Chapter 21
Fighting Through

My tattered sleeves flapped against my arms as the roof opened for a fourth time. The wind was picking up, and the storm overhead was worsening. I rubbed my palms against my hips to clean them off. I could feel my tights underneath through my ripped pants.

Vicky wasn’t doing as well, but she was toughing it out. Her hip had a nasty bite. I worried it would turn into an infection without some medicine soon.

"Stop looking at it," I said. "Can you still walk?"

"It’s stiff, but I should be okay."

"That lizard thing . . . it came out of nowhere."

"Get the next one." Vicky tapped her blade against the railing of the walkway. "I’m ready. Our guard is still solid."

The creatures had pushed us up the ramp and down the walkway. The courtyard held a few dozen trolls, lizards, and furry maniacs. The girls were in three rooms now. Joey, Madison, and Rhiannon had their backs to us on the other side of the walkway. The other girls were in the doorways. Our guard was holding . . . since I had started to cooperate. We were much stronger as a team.

"Where’s Pirra?" Vicky asked for the hundredth time.

"How should I know? The worm’s dead, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah."

A lizard dropped from above us. The nasty green-and-brown thing tapped along the walkway like a dancer. It looked foolish, but its quickness was exceptional. When I slashed at it, it jumped into the air to avoid my blade. Vicky swung her short sword and connected with the lizard hard across its body. The shock twitched it, and it slammed against the railing.

The whiplike tail lashed my thigh. I stumbled badly, and my hip hit the railing. I fell over the edge, but not before I grabbed the lizard and brought it with me.

I fell against a table, and the lizard slammed on top of me, its slimy skin rubbing against my face, sliding past my lips. I could taste its salty skin. I punched it in the head. It swung its claws, but I pushed it to the ground before it could connect. It fell on its back, thrashing.

Twisting off the table to my feet, I stomped its neck with my foot. Helen came out of nowhere and ended its life with a stab against its head with the shock blade.

"Thanks."

"More pods are coming!" Helen shouted. She was alone, and this scared me because Bethany had been at her side the entire time. "Last ones!"

"That’s good to know." The trolls, lizards, and furry maniacs had taken a lot out of us. I was ready for this to be over.

"At least, I think this will be the last of them," Helen added.

"You aren’t sure? I don’t like the sound of that."

"You’re here, so they might add a special gift. It’s why I was so mad at you. I thought you might be a bad omen."

Another furry maniac came at us. It resembled a raccoon with a brown-and-yellow coat. It looked cute when it stayed still, only it didn’t stay still for very long. It came at us with a set of long claws and dripping fangs.

Its cackles let me know it wanted to play. About an hour before, Vicky and I had tangled with three of them making the same noises. They took turns scratching our legs. One by one, though, we ended the laughs.

This maniac came at me first. I tried to avoid its claws, but it took a tuft of my hair.

"Those suckers have sharp claws." I swung my blade but missed it.

"Not very smart, though." Helen laughed at it. "Silly fur ball."

Hating the taunting, it twirled around several times, whipping itself into a terrible frenzy. Helen laughed again, but it was a fake laugh. She was doing it on purpose.

"What’re you doing?"

"Stay quiet."

The maniac stopped for a quick second. Its fur stood up on end, and it jumped toward Helen.

Helen stepped to one side, extended her hand, and caught the animal by the neck. She threw it down on the ground and hit it with her small stun dagger. The animal fell silent.

"Wow!" I said. "That was cool."

"Maniacs hate being teased. I don’t know how they know it’s teasing, but they do, and they hate it. They always go for the heart when you do it. Predictable."

"I see. Where’s Bethany?"

Helen averted her gaze. "We’ve many more creatures to take care of."

"We? I’m a guard. Where’s Bethany?"

"The pods are coming down," she said. "Come with me. Let’s hope the Sephians are kind to us."

My thoughts left Bethany and moved back to us. I’d have to help Helen, and maybe we could survive this ordeal without any more losses.

The ship dropped four pods to the ground again, and the ground shuddered mightily with each landing. These were large pods, and I prayed they weren’t filled with razor beasts. We’d be dead if they were. Then again, maybe I wanted razor beasts because it could be worse.

The first pod popped open, and I’d never been so surprised in my life.

"Pirra! Timi!"

They stumbled into the middle of the courtyard, clearly dazed. I started to run toward them but stopped suddenly as the other pods unfolded. Inside, giant black mantises striped with lime green uncoiled from their tucked position. The insects rose fifteen feet into the air, towering over Helen and me. Their pronged fangs clicked together, making a ghastly sound. Their two grasping, spiked forelegs swung back and forth.

Pirra and Timi used their stun guns to fire several shots into the hard skeletons of the mantises, but it had no effect.

"I thought insects couldn’t grow that big!" I shouted at Helen.

"Sephia is where the impossible happens. Who’re Pirra and Timi?"

"Pirra is my sister. Timi is her sister."

"So . . . Timi isn’t your sister?"

"No . . . well, sorta," I said. "She is. It isn’t easy to explain."

"Nothing ever is with you. Let’s rescue them." Helen led the charge to get to Pirra and Timi. We swung our short swords, beating back the creatures until we eventually reached the girls.

The insects, which were moving away from us, looked scared, and I didn’t understand it. Every creature so far had attacked quickly.

"What’re they doing?" I asked Pirra.

She took the sword from me, and I took her stun gun. "Mantises need to make a nest. They’ll attack violently soon enough."

"It’s good to see you," I said. "Did you bring the power supply?"

"Timi has it," she said. "You’re lucky I was able to get aboard the ship."

"Did Haran help?"

"No. I told Haran the plan, and he wouldn’t help. He threatened to stop me if I tried."

My heart broke hearing Haran didn’t want to help me. I really thought he loved me. I loved him. "I might’ve gotten him in trouble. I don’t blame him."

"You have others who love you. Timi and I used some Martian tech to get on the ship, sneak in, and rearrange pods."

"I’m so glad. We’ll be back on Mars shortly."

"Where’s the spacegate?"

"There!" I pointed toward the statue in the middle. "The power outlets are at the top."

Pirra’s face twisted in frustration. "You mean the spot where the mantises are making their nests?"

My shoulders dropped in defeat. "Um . . . yeah."