Sharmila and Raz close their eyes and focus. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, but I follow their lead. I concentrate, trying not to think about the Kallin, willing a barrier into place, praying I have more success than with the sandcastle.

A few seconds later Nadia says, “Let’s see what we have.”

I open my eyes and spot her throwing a punch at Raz. Her fist stops several inches short of his face. She tries again—same result. She grunts with satisfaction. Jabs at Sharmila. Her fist slows but doesn’t stop. Lightly smacks into Sharmila’s chin, not harming her but getting through the barrier. “Try to strengthen it,” Nadia says. Jabs a second time. Again, she penetrates Sharmila’s barrier, but with more difficulty. Pulls a so-so face.

“Now you,” she says to me. Makes a fist, starts to throw a punch… then stops. Sticks out her right index finger. Pokes at me softly. Prods my nose. Smiles. “Guess you’re out of this one.

“It’s not my fault,” I grumble. “I’m not used to magic. I don’t know how to make it work.”

“It’s OK.” She tweaks my nose. “You can be our second line of defence. Watch for any demons getting through. If one penetrates the barrier, do your best to kill it while we plug up the hole it creates.”

“How do I kill them?” I ask.

“With magic. You can stamp on them, choke them, firebolts of energy—whatever comes most naturally to you. But there has to be magic as well. You can’t kill a demon by physical force alone.”

“What if I can’t make it work? What if—”

“Kernel!” she snaps. “We don’t have time for hysterics. Just do your best, like when you escaped from the demon tree.”

She draws Sharmila and Raz aside to prepare them. While they’re discussing magical barriers, I creep to the edge of the needle to monitor the advance of the Kallin. They’re a lot closer than a couple of minutes ago. Not so small now that I have a better view of them. Two or three feet long. Making soft squeaking noises, barely audible over the roar of the wind.

I think about throwing myself off, taking the easy way out, not waiting for them to clamber over me and rip at me with their fangs. One short step or leap… a few seconds or minutes of freefall… then no more worries. Unless there’s nothing to freefall to. Maybe there’s no ground in this part of the Demonata’s universe. I might bob back up or fall forever, a lifetime of falling… screaming… thrashing.

“They’re almost to the top!” I shout, putting the dark thoughts behind me. “Half a minute and they’ll be all over us!”

“Get back here,” Sharmila calls. They’ve gathered close to Beranabus, who’s concentrating on the slowly forming window. I crouch next to Raz, feeling safer beside him than Sharmila, since he was able to construct a stronger barrier.

“Here we go,” Nadia says shakily. She half closes her eyes. So do Sharmila and Raz. There’s a shimmer in the air a couple of feet in front of us. Then nothing. I wonder if the spell has worked, if we’re protected or not. Then the first of the Kallin wriggles over the edge of the needle and launches itself at us, mouth wide, fangs bared, screeching with hunger and hate.

The demon flies straight at me, like an arrow fired from a bow. A scream builds at the back of my throat, but before it can burst out of my mouth, the Kallin hits an invisible barrier and is deflected. It crashes into a group of other long, hairy demons. Irritated, their fangs flash and they rip the first Kallin to shreds. Bloody bits of it fly everywhere.

I press myself hard against Raz as the demons surround us, gnashing at the barrier, wriggling around and over it, searching for weak points. Within seconds, they cover the barrier entirely, blocking our view of the sky, plunging us into almost total darkness. I can see by the light of the pulsing patches, but the others must be nearly blind.

Nadia clicks her fingers and a ball of flame appears overhead. I preferred the darkness. We can see the Kallin in more detail now, their long, hairy bodies, the stiff, spiky hairs on which they move, their abnormally large mouths and fangs. They drool and slobber as they snake across the face of the barrier. Soon it’s like looking at them through a window streaked with spit and vile juices.

Raz is sweating. So are Sharmila and Nadia. Trembling, not with fear, but the effort of maintaining the barrier. This is hard. I don’t think they can keep it up for more than a few minutes. I glance at Beranabus and the window he’s working on. It’s nowhere near complete. A few minutes won’t be long enough.

One of the Kallin penetrates the barrier with its head. It squeals with triumph, fangs snapping together, trying to squeeze the rest of its body through. I tense, readying myself to fight, but then Nadia shouts a brief spell and the barrier closes sharply around the demon, slicing its head off.

The head falls to the floor, but the jaws continue snapping open and shut. It drags itself forward using its fangs, dozens of eyes glittering angrily. I get to my knees, face the head, try summoning magic to use against it. Instead, panic-stricken, I throw up. The demon gibbers—it can still make noise—and crawls at me through the pool of vomit. I watch, repulsed and terrified. Then, as it’s about to drag itself out of the vomitous pool, I have a thought. I reach out, touch the vomit with a finger and charge it with magic, which flows through me from some unknown source.

The vomit bubbles and becomes acid. The Kallin head shakes wildly. Desperate, it hurls itself out of the pool, using an upper fang as a makeshift vaulting pole. I make a fist and, roaring with fear, punch the head back down. The acid eats into it. The head shakes a few more times, then dissolves, bubbling away to a bloody, hair-streaked mess.

A feeling of power and victory washes through me. I’ve killed a demon! I used magic to destroy its ugly ass! I’m Hercules, Samson and Thor rolled into one! I glare at the thousands of Kallin, eager for another to break through, so I can send it the way of its boiled-down brother. “Come on,” I snarl. “I’ll turn you all into stew!”

“The boy’s enjoying himself,” Raz notes, teeth chattering from the effort of keeping the barrier in place.

“I do not think he will be so… anxious to fight… when the barrier breaks… and they come crashing down upon us… in their multitudes,” Sharmila mumbles.

Nadia says nothing. She’s staring ahead, eyes wide open now, sweat filling the pockmarks on her face. Terrified.

Overcome with confidence, forgetting that moments ago I was throwing up and more afraid than I’d ever been, I take matters into my own hands. Turning to where Beranabus is piecing together a window, I watch the pulsing lights for a couple of seconds. Then, impatient, I reach up and nudge a patch of light towards the cluster. It slides ahead of my fingers, slotting into place. I start moving others. It’s simple. I don’t even have to touch the lights—they move before my fingers, weightless, a breeze to manipulate.

“What are you doing?” Beranabus snaps.

“I can do it quicker than you,” I tell him, adding more patches of light to the now rapidly forming window.

“You’re distracting me,” Beranabus growls. “Get out of my way before—”

“You’re too slow!” I shout. “You can’t see the lights. I can. So let me do it. I can make…” I pause. The lights around me have stopped pulsing. For a second—absolute panic. I can’t complete the window! Then I realise what’s happened. “Where were you trying to open the window to?” I pant. Beranabus starts to argue. “Just tell me!” I yell.

Beranabus squints then says, “I was searching for Cadaver.”

I think about the demon which stole my brother. Recall its long legs, stumpy body, thick hairy fingers. Its face, half human, half canine. Its drooping ears and wide white eyes.