs and too-long arms. It was a shock when they started running like apes, using their hands to propel themselves forward, careening our direction like a green tsunami.

Brandt swore loudly and took point at my left. Ramirez took the right. A triangle trying to fight a circle. Tenth grade geometry had been enough to tell me this wouldn't work out well.

"Fan out! Fan out!" Ramirez yelled. "Use everything we've got!"

Dalton took to heaving grenades into the monsters' flanks and Will opened fire with his assault rifle. To my surprise, the bullets did some damage and green slime splattered the ground. Once the team saw that, the fight became open season on ordinance. Lanningham and Tyson got busy using the monsters for target practice. Someone elsea"I couldn't see who, probably Murphya"uncorked a flamethrower, turning the whole mess into a demon barbeque.

Any Greenies that got through Dorland's barrage of grenades were cut down by bullets and blades. The knife and I reached a rhythm: slice, stab, swipe, duck, thrust, turn, slash. A pile of little green goblins grew at my feet. When I turned to take another out, I saw that Ramirez and Brandt had similar heaps of bodies around them.

For a minute, I thought we had it, that the dark master had screwed up somehow and we'd clean out this nest without incident then go finish him off, too. The people here would be able to sleep again without fear of being sucked dry. But the green demons kept coming, wave after wave, until my arm was sore and I had blisters on my knife hand. They were a never-ending tide and it was only a matter of time before they got the upper hand.

"We're low on ammo!" Will shouted.

"Down to six grenades," Dorland yelled.

"I'm out of fuel," Murphy said. "Flamethrower's had it!"

"Tink, I could use some help here!" I grunted, slicing through yet another Greenie.

My power is diminishing too quickly, she murmured. That was the reason for last night's attack. To sap my strength, and that of my brothers. They used the dark moon to tax us ahead of this fight.

"So, what, you're out of gas? Well, that's just great," I said, whirling to stab a monster who'd flung itself at my back. "We need whatever backup you can give us."

Oh, yes, blame the spirit. It's all my fault that this dark brother has an entire festering army at his command. She snorted in my head. I'll see what I can do.

Before I could mouth off that she was the one who led us here, Tink pressed against my mind, giving me a small burst of energy. I swiped through two Greenies with one slash, but I could tell we were on twilight power. And still the crowd of monsters kept growing.

One of Brandt's guys fired into the mob, and the rifle just clicked. He was out. Within seconds, he was covered with Greenies and screaming his head off. Their hungry mouths ripped chunks from his body, tearing him apart in a feeding frenzy. I tried to fight my way over to help, but there were a dozen other hungry mouths on my end and I snatched my hand back just as teeth snapped closed.

I barely had time to turn when the other guy covering Brandt ran out of ammo. The monsters swarmed him and surrounded Brandt. He turned back to us for a second, panic on his face. Too many to deal with, and he knew it. I did what I could, beating back the green demons and edging his direction, but they kept herding me away from Brandt. I could feel Tink trying to give me a boost; with one last surge, she faded away entirely. I was on my own for the rest of this fight.

"Brandt needs help!" I yelled. "Someone get in there!"

Tyson let out a war whoop and waded into the fray, shooting in a wide arc. Greenies fell like dominoes. Brandt shouted encouragement and went back to work while Tyson laughed and spat curses at the little demons. He was acting like a thirteen-year-old playing a first-person-shooter rather than a soldier in a fight or die situation.

A sick feeling dragged at my stomach: Tyson was enjoying himself and didn't realize how much trouble we were in. He was so engrossed that he didn't see a second wave of Greenies oozing out of the ground.

"Tyson!" I yelled. "Behind you!"

He whooped again and turned to fire. Nothing happened. His face went from thrilled to terrified in less than a second.

I couldn't do a thing for him.

The Greenies came at him and Tyson disappeared under a swarm of demons. A second later, his screams were cut short.

"Damn it!" I yelled, slashing at the crowd of little monsters surrounding me. I knew this would happen. I knew Tyson would be reckless and get himself killed, and I never did anything to keep him out of here. This was my fault, and my mistake would cost us even morea"now Brandt had no cover at all. The rest of us were fully engaged, and he'd been cut off from the team. Even with Dorland tossing every grenade he had left in Brandt's direction, he was being overrun.

I ducked as a Greenie leapt at my head, all mouth and teeth and stinking breath, and stabbed it on the fly. Too many, there were too many.

"Brandt!" Ramirez barked. "Fall back!"

Brandt kept up the fight as we tried to get to him, but the Greenies were everywhere and he was wearing down. Nodding toward Ramirez, he shouted, "Protect Archer, okay? He's the one we have to keep alive. We're just placeholders; my knife told me so. Only time I've ever heard it." Brandt smiled sadly in my direction. "I should have believed you sooner, kid, but I do now. Hopefully that'll count for something."

"Brandt!" I yelled. "Hang on! We'lla""

The horde surged forward. Brandt slashed and fought as they took him down, but they took him down just the same. Only a moment later, he crumpled to the ground. Three green demons stooped over him and tore him limb from limb right in front of us. I roared in frustration and fought as hard as I could, but I couldn't break free to protect our downed wielder. I couldn't even pause to digest the loss of yet another man on our team.

As we watched, Brandt's severed arm, still clutching his knife in the lifeless hand, was flung toward one of the cracks in the earth.

Everything stopped for a second. It got so still, I heard the knife clatter against the rocks.

Then all hell broke loose. The Greenies still on the offensive came at us full tilt, while the three monsters who killed Brandt went after his knife.

"No!" Will left my side before I could stop him and barreled toward the Greenies, slamming into them with the speed of an all-American linebacker. They squealed and flew through the air like bowling pins, getting dashed against the cliff wall where they disappeared in a cloud of green dust.

My breath caught. He was alone in a swarm; I'd as good as killed my best friend by asking for him to come here with me. What would I tell his folks? All this flew through my brain in a split-second, even as I tried to cut a path through the Greenies to try to save him.

Lunging, Will made it to Brandt's knife before the demons did and he pulled it free from Brandt's hand as a crowd of creatures ran at him. The bronze handle of Brandt's old knife flashed blue in Will's hand, before fading to an angry green.

Before I could make sense of what had happened, Ramirez bellowed, "Use it!"

All the demons attacking me and Ramirez turned and ran all out at Will.

Will spun around and sliced through the Greenies like they were made of paper. I stood, stunned, unable to move as my best friend hacked and slashed his way through a dozen demons. He didn't pause, or even act surprised. He just went to work like he'd known this was his true purpose all along.