The corridors of the Light Blade echoed eerily with the rest of the crew away. Anna stalked toward a narrow metal door near the engine room and flung it open. “How about in here?” she said. The small supply closet was just big enough for the two of them to step in and turn around.

Colin frowned, surveying the space thoughtfully. “Yes, that seems fine.”

“The rest of the crew will never have to know,” Anna added.

“I don’t see why—” Colin began.

“You’ve lived on Earth,” Anna snapped, cutting him off. “Surely you’re familiar with the concept of an insurance policy.”

“Indeed.” Colin nodded. “I was going to say, I don’t see why it needs to be kept from the crew.”

Anna struggled to conceal the shadow of doubt that crossed her face. “They may not understand the need for such measures,” she said. “It is not exactly playing fair.”

“It’s a competition,” Colin reminded her. “We do what it takes to win.”

“We do what it takes,” Anna echoed. The Alpha team had one major advantage over the Omegas right now. As soon as that threat was neutralized, the Omega team leader would be able to breathe easier. Dash Conroy acted gallant enough, but if push came to shove…well, he couldn’t be trusted.

Anna eased back into the corridor with Colin and locked the closet door behind them. The most important thing was getting her crew home alive.

—

“It must be the Omega crew,” Carly said, looking at the half-empty Weaver stable. The three remaining steeds gallop-flew faster and more swoopingly now that they had more space to maneuver. They looked incredibly majestic. Carly’s fingers itched to hold the reins and ride.

“Dang it, the Omegas are going to beat us to the Stinger spores,” Gabriel complained.

“There are plenty to go around,” Chris said. “Trust me. That’s not the problem.”

“The problem is if you get stung,” Colonel Ramos reminded them cheerfully. “If you do, try to get back here, so I can observe how the Stinger serum reacts in humans.”

“Oh, sure,” Gabriel said. “No problem. You can record each moment of our agonizing deaths in great detail.”

“With pleasure,” the Colonel agreed.

Carly laughed, but a chill went down her spine at the same time.

Colonel Ramos let loose three low whistles. The Weavers swooped down and lined up in front of him. They dipped and tossed their manes. They pawed their ghostly hooves.

The colonel brushed the mane of each steed with his long, slender fingers. “Thunder. Barrel. Knight.”

Thunder was the one Carly favored. He was the tallest of the three. He had thick dark hair and his oval eyes glowed gently in the lamplight.

Gabriel moved toward Barrel. He was shorter and thicker through the middle. His stout legs shimmied as he stood in place, waiting. He nudged Gabriel’s stomach with his nose.

That left Knight for Chris. The third horse seemed almost shy. He kept ducking his head and tilting away from the hands that reached out to stroke him.

Carly brought the saddles down one by one from the wall. They were as ethereally light as the Weavers’ wings. Gabriel and Chris helped lash them in place over the Weavers’ backs. They clipped on riding helmets. All three of them had to tighten the chin straps considerably. Jackals all must’ve had very long faces!

The horses stood still as the crew saddled up for the tunnels.

“Don’t forget your swords,” Colonel Ramos said. Chris brought over a pair of swords for each rider.

“Do we really need those?” Carly asked.

Colonel Ramos barked a laugh. He made no further comment.

Carly eyed the swords warily. The wicked blades intimidated her. Now that they had the maps, evading Saws should be the game plan. She looked at Gabriel. Surely he’d agree.

“Better safe than sorry,” Gabriel said with a shrug.

Chris slid each of the six blades into the scabbards. They hung through, pointing down in front of the Weavers’ wings.

The Weavers stood patiently as the riders climbed on. Carly and Gabriel had to reach above their heads to grasp the saddles and haul themselves up. Chris mounted smoothly, as if he’d been doing it for years. Carly wondered how long he’d spent here when he passed through the first time.

Colonel Ramos stood alongside and spouted riding advice. “Keep your knees tucked in. Gentle pressure on the reins.”

“Here we go,” Carly said, nudging Thunder toward the mouth of the tunnel. His eyes brightened as he trotted closer to the dark hall. Carly immediately knew the Weaver eyes would allow for much better visibility than her small flashlight had.

“Good luck,” Colonel Ramos said. “Perhaps I’ll see some of you again.”

“Yup, it’s official,” Gabriel said. “You, sir, definitely have a future as a motivational speaker.”

Chris and Carly laughed. Colonel Ramos, of course, made note of the observation.

“We’ll see you,” Chris said. “Count on it.”

The three riders nudged their mounts, and the horselike creatures took flight.

“Whee!” Carly cried. Her Weaver’s wings stirred the air. The breeze lifted her hair off her neck, and as she tugged the reins, the black horse dipped and tilted according to her whim. She could feel the creature’s wildness, its spirit, but the Jackals had them impeccably trained. “This is amazing!”

Gabriel sat atop his horse, steady but uneasy. He clutched the reins with one hand and held the other loosely at his side. Chris held himself rigidly in the saddle, craning his neck left and right.

“Ready?” Carly asked, swooping ahead of the guys.

“Let’s do it,” Gabriel said.

They flew into the darkness.

—

The Weavers’ glowing eyes lit the path ahead. Thunder’s “headlight” beams washed over the scarred stone walls with the subtlety of oil-lamp light. It wasn’t just like the effect of a stronger flashlight. The tunnels simply seemed to glow with light.

They rode three abreast for a short while, until the tunnel narrowed.

Gabriel nodded to Chris. “You lead us in. I’ll lead us out.”

“Go ahead,” Carly said, reining in Thunder to allow Chris on Knight to go first, as they’d agreed.

Chris loosened the reins, and Knight charged ahead. Knight had the brightest eyes, and his shyness faded as he strained to get ahead of the others.

“The caverns have changed so much,” Chris called. “It’s nothing like I remember, and nothing like the map.” His raised voice carried clearly, echoing off the stone walls. It was a bit like talking in a vortex, with sound being snatched and swirled and lifted by the Weavers’ wind.

“Ramos warned us,” Carly said. “The maps are out of date.”

“And constantly changing,” Gabriel said. His MTB lit up with the Saws’ moving dots. Carly’s adapted program seemed to be working. That, at least, was a good sign.

Some of the tunnels were as wide as a freeway, while others were as narrow as a country lane. Some vaulted high like church ceilings, while others were short and narrow.

I wouldn’t want to meet the Saw that chewed its way up there, Gabriel thought as they flew through a high but narrow passageway. It was tall enough for the three Weavers to ride through stacked one above the other. Soon, the ceiling sloped back down and they were flying single file again.

Thunder instinctively avoided tunnels with Saws. Carly wasn’t sure how he knew—if he heard or smelled or sensed the eels somehow. He would often snuffle or whinny an instant before Chris’s tag pinged or Gabriel called out a course correction.

Which…hadn’t happened recently, Carly realized.

Gabriel had been uncharacteristically quiet for a while now. Carly looked over her shoulder to make sure he was still behind her.

He was…sort of.

Gabriel was not flying straight. At all. The headlights on his Weaver zigged and zagged back and forth across the tunnel as he practically bounced off the walls.

“You okay back there?” Carly called.

“I’m good.”

It didn’t look like it to Carly.

“Maybe you’re holding the reins too tight?” she suggested.

“I’m doing this on purpose,” Gabriel called to her. “Don’t worry about me.”

I’ll bet, Carly thought. But she didn’t say anything else. Riding a horse wasn’t exactly easy, she knew. Let alone a flying one. She didn’t want to make Gabriel feel bad.

Gabriel continued his epic swooping, touching each wall as often as he could. It would be too hard to explain his plan in flight. Carly would understand soon enough.

Even though Chris was in the lead on Knight, Thunder seemed to be the senior Weaver. He whinnied and snuffled from time to time, and when he did so, Knight would instantly change course. The horses seemed to be communicating with each other on a level their riders couldn’t understand. There was an order to things, in the Weaver world, apparently.

Thunder reared up suddenly, clearing his throat. They were approaching a Y, where the cave split yet again.

“Saws!” Gabriel called. “In both directions!” He could see the trajectory of two eels on his MTB. One was headed this way, coming straight down the right-hand tunnel toward them.

The left-hand tunnel looked clear for the moment. Gabriel studied his map again. The second Saw appeared to be in a side tunnel that would soon intersect with the main tunnel. And the image he was looking at could be several minutes old—there was no way to tell how far the Saw had gotten since then. If they went left, they could fly directly into its path.

The lanyard on Chris’s chest pinged softly. Then louder. And louder.

“Retreat!” Carly shouted.

“But there’s a cavern just ahead,” Chris answered. Down the left-hand tunnel, he could see the glistening lake.

“Can we get there before the Saw crosses?” Gabriel asked. On the map, it looked tight.

“We have to try,” Chris decided. He nudged Knight to take the left turn.

Thunder followed reluctantly. He whinnied a warning as he flew. “I know, boy,” Carly whispered. “We’ll be careful.”

It was worth the risk, possibly. The deeper they went into the tunnels, the more likely they were to get hopelessly lost. The water ahead glittered with promise.

But the tunnel was long. Longer than a football field, Gabriel figured. Halfway down, a second tunnel dead-ended into theirs. The Saw could be coming out of that hole at any moment.

Chris flew by the tunnel first. His lanyard emitted a loud, sustained pulse. He turned to look down the tunnel.

“It’s close,” he shouted. “Hurry!”

Thunder flapped harder than ever. He surged forward.

Carly didn’t need to turn her head to look. The Saw arrived, just as she reached the intersection.

Snap.