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rotting flesh. Of course, that was what the changeling really looked like. Only those with magical abilities could see through the camouflage placed by the Faeries. The human parents would have seen a passing replica of their kidnapped baby. I handed the bundle to Johnathan and wiped my hands on my pants.
    We retraced our steps and met the other three on the sidewalk below. The baby’s mother slammed the window shut.
    The binding spell on the Faerie wouldn’t last long without a continuous infusion of power—which was exhausting. So, our goal was to get her back to the Underground—to the pentacle—before the spell wore off. The boys bundled her into a large backpack and Alec carried her on his back. Johnathan handed the changeling back to me—lucky me—and we headed back toward the nearest boarded up stairway leading to the Underground. We knew where many of the stairways were. As we came upon new ones we would pry the boards away from the doorframes to gain entrance, but leave the boards on the doors so they looked undisturbed.
    When we dropped to the floor of the Underground, I gave the Faerie an extra dose of the binding spell, just to ensure she wouldn’t get loose before we arrived. There were few things as nasty as an irate Faerie. They were stronger than they looked and had some really powerful magic up their frilly sleeves.
    We made it back to our hideout without incident. Alec and Seth removed the Faerie from the backpack and laid her in the pentacle we’d prepared beforehand.
    “This one sure is a beauty,” Alec said.
    We’d discovered recently that he had a thing for Faeries, more so even than other sixteen year old, hormonal boys would have. They were beautiful creatures, and long known in folklore for their ability to draw men to them like cow manure draws flies. Alec ran his fingers through her silky yellow hair but stepped back out of the pentacle before Johnathan could yell at him. Another good reason to keep her bound until we could send her back to the Netherworld—Alec had almost been coerced into helping a Faerie escape a few days earlier. His will to combat her charms had been seriously weakened by her fluttering eyelashes and big alligator tears. He’d succumbed to her charm, and Seth and Halli had to hold him down while Johnathan and I sent her back and closed the gateway. Alec was totally embarrassed when the charm broke and he realized what had happened. Of course, we’d been reminding him about it on a regular basis since then.
    The wriggling changeling I carried grew heavier by the second, and as I leaned over to set it beside the Faerie in the pentacle, the blanket caught in my gear belt made from a discarded fanny pack. The changeling unrolled from the blanket and, chittering incessantly, did a sort of lightning-fast monkey crawl out of the circle of the pentacle.
    Standing beside me, Johnathan reached out to grab the horrid little creature before it skittered away. It clamped down on his hand like a needle-toothed vise.
    Johnathan let out a horrendous, bellowing scream. It must have
really
hurt. I’d never heard him do more than grunt when in pain before.
    I was locked in place, horror-stricken.
    Whipping out her channeling rod, Halli aimed it toward the creature’s clenched jaws, “
Release
,” she hissed.
    As soon as Johnathan’s hand was free, Halli followed her first spell with another.
    “
Bind
!” she shouted, as the power of her spell sent orange sparks flying from the tip of her rod.
    I dropped to the rubble-strewn floor next to where Johnathan lay writhing in pain, his injured hand grasped to his chest. “Johnathan! Oh, I’m so sorry! Let me see your hand.”
    “Send them back,” Johnathan spat through gritted teeth. “Now!”
    I scrambled to my feet. Seth grabbed the now-bound changeling and tossed it none too gently into the circle with the Faerie. I removed a stick pin from my belt and pricked my finger, drawing a drop of blood. I touched my finger to the