The three of them burst out of the window, Katy first, Rowan and Ikara close on her heels. Katy leaped high in the air and dropped down on the mass of monsters between them and Henry. Her spear flashed, and monster bodies went flying.

“Going out with a fight, huh? Then why don’t we throw a little more fuel on the fire?” Cackling, Henry threw his hands forward. Monsters crawled out from the stands all around him and charged at Katy.

Katy, you charge the center. You’re our distraction. Catch Henry’s attention and keep it for as long as you can.

Rowan charged at the burly man, hand claw and hand spade tight in his grip. Across from him, Ikara ran at the burly woman. She loosed a handful of pins at the woman at the same time that Rowan threw a small rock at the man.

I’ll go at the man, and Ikara, you take the woman. One of them is an illusion. Whoever has the illusion goes past, while the other deals with the illusionist.

The woman and the man both threw their arms up to block the onslaught. Pins impacted the woman’s forearms. The rock passed through the man’s body.

Knew it! Grinning, Rowan charged through and raced toward Henry, looping around to come at him from behind.

Staring at him, the woman spun. She opened her mouth to shout.

“Unspool!” Ikara shouted, running a quick circle around the woman. Thread looped around her, tangling on the pins and needles stuck in her body.

Ikara tugged the threads, testing the hold. “Spool!”

Thread rushed out from her pockets and wrapped around the woman, spinning around her as if she was the spool. It caught in her mouth. She spat it out, but more thread wrapped around her, until she was tied as tight as a mummy in thread.

Damn, where’s Ikara keeping all that thread? Rowan shook his head. He jumped up the next layer of stands above Henry and ran at him.

The remaining person loops around behind Henry. He shouldn’t be much of a melee fighter. If we land a surprise attack, he should go down, even to one of us.

Katy blasted through another half-dozen monsters. Henry cackled. “Keep fighting all you like! I’ve got more where that came from!”

Rowan drew back his hand and charged at Henry.

At the last second, Henry whipped around, eyes wide. He reached out, wildly.

Rowan slammed the hand claw at Henry’s eyes.

Henry caught his wrist. Rowan struggled against his grip, but uselessly. His strength couldn’t match up to Henry’s. Even a non-melee combat class—!

A grin crawled over Henry’s face. “Enough.” He tightened his grip on Rowan’s wrist.

Rowan’s bones creaked. His hand twisted. The claw fell out of his grip. He tensed, grimacing at the floor.

“I guess you have to break a few bones to get a message across, sometimes.” Henry’s grip tightened again.

Rowan looked up at him, grinning wide. “Manifest.”

Henry’s brows furrowed, but only for a moment. A long, wooden box full of soil smashed down on his head. He staggered forward, releasing Rowan’s hand. “Ow! Shit!”

Rowan dismissed the garden box with a gesture. Henry started to stand up, but before he could, Rowan smashed him in the face with the hand spade. He ducked, grabbed the hand-claw, and clawed at Henry’s face. The tines caught in Henry’s nose. Henry screeched and grabbed at his face. Rowan twisted, yanking him down to the ground.

Henry went down like a sack of garbage. His head slammed into the edge of the concrete stands risers. His eyes rolled up, and he sagged down the seats. Blood puddled under his head.

Across the stands, the bound woman screeched through the thread. She thrashed, trying desperately to break free.

Ikara drew up beside Rowan. “Uh… he dead?”

Rowan knelt. He put a hand on Henry’s pulse. A faint but steady throb met his fingertips. “No. Just out cold.”

Katy landed beside them with a thump, out of breath. “That—that was a workout,” she panted. Behind her, most of the monsters laid defeated. Without Henry’s direction, the rest skittered off, no longer driven to fight.

Ikara chuckled to herself, giddy. “Well! We taught them a lesson.”

Rowan clapped her on the back, a wide grin on his face as well. We beat combat classes! For real, we actually did it! I can do it! “We did it!”

The illusionist woman thrashed, fighting against Ikara’s thread. Ikara glanced over her shoulder. “We should get going before she breaks free.”

Rowan nodded. “I’ll text Kaidu.”

Katy whipped around. “Kaidu? That sounds like the name of that famous Hairdresser, N. Kaidu.”

“The very same,” Rowan replied, nodding.

“Ohmigosh, could I get his autograph? I’m a huge fan.”

“If you stick around, I don’t see why not,” Rowan said, shrugging.

The woman bucked again, and Ikara darted back. “C’mon, c’mon.”

“We beat them once, we can do it again,” Rowan said.

“Maybe you! I used a lot of my MP,” Ikara replied.

Rowan glanced at Katy. She nodded as well.

Henry twitched, shifting against the riser.

“Let’s get out of here, then,” Rowan agreed.

Ikara led the way. She started down the stands to cross the field, but before she could, Katy snatched her up in one arm and Rowan in the other. “Jump!”

They soared into the air. Rowan caught his breath, griping tight to Katy’s arm. The field whooshed by beneath them. Katy sucked in a breath and bent her knees, and they slammed down on the opposite side of the stands.

“Whoa…” Ikara muttered, stumbling away from Katy.

Rowan shook his head and pushed his hair out of his eyes. That was intense.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Katy urged, hopping through the window.

Ikara and Rowan exchanged a glance, then hurried after her.