"Come and get me," Samantha said. She squatted down on the ground and motioned to him with an index finger. Pryde snarled like one of his dogs, his hands curling into fists. He came at Samantha again, fury burning in his eyes.

She leapt into the air as he neared her, rising over his head and twisting in mid-air to land on her feet facing him. She kicked him square in the back, sending him stumbling towards the fountain. For a moment he teetered on the brink and then plunged over the side and into the water.

Pryde tried to raise himself from the fountain, clawing at the sides in desperation. His fingers caught the lip of the fountain, but then shrank into those of a boy scrabbling in the air. He flailed in the water, his anguished screams echoing through the chamber becoming those of an infant. And then silence.

Samantha turned to face Reverend Crane only to find him holding Prudence to his chest as a human shield. At her throat he held Pryde's knife. "One step closer and I will have no choice but to kill your friend."




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