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“Juni Swan!” I shout

“Juni…? Youwith horror at this mockery of a human form

“Not any steps towards us Fleshy smears from her feet stick to the rooftop She winces every tireat She’s stronger than she was in the cave

Kealan fires three times at Juni The bullets stop lutinous face “Pretty little butterflies,” shetwo of the bullets into silvery, swollen insects—but these butterflies have oversized er at them and they fly back to their source I try to deflect the in He screams and collapses, blind within seconds The butterflies continue chewing through to his brain

I want to help Kealan, but I dare not turn aze away from Juni, even for an instant She makes the third bullet rotate a few ti at the middle of Sharmila’s forehead The old Indian lady redirects it with a short flick of her wrist and the bullet buries itself in the roof

The demons from the staircase have split to surround Sharmila and me There are six around me, five around Sharmila The twelfth—the square-headed deuard

“You should have stayed dead,” Juni says, closing onback, wary of Juni Swan They must be under orders not to strike before she does

“How’sher head to study Dervish She gasps with pain, a chunk of her neck ripping loose Gri, she pushes the fleshy fillet back into place and uses ic to seal it Part of me feels sorry for her This is a terrible way for anyone to exist

“Leave Dervish alone,” Sharrowls

“Or what?” Juni jeers

Shars, then leaps over the derabs the trolley, jerks off a side bar and hurls it at Juni, jagged end first The tip strikes Juni’s gooey face and drives through the rotting flesh and bone She shrieks, her head snapping back

Sharainst the de after her She thinks she killed Juni but she’s wrong As Sharmila turns, Juni yanks out the bar Bits of yellowy-pink flesh trickle from the hole it leaves behind

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Juni giggles, launching the bar at Sharht shoulder, lifts her off her feet and sends her sailing across the roof She sh her flesh and deep into the wood, pinning her to the door She screa frole free, but can’t, pinned in place like a captured moth

I’m truly scared now It took a lot of power to throw a steel bar that hard I don’t have anywhere near that kind of strength, not in this world In a one-on-one battle with Juni Swan, I won’t stand a chance

Juni fixes her insane, bloodshot eyes on ain There’s a tiny insect in the corner of one socket, chewing at the rotting flesh of her lower eyelid “