by Everly Frost
As soon as I placed mine, a range of conversations became audible, and I guessed they were coming from underground since my enhanced hearing couldn’t infiltrate the thick rock. I recognized Ruth’s voice among them.
She said, “Arachne, are we secure?”
Arachne’s voice answered, “I finally kicked them out last night.”
Ruth sighed. Her next words took me by surprise.
“Hello, Ava.”
At the mention of my name, the background noise stopped and the airways suddenly became deathly quiet.
“I take it there’s no point hiding anymore.” I removed my facemask, appraising my surroundings to identify where the cameras were located, finding several cleverly concealed in the bark of a nearby tree. Each Starsgardian tower had a wide entryway containing a garden with a tree on one side and a monument on the other. Tower Twenty-Five’s artwork was sleek blue metal curved into the shape of a wave. The tree on the left dripped with pale blue flowers—what appeared to be bluebells—its white bark also tinged the color of the sky.
Naomi closed the gap between us, her appraisal of me as detailed as mine had been of the cameras positioned throughout the garden. Before she could speak, there was a shout in the background and I recognized the voice as Luke’s.
“Ava! You’re alive! How…?”
I pinpointed his voice in the underground because of the way it was slightly muted like Ruth’s had been. She shushed him, but not before he said, “I guess there are a lot of fake deaths going around. My own included.”
Ruth’s response was stern. “Which will be for nothing if you keep talking.”
I swallowed, wishing I had more time to speak with Luke, to tell him everything that had happened and explain it all.
Ruth cleared her throat. “Everyone, it’s time for you to know the truth. Ava Holland is not dead. Not only that, but she’s not alone. The others you see with her are all mortal.”
Noise and voices clamored through the earpiece—gasps and shouts and people asking how and what was going on.
“Quiet, please.” Ruth regained control within seconds and I knew it was because of the trust and respect that her people felt for her. “I understand this is a lot to take in, but for now, I need you to accept this new information and focus on defending our country. Despite what you may think, the mortals are stronger than us in ways you won’t understand. It will be a surprise to you to know that they are our best defense against the invading horde. I know you have questions—but I believe you’ll quickly see what I mean.”
She paused before addressing each of us. “Ava, Quake, Snowboy, Rift. Thank you for coming. All of you. And … for bringing the bears, although I can’t believe my eyes about that.”
Another voice spoke then and it was gentler than ever before. “Ava, I…” Arachne paused. “I’m glad you’re here. We need your help.”
“Thanks,” I said, feeling awkward for the first time. Arachne had never been anything but gruff and obtuse with me. Her heartfelt expression took me by surprise.
I cleared my throat, speaking to both Naomi in front of me and Ruth through the communicator. “For now you need to stay back. We need space to act and we don’t want any collateral damage. Be prepared to move when—if Olander’s army breaks through.”
Michael’s hand found mine, but I turned to him. “Michael, I want you to go inside with Naomi; you’ll be safer there.”
He shook his head, touching his forehead to mine in a stubborn gesture. “You don’t need to protect me, Ava. I’m right where I belong. Right here with you.”
I stole a moment to kiss him. I wanted him beside me while we fought this battle, just as he’d been beside me for so many others. “Okay.”
“Okay.” He smiled.
“You’d better go inside,” I said to Naomi and the two Starsgardians who remained with her. One of them handed Michael a weapon—the same crossbow I’d seen on the footage when the drones had first attacked—and wasted no time disappearing inside the tower with Naomi and the others.
Snowboy, Rift, and Michael gathered around me while Quake dropped a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“I know it costs each of you a lot to be here,” I began. “But it can’t cost your lives. Whatever you do, protect yourselves and each other. If Starsgard falls—or if anything happens to me—go back to our tower with the bears. Take any survivors and make a stronghold there.”
“It won’t come to that.” Quake growled at my shoulder and I placed my hand over his, grateful for his determination.
Snowboy asked, “What’s our plan of action, Ava?”
“Snow first, then shadow, flame, and bears. Quake, I need your strength at all times, but earthquake is our last resort given the potential damage.”
“I understand. Good plan, little sister.” Quake grinned at me before jogging down the path to the open train platform, where he waited in the center.
By then, the snarling vines were louder. We had only a few minutes and I hoped it would be long enough.
Snowboy headed toward the end of the long platform to the left of the tower, jogging past Quake, positioning himself at the very edge of the cliff. He took a moment to approach the moss carefully. If his footing slipped and connected, he needed to be sure it wouldn’t mistake him for an invader—he’d need it to catch him instead. I remembered all that time ago when I’d first arrived in Starsgard, staring over the edge of a train platform into the endless space below wondering how far I’d fall to reach the bottom.
I shook off the remnants of fear.
It was time for snow…
Snowboy drew a deep breath, quietly, intensely, inhaling as his skin became even more translucent than it already was, crystals of ice spreading across his face and down his neck across his chest and arms. He sparkled with it, the light gleaming off him, containing the freeze inside his body. There was a moment of expectation as he stopped inhaling, a moment when even the iridescent snow at his feet appeared dull compared to him. He reminded me of when I’d first seen him. I’d wondered then who this boy was and how he could bear the cold the way he did.
He was the cold. The ice and snow, the pristine mountain peaks, more fierce than a mountain bear.
He exhaled.
As he did so, the air in front of him changed. A snowstorm built around his feet and snowflakes lifted and stuck as he walked, building from the ground upward as he passed by. A wall of ice formed along the cliff’s edge, growing in height and depth until it was taller than a mech and thick enough to withstand the fiercest impact.
He finished within moments. Although the wall was almost impenetrable, it didn’t stretch the entire length of the cliff line. It wouldn’t keep the attackers out indefinitely, but now they would be forced to approach from the side—around the wall’s ends—and expend resources trying to beat down the wall for a more direct attack.
Snowboy swapped places with Quake, who moved to one end of the wall to defend the opening there. Rift and his three shadows stood at the other end, ready to beat back the hordes. Snowboy remained in the middle, prepared to repair any damage that occurred.
I marshaled the bears then, encouraging them forward to stand with Michael and me directly in front of the tower—a final defense line. Nine grunted as he drew nearest, his fur bristling.
The communicator in my ear had gone silent, but not the kind of silence that meant it had been switched off, the kind that meant a thousand people held their breath. Many of them probably couldn’t believe what they’d just seen. All of them were waiting.
A thud beyond the ice wall told me Snowboy had finished building it just in time.
Large, green shapes moved behind the ice, some of them trying to gain purchase against it, others bashing against it without success. Eventually, they’d figure out they needed to go right or left, but for now my greatest concern was the drones.
Up they soared over the top of the wall, a swarm of black beetles bearing across the sky. But not just the black ones this t
ime. A new kind of beetle flew among them: brown in color and smaller, more agile. All of them zipped over the wall, and I sighted across the distance, trying to identify the difference between the two. As they soared closer, I could see that the black beetles carried red darts—mortality bullets like before—but the brown ones carried silver darts.
Silver meant tranquilizers. Worry crept through my bones. Enough tranquilizers could take me and my brothers down. I let the worry feed into my body, letting go of the restraint I carried with me.
My brothers wasted no time launching into action. Rift and his shadows used the same technique the Starsgardians did, leaping from each other’s shoulders to smash the beetles midair, throwing them so hard against the ground and the ice wall that they exploded on impact.
Quake didn’t have the benefit of another’s shoulders, but he could move mountains with a single breath. He exhaled against the drones approaching around his corner, blowing them off course and sending them careering wildly backward, slamming into each other.
Beside me, Michael released the crossbow into the drones flying directly overhead, the violet bomb exploding rays through many of them. The bears didn’t have the height to reach the drones but extended their claws as far as they would go, reaching up with their arms to impale any low-flying bugs.
The main body of drones continued on its path, cannons raised. As they zoomed over our heads, they fired at the side of the tower, tearing a gaping hole in the side of it. They soared around, turning in an arc, ready for another strike. It wouldn’t take many more coordinated strikes to bring the tower down. We needed to hit at the heart of the swarm before that happened.
“Stand back!” I cried.
Snow, shadow, flame…
I ran for the tree, leaping, using it as leverage to jump off the nearest branch across to the side of the tower. The tower glass was cold beneath my hands and feet as I flipped myself back to the top of the tree and from there I leaped with all my strength way up into the air. I soared directly into the middle of the swarming creatures as their cannons reloaded and aimed.
I hesitated only long enough to focus my attack. I had to be careful not to damage the ice wall with my opposing warmth, but it was all about direction.
My hands outstretched, my fingers tingled. I leveled my body parallel with the ground as I soared.
I let go of my control.
A shock wave of heat rocketed outward, slicing through the drones, rippling out like a pebble thrown into a pond. The ones nearest to me evaporated into nothing in the extreme heat, those farther out shattered. Only the drones at the edge remained, buffeted in the force of the explosion, their cannons suddenly trained on me, aiming once more, but this time for me.
The missiles fired. Despite the power tingling in my veins, it would take too long for my energy to rebuild. Mere seconds too long.
“Snow!” I screamed and without me asking, he disappeared from his spot on the ground. There was a roar like the sky itself had ripped apart and in the next instant, his arms closed around me midair, propelling me upward with him.
“I’ve got you.” Snowboy’s whisper was icy against my cheek. As we lifted above them, the missiles exploded into each other below us, consumed in their own fire. I breathed with relief to see that the ice wall was still intact, but now our upward momentum faltered and we began to fall through the flame. Snowboy iced the air around us, chilling me so fast I gasped and shuddered. As we plummeted to earth, Rift’s shadows raced toward us and we broke apart in time for a shadow to grab each of us.
Embraced in one of Rift’s shadows, I let the momentum propel me to the side. I rolled as we hit the ground, scanning the air for the drones. Only a few stragglers remained and those headed back toward the cliff line, regrouping beyond the border. We’d destroyed the rest.
But as I drew to my feet next to the bluebell tree, an explosion rocked the ice wall.
Fractures spread across its surface, thin as threads but growing.
Snowboy raced toward the heart of the impact, attempting to repair it, but the damage was catastrophic and too soon, the cracks spread from top to bottom, side to side, like a shattering star.
From the distance behind the ice, another ball of golden fire sped at it, a golden silhouette growing larger and larger as it approached.
Snowboy was right in front of it.
I shouted. “Snow! Get back!”
In a split second, he was beside me, moving so fast he spun me on the spot. He righted us both and we dropped to the ground together. Nearby, Michael and the bears braced for the impact.
The fireball hit. Chunks of ice burst outward, melting as they spun through the air. The bears stood tall, batting the chunks away as they whistled in all directions.
The ice wall was gone.
So was the roof over the train platform.
Snowboy froze for a moment, his hand freezing cold on my arm. “Now it really begins,” he said, meeting my eyes. “Remember what they did to you, Ava. Remember who you are. Do what you need to do.”
Then he was gone, disappearing to join Quake and Rift on the train platform, ready for the invaders.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
UP OVER THE EDGE of the cliff, men and women wearing bugs surged forward. Vines swung at them, catching their suits, but their bug armor shifted and resealed and they continued to appear, line after line, pushing forward with weapons raised.
They wore a uniform like Hazard officers, covered from head to toe with faces concealed, but their suits were a deeper green to camouflage against the moss and bugs. When they were safely over the edge, bugs dripped from their bodies, piling along the cliff and disappearing into the moss, ready to be used again. Only anchor bugs remained on their suits.
Michael joined me near the tree, taking a moment to assess the attackers in the same way I was.
“Watch out for the tranqs,” I said. “They’re the only things that can take us down. Target the anchor bugs.”
“I’ll be with the bears,” he growled, his eyes icy cold, and I saw in him a reflection of myself, so much fire repressed. But when he looked at me, he smiled, and the ice in his expression changed to fire like mine. It took my breath away.
“Promise me you’ll kiss me when this is all over,” I said, wishing I could reach for him right then.
One corner of his mouth tugged upward. “Under the tree.”
“I’ll meet you there.” My heart thundered in my chest. We would make it through this fight. We had to.
The bears snarled beside us, cunning eyes gleaming with suppressed need. They’d waited too long for a real battle and their inner nature was screaming to be unleashed.
I gritted my teeth as the invaders pushed forward across the train platform. That was all my brothers were waiting for.
With a shriek, Rift’s shadows turned into ghosts, racing toward the Evereachers first, aiming to disorient them. The front line fired back, tranquilizers flying, but Rift’s shadows plucked their weapons from their hands, appearing and reappearing among them. Snowboy followed, icing the soldiers nearest to him, freezing them to the spot, zipping around, plucking their weapons and using them to tranquilize anyone who came near him. Quake thudded in the other direction toward the metal statue. He wrenched the giant wave from its foundations and flung it at the left wing of the approaching invaders. Some of them ducked—just in time—but others collapsed, tumbling backward.
Still more Evereachers appeared to take their place, swarming over the cliff’s edge, strewing bugs as they went.
It was time for the bears.
I gave Nine a nod and he roared, showing all his teeth. Michael joined him, man and bear, shouting a challenge at the invaders, and the breath stuck in my throat at the sight. Then they were off, plummeting down the pathway together with the other bears streaming in from the sides, pushing the attackers back.
The clearing filled with claws and teeth. The soldiers screamed, but I couldn’t afford to feel sorry for them. The bear’s
attack was ruthless and without mercy. And eerily efficient, disposing of every kill over the side of the cliff. My shadows joined them, taking the shape of nightmarish creatures with sharp tails, but I kept my position beside the tree, assessing our position and strategizing our next move. While Michael and the bears kept the central attack under control, Snowboy and Rift fought off the attackers coming in from the far right while Quake held off the left.
When a small line of Evereachers broke through a gap, heading toward me up the pathway, I was ready for the fight, but a flock of Starsgardian flower drones lifted up from the garden beside me, sailing over the attackers, shooting them with slumber potion. It knocked them out on the spot and all I had to do was throw them over the cliff. With my increased strength, it wasn’t hard to hurl them over the top of the fighters—but not before crushing the anchor bugs on their suits so they couldn’t be used for others to climb up.
Still, no matter how ferocious our defense, more of them could slip through.
“Ruth,” I whispered. “I don’t want to take any chances. Your people need to defend the tower behind me.”
“Understood. They’re on their way.”
Starsgardians quickly filled the spaces around the tower and along the paths beside it and began taking aim at the invaders, knocking them out with what appeared to be slumber darts. They moved so fast that my brothers took up the job of throwing the unconscious invaders back. A hundred Evereachers quickly became fifty. The tide was turning in our favor…
Clanking at the cliff line told me something new was approaching.
Ten enormous mechs shot over the edge, landing with a thud, each armed with a missile launcher.
Suddenly, our focus was not the people, but the machines. Nine of them were empty, controlled from beyond, but one of them carried a person inside it.
That one ascended the path toward the tower as the others created cover, evading the bears as they tried to claw and bite it. The bears’ attacks sailed through the ever-moving bugs, destroying individual bugs, but not the machine.