“Apparently, I’m not ready,” she said when I gave her a questioning glance. “Not for guerilla warfare.”

“Sometimes we need to come to grips with acting as an anchor for our team,” Zorn said. “She and Mordecai will be fine in the woods behind the house. If they get taken this time, they’re on their own.”

I frowned but said nothing. Obviously that wasn’t true, but if he was keeping them out of the fight, and giving them a little feeling of danger in the process, he was my hero.

Zorn handed Bria and me our leathers. We pulled them on as the spirit-filled cadavers shambled after us, shaking and jerking. Jerry turned away, and I had no doubt the color was leaching from his face again.

“He’ll get used to it,” Bria said as Kieran turned toward the trees, heading in the direction of Dylan’s previous hideout. “As soon as he sees their effectiveness, his tune will change.”

“I wouldn’t hold out hope,” Boman said, one of the few not wearing chaps. He had on his black cargo pants, the pockets no doubt stuffed with anything and everything he thought would better prepare the whole crew for battle.

Red was the other one not wearing leather (besides a silently watching Harding, obviously). Instead, she wore a Spandex suit with an armory of weapons strapped to her person—a gun holster on one thigh, a circle of throwing knives around the other, and a leather belt packed with pouches and pockets around her waist. Most of the contents were hidden from view, but I saw the tops of a few throwing stars. A larger knife was fastened to her calf. I’d heard along the way that her magic had to do with hand-to-hand combat, but I hadn’t seen it in action. That was clearly about to change.

When the path through the trees narrowed into a deer trail, Jerry took the lead. The ground beneath our feet trembled as though something was going on under the surface. Rocks shook within the weeds and brush we passed. Thunder rolled across the sky.

“Got him,” I heard Jerry say as Jack broke for the trees.

I yanked his spirit, forcing him back in line, twitching and jerking more than the rest of them, bringing up the rear of our crew.

“What’s gotten into you?” I heard Bria ask, the last of the living in our single-file line.

“Don’t know. My brain is saying to abort mission and get the hell out of here,” Jack said, and I repeated for Bria. “My legs thought it was a great idea.”

“Keep it together, man,” she said in an undertone.

“I kinda like it when Lexi does it for me,” he said.

“Well, put on your big-boy pants,” Bria said after I relayed his message. “Soon she’s going to have other things to do. Lexi, use that creepy spirit wind once they can see you. These bastards mostly deal with their own magical kind. Your hair blowing when there’s no wind will freak them out.”

“If the storm kicks off, there’s going to be plenty of wind,” Boman said, glancing upward.

A large rock, the height of my thighs, rolled from the right, cutting across the front of the line and trampling the plant life in our way as it rolled off between the trees. When Jerry reached the intersecting path, he took it, his pace increasing even more.

“He’s on the run and they’re on his trail,” he said, his long legs eating enough ground that some of us had to jog to keep up. “He seems like he’s heading toward a few people who aren’t moving as much. Not sure what to make of that.”

A peal of thunder vibrated across the hillside. A moment later, I realized it wasn’t thunder at all. It was a gunshot.

“That has to be a townsperson,” I said. The twisted canopy above us strangled the moonlight even more. I blanketed the area in spirit to help me see the divots and pitfalls in the deepening night. Bria bumped into me and grabbed my shoulder, not so lucky with the extra sight.

A bolt of lightning blistered down from the sky. The compression of power nearly took me off my feet. Thunder roared all around us, drowning out sound and shaking my bones. It was entirely too clear that this was not a natural storm, and also that I might’ve misjudged what a Demigod of Zeus could do.

I gulped as we hurried through the trees, rocks rolling with us now, following beside us like Jerry was the pied piper on his golden flute.

Souls popped into my awareness. I slowed, putting up my hand for Bria to stop. I needed a second to feel these people out before engaging.

Thane, directly in front of me, slowed as well. Boman, in front of Thane, slowed, and on down until everyone had stopped with me, including the rocks.

Another thick bolt of lightning slashed through the darkness. Sound and light hit me at once, the force of it blowing my hair back and making me stagger. The spirit-filled cadavers took off running in all directions, stomping through the brush and trees, one getting caught in a bush and flailing.

I pulled them all back in, happy enough with them in a jerking, shaking cluster.

The strangers on my radar pushed away from us, predators in the night. A single point in front of them hunkered down, at the very edge of my awareness. Had Dylan stopped? Was he attacking us?

“Tell me this lightning is from the Demigod,” I whispered to Thane as Kieran made his way back to me.

“Definitely. Not even the Lightning Rod can create lightning this intense, but he’ll be close. Same idea, just less power, like pitting you against the Demigods of Hades.”

“What’s up?” Kieran asked, coming in close. Power hummed within his body, I could feel it. He was ready to duel with the other Demigod.

The moon dappled the treetops and occasionally the ground, turning on and off like fairy lights as the thick clouds shifted and rolled above us. I closed my eyes, memorizing those souls. Gearing up for what was coming.

For what I would need to do.

“I’m pretty sure Dylan stopped running,” I said.

Kieran nodded slightly. “Jerry said the same.”

“I’m within striking range,” I whispered, my stomach churning at the thought. “I can assume control of the two closest and weakest. They’re on the—”

Another slash of light lit up the world. The thunder stopped my heart. My hair blew back, but I didn’t stagger. If that bolt had hit anywhere near me, it would have killed me. Or at least ensured I didn’t run away. This was why Zeus’s descendants preferred to battle face to face. They needed to see their targets. Their blunt force worked best when all the players were represented on the board.

“I can assume control of the ones on the outskirts of the battle, and use them to create chaos within their ranks,” I said.

“Not yet,” Kieran whispered, looking at the sky. “I want to get a little closer to Dylan. Right now Flora is just testing the waters. She’s goading Dylan into action. This is a pretty standard game of chicken among Zeus magical workers. So far, Dylan is not rising to the bait. I’m not sure if that means she’s got his back against the wall—Jerry says there’s a big cliff face not far behind him—or if he’s decided to make a stand. I know a lot about the training and theory behind Zeus magical workers, but I’ve never worked with one. I want to strip away some of the guesswork before I engage. We’re going to watch them from under cover.”

Another bolt of lightning hammered the ground, and I gritted my teeth against the sound and feeling of static electricity in the air.