The stars kept falling. Already, the tzitzimime outnumbered us three to one, and yet they were still falling.

It was getting rather annoying.

Irina leaned on the wall next to me, fidgeting with her pike. “You’d think they’d snuff themselves out, walking on the water like that.” She nodded towards the gathering tzitzimime.

“I wish,” I replied. They probably outnumbered us four to one by now.

Irina’s gloved fist slammed down on the top of the wall. “We should be attacking them now, not standing here watching them gather.”

“I know. I argued that, Heizhan argued that, Gabriel argued that – hell, Dahut argued that. But no one could agree on how to fight them, so we’re stuck standing here.”

Irina snorted. “As if we’ll magically know how to defeat them once they’ve all landed.”

I gave her a crooked smile.

“It’s getting darker,” Duncan said. We turned to look at him.

“The stars are falling, Your Majesty,” Irina said.

“That should be making things brighter down here, not dimmer. Look up – those are some serious thunderheads gathering.”

Duncan was right – the previously-clear night sky was now covered in dark clouds. The tzitzimime were still falling – but they were falling through the clouds now, and as I watched, several of the falling stars dimmed and died.

“Water vapor,” Irina hissed.

“It’s not enough, though,” I said. “There are still plenty falling – and plenty down already.”

I had no sooner finished my sentence than the storm broke loose – and what a storm it was. Wave after wave of rain drenched the Island and the surrounding sea – snuffing out more of the tzitzimime as I watched. Then the lightning came, but unlike the rain, it was directed. Bolt after bolt struck tzitzimi after tzitzimi, and more bolts rained down on the water under the stars. Whatever art they used to walk on the water broke under the electric onslaught, sending dozens of tzitzimime to the bottom of the sea.

A flash of red caught my eye, and I looked down the wall. Nathan was standing there, staring fixedly at the tzitzimime. As I watched, lightning spiraled up around him, and I understood.

I elbowed Irina. “Looks like someone else didn’t like the idea of waiting, either.”