Page 145 of Stardusted

Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time to marvel over finding out just how much of an alien superhero my bartender coworkerhad turned out to be. The Enil was almost on him. Onus.Heels scrabbling for purchase, I scrambled backward, but Sky didn’t flinch. He didn’t back away.

Instead, he dropped into a ready stance, arms at his sides, knees bent, like a sprinter before the starting gun.

The Enil took one step. Another.

Then Skymoved.

He was a blur of bright blue and dark clothing. A streak moving to meet the creature head on. Another cry caught in my throat, this time a wordless warning. Alarm. Because that was a vicious killer robot and this was Sky, and those claws wereso sharp?—

In between one strobe flash and the next, he disappeared.

He’d vanished.

“What the…” Still wheezing, I shoved myself up to my hands and crab-walked backward, my panic-slicked palms sliding on dust and pieces of ceiling. One hand slipped. I fell onto my elbow, grunting at the stab of pain, unable to look away.

His suit. He’d used his suit’s cloaking ability again.

The Enil seemed just as shocked. It reared back, skidding, joints and gears flexing and whirring. Debris flew as it dug in its metal paws and ground to a halt, chunks of tile rippling out like a wave, its tiny, stupid hands clutching the air. Levers clanked inside its frame when it rotated in place. Its green gaze roved the empty space Sky had occupied a second before.

Sooner or later, it was going to spot me instead. Lying there with my beacon-hand shining away. I needed to get up?—

A blazing, violently churning orb of blue exploded from the darkness, crashing into the Enil’s side. So bright, I threw up a hand to shield my eyes.

Sky.

The blow hurled the roaring creature sideways into the cinderblock. The wall fractured, cracks spreading as the Enilcollapsed into a heap of metal limbs. I covered my head as chunks of tile rained down, dust coating my tongue, blinding me.

When the rocking faded, I risked raising my head, peering through the murk with watering eyes. I couldn’t see anything. Nothing but flashing lights and vague shadows. I rolled onto my hands and knees with my heart hammering against my ribs and hacked up a lungful of dust into my elbow, searching the gloom.

Where was Sky?

A moment passed. Panic began to settle in, and then…There. The world settled enough for me to make out his silhouette in the center of the blown-out hallway, rubble scattered around him like tombstones. His back was to me, and flickering blue and crackling sparks rimmed his outline, clashing with the disorienting strobing. He was a lean silhouette in the middle of it all.

But past him, the Enil dragged itself upright. Still going. Bits of cinderblock slid off its back. One of its tiny chest-limbs hung limp. Sparks burst from its front leg, sizzling like a frayed wire.

But it bared its jagged teeth anyway. As if to say,Nice try, buddy.

Sky raised his hands. A hot current stirred my hair, lifting a wave of goosebumps. A second ball of energy swirled to life between his palms, hovering there.

Hunkered in the hallway, I forgot, for a heartbeat, to be terrified. He was actually wielding lightning. Like freakingThor, no hammer necessary.

The Enil also seemed impressed. It hesitated, those green, alien eyes trained on the roiling sphere. I couldn’t see Sky’s face, but his back was tense, his body coiled. That ball between his hands pulsed and snapped.

The Enil sank low, and Sky eased to the side, keeping it in his sight. Meanwhile, I knelt on the cracked linoleum, afraid to move. Barely daring to breathe.

Then, without warning, Sky flung the fiery orb straight at the Enil, and it detonated like a bomb.

White-blue fire engulfed the world.

I hunched over and shielded my face, choking on a scream as the gust of heated air and grit engulfed me. Through it all, I caught a glimpse of the Enil’s form convulsing, seizing in midair before it crashed in a sparking, smoking heap.

Sky stayed where he was, arms half-raised. Still ready. Static curled off his body like steam.

A second passed. I waited another before I straightened and lowered my arms. My throat was paper-dry.

“Is it dead?” I called over the alarm’s drone, voice hoarse. I’d breathed so much dust.

Sky didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look back, but he did motion to me with one hand, a quick,stay-backgesture.