If he thought my request was weird, he didn't say so. "All teams, all teams. Come to Blue team's staging area. Archer actual's orders."

Men charged our way, and as they got closer to where I stood, fewer monsters followed, until a huge crowd of men surrounded Uncle Mike's Humvee, free of pursuit.

I climbed up on the hood of the vehicle and tapped my earpiece. "Wielders, we have an enemy concentration near the artillery teams. Head this way and draw them off."

"On my way," Ramirez said over the radio.

"There's more? This party just keeps getting better!" Aunt Julie answered. Uncle Mike's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

All I got from Jorge was a wave as he dashed by, slashing every creature in reach as he ran up the nearest dune.

"I'm on my way out," Will said. "Stay here. Keep them safe."

"I'm needed out there!" I said.

But he was already gone, plowing into the cloud of shadows.

As we'd hoped, most of the enemy's host moved away, drawn by the lure of the wielders. Of the few monsters that stayed behind, they hung back, pacing like they were trying to find their way past some invisible barrier. What had I done to repel them like this?

"Cruessan!" Nguyen barked into my earpiece. "Stay with Captain Johnson. You're in too deep out there. Work your way back to cover."

The only response was Will wheezing out curse words as he struggled to keep up with the barrage of monsters surrounding him.

"I'll try to get over there," Julie said. Her voice was tense over the radio. "I have a mess to plow through first."

"Anybody else around?" Uncle Mike asked.

"Busy," Ramirez said, sounding out of breath.

"I'm on the far end, Colonel," Jorge said. "And hemmed in."

When I searched for him, he was much farther afield than I'd guessed. They all were, scattered apart across the battlefield. "Can anyone get to Cruessan?"

"Still working my way there," Julie said. "But it's going to take a while."

The conversation took ten seconds, and in that time the monsters had closed in around Will. He was fighting hard, but there were too many of them. Anguished, I looked at Uncle Mike, silently asking him to make the call I couldn't.

We stared at each other for a long second, then he nodded. "Go get him."

Knowing I could be dooming any number of these men to death didn't rest easy on my shoulders, but after all the times Will had saved my life, he deserved my help now. "Stick together. Don't spread out. It'll be easier for us to protect you and harder for them to break through."

Then I hopped down and took off for the nearest dune.

Chapter Thirty-Six.

At first, the shadows didn't seem to know I was on the field, giving me free rein to cut my way through the mob. Once they figured it out, though, they scattered. Good-that made it easier for me to get to Will.

Climbing the dune left me winded, and I soon understood why Will and Ramirez both sounded out of breath. The thinner air, along with the work it took to run up a hill of soft sand, was taking a toll.

"Tink," I gasped. "I could use a little boost now."

Good. I'm tired of waiting.

A steady stream of power filled my chest and it wasn't so hard to breathe anymore. Like my lungs could extract more oxygen than normal. "Thanks."

I scurried along the top of the dune, picking out Will's fight. A swirl of shadowed shapes, consisting of teeth, claws, horns and weapons, writhed around him. As I closed in, a few of those shadows let out a cry and disappeared, but three dark angels stayed. They rained blows down at Will with such speed and force, the best he could do was ward them off. No time for offense.

"Will!" I shouted.

One of the angels whirled to meet me, then tried to run when he saw who I was. Too late; I was on him in a blink, taking him down to the sand. My blade barely nicked him before he cried out and disintegrated into dust.

I stood, expecting that Will had taken care of his. Instead, he was actively fighting the male angel. He managed to fake him out and slash him across the chest, but what Will didn't see was the she-angel right behind him, sword raised.

"Look out!" I shouted.

He jerked his head to the side. Turned.

Too late, too late, my brain screamed, but my body still reacted. I slammed into her back as hard as I could, even as the sword was slicing down. Pain lanced through my cut arm, and Will cried out.

Thinking he'd been run through, I shoved the angel away. Will stood, staring down at her, hanging on to his right hand. Blood seeped through his fingers.

The angel lay face down on the sand, screaming. I'd barely hit her, yet she thrashed like I'd broken half her bones. I hurried to Will's side, keeping an eye on her.

"She's melting," he said through clenched teeth.

"What? I shoved her so she wouldn't slice your head off, that's all."

The angel continued to shriek as I helped Will sit. Whatever was going on with her would have to wait. I pulled Will's left hand-still holding his knife-away from the wound, and hissed.

"Is it bad?" he asked.

"It's not good," I said. The angel had sliced his palm wide open, nearly to the bone. Fighting an urge to vomit, I tore a strip of fabric off my jacket. "This is going to hurt. Bite down on your knife handle."

He did as I asked, then I wrapped his hand as tightly as I could. Will groaned, but held still long enough for me to knot the makeshift bandage. I tapped my earpiece twice. "This is Archer. I need a medical team. Cruessan's down."

"How serious?" Uncle Mike's voice was calm and businesslike.

"Not life-threatening, but he's out."

"I'm sending Klimmett, Blakeney and Lanningham up. The others are engaged."

Just what I was afraid of. As soon as I left, the monsters had come back after them and there was nothing to do but keep thinning the herd. "I'll bring him down as far as I can."

I stood then helped Will up. "We'll meet them halfway, okay? We can make it that far."

"Wait," he said, pointing at the angel.

Her torso was burned clean through, cauterized so that her ribs showed. "G.o.d, what did that?"

"I have a theory. Take me down to the artillery line and we'll see if I'm right."

"Dude, you aren't going anywhere but to Klimmett to get worked on," I told him firmly.

"I'm going to Klimmett long enough for him to patch me up. Coach Shaw can do the rest," he said, his eyes flashing. "I'm not out, no matter what you told the colonel."

I didn't know what to say to that. He was hurt pretty badly, and I wondered if shock had given him delusions. "Let's get there first, see what Klimmett says."

We made our way down the dune without a single shadow coming our way. In fact, they went out of their way to avoid us. I was spoiling for a fight, but I wasn't getting any satisfaction. The monsters had marked me as untouchable.

"Archer!" Klimmett waved, hiking as fast as he could while toting a med-kit. Lanningham and Blakeney had his back, each carrying rifles. "Bring him here."

I settled Will on the sand to let Klimmett check out his hand. He whistled. "Clean cut, but we need to stop the bleeding and st.i.tch this up. Let me bind it, then we'll go down to the medic tent."

While Klimmett was busy putting together a field dressing, I scanned the dunes. The sky had faded several more degrees; now it was the color of steel. It had gotten colder, too. The sun's rays didn't seem as warm. Could he be doing this? Could the Master dim its light to the point we'd freeze to death?

"We're ready to move," Klimmett said. "We can take it from here, Archer."

I nodded to Will. "Let them fix you up. Don't rush it."

He glared at me. "I'll be-"

The ground shifted under our feet as a dome of sand rose from the dune behind us. Staying upright became a fulltime job, and Lanningham fell to a knee. A big sinkhole opened up next to him.

The dome burst open and a roach the size of a minivan crawled out. Its mandibles clicked razor-sharp and beady eyes stared me down.

"G.o.d almighty," Blakeney said. "Anybody got an industrial-sized can of Raid?"

No one had a chance to answer, because the bug came after us. I took quick stock of our new nightmare. Hard sh.e.l.l, tiny head, stiff bristles on its six legs. Trying to run underneath it wouldn't be an option-those bristles would slice me open. From what I could see, its only weak spot was the eyes.

It lunged straight for me, and I skittered out of its way. Think, think. Would its sh.e.l.l crack if I stabbed it?

Shots rang out and bullets clinked off the bug's armored hide to punch into the sand at my feet. "Hold fire!"

The beetle took that moment to rush me, pincers aimed right at my head. I tucked and rolled, but it caught me and tossed me like a sack of mulch. The sand was forgiving, but I still cartwheeled through the air and crashed down hard enough to see spots. My knife flew out of my hand and slid ten feet away.

The bug scuttled over, clicking and reeking of garbage. I struggled to push myself up, but it was fast and the sliding sand, added to my dizzy head, made me slow.

As it bent to snap me in two with its mandible, a man screamed, "No!" and a large figure dove between me and the bug.

The monster buzzed angrily and clamped down on the Lanningham's waist. Before it yanked him up, Lanningham gasped, "Save your sister."

Then the monster snapped his spine. I saw the light go out in his eyes before the bug dropped him down into the sinkhole. It happened so fast the whole scene had a dreamlike quality, but I knew it was very real-and that I'd lost another friend.

Fury pushed me to crawl over to my knife and stand. My legs quivered, but I couldn't let his sacrifice go unavenged. "Tink? I need a good angle to throw the knife. Its head is too well defended by all those pincers. Think we could fly? Anything to get on top of this thing."

No. We can't waste the energy. You need it for later.

"Screw that! I want to kill this thing!"

"Wait!" Will staggered over to me. Before I could ask what he was doing, he swiped a finger along the cut in my arm, then smeared it on the flat of his blade. "Duck and cover!"

"What are you-?"

Will threw his knife at the monster bug. It clipped an antenna, then bounced harmlessly off.

"What's wrong with you? We needed that!" I started forward to attack, but Will caught my wrist.

"Get down!" he said. He tugged me hard with his good hand.

"But your knife-"

Will yanked me down next to him and flung his arm over our heads. Through a gap, I saw Klimmett and Blakeney drop, too.

Just in time.

The bug let out a screech to rival a banshee, then there was a pop and green guts rained down. It slimed us completely. G.o.d, the smell was worse than the sewers in Marrakech.

I coughed and sat up. "What did you do?"

"It's your blood," Will said, low and urgent. "You got blood on that angel's back earlier and melted her. Your blood on my knife exploded that bug. This is how we kill all of them."

"My blood? I did that?"

"Why do you think most of them are avoiding you? Touch one drop and they're dead," Will said.

I stared at the bug's carca.s.s. "Seriously? How?"

I don't know why you're surprised. Crossing worlds has all kinds of unexpected effects and your blood is stronger than he thought. Tink cackled gleefully in my head. Oh, I like this idea. We'll lay waste to the field.

And avenge our fallen. Killing all of them sounded like a good way to even things up. "What are you thinking?"

A smile spread across Will's pale face, one that spoke of havoc and dead monsters. "We're going to play with artillery."

Chapter Thirty-Seven.