“Is that allowed?” Lisa looked at Jarem.

“It’s never been done before. Gelals and Akhs do not normally ever interact with the Urbat. But it is not against the rules.”

I scrubbed my hand down the side of my face. A few minutes ago I was fretting over the prospect of our going up against a handful of challengers. Now it was sounding like a few dozen, or even more.

“What about the eclipse?” I asked. “Won’t that make Caleb even more of a threat?”

“The ceremony starts at midnight,” Lisa said. “The eclipse isn’t supposed to begin until about twelve twenty-five. We’ll just need to make sure Caleb is taken care of before it begins. They can last several hours, so the sooner we can finish this, the better.”

“I imagine it would be best if we could concentrate most of the fighting here.” Daniel pointed at the open area he’d marked as the “barnyard” on his map. “Try to keep the fighting out in the open.”

“But if the house and the barn are within the challenging ring, then people can take the fight in there, right?” I asked.

Jarem nodded.

“The barn doesn’t worry me so much,” Daniel said. “It’s still pretty open inside. However, I’ve been inside the house. The rooms are small and cramped, and there are far too many places to hide. Chasing someone in there might end up being an ambush.”

Brent suddenly jumped like he’d been shocked with a jolt of electricity “What if we got rid of the house?” he asked, an expression of maniacal glee on his face. “Made it go boom.”

“What?” Daniel and I asked at same time.

“Are you suggesting we blow up the farmhouse?” Daniel asked.

“Why not?” Brent pressed his finger to the bridge of his nose like he was pushing up an imaginary pair of glasses. “Seeing that thing go up would definitely freak out the Shadow Kings. Ahks and Gelals hate fire almost as much as Slade.”

Slade shot Brent a look like he wanted to pound him.

“What? I’m just saying.…” Brent shrugged dramatically.

“I like the way you’re thinking,” I said. “But what if we could somehow lure as many of those Ahks and Gelals into the house before you blew it up? Get rid of the house, and get rid of as many of them at the same time?”

“Now you’re talking!” I swear it was almost possible to watch Brent planning out a design for the explosives. “I’ll need a remote trigger.…”

“Can this kid really build a bomb big enough to burn down the house?” Bellamy crossed his large arms in front of his chest.

“Believe me,” Dad said. “He knows how to blow things up.”

Brent gave my dad a sheepish smile. “Uh, yeah. Sorry about that.”

Dad gave him a nod.

I looked at the other lost boys. “Do you think the rest of you could come up with some sort of plan to get as many demons into the house as possible? Some sort of lure?”

“Sure thing,” Zach said, and Ryan agreed.

“If that house is going up in flames, I’m not going anywhere near it,” Slade said. “I’d rather be fighting hand to hand in the barnyard with you guys.”

“That can be arranged,” I said, grateful for another fighter.

“Me, too,” Lisa said. “I want to fight with you guys. I said I’d follow Daniel into battle, and I meant it.”

Jarem looked at her like he wanted to protest. I wondered if it wasn’t customary for Elders to join the fight, or if he had some sort of personal interest in wanting her out of harm’s way.

Jude cleared his throat, drawing my attention. He’d been so quiet for so long, I’d almost forgotten he was there. He raised his hand as if he were a child in school. “What do you want me to do?”

I looked at Daniel. I have to admit, I didn’t want Jude in the ring with us. I just didn’t know if he was stable enough yet for such a fight.…

Daniel spoke up before I could. “I don’t imagine Caleb will limit his attack to just those inside the challenging ring. I think we need to be prepared for the possibility that the rest of the pack may have to do some fighting on the sidelines. Would you be willing to help organize them?”

“Yes,” Jude said. I could tell he was relieved that we hadn’t asked him to enter the ring as a challenger.

“Our guards are trained in combat, but many of our other men are not fighters,” Jarem said. “We’ve followed Gabriel’s pacifist ways since the 1700s. We’re out of practice.”

“I can help Jude give them a crash course in fighting,” Talbot said. “They’re going to need all the help they can get.”

FRIDAY, MIDAFTERNOON, THIRTY-THREE HOURS UNTIL THE CEREMONY

Gabriel made the call for the rest of the Etlu Clan to join us, and we divvied up tasks and went to work. Daniel and a few of the Elders continued to debate strategy, while I sent Zach and Slade to the sporting-goods store on Main, to buy up as many crossbows and hunting knives as they could. Unfortunately, since the Death Howl last night, the mayor had upped the bounty on any wolf’s head to ten thousand dollars—which meant there weren’t very many weapons left in the store to begin with. I just hoped since our new farm was on a sixty-acre parcel of private land, we wouldn’t get any unexpected hunting visitors tomorrow night.

Bellamy supervised a stake-carving committee on the front porch. Talbot and Jude set up a boot camp out in the barnyard for anyone who wanted to brush up on demon fighting. April took it upon herself to buy up all the tiki torches at her favorite costume shop in Apple Valley, and she and Lisa staked them in the ground at regular ten-foot intervals around the boundary of the challenging ring.

Brent drew up his plans for his explosives, and then we sent runners to three separate hardware stores in the county—so as not to raise any red flags—to get supplies. He set to work on constructing the bomb in the barn, with Ryan as his only slightly disgruntled assistant.

I tried to keep myself as busy as possible, rotating among the groups and assisting where I could, in order to stave off my growing anxiety about the ceremony, and my deep worry for James’s well-being. Every time I felt the wolf’s voice creeping into my head, I stopped for deep-breathing exercises while I held the moonstone we’d found discarded in Jude’s cage.