Page 147 of Stardusted

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered, inching back. Why wouldn’t this thing justdiealready? It was worse than a cockroach.

I risked a glance over my shoulder. I’d almost made it out of the hallway. The common area wasrightthere. We were so close.

But Sky wasn’t running.

No, he pushed off the wall, and electricity ignited and slithered along his arms again, those blue sparks rippling out until he was encased in it. Stray bolts lashed out, striking the walls. The remaining strobe lights and alarms in the hallway erupted with tiny pops, dying in a shower of fading sparks.

Then, before I could blink, he’d leapt straight for the Enil.

Metal shrieked as the creature spun, jaw opening, those teeth and claws gleaming. Sky flung his arm out, and I was deaf to everything but the screech of gears and claws on linoleum and my own strangled scream?—

His blast of electricity went right down the Enil’s mechanical throat. Ropes of energy snaked across the floor, crawling along the walls and ceiling. A strand arced down and struck the ground next to me, scorching tile. Narrowly missing my toes.

I backpedaled, but my eyes were locked on Sky, on the glow swelling around him.From him. Terrifying and awe-inspiring, all at once. I needed to run, but I couldn’t seem to make myself turn?—

The light burst, flaring white. Heat slammed into me like a truck, lifting my feet from the tile. Limbs flailing, I hit the ground hard enough that I nearly bit my tongue off. My tailbone took the brunt of the impact, and the jolt reverberated in every vertebra.

Swearing, I rolled once and came to a stop on my side. The books in my bag jammed into my ribs and spine. I lay there, too stunned to move, facing the hallway.

The air tasted thick and gritty. I couldn’t see a damn thing. A chunk of ceiling crashed down as the structure shuddered ominously. Like it was going to cave any second.

Silence fell, though, filled only by my panting, the distant, still-blaring alarm somewhere in the building’s recesses, and the high-pitched ringing in my ears. In the murky dark, everything was painted in chalky gray, cluttered with drywall pieces and debris.

Nothing moved. No mechanical wolf thing. No Pladian. Nothing.

“Sky?” I called, pushing up onto my elbow.

Smoke shifted, and then…I saw him.

He looked like some kind of avenging angel. Like something otherworldly and dangerous and powerful—which was fitting. It’s exactly what he was. Goosebumps broke out as I slowly sat up, unable to stop from gaping.

He stood over the fallen Enil, breathing hard, his hands at his sides. His shirt was torn across his broad chest, revealing a thin gash beneath, and a fine layer of dust coated his shoulders and tousled hair. But he was standing. Somehow he was still standing.

He swiped the back of his hand over his forehead, shook off dust, and then looked up.

Our eyes met.

Only then did I notice he held something small and metal in his other hand. Orange sparks dripped from it like blood. A piece of the Enil. He’d ripped something out of it. The creature lay in a heap, dark and motionless. The green glow had vanished from its eyes.

He’d done it.

I couldn’t seem to look away. Sky had just taken down an entire alien robotby himself. And he barely seemed ruffled.

I, however, shook like a leaf in a tornado as I pushed to my feet. My knees somehow held. Sky tossed aside the part he held and began to make his way toward me. As he got closer, I realized hewasmoving slower than normal. Like he was running on empty.

Understandably. It was still impressive that he was still standing?—

Another mechanical roar echoed in the distance.

Sky froze. I stiffened, clutching at my middle. Dread iced my veins.

No. No way. There wasanother one?

Then a second sound, another garbled howl. Distorted and unmistakable.

Oh God—two. Those were two distinct noises. TwoEnil.

The cracked floor vibrated beneath my shoes. The air began to hum again, that same, telltale charge skittering over my skin. My hand’s glow intensified.