“Have no fear!” Silver shouted, leaping onto a convenient table, bestriding a centrepiece of oysters. “The powers of my kind shall scourge these creatures back to the slime from which they crawled—” Amazing grammar in a crisis, Irene couldn’t help noticing. “Behold!” Silver raised his hand. Fire flared round his fingers dramatically, then leapt to strike the alligators in burning orange whips. It fizzled. There was no other word for it. The flames drooped and went out as if they’d been doused with cold water, leaving the alligators to rumble forward undeterred.
