He was pretty sure that hadn’t been something on Earth before.

  When someone finally pointed them inland to a corner bar where dock workers tended to gather after their shifts, Jace was immensely thankful. He almost gave a short bow, but caught himself.

  He and Lessa stopped at the entrance. She said, “It’ll be faster if we split up.”

  “Meet back here?” Jace said, and she nodded.

  “Good luck.”

  They both stepped into the bar. He expected someone to try to ID him, but there was no one out front. It reminded him a lot more of a medieval tavern than a bar from the old Earth, but apparently, things had changed. The floor was linoleum, and there were metal tables and chairs around the outside. Most people were eating bread and sausages of some kind, and chandeliers of candles hung from the ceiling. Wax drippings created massive cones beneath the chandeliers, and the same went for the candles in wall sconces.

  Dock workers in fluorescent vests sat at the tables, sharing their stories and drinking from glass cups and clay mugs in equal measure. Most had long beards, and there were plenty of scars and ponytails.

  “I guess it’s hard to get a haircut now,” Jace muttered, then approached the first table. He leaned over and said, “Has anyone here heard about a Sentinel?”

  He received a few blank stares, and someone told him to shove off. One man said, “If you mean the Sentinel out west, you’d best stay away from it.”

  “Sorry,” he muttered. He’d need a better tactic than just asking outright.

  The next table he approached, he tried, “I’m looking for passage overseas. Does anyone know how or where I could get it?”

  “Liverpool or Algeciras? Those are our most common destinations in Europe. Unless you’re looking to get to the East.”

  “I’m trying to get to the UK,” Jace said. It would probably be the most convincing. “I have family there, and I don’t know if they’re safe or not.” He paused, then said, “Hey, have you heard of any Sentinels over there?”

  “Rumour is, one’s hanging around Germany-ish, Austria-ish. Maybe moved south to the Alps.”

  “Thanks,” Jace replied. “Is there a massive storm there, too?”

  “Sounds like it. I’d stay off the European mainland if I were you.”

  “Thanks again. Any others we should be worrying about?”

  A different worker said, “There’s one in China somewhere, and one in Australia. Dunno if there are any more, but that’s what I’ve heard.”

  Jace nodded. “Thanks.” He backed away, but then, to keep the lie convincing, said, “How would I get passage?”

  “Not here,” a third worker grumbled.

  Jace travelled around a little more, listening to the stories of the workers. They seemed convinced it was either in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, and that he should stay away from it.

  Once Jace confirmed the story, he headed back to the meeting spot and found Lessa waiting for him, where he reported back on the rumours. She said, “I didn’t bother asking about places, ‘cause I’d have no idea where any of it was. But I asked about the element, so maybe we’d know what we’re facing. It sounds like it’s an Earth- and Shield-based Sentinel. But that’s just the rumour. Some of those guys were kinda mean.”

  “Yeah…they’re dock workers.” Jace scratched the back of his head. “But at least I have a slight idea of where we should be going. We should get back to the Gull.”

  Getting out of Philadelphia was harder than Jace thought it was going to be. He couldn’t take the road, because surely, the soldiers would remember him and Lessa, and he didn’t want to risk a fight with soldiers like that.

  But there was a border wall all around the city made of shipping containers, concrete, and barbed wire, and everything inside it was lit with torches, campfires, and candles, leaving no room for darklings to arise inside the wall.

  It also made it incredibly difficult to sneak through the city outskirts, and soon, Jace and Lessa were running from a pair of soldiers and dogs anyway. They wove through the buildings and streets, jumping over the lights and dodging civilians.

  When they reached the wall, Lessa raised her hands, as if she was going to climb the wall, but Jace said, “We’re going through it.”

  “What if they have shields?”

  “I know they don’t,” he replied.

  “How do you know?”

  “I—” He tilted his head. “Less, we never invented energy shields. Certainly not anti-hyperspace shields.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” He reached out, and she pressed his hand into his. Together, they passed through the wall and emerged from the other side. They sprinted out until they reached the highway, then turned and retraced their steps back to the Gull.

  It sat out in the forest, exactly where they’d left it, except now, a trio of soldiers stood around it. They poked it with the muzzles of their rifles, and one held up a radio, as if he was about to call someone.

  The three of them must’ve just found it. LeeKay had pulled the cockpit shut and locked it, but the thrusters still glowed, and smoke still chuffed out the tiny vents and smokestack on its back.

  Before the soldier could call anyone with his radio, Lessa blasted it out of his hand with a burst of plasma. They all turned toward Jace and Lessa and raised their rifles, but when they fired, their bullets came up against a forged wall of Aes. Jace activated [Veins of the Universe] and let them empty their magazines into it, shielding both him and Lessa.

  It wasn’t a perfect wall—he was no Shield-aspect Wielder—and a few bullets snuck through the ‘capilleries’. One hit his shoulder and made him lurch, but it didn’t do much damage.

  Finally, when the soldiers stopped shooting, Jace said, “We’re not going to hurt you if you don’t hurt us! Just get out of here, and you’ll live.”

  The three soldiers glanced at each other, nodded, probably realizing that they couldn’t do anything against Jace, then sprinted off back toward the highway. Maybe they’d get backup, but by the time they arrived, the Gull would already be gone.

  Jace climbed up the starfighter’s side and tapped the viewscreen, and LeeKay chirped. The little kyborg was standing on the pilot’s saddle, but he extended a manipulator arm and popped the canopy open when he saw Jace.

  “Thanks, bud,” Jace said, then hopped inside. Lessa climbed in beside him, and they both pulled the canopy viewscreen shut. It clicked into place.

  “I thought we were trying to stay out of trouble,” Lessa said.

  “It’s going to be harder and harder to keep the Gull hidden. Obviously, they’re looking for it, and word has spread. We’re going to need to be more careful.”

  “Or you could talk to them.”

  Jace considered for a moment. Was there a reason not to talk with the people of Earth and get them to stop trying to chase down him and Lessa?

  Really, the only problem was time. They just didn’t have enough time to go talk to everyone, and trying to convince average soldiers to help them would be difficult.

  “I’ll think about it,” he said. “But we have to head east. Do you want to rest along the way? I’m sure LeeKay can keep the engine running for a bit.”

  “That would be much appreciated.”

  LeeKay clicked in confirmation, then hopped over to Lessa’s shoulder. Motors and linkages straining, he pulled a lever, and a clunk ran through the ship.

  They had full power again. Jace pulled up and lifted off, then shot away, racing over the city and launching toward the ocean.

  It took a little longer to navigate east than he was expecting, and a massive hurricane swirling in the middle of the Atlantic ocean didn’t help. He stayed low, and it made the two-hour-long flight choppy—and that was putting it gently. A few times, he had to swerve off-course to avoid a swarm of giant fish that hopped in and out of the ocean, and a flock of herons with glowing beaks decided the Gull looked like a tasty snack.

  When the storm ended and they arrived, it was early morning. He’d gone too far north, because he was flying above the English Channel, but all it took was a quick adjustment and they were back on target.

  Within minutes, the next Sentinel’s storm appeared on the horizon.

  22

  THE SECOND SENTINEL

  Jace had never been to the Swiss Alps before, but he was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to have a massive hurricane billowing over them. The green fields and picturesque valleys didn’t have as much of an allure when the dim light of a storm washed it out.

  There was no lightning this time, which was equally as disturbing as the last storm. He couldn’t see any rain or snow, but there was plenty of thunder. It didn’t make any sense, but this wasn’t a natural storm.

  As they flew closer, he shook Lessa’s shoulder and said, “Hey, Less, we’ve arrived.”

  “We’re in the storm?”

  “No, not yet, but take a look.”

  She leaned over his shoulder, staring out at the wall of cloud ahead. “Are the shields up?”

  “Fifty percent of our power.”

  “Good, but…I’m not sure if it’s gonna be enough. Are those rocks in the storm?”

  “I was just about to ask you.”

  “I guess they were right about it being an earth-aspect storm,” Lessa replied. “But, uh, I don’t suppose we can go around?”

  The storm itself was massive, and the walls of cloud were higher than any airplane could fly. But behind the billowing edge, the silhouettes of rocks gnashed and tumbled. Some were boulders, some were larger than a car, some looked like the peak of a mountain had ripped off. The Gull’s shields were good, especially with Jace at the helm, but they weren’t that good. A mountain-sized rock would still shred the starfighter, and it’d at least severely injure him. Lessa wouldn’t survive.

  “The good news is, we’re not an airplane. The bad news is, someone will have to detect us if we go that high and stay that high.”

  “We need to kill the Sentinel…” Lessa stressed.

  “And we need its goodies. We can deal with the consequences later. If they find us, then they find us. I don’t think there’s anything they can really do to hurt us.”

  “Now you’ve jinxed it.”

  “Hey!” Jace glanced over at her. “You used that word right.”

  She smiled. “I’m learning. But I feel like you’d be telling me to focus right now.”

  “Yeah…”

  He pulled back on the Gull’s handlebars, launching them into a steep climb. They passed over the brim of the storm, and gravel and dust scraped the Gull’s underbelly. Most bounced off the shields, creating a blue ripple beneath the viewscreen.

  They pierced high into the upper atmosphere and flattened out, then flew high over the brunt of the storm. From above, most of the storm appeared to be made of rock and stone, not moisture. It had a green tinge to it, making it blend with the surface when he looked at it from above.

  “Are you ready with your equipment?” Jace asked.

  “I’ll have to improvise a little bit when we land. But I’m pretty sure I can get my exo-suit’s motors to malfunction and create massive amounts of heat. I’ll use the Sentinel’s armour itself as a vessel to melt the card, and as it heats up, the arcane material of the card should combine with the arcane material of the Sentinel’s armour.”

  Jace nodded. “Understood. I’ll try to break off as much armour as I can while keeping it alive. At least it won’t be trying to burn me.”

  “This storm’s moving pretty fast,” Lessa commented.

  “True. But…there is a but, right? Because my plan was to land like we did last time.”

  “But we can get LeeKay to fly it. He can keep it in the air and out of harm’s way for long enough, no matter where the Sentinel moves. Can’t you, LeeKay?”

  The kyborg’s head popped out from a hatch in the back of the cockpit, and he clunked affirmatively.

  “Just don’t break the ship,” Jace said. “As it stands, the Gull is our only way off the planet.”

  LeeKay clicked and squealed a few more times.

  “Yeah, okay, I believe you, but⁠—”

  “We’re over the eye,” Lessa said.

  “Shit. Right.” Jace leaned forward. “Okay, LeeKay, take control when I say.”

  The Gull swooped down, skimming over the edge of the gravel hurricane and diving along the edge of the swirling eye of the storm. As they fell, the ground came into view. It was barren and flat, polished smooth like a rock in a tumbler. If there had been something down there before, whether it was a mountain or a village or—given how far they’d travelled—a slice of the Austrian countryside, he couldn’t say for sure.

  When the altitude meter began screeching a warning, Jace pulled out of the dive. They skimmed over the barren ground at the eye of the storm, and he slowed the starship as much as he could, unlinking his attributes. Once the viewscreen wouldn’t rip off when he cracked it open, he did just that.

  Pushing the viewscreen open, he stood up and shouted, “Lessa, hold on!”

  The wind blasted them, and the air was thick with dust. It felt like it was eroding his skin by the second. He coughed.

  "We're going to have less time to reforge the card than I thought!" Lessa yelled. “This isn’t good…”

  "LeeKay, take the controls!" Jace called.

  A moment later, Lessa wrapped her arms around his shoulders and said, "We're not going to survive that fall. Well, you might, but not me."

  "I've got this. I just need you to hold on."

  "Why are we always jumping off things?"

  "Just the job description."

  "I didn't get an interview!"

  “Yeah, yeah. What was that about having less time than we thought?”

  Before they could waste any more time, Jace leapt out of the Gull's cockpit, Lessa clinging on for life. They plummeted, but before they hit the ground, he used [Hyperdash] and canceled their momentum by launching them to the side, as [Hyperdash] did.

  They stumbled to a halt once they escaped hyperspace, and Jace let Lessa jump down. He said, "See? Survived." On the ground, it was slightly less windy, and the air wasn't as thick with dust. It still swirled around his feet, though, and the air smelled like burnt toast. He wrinkled his nose.

  "You smell it too?" Lessa asked.

  "At least if I'm having a stroke, I'm not the only one."

  "It's surely because of that guy." Lessa pointed across the barren, polished plane.

  There was a single humanoid form in the distance, prowling slowly forward. From the far away, it was only a speck, but it had to be the Sentinel. At least they didn't have to go searching for it.

  Jace unsocketed his [Veins of the Universe] card and handed it to Lessa, then said, “Alright. You’re up. I’ll toss you whatever material I can chip off its body.”

  They sprinted forward together, crossing the eye of the storm and approaching the Sentinel. The ground wasn’t as slippery as Jace had been fearing, and he still had traction. But there was no cover for Lessa to hide behind.

  The Sentinel registered them quickly, too. As far as Jace could see, as he drew closer, it only carried two shields, and no spears.

  It had the same general shape as the plasma Sentinel, though it was significantly taller, and instead of purple-tinged bone armour, its body had hints of green in it. It charged toward them, closing the gap faster and dragging the eye of the storm with it. A wind gusted past, strong enough to stop Lessa in her tracks.

  But the Sentinel was coming to them, now. Jace stopped, drew his Whistling Blade, and took a fighting stance. As the beast approached, he held his weapon out to the side and braced for impact.

  The Sentinel leaped. Rock shuddered beneath its feet, and a shockwave made Jace stagger. It approached faster than the plasma Sentinel, but it had launched itself up slightly, too. He rolled aside just in time to avoid its knee. It slammed into the earth, creating a two-meter-wide crater.

  Then it bashed him in the chin with its shield.

  He stumbled back, then lost his footing and skidded along the ground.

  “It has a massive degree of potency!” Lessa shouted.

  “I—” Jace pushed himself up, just in time for the Sentinel to stomp down into the ground. A wall of stone raced toward Jace, flinging him backward. It put its shields to the side, and the panels of bone that formed something like a ribcage spread apart, revealing a glowing green core.

  It was going to attack him with that.

  “It’s about to launch a Curse at you!” Lessa shouted.

  If it could knock him off his feet so easily, then surely, it would land that Curse. He didn’t even want to know what it did. Energy crackled around it, and a massive pressure of Aes welled up from its direction.

  Then a beam of green light surged out.

  As soon as the beam began, he used a hyperdash and launched himself to the side. Rolling, he pushed himself up to his feet, then turned to Lessa. She blasted it in the shoulder, and it turned its attention toward her.

  The beam didn’t last long enough to hit her with the Curse, but the Sentinel’s attention was on her, now.

  “Over here!” Jace shouted. He triggered [Radiance], using the fortification to close the distance and approach the beast. It leapt at Lessa, but before it could hit, he rammed his shoulder into it. He threw it off course slightly, but it was enough. Lessa rolled away from the impact zone, but the blast created a crater with walls high enough that a human could duck behind them.

  “Lessa!” he shouted. “You have cover!”

  She rolled behind the mound of rock, then said, “How’s it going on getting some bone?”

  He ducked away from a swipe of the Sentinel’s shield. “You had to phrase it like that?”

  The Sentinel slammed its second shield down, and Jace hacked off the top of it with his Whistling Blade, then tossed it back to Lessa. “Take it! I’ll try to drag this out as long as I can, but I’m not sure how much time you’ll have before me or the Sentinel dies…”

  23

  CENTER OF ATTENTION