VIOLET CRIED OUT again, breaking us from our stare down. The banti jumped off her chest and gave me a look of pure malice before his shape began to blur.
Oh, no. If he escaped, I’d never catch him, and I was not going to fail this job. Leaping across the bed, I sprawled over Violet’s legs and brought the net down over him. The second he was inside the net, I yanked on a string along the handle, and the opening of the net closed, trapping him.
The banti began to screech and thrash weakly in the net, but the thin iron threads sewn into the mesh prevented him from changing form and escaping. At the same time, Violet woke up screaming like the devil himself was after her. She wriggled out from beneath me and scrambled off the other side of the bed.
“Oh, my God!” She swiped at her face and c
