The lightning, both Dorian's and the Gamemakers', hits Tom too, and the resultant shriek seems to lurch out of the earth like a belch, sudden and gusting. Tom's thrown from atop Dorian, and moments later Maxwell is atop him, slashing with his knife. Tom claws at him, but he's disoriented, his pain spread out not just over his body but throughout all the plants around them, across the miles of timberland.

"I'll kill you!" he howls, no longer snide and taunting but purely furious, vicious, aiming his clawed fingers like stakes for Maxwell's gut while roots and vines try to pull Maxwell's head back so Tom can get a clear shot at his throat. On the ground, creepers and roots start to wrap around Dorian's throat.