Clifton went tight-jawed at Madison's almost-comment. He merely nodded.

He set a white-knuckled hand on the side of Madison's chair so he could twist himself to face the rune-bearers. They had so little time that talking was almost meaningless at this point, but he had to throw a 

[Color=6FFFFB]"Remember to stay close to your groups. If you can. You're stronger together," [/color] he said, his voice still deceptively calm. The fact that Amity and Makorai had decided to venture off on their own grated at him. But in his hurry and theirs, there had been no time to stop them. He could only hope they were safe, and that their reckless abandon didn't get Dawn hurt. He cast an apologetic nod at the girl. He would watch her back if nobody else did.

[color=6FFFFB]"And this goes for all of you, but especially if you lack combat experience: hang back. Use your ability at a range, if you can.[/color]

They had arrived at the right road. And there was Makorai. Thank the gods.

Now, hopefully Amity was close. For all he knew she had rocketed to the wrong part of the city and was storming around with no idea of the Jotun's location. Clifton kept talking. There wasn't time to say everything, but he had to fit as much as he could.

[color=6FFFFB]"Jotuns can be outsmarted. You'll go a lot farther with a little guile than a lot of brute strength. We're a lot better off if we can catch it by surprise. Don't just--" [/color]

Makorai's shouting could be heard through the window of the car. The flare went up, casting a crimson glow like a bloody lighthouse.

Or just go ahead and draw the Jotun into face to face combat.

Sure.

So much for stealth.

Clifton climbed out of the passenger's seat and threw open the back of the vehicle.