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This was familiar, a drag queen sorceress’s own version of a shielding spell. Sure enough, after clenching her fingers and finalizing the gestures, the mist coalescing into a gleaming barrier.

“It won’t hold for long,” Xtra Xtra said, “but it should buy us some time.”

Paralumen clenched her teeth in fury as she banged her fists against the barrier. The protective dome clanged as if we were standing inside a ringing church bell. Spell fragments and the excruciating noise — my head could explode at any moment.

“Goodness gracious,” Angelica said, backing up a step. “She’s furious.”

“Well,” I said, “Morrow and I did try to splat her against a wall.”

“It was worth a shot,” he said.

“And not a single hair out of place,” Xtra Xtra said. “If we survive this, I’d love to ask about where she gets her wigs. If I don’t kill her first, that is.”

“It’s not a wig,” I said. “We’ve seen her hair down. She actually has pretty good hair.”

Angelica clapped her hands to call for attention as the barrier gonged and gonged again. “Enough bickering. It’s the charm we want.”

The ornament in Paralumen’s hair glowed and pulsed with her every violent effort.

“Houston,” Morrow said. “Do you think you can shoot it off?”

“Or maybe lasso it?” I asked.

Houston shook his head. “Hexed bullets don’t work that way. They’ll just pass through. And I’m flattered you think I’m that talented, but I may as well lasso her by the neck.”

“Heads up, people,” Xtra Xtra shouted. “I think we really pissed her off.”

Glowing talons extended from the tips of Paralumen’s fingers. The beginnings of a feral smile curved the corners of her lips. This woman could rip holes between dimensions. Destroying Xtra Xtra’s force field was child’s play, a cat shredding a cardboard box.

Huge fractures appeared in the barrier with Paralumen’s every slash. Silver light flashed as a feathery shield and sword appeared in Angelica’s hands.

“Stand your ground, gentlemen. And Xtra Xtra.”

“Will do,” Xtra Xtra said. “And thank you.”

Her fingers curled as she prepared to fire a bolt of magic. Houston’s revolvers clicked. Morrow unfurled another scroll. And I entered standby mode, waiting for the right spell to copy. Jagged fragments spun in my brain like buzzsaws.

“That’s it,” Loki said, rushing the barrier, eager to watch our evisceration up close. “Kill them. Kill them all.”

He was conjuring something, incanting words and tracing gestures that looked awfully familiar: Alexandra Thorpe’s spell from the Grand Harrington Hotel. Fuck. He was going to freeze time.

My eyes bulged out of their sockets as I watched him intently, terrified of missing a single detail. I engineered my own copy, knowing the pressure of duplicating even more divine magic would likely split my skull open.

The icy gleam of time magic pulsed from his hand, spidering in a circle around us like frost on glass. Summoning every last ounce of my essence, I hurled out my copy.

To my complete shock, my duplicate shimmered even brighter. The god gasped as my dome of translucent frost encircled and encased him in a glassy bubble. He froze in place. His spell fizzled out.

That was all the time we needed. My knees buckled. I collapsed, but Morrow caught me in his arms.

“Now,” I told my friends, panting, struggling to stay conscious. “Attack him now.”

Paralumen reared back, one hand in the air as she prepared to finally crack the barrier open. When she twisted at the hip, I gasped. When her talons raked through Loki’s chest, leaving wet, angry gashes, my jaw fell open.

The time bubble shattered. Loki slid to the floor. Droplets of his god’s blood stained the wood, seeping into the grain, slipping between the cracks.

“Did you truly believe that you could dominate me?”

“You were pretending all along,” Loki choked out.