Glass rained down.
Screams sounded around me. I shoved Putty to the floor and threw myself over her. A splinter of shattered glass sliced across my jacket, narrowly missing my face.
With a crash, the glass roof was tossed away. I jumped to my feet. People cowered on the stone floor. Others were already heading in panic for the gallery door. I saw Jane and Papa staring in shock from the far side of the gallery, but I couldn’t see Mina or Olivia. Where were they?
“Look at that!” Putty said.
The flier that had torn the roof from the gallery was separating into four parts, each held aloft by twin sets of copter blades.
Figures leaped from the sides of the four fliers, landing with thumps into the gallery. At first I thought they were automatons, but then I saw men’s faces staring out through thick glass faceplates.
“Clockwork armor!” Putty shouted in excitement.
One of the men turned to us. He held a compressed-air gun in one armored hand. Cogs whirred as he brought it to bear.
I lunged to one side, dragging Putty with me. A pop sounded as the bullet whizzed past me.
“This way!” someone yelled.
I spun around and saw Olivia waving wildly from behind a statue near one wall. She and Mina had sheltered there. They were all right! Thank heavens.
There were crashes and shouts everywhere. Glass display cases shattered and artifacts tumbled to the floor. Panicked guests raced past. One by one, the four separated fliers lowered themselves through the gaping roof.
I took advantage of the chaos and gave Putty a shove. “Go and help Olivia!”
“Where are you going?”
“To get Jane.”
I sprinted across the room to where Jane, Dr. Guzman, Mr. Davidson, and Papa were pressed against a wall. A fleeing curator slammed into me, knocking me to the floor. I scrambled back up.
“Get out of here!” I yelled, waving wildly. “Get somewhere safe!”
“My artifacts!” Papa wailed. “They’re destroying them. They’re destroying everything again.” He tore at his gray hair.
I reached them, grabbed Papa by the arm, and pulled him toward where Mina, Olivia, and Putty were crouched. “Jane. Come on!”
Jane looked scared, but she wasn’t panicking, unlike Mr. Davidson and Dr. Guzman. She glanced around, checking out the positions of the attackers, then grabbed Papa’s arm and helped me haul him around the edge of the room. Mr. Davidson and Dr. Guzman scuttled after us.
The first flier leveled out ten feet off the floor. Its snake-like arms flailed around, snatching at artifacts and toppling them, adding to the chaos.
Suddenly, Putty darted away from Olivia. Olivia snatched at her and missed. One of the flier’s arms lashed out, but Putty was too fast. She ducked under it and around behind the enormous brass rod-and-ball sculpture.
That would never protect her. A single blow from the flier’s arms would crumple it.
“Take Papa,” I said to Jane. If I slipped under the dragon’s belly, maybe I could reach her.
The flier spun in the air, turning to Putty.
Putty reached for the base of the artifact and pressed something. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the artifact sprang into the air, brass rods spreading like a thousand thin arms, right into the path of the flier. As they collided, the arms clamped tight onto the flier, wrapping around the copter blades. Metal screamed. Cogs jumped.
The flier dropped.
The impact crumpled it. Copter blades plowed into the wall with a shriek.
Then Putty was up and running back to Olivia and Mina.
Papa had stopped dead, his mouth hanging open.
“That’s what it does,” he muttered, rubbing at his eyeglasses.
I grabbed his arm again and we raced for shelter.
“We need to get out of the museum,” Mina said as we reached them. “Outside we can run. Here we’ll be trapped.”
“Not out the front,” I said. “We’d never make it across the square.”
“You think they’re after you?” Mina said.
The other fliers spread across the gallery. The armored men herded the last of the crowd out of the door.
“They’re Dr. Blood’s men,” I said. “He’ll never let us get away. You should get out of here, though. You’ll be safe. We’ll find another way out.”
She gave me a defiant look. “No. I’m not going to leave you to this.”
“You’re not?” I said, staring. I’d given her the key cylinder. She’d gotten what she wanted. She could give it to her dad. Maybe he’d even be grateful. She didn’t have any reason to stay.
“Edward!” Olivia clapped her hands in front of my face. “Wake up!”
I blinked. Dr. Blood’s men were everywhere. In a few moments, we would be completely trapped. My heart was pounding so loud I could barely think. I hadn’t expected Dr. Blood to come after us so quickly and so hard. There had only been two militiamen on the door. They wouldn’t even slow Dr. Blood’s men down. If they’d had any sense, they would have gone for help. If they’d had the chance.
“Get them out the back,” I shouted to Olivia. I pointed at the small curators’ entrance at the far end of the gallery. “Then through the rear of the museum. You can get to the docks. Find Captain Kol. He’ll help you. We’ll slow them down.” I glanced at Mina. “Any ideas?”
“A few,” Mina grunted. “Maybe.”
“Edward,” Putty warned. “Look.”
Balancing on the lip of the roof above us was a single figure. He stood outlined by the bright Lunae Planum sun. Even in the glare, I recognized him, and my heart sank. As if men with clockwork armor and guns weren’t enough.
“Apprentice,” I whispered.
How were we supposed to fight him, too? Apprentice was Dr. Blood’s right-hand man. He wore a cloak covered in hundreds of clockwork bugs that would launch themselves in deadly attack on his command. Where his mouth and nose should have been was a metallic mask, clamped in place by thick staples that dug into the flesh, twisting his face horribly. He absolutely terrified me.
Mina stared at me with shocked eyes. “You know him?”
“He’s not a friend,” I said. “He’s a monster. A killer.”
“God.” She covered her face in her hands.
“It’s all right,” I murmured. “We’ve beaten him before.” Or Freddie had. But I wasn’t about to mention that.
Apprentice took a step forward, off the lip of the roof. His cloak snapped open behind him, stiffening. The hundreds of mechanical bugs attached to it spread their wings, and he lowered through the air as though he were wearing a helichute.
He had changed since I had seen him last. Back then, he’d only had the mask over his mouth and nose, and that had been bad enough. Now he’d added two glittering glass-and-metal half spheres over his eyes. Except they weren’t just goggles. They went through his skin and flesh all the way down to the bone. Just seeing them made me feel sick. I couldn’t imagine how much they must hurt, but Apprentice didn’t show the slightest expression. Maybe he couldn’t under all that metal. My stomach turned over again.
“We need to get out of here,” I said. “Now.”
I ran for the main door, waving my free hand as I ran. Mina and Putty followed. The fliers spun toward us.
Loud clicks sounded from Apprentice’s mask. The armored men swung around to form a line between us and the door. Guns swung smoothly up.
“Back the other way,” I shouted.
“No,” Mina said. She reached into her backpack as she ran, pulling out a cluster of glass balls. They were too small to be photon emission globes, and anyway, something black moved inside them like smoke and water. She threw them just as the first man fired.
The shot snatched at my jacket. I stumbled and almost lost my footing again. We were going to die. They were going to kill us.
The glass balls shattered. Something fine and black sprayed across the men in clockwork armor. Within a second they were slipping and falling in a tangle.
“Micro-oil!” Putty squeaked. “I never thought of using it for that. Papa uses it in his tiniest devices. It has almost no friction.”
The armored men were trying to get up, but they couldn’t get their footing. They slipped and flailed.
“Jump!” Mina said as we ran toward them.
Jump? That was even worse than one of Putty’s plans.
I closed my eyes and jumped.
On Earth, I would never have made it. Even here in Mars’s low gravity, I nearly didn’t. One of the men snatched for me. His fist closed around my trouser leg, but he was still coated in micro-oil. His hand slid free.
I hit the floor and tumbled forward. Behind us, propellers whined, and the fliers came chasing after.
Mina reached the door. “Quickly!” she shouted.
I scrambled to my feet and lunged. Putty grabbed me and hauled me through. Mina slammed the doors shut behind us and dropped the latch.
Something crashed into the doors, shaking them on their hinges.
The main entrance of the museum stood open at the front of the lobby. Bright sunlight shone in from the square beyond. There was no sign of the militia guards.
The doors shook again. This time, one of them cracked. One more blow, maybe two, and that would be it.
“This way,” I said, and headed further into the museum.
Dr. Blood was after the sarcophagus. I had to assume he’d found out where it was kept. Apprentice would head for the storeroom. No matter how thick the door or how strong the lock, he would get through. Dr. Blood would get what he wanted, and then he’d come after us.
“What are we going to do?” Mina yelled.
“We get the sarcophagus before Apprentice does,” I said. “We destroy it. Then they won’t have any reason to come after us. We’ll stop their plan in its tracks.” Whatever that plan was.
I hoped.
The doors behind us burst from their hinges. Propellers beat the still museum air. Heavy metal footsteps sounded on stone.
I took a quick left into a hallway that cut behind an exhibit of artifacts from the tomb of the boy emperor Gre-Eb-Tol.
“They’re coming,” Putty called.
The first flier dipped into the hallway. Its enormous propellers barely cleared the high ceiling. Its sinuous arms trailed across the ancient red rock walls. A second flier followed, and then half a dozen men in automatic armor. Air from the propellers buffeted along the hallway.
“Any more ideas?” I panted.
“Run faster?” Mina said.
“Get to a corner,” Putty said. “They’ll have to slow down or they’ll get stuck.”
The hallway stretched ahead. The nearest corner was nearly thirty yards away. “Great.”
A whir of cogs sounded behind us. Small portholes opened in the lead flier. Spiny spheres, like metal sea urchins, spun from the portholes. I ducked as one whizzed past. It hit the wall, then ricocheted away, bouncing from the floor and ceiling. Putty flung herself to the side.
The sphere smacked into a wooden statue standing on a plinth just ahead of me. The spines dug in. A moment later, the sphere exploded. The shock wave knocked me from my feet. Splinters sprayed overhead.
I scrambled up, feeling dizzy. My feet didn’t want to do what they were told. I stumbled again.
“Keep moving!” Mina said.
More spheres rebounded from side to side. I dodged and ducked. Behind us, the fliers whirred closer.
Mina rolled, reaching into her backpack as she went. She came up with a cylinder in her hand and tossed it into the air. A spray of silvery strips erupted from it, filling the air like gently falling snow, hiding the flier from view.
We dashed around an empty display case pushed against one wall. Sweat was running into my eyes, making them sting. The corridor blurred in front of me. I swiped my sleeve across my eyes and glanced back.
With a whine, the flier emerged from the shower of silvery strips, nosing its way carefully out, but the moment it was free, it sped up. Portholes slid open again.
I darted around the corner, just behind Putty. A sandstone statue of an ancient emperor loomed almost up to the ceiling. The emperor’s features had been worn away by time and the scouring winds, leaving a massive, featureless block of stone. Ten yards beyond, a narrow staircase led down to Dr. Guzman’s storeroom—and the sarcophagus within.
“Let’s tip that into the corridor!” Putty said.
“You’re mad,” I said. “We’ll never move it.” I grabbed her shoulder to shove her onward.
She shook free. “It’s just mechanics. It’ll be easy.”
“Easy? It must weigh tons!”
Putty rolled her eyes. “It’s just like a lever. Push at the right place and it’ll topple.”
“And where’s the right place?” I said.
Putty looked up. “The head.”
I stared at her. The head? “That’s twenty feet up.”
“I’ll do it,” Mina said.
“But—” I started.
“I’m a better climber than you.”
“That’s true,” Putty said. “Edward’s useless at climbing.”
She was right. I’d never get up there in time. But Mina could be killed, and none of this had anything to do with her.
I ground my teeth. “Fine.”
The first flier appeared at the corner, turning carefully on its axis as it maneuvered in the tight space. Mina leaped for the statue, clambering up like it was a ladder.
Putty and I sprinted for the stairway that led down to the storeroom. As we reached it, I glanced back to see Mina climb onto the statue’s shoulders and tie something around it. Beyond, the flier worked free of the corner and started toward us.
Putty grabbed my hand. “Come on.”
Then everything happened at once.
The wall opposite Mina exploded in a shower of stonework. She lost her grip and fell. Great metal arms appeared, ripping away at the wall, widening the gaping hole. Black smoke and steam billowed into the hallway as something shouldered its way through.
“Mina!” I shouted.
She hit the ground with a cry of pain. Fragments of stone spun through the air. I ducked as they ricocheted against me, as hard as punches.
Through the gap in the wall, a gigantic, troll-like machine emerged. Its shoulders took up half its squat body, supporting titanic arms. Steam and smoke pumped from twin chimneys where its head should have been.
With a last heave, it ripped away most of the wall. The ceiling creaked and sagged above us.
The machine shuffled back.
I pulled Putty to her feet. My pulse was pounding so loud in my ears I could hardly hear the grinding machinery and shifting stone. The clouds of dust and smoke clogged my throat and nose. I struggled to drag in enough clean air.
I started toward Mina, but Putty pulled me back.
Figures had appeared in the gap left by the troll-machine. Desperately, I rubbed at my streaming eyes.
Apprentice and half a dozen men in clockwork armor stepped through. He stopped beside Mina’s sprawled body and stared down at her with his strange, metallic eyes. The thousands of button-sized clockwork beetles on his cloak seethed restlessly.
He would kill her! She couldn’t defend herself and she couldn’t get away. She was at his mercy.
I scrambled around for a chunk of stone large enough to throw. My hand closed on one.
Then Apprentice stepped around her, and his men followed.
I stared. He’d let her go? Why? Did we bother him so little that he just didn’t care?
Putty pulled on my hand again. “Come on, Edward!”
Apprentice and his men swung toward us. A stream of clicks emerged from the mask over Apprentice’s mouth, and his men raised their weapons.
Reluctantly, I retreated, backing away from the stairs and the storeroom.
One of the guns spat a bullet in a hiss of compressed air. It smacked into the wall above my head. We stumbled back faster. I pushed Putty behind me.
Without a word, Apprentice turned down the stairs and disappeared from view.
Damnation! I had nothing. No weapons, and no way of stopping him.
The moment Apprentice’s men followed him down, Mina scrambled to her feet and limped over to us.
“He let you go,” I said.
“He let all of us go,” Mina said. She felt her shoulder with long, nimble fingers and winced. “Maybe … maybe he’s not so bad?”
I stared at her. Not so bad? She really must have hit her head too hard.
“I wouldn’t be so sure he’s let us go,” Putty said.
Propellers beat the air. Wearily, I lifted my head. The lead flier dipped down as it accelerated toward us and long, clawed arms reached out.