straight up.
âNo! I told you donât under any circumstances!â Paul shouted.
The Sentinel screamed again, a sound like razor-sharp icicles, and then dove toward us. It moved like fluid, and it was on us before we could move. As it blurred down I could almost make out its features, a flow of robes, impossibly long hair trailing behind it like a comet tail.
It hit the guard whoâd fired in a burst of light. He barely got out a scream before the Sentinel crushed him, literally smashed right through him in a liquid explosion of light, and then out his back and on down through the bridge. The stone exploded and the screaming soldier tumbled out of sight. Others opened fire at the slithering light, but only for a second, as the bridge began to crumble and fall away.
âGet off!â Paul shouted. He grabbed Mateuâs arm and ran.
I started after him with everyone else. Two of the guards fell screaming. One was picked off by the Sentinel, another shoved over the side by Francine.
âOwen!â
I turned back and saw Lilly hanging on to Evan as the rock crumbled away around them. And in the moment that I paused the bridge beneath me collapsed and we plunged into darkness.
I heard screams, saw Emiliano falling, too, and looked for Lilly, but rock rained around me. A chunk slammed me in the shoulder. White light blurred. I felt the rush of cold air, then the breath of heat from below. Darkness became complete. I flailed my arms uselessly. What was at the bottom of this chasm? Iâd be dead the moment I found out.
âQii-Farr-saaan . â A hand grabbed my arm. âHang on to me!â Lilly shouted. Her glowing form shot by me. I gripped her wrist as she flew sideways and banked upward. â Nnnn! â she cried through gritted teeth, holding me with one hand and Evan with the other, straining but dragging us out of the chasm.
I distantly heard the echoes of gunshots, the banshee screams of the Sentinel. Iâd seen Emiliano fall, but what had happened to Paul and the rest of them?
Lilly brought us up past the remains of the bridge, back up the wide staircase and into the hall, leaving the fray behind. âWeâll go back out the way we came in . . . ,â she said, her words labored. She followed the arc of the passageway, and my back scraped against stone. âSorry!â she called. âAlmostââ
The screaming of the Sentinel chased us down like a missile.
It slammed into us, throwing Lilly off course and we hit the wall and then tumbled to the floor. My right arm caught under me and I heard a snap like a tree branch breaking and then a wicked, numbing pain burst up and down my arm. Spots exploded in my eyes.
Everything seemed to get quiet. I faintly heard the pop of gunshots like they were miles away. I looked over, the world sideways, and saw one of Paulâs soldiers, covered in dust, aiming one of the strange guns with the radar dish at the end. Pulses of high-pitched sound surged from it, but the Sentinelâs cry drowned it out.
She swooped down and punched through the soldierâs chest, exiting out the other side in a fountain of white light. The soldier crumpled, gun clattering to the ground.
âOwen, come on . . .â I looked up, found Lilly tugging on my shoulder, and saw Evan staggering to his feet. I looked down at my other arm and saw that my wrist was flipped around, bent at the wrong angle like it had been put on backward. More white spots, more pain like a flood over me . . .
The Sentinelâs scream snapped me out of it. I saw the light bearing down on us, but then Lilly began to glow herself, shouting, âGet back!â The Sentinel broke off in a wide arc.
âOnly the Three shall pass!â it hissed in a deep, silken voice.
âWe are the Three!â Lilly shouted, but the Sentinel bore down on us again anyway, and I stumbled to my feet and we barely got out of the way as she
âNo! I told you donât under any circumstances!â Paul shouted.
The Sentinel screamed again, a sound like razor-sharp icicles, and then dove toward us. It moved like fluid, and it was on us before we could move. As it blurred down I could almost make out its features, a flow of robes, impossibly long hair trailing behind it like a comet tail.
It hit the guard whoâd fired in a burst of light. He barely got out a scream before the Sentinel crushed him, literally smashed right through him in a liquid explosion of light, and then out his back and on down through the bridge. The stone exploded and the screaming soldier tumbled out of sight. Others opened fire at the slithering light, but only for a second, as the bridge began to crumble and fall away.
âGet off!â Paul shouted. He grabbed Mateuâs arm and ran.
I started after him with everyone else. Two of the guards fell screaming. One was picked off by the Sentinel, another shoved over the side by Francine.
âOwen!â
I turned back and saw Lilly hanging on to Evan as the rock crumbled away around them. And in the moment that I paused the bridge beneath me collapsed and we plunged into darkness.
I heard screams, saw Emiliano falling, too, and looked for Lilly, but rock rained around me. A chunk slammed me in the shoulder. White light blurred. I felt the rush of cold air, then the breath of heat from below. Darkness became complete. I flailed my arms uselessly. What was at the bottom of this chasm? Iâd be dead the moment I found out.
âQii-Farr-saaan . â A hand grabbed my arm. âHang on to me!â Lilly shouted. Her glowing form shot by me. I gripped her wrist as she flew sideways and banked upward. â Nnnn! â she cried through gritted teeth, holding me with one hand and Evan with the other, straining but dragging us out of the chasm.
I distantly heard the echoes of gunshots, the banshee screams of the Sentinel. Iâd seen Emiliano fall, but what had happened to Paul and the rest of them?
Lilly brought us up past the remains of the bridge, back up the wide staircase and into the hall, leaving the fray behind. âWeâll go back out the way we came in . . . ,â she said, her words labored. She followed the arc of the passageway, and my back scraped against stone. âSorry!â she called. âAlmostââ
The screaming of the Sentinel chased us down like a missile.
It slammed into us, throwing Lilly off course and we hit the wall and then tumbled to the floor. My right arm caught under me and I heard a snap like a tree branch breaking and then a wicked, numbing pain burst up and down my arm. Spots exploded in my eyes.
Everything seemed to get quiet. I faintly heard the pop of gunshots like they were miles away. I looked over, the world sideways, and saw one of Paulâs soldiers, covered in dust, aiming one of the strange guns with the radar dish at the end. Pulses of high-pitched sound surged from it, but the Sentinelâs cry drowned it out.
She swooped down and punched through the soldierâs chest, exiting out the other side in a fountain of white light. The soldier crumpled, gun clattering to the ground.
âOwen, come on . . .â I looked up, found Lilly tugging on my shoulder, and saw Evan staggering to his feet. I looked down at my other arm and saw that my wrist was flipped around, bent at the wrong angle like it had been put on backward. More white spots, more pain like a flood over me . . .
The Sentinelâs scream snapped me out of it. I saw the light bearing down on us, but then Lilly began to glow herself, shouting, âGet back!â The Sentinel broke off in a wide arc.
âOnly the Three shall pass!â it hissed in a deep, silken voice.
âWe are the Three!â Lilly shouted, but the Sentinel bore down on us again anyway, and I stumbled to my feet and we barely got out of the way as she
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