smoke of evil, disembodied ghosts surging toward them from the south. Samantha and Blake transformed instantly into their bear forms, standing before their mother as she gasped with one hand over her heart.
“We are found,” she cried, her words all but lost in the raging winds.
Samantha stared in horror at the approaching horde: Nagi, his evil ghosts and something hideous. She knew what these must be, felt certainty swallowing her up. They were, for she had heard of them, the living offspring he had sired. Toe Taggers! Nagi’s children were pale and brutish, living monsters, all teeth, claws and quills. She covered her face and turned away.
Sebastian howled, releasing the beast within. He could not fight ghosts unless they took corporeal form and, not being a Seer, he could not even spot them. But he could make out the Toe Taggers and Nagi drawing nearer. He stood between his family and attack as he called to the heavens. The dark clouds rolled in, blotting out the stars. The shriek of the wind screamed in Samantha’s ears, but she could make him out, there in the south, advancing like death.
Samantha moved to stand beside her father, but he pushed her back with one giant paw, sending her tumbling along the ground. From this vantage she clearly saw him—Nagi.
The Ruler of Ghosts rose up before them, billowing as black as the smoke from a burning oil rig. He was dark and deadly with yellow cat’s eyes, just as her mother had described. He reached for them, claws extending from his undulating body. Samantha forgot how to fight. She forgot every single thing her father had taught her about how to survive. This was her fault. All of it, because she had wanted to try her powers instead of doing as she was told.
Something snatched her up, tearing her from her mother’s arms, dragging her from her twin brother, sweeping Samantha into the sky.
She howled her dismay, wanting to be left behind to give her family a chance to escape.
Below her, she saw the Toe Taggers attack her father, falling upon him like a pack of wild dogs.
She screamed as the ice pelted her, as the great claws gripped her, as the mighty wings beat the skies into a whirlwind.
Chapter 2
Nagi reached the Skinwalker as his Ghost Children carried the grizzly backward to the ground.
He felt certain his offspring could best the Spirit Children born of Niyan, and they grew ten times more quickly. The Skinwalkers, born of Tob Tob, would be more challenging. Here was their first test.
The old male had stayed behind to defend, and Nagi’s own children were too stupid and too vicious to resist the temptation to fight. So instead of pursuing the Seer, as ordered, they were distracted by the only one of the four he did not want to kill, which was likely the old bear’s intention.
Nagi had no ability to track the Seer unless she revealed herself. His Ghostlings were squandering this golden opportunity.
“The Seer!” he hissed, motioning to the sky.
His children continued their useless attack.
Why had the Seer, who had not sent one evil ghost to his Circle in all these years, suddenly done something so reckless?
Then an unexpected answer struck him. Could it have been one of her children?
Was it possible that she had offspring old enough to use their powers?
That meant they would be old enough to reproduce. Three Seers was bad, but he did not relish the prospect of contending with another generation. Not when he had so methodically exterminated the Ghost Clan. Well, all but one, and that one had been female, curse the luck.
He glanced at his snarling, snapping children and repressed a shudder. If not for the Seer, he would have no need of a living army.
For now he would settle with the grizzly. Past time to take his immortal soul.
Nagi hovered over the great bear, who writhed and strained against the deadly grip of Nagi’s children. It took all six of them to hold him. He was strong, this one, but not immortal. Nagi could feel his soul, firmly attached to this body and to this world. Well, not for long.
“Where have you sent them?” he hissed.
The bear bellowed and the clouds above them turned black. The wind rose and Nagi watched in horror as his children were swept aside with the blowing rain. The Thunderbirds reached their talons down and snatched the bear from their midst as easily as Nagi might pluck a soul from a living