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What was equally alarming was how unreasonable Gregor was being. Troy was right; there was no way to increase the number of boys he could kidnap other than sneaking them from their homes. What did Gregor expect?

“Let’s begin.” He held out his hand toward his son. “Bring me the knife.”

Troy nodded and went to a duffle bag in the corner of the room. He pulled out a surprisingly plain-looking dagger and brought it back. Gregor took the blade and raised it, chanting in a language I didn’t understand. The cavern filled with static electricity, like a storm was about to touch down.

He flourished the blade as he slowly moved behind the boys, still chanting. They were all trembling; some had even wet themselves. If either Troy or Gregor noticed, they didn’t care, but the pungent stench heightened the horror of what was about to happen.

Gregor stood behind a boy whose red hair glowed orange in the firelight. After speaking a few more words, his hand lashed out, gripping the boy by his chin. He