MY HEART PLUMMETED THROUGH MY knees and into my feet. I’d heard that roar before. “Oh my God,” I whispered. “It’s them. The aliens. They’re here.”
The street went silent, the alien presence piercing through the battle as only a new enemy can do.
A moment later, a familiar figure emerged from behind a nearby vehicle: Eden, her arms extended in a gesture of peace. “Cease fire!” she shouted. “Everyone get inside now! And I mean everyone, damn it!”
“Cortez,” snapped Gideon. I pivoted, searching for him, not finding him. “Get behind cover. And the rest of you, ignore that order! We keep going until this is over!”
Eden blinked into the darkness. “If you want to get torn to shreds, be my guest,” she said at last. She spoke clearly and calmly, her voice carrying through the night. “Anyone who feels differently, get inside and get belowground. Now.”
For a moment I thought nothing would happen. Then a stream of people emerged from the perimeter, maybe a half dozen of them. They ran for the building, darting past our once-again invisible forms in their rush for cover.
Eden jumped through the window. I quickly withdrew, feeling behind me until I caught Alexei’s arm. He slipped his hand over my elbow and pulled me against him. We pressed to the wall. Mia breathed unsteadily on Alexei’s other side; his heartbeat thrummed against me. We watched, and we waited.
Sure enough, a moment later another roar echoed through the night—this one closer and louder. A shudder went through me, and Alexei tightened his grip, pulling me closer. I twisted my nails into my own palm, clamping my jaw shut. Silence. We had to stay quiet.
Gideon emerged from the shadows and leaped over the glass. Something moved behind him—not the aliens, though, not yet. Maybe Cage, slipping closer. My heart stilled. Were all of my friends out there, waiting to be torn apart?
Eden and Gideon faced off in the center of the room. “What the hell was that?” Gideon snarled. He spun and kicked a display table. It upended, its contents scattering across the room. Something clattered to his feet, and he stomped on it, grinding it to powder beneath his boot before turning on Eden. “You don’t give the orders around here. I do. Do not ever, ever contradict me again.”
Eden drew her small frame high and straight. “I followed you into that battle, but I’m damned if I’m going to watch the zemdyut kill our people to prove a point.”
“We’ll discuss it later. Get downstairs.”
“No.” She jerked her head toward the street. “We’re taking the newcomers with us.”
Someone moved outside again, and another roar answered the first, seeming to come from the opposite direction. Gideon spun and fired randomly, a different weapon this time, creating tiny explosions where his bullets landed. “Stay back!” he shouted. To Eden, he said, “Get inside.”
“Not without them.”
Gideon’s face twisted into a monstrous scowl. He raised his gun and pointed it at her. “Get inside, Cortez.”
Instead, she took a step forward. “Gideon. I know what you’re going through. I know how much you miss them. Your wife. Your kids.”
His entire body froze. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, each word a dagger.
“I miss my daughter, too. So much. Every day.” She held out a hand, advancing on him. “Gideon, please. Think back. Remember who you were. You keep saying you want everyone safe. How is getting our soldiers slaughtered by the zemdyut going to accomplish that? How is starving in this prison going to save us? It’s time to make changes. Time to take action.”
He leveled a finger in her direction. “Changes get people killed. And this isn’t the time or place to—”
“To leave a bunch of innocent people to die? Is that the man your kids would have wanted you to become? What would Lisa have said?”
“Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth!”
She took another step forward. “I know you’re fighting for our people. I still believe in you, Gideon. Don’t let me down. Drop that gun. Let’s get these people and take them inside. Let’s help them. And just maybe they can help us, too.”
Gideon half hunched, the gun trembling in his hand, still aimed at Eden. His body twitched, his mouth twisted, and he resembled nothing so much as the villain from the first arc of Robo Mecha Dream Girl 5, Yumiko’s mentor she’d worked so desperately to save. I was pretty sure I was watching the same thing play out in real time. Because Eden was not going to be able to convince Gideon. I knew it. By the tension radiating off Alexei and Mia, they did too.
So what did we do? Watch him shoot her? Try to intervene? What?
Just then, the decision was taken out of our hands. Gideon jerked his arm straight and targeted Eden’s forehead. “If you don’t move this second,” he said coldly, his voice solid again, “I will kill you. Anyone else who showed me this kind of disloyalty would be dead on the floor by now. We are out of time and options. Get. Down. Stairs.”
Eden spread her arms wide. “I’m not moving.”
“Then I’m sorry.”
But even as he tightened his grip, another monstrous howl split the night air, this one so loud and so close all of us jerked upright.
Eden recovered first.
It was over almost before I blinked. She flew across the space between them, propelled by her power, and smashed into Gideon. They fell to the floor, struggling. The gun went off, and …
And Eden got to her feet, staring at Gideon’s unmoving form.
My jaw tensed so hard, agony splintered through my neck. I took a half step forward, but Alexei caught my arm. I couldn’t see his face, but the slight tremor in his hand mirrored my own shock and dismay. What we’d just seen … was it self-defense? Murder? Something else altogether?
Without shifting her gaze, Eden said, “Are you here?”
I hesitated barely a second before I stepped forward. “Yes.”
“Call your friends. And help me move Gideon’s body. We don’t have much time.”
“Help you move the body?”
Eden spun on me as I relaxed my invisibility, letting her see me. “If the others find Gideon like this, if they think I killed him, that’ll be the end of any hope we can work together. He still has friends down there. He saved every damn soul in this building. Now stop arguing and help me.”
“I will help.” Alexei stepped forward. “Call to the others.”
As he and Eden dragged Gideon into the road, I ran to the window, trying not to watch their grisly task. “Cage!” I shouted. “Anyone out there! Come quick! We have to get off the streets.”
A second later, Cage replied: “Kenzie?”
“Hurry up!”
“How do we know you’re not being forced to speak?” demanded Priya’s voice.
I threaded my hands through my hair and almost ripped it out in frustration. The aliens were getting closer; we didn’t have time for this.
Mia shoved me aside. “You think anyone’s forcing me to speak?” she shouted. “Get in here or don’t, but those noises you hear are not something you want to encounter.”
A second later, shadows emerged from the far side of the street, Cage and Matt in the forefront. Ahead of them, Alexei and Eden retreated toward the building.
And nearby, now, other shadows emerged: all-too-familiar figures slinking over the tops of buildings, and probably below as well. They were close and getting closer, moving with the speed of sighted creatures even though I knew from experience they were completely blind. My entire body went cold and heavy, and instinctively I reached for Mia, who didn’t complain when I seized her hand. My tongue was so swollen I could barely speak, but at last I managed to cry, “Move! Run! There’s no time, come on, now!”
Eden and Alexei sprinted into the room seconds ahead of the others. “Go,” Eden ordered. She triggered some sort of light on her hip and led us through the room. I glanced over my shoulder, trying for a head count, but it was too dark and we were moving too fast; I could only hope everyone had joined us.
She led us down the stairs and through the door. I staggered to the side with Mia and Lex and took an inventory as my friends poured through behind us: Cage and Rune followed by Reed, Imani, and Jasper, with the remnants of Legion bringing up the rear. I closed my eyes and released a shuddering sigh. They were all here. We’d made it.
Eden slammed the door and wrapped a chain around the handles, securing it with a padlock. She slammed her hand against a button on the wall, and flashing red lights filled the room for a few seconds before it plunged into darkness.
I stood sandwiched between Alexei and Mia. “Nobody move,” Eden whispered, and although her voice wasn’t even loud enough to count as a whisper, it held every note of command. “Nobody make a sound. Nobody so much as breathe.”
Maybe her words were unnecessary. The aliens were blind. They couldn’t know where we’d gone. They’d think we’d vanished. They’d scout the area and go away.
And then from outside came the unmistakable scratch—faint, but present—of claws against concrete.