to her, like some sick game where the object was to torture angels. The horror of the situation weighed her down. The legion had been right, and she had been wrong. She had been selfish and foolish again thinking she knew better than everyone. Kara curled her hands behind her back and glared at the girl. She wouldn’t be fooled twice. The seirs’ leader pushed Kara forward roughly. “Mistress, where do you want them?” Mistress? Kara stumbled forward. Why were the seirs taking orders from a little girl? Kara gave David a sidelong glance, and noticed his face bore a deadly scowl. “ Thank you, Ranab. Leave them where they are,” the soft voice commanded. At once the seirs backed away from Kara and the others. Only their leader remained where he stood. “ As you command, mistress.” Ranab gave a nod of his head and straightened his back. With a suspicious frown on her face, Kara shared another look with David. “What’s going on? Why are they listening to her?” she whispered. David shrugged. “Maybe these clowns like getting bossed around by little girls.” Kara’s frown deepened. “Do you think she’s paying them somehow to do this? Like a job? It doesn’t make any sense.” “ Maybe.” David laughed a little. “She does look as if she’s cut from the upper-class cloth.” Kara watched the elemental make her way slowly towards them. She lowered her voice some more. “Either way—it makes no freakin’ sense. She should be on our side. What does she want from us?” “ Maybe the freaky little girl wants to play dolls with real-life angels.” David glowered at her. “ I have a bad feeling about this,” whispered Peter. His face had gone a sickly grey color, and Kara could see his shining angel essence through his thinning skin. She figured he had maybe another half an hour before his M-suit evaporated completely. They had to get out of there quickly, there wasn’t time to play with dolls. She met Jenny’s eyes—they were round with fear. Her skin had also lost its pigment and dazzling light seeped through her pores. They needed a plan. And they needed to get out of there. The elemental stopped a few feet in front of the group. Her lifeless face stared back at them like a ghostly doll—perfect and new, as if she had just stepped out of the box. Her white dress was spotless. She had not been living on the streets for months. Her freshly polished black shoes gleamed like jewels, as if they’d never been worn. She was like a robot—no facial muscles moved, and she never blinked. Her white skin shimmered under the fluorescent lights, and her dark eyes shone with intelligence beyond her years. The elemental clasped her hands in front of her and regarded them with great interest. She leaned forward, and her smile widened. “ How can you do this?” Kara scolded before she could control herself. “You’re an elemental! You’re part angel! We came here to rescue you. Why would you do such a thing to us? How can you go against your own kind?” The little girl giggled. It took a moment for her to compose herself. She flattened the front of her dress. “But that’s where you’re wrong, Kara. I’m nothing like you.” “ So you knew who I was…all this time?” Kara’s anger flared. Her arms and legs twitched. She forced herself to stay calm. If she couldn’t use her arms, maybe she could head-butt the smile off the girl’s face. “ Yes, of course I knew.” The girl glanced at her fingernails as if she were bored by the conversation. “I found you out at that pathetic bookstore, didn’t I? To think you spent your summer holidays in that God awful, smelly place. You were practically covered in filth when I first saw you. Quite disgusting really.” Kara bristled. “And so you tricked us! You tricked me into believing you needed my help. You’ve been planning this all along…but why—and how did you get into my head?” Kara took a step forward, but Ranab pulled her back