Muriel appeared beside us. “You have to get to safety,” she urged Billie.

I growled out the same sentiment to her.

Billie looked up, eyes glistening. “Can you help him?”

“Yes. I’ll try,” she said. But when I felt her palm on my flank, she recoiled, the sticky texture of my blood too poisonous for her. Muriel clenched her jaw and tried again, shuddering past the unimaginable pain as she summoned her healing magic. My flesh began to mend around my rib, the sizzling warmth dulling ...