Rook

the Gestalt in front of her drew his gun and pointed it at her face. She saw the murder in his eyes and felt a moment of pure satisfaction when he found, much to his bewilderment, that he wasn’t able to pull the trigger.
    Oh, yes, that would be me doing that.
    She raised her eyebrows at him then focused and made him throw the gun away, into a distant corner of the room.
    Then, as an afterthought, she made him throw himself in the opposite direction, straight into one of the large floral displays.
    For a moment, everyone in the room was frozen—even Gestalt’sother bodies stared in astonishment. Then the place seemed to explode into action. Across the room there was a shriek as a Gestalt twin backhanded Lady Farrier and shoved one of her Retainers into a waiter. A tray of hors d’oeuvres went flying. The other two siblings pulled out guns and a couple of alarming-looking combat knives, and the sister fired a round into a woman pouring drinks. All three siblings opened their mouths and barked out sharp commands. Myfanwy was too distracted by the sight of the waitress falling dead to the floor to catch all the words, although she did hear
uprising
and
take them
.
    In response, several of the Retainers who were scattered about the room produced weapons and began to move menacingly toward the members of the Court. Three of them darted at Conrad Grantchester. That corner of the room was abruptly engulfed in darkness as the Bishop poured a torrent of inky smoke out of his pores. Ingrid and Anthony were swallowed up in the fog, and Myfanwy caught a glimpse of them being attacked by two other people in purple. She heard coughing, people crashing into one another, and the unmistakable swearing of Joshua Eckhart, confirming that he’d retained all the vocabulary he’d picked up from his deplorable parents. There was the wild slamming sound of gunfire, and everyone ducked.
    Bishop Morales took the hands of her two Retainers and was gone with an abruptness that actually hurt Myfanwy’s eyes.
    The Gestalt brother whom Myfanwy had directed into a large vase of flowers was getting to his knees, dripping water, decorative ferns falling from his shoulders.
Oh, no,
thought Myfanwy,
you’re not getting involved.
She slammed her thoughts down on him and sent him sprawling. Then she pinned his body with her mind, freezing every joint.
    Shantay’s Retainers were down, shot in quick succession by the Gestalt twins, and Myfanwy saw, to her horror, that some Checquy Retainers had actually turned on their Court members. One of Gubbins’s secretaries dragged a wire garrote over his master’s head and set about throttling him. Farrier’s bodyguard had kicked Farrier in the ribs and was now looming over the older lady with a knife. Theroom was filled with people trying to kill one another. Luckily, no one had made any moves toward Myfanwy yet, and she drew back a little.
    Eliza Gestalt was bringing her pistol to bear on Wattleman, and Myfanwy immediately released her hold on Robert, mentally seized the female Gestalt, and froze her as she was taking aim. Behind Myfanwy, the brother got up and started fighting with one of Wattleman’s bodyguards. Myfanwy could feel Gestalt wriggling against her mind, and she clenched her thoughts around the traitorous Rook. Her vision lurched as she looked out of Eliza’s eyes.
    For a few seconds, she could read Eliza’s body. She felt taut muscles, hands callused in unfamiliar ways, and the uncomfortable sensation of her period. Then she drank in even more information. Her legs had been waxed recently, and there were fragments of hors d’oeuvres in the crevices of a back tooth. She could feel the remnants of the injuries the body had picked up over the years: white lines on the knuckles and the backs of the hands, one along her stomach, and the slight ache of scars that had come from claws raked across her back.
    Myfanwy held tight until one of Grantchester’s Retainers kicked her behind her knees, knocking her to the floor and shaking her grip on Eliza. The Retainer stamped on her ankles and she shrieked and involuntarily released Gestalt.
    Eliza blinked her eyes a few times and then turned to the gaping Wattleman and shot him in the head. The old man crumpled, falling into the startled Shantay’s arms. A few meters away, Gubbins was struggling against the garrote clutched in the hands of his Retainer. Myfanwy looked back at the man who’d knocked her down and saw him drawing a long knife