They were stuck in a room with dozens of Saws. Saws in the walls, on the ground, in the doorways.

Carly counted six full-grown Saws at first glance, plus a mess of smaller ones. Tiny tunnels wove in and out everywhere. The littlest Saws wriggled like worms around the cavern.

Little might not have been the best word. They were small for Saws, but still huge compared to the humans in their midst. The smallest ones were four or five feet tall—about the same height as Carly.

Saws slithering. Saws chewing. Saws drinking, from a small lake nested at one side of the cavern. They lay on the pebbles and slurped lazily while a small contingent of Stingers assaulted them from above. It looked like they were doing whatever the underground Saw equivalent of sunning themselves might be.

The new generation of Saws had chewed out a small network of caves in the rock. Big enough for a human to enter, perhaps, but not a Weaver. The cavern that had looked spacious on the map was much more of an obstacle course in real life.

“No!” Chris exclaimed. He jerked Knight’s reins upward. Niko wasn’t expecting the sudden movement. He lost his grip and slid right off the Weaver’s back, landing smack in the middle of a circle of small Saws.

Niko shook off the pain of the fall and dragged himself to his feet. He found himself face to face with the young Saws. They were learning to work their jaws through trial and error. They gnashed them in no particular direction.

He spun in a circle, looking for a way out. He was surrounded.

The youngest Saws’ cries sounded like an infant rattle, like several dozen throats gargling stones they hadn’t yet learned how to swallow.

He had nothing with which to fend them off.

Chris swooped overhead on Knight. The circle of Saws was too small for the Weaver to land.

Chris drew the sword from his sideboard and stabbed at a little Saw’s snapping jaw. It ground its teeth in agony and flailed closer to one of its brothers, allowing space in the circle. Niko darted through, headed for the smaller tunnels.

“Stab them,” Chris called to the others. “They’ll be confused. But they’ll also regenerate. And fast!”

“We have to help Niko!” Carly cried. She landed Thunder at the edge of the cavern and dismounted. She hesitated only a moment before she pulled the long sword from the saddle sheath. Siena grabbed hold of the opposite one.

“Let’s try to clear him a path from the tunnel to the door,” Carly said. “But…”

“We’ll have to work together,” Siena agreed. The two girls met each other’s eyes. In a life-or-death situation, the competition between their ships shouldn’t matter.

“Here goes nothing.” Carly held the sword tightly and ran back into the den.

It was much too hard to fly around in the den. Too many rocky obstacles. Gabriel and Chris landed their Weavers too.

Niko had run all the way back through the small tunnels toward the lake. He was running in the wrong direction, but who could blame him? He was preoccupied by goal number one: do not get eaten.

It was up to the others to help him find his way out. And it was going to take a hefty dose of teamwork.

Niko reached the edge of the cavern’s small lake before he realized he needed to turn around. Stingers flitted by, and he dove for safety in a drier part of the cavern.

The others worked their way across the room, dodging and slicing through baby Saws to get to Niko. They all tried to help make a path out for him, but they got cornered by a massive Saw.

Before long, the Voyagers stood back to back, fighting in a circle. They dodged and parried, moving wherever they could to stay alive. Chris ran bravely to and fro among the Saws swirling, slicing and then trying to roll them away.

The large Saw was about to become the real problem. It slithered right toward the ailing smaller ones, looming over Chris. The Saw was fifteen feet tall, with a maw the size of an average living room. They could’ve all sat down to dinner in its mouth, Gabriel thought, and he laughed out loud at the sudden image. The crazy kind of laugh. The “we’re all about to die” kind of laugh.

The Saw’s tail extended easily eighty feet, and it was partly coiled, to boot. It was thick and long, sealing off the exit with its bulk.

None of their swords were long enough to even hope to strike its head. All they could do was jab and prick, and it only seemed to make the Saw grow angry. They teased it in tandem from all sides.

Stab, dodge.

Stab, dodge. Finally the rhythm started to move her away from the tunnel. The small ones wriggled away toward safety, as if responding to some warning.

Now the Voyagers had the largest Saw surrounded.

Suddenly, Ravi realized that he, Siena, and Niko were all on the tunnel side of the mother Saw.

The Omegas could get out. Safely.

—

Ravi grabbed Siena’s arm and tugged her toward the tunnels. “Run!” he shouted to Niko. “We gotta get out of here.”

Niko took in the situation. His head was spinning from the rapid pace of battle. He’d gotten a few good swipes in on that massive Saw’s tail, but Ravi was right. It was time to go.

Niko stumbled dizzily toward the exit. His head was slightly pounding from all the exertion.

“But—the Alpha team,” Siena cried as her crewmates urged her back into the tunnels. It was wrong to leave them behind in such peril.

“Forget them,” Ravi said. “We’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

The three Omega team members raced into the tunnels on foot. It was not ideal compared to riding the Weavers. And there were Weavers right there for the taking.

“Come on,” Ravi said, grabbing Barrel’s reins. “Let’s use these.”

“No way,” Siena said. “How will the Alphas get back? We have to wait for them.”

“We were fine on foot and they will be too,” Niko said. He hopped onto Knight.

Siena turned toward the third Weaver. It gazed patiently back at her.

“Get on with me, if you want,” Niko said. “The faster we get out of here the better.”

Siena turned back toward the mouth of the Saw den. Guilt stole over her. Carly and Gabriel were surrounded.

“Hey.” Ravi held up two bags of Stingers—his and Siena’s. “I’ve got the goods, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He had seen her bag on the ground and picked them up during the Saw fight.

“Come on, or we’ll have to leave you too,” Ravi urged.

Moment of truth. Siena could run back into the Saw den and help the Alphas.

And possibly die.

Or, what if, in the end, they wouldn’t let her join them?

Siena ran up alongside Niko’s mount, which was Knight. She vaulted herself into the saddle behind him. “No reason to leave them totally stranded,” she said. Guilt and shame strapped her heart. It was so, so wrong to leave their friends behind like this. Enemies, not friends, Siena tried to remind herself. But the idea wouldn’t quite sink in.

The Omega crew flew off into the darkness. The metallic gnashing of Saw teeth faded into the background.

—

Back in the Saw den, the gnashing remained a very urgent problem for the Alpha team. Alone now, with no one to distract the large Saw from the other side, it closed in on them. Chris stumbled toward its tail, hoping to find a narrow spot to slice. Maybe he could get her to turn all the way around. But her coils made her tail thick. His sword strikes didn’t seem to be affecting her at all.

Carly and Gabriel ran from the huge snapping jaws. They staggered toward the smaller tunnels, breathless. But they couldn’t go too far too fast; a mess of small Saws waited right up ahead.

Worse—as if it needed to get worse—a flock of Stingers swirled down at them.

“We’re too close to the water,” Gabriel observed. He could feel the slickness of moisture on his skin.

“What do you suggest we do about it?” Carly cried. The small Saws were in front of them, gnashing innocently around for something to sink their teeth into.

“Get back to the dry part of the cavern!”

“Easier said than done,” Carly grumbled, brandishing her sword. She turned around, ready to face the larger Saw again.

Carly slid on the pebbles. She fell onto her back with a thump that knocked her breath away. The sword clattered to the ground beside her. She stretched, but it was just out of reach. A small Saw slithered right on top of it, grinding it down into the bed of jewels.

Carly jerked her hand back.

The large Saw nudged the young one out of the way and closed in on them.

The Saw’s teeth snapped with the usual amount of menace. Close up, it was like looking into the mouth of a garbage crushing machine. Rows of teeth, going back as far as Carly could see.

Beside her, Gabriel instinctively curled away from the biting jaws. Stingers were close now. No foam suit to protect him this time. The death sting would come at any second.

Carly and Gabriel looked at each other, one last desperate glance.

It was over.

All was lost.

“Aieeeechwagrrle!” The harsh chortling sound of dogs in a cement mixer echoed through the cavern. The air stirred with the fresh beat of Weaver wings. The flock of Stingers spiraled upward, retreating toward the highest reaches of the cavern. The Saws slithered away toward the water, sensing a danger they could not see.

The largest Saw hissed in agony as it was stabbed by swift, deep blade strikes from above. It reared its head and then flopped to the side.

Carly and Gabriel scrambled toward safety as Colonel Ramos, brandishing one long silver sword in each hand, swooped through the chamber on the back of the eldest Weaver, Storm.