"You're behind this, aren't you? Somehow—"

His head exploded. I flinched at the spray of gore. When it turned to ash, I brushed it off me.

"Which one of you did that?" I asked.

"He searched my head," Alexis replied.

"Well, warn a sister next time," I said.

Then I felt a loud buzz in my head, and across the room another Elder's head exploded.

This created more bedlam and screaming from Council members who flashed themselves away or who ...