She slumped forward, her head resting on his shoulder. Dragging in air, he stroked her back.

  “I love being with you, Toren.” A whispered confession. “You make me feel safe and alive in a way I’ve never, ever felt before.”

  He tightened his arms on her, unable to find the words to reply.

  But inside, he felt a trickle of unease. Their mission wasn’t over yet, and he hoped he was enough to keep her safe.

  * * *

  Simone climbed up on the villa roof and stared out at the fortress.

  She couldn’t stop thinking about those slaves. She closed her eyes. And poor Bellamy. She could still vividly remember the Edull cells—the dank smell, the hunger, the despair.

  The helplessness.

  But she wasn’t helpless anymore.

  “I’ll get you out,” she whispered fiercely.

  Determination filled her. She would bring the Edull down.

  The suns were high overhead and hot on her skin. Heat shimmered in waves, coming off the surrounding desert. There was no sound to warn her, but suddenly, a shadow passed overhead.

  She looked up. A huge ship was headed for the fortress.

  The air locked in her lungs. The way it glided made her think of a shark moving through water.

  It was made of plates of metal, with large, silver rivets. Her throat went tight. It was clearly Edull.

  “Toren!” she yelled.

  He appeared from the villa below, looked up and scowled. He jumped up, landing beside her with ease. He crouched beside her and stared at the ship. His face darkened.

  As they watched, it approached the fortress. Simone saw the bowels of the ship opening up.

  “It’s a carrier,” Toren said.

  “A what?”

  “A transport. They’re going to transport Alev’s bot.”

  Simone froze. “To the battle arena.”

  His gaze met hers. “Yes.”

  She scrambled up. “We need to get on that ship, Toren.”

  His jaw went hard. As she moved to climb down off the roof, he grabbed her arm. They stared at each other, then he sighed. He wrapped his arms around her and then jumped them both down.

  Simone clung to his shoulders. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to that.

  “It’s too dangerous,” he said.

  “It’s more dangerous for those captives he has.” She threw a hand out. “We have to get on that ship. Please, Toren. Help me stop them.”

  He stared at her for what felt like forever, before he finally gave her a tight nod.

  It only took them moments to grab some gear and reach the stables. They mounted the morlochs and raced out across the desert toward the fortress.

  As they reached the road heading up the ridge, Simone frowned. “There are no guards.”

  “They must be all helping,” he said.

  They discarded their morlochs, and Toren shooed the animals to head back toward the villa. He and Simone headed up the path, sticking to the rocks for cover.

  As they neared the front entrance to the fortress, they hunkered down behind the rock wall.

  Simone’s chest hitched until she couldn’t breathe. She watched two Edull stroll toward the front of the fortress.

  They were almost unassuming. They wore black masks over their faces, the valve in the center making their breathing raspy—a sound that still haunted her. She’d learned that they couldn’t safely breathe Carthago’s air. It meant their bodies weren’t that physically strong, which was why they needed slaves to do their dirty work.

  She looked up at the giant ship hovering above them. Smoke was belching out of its engines.

  A ramp lowered down into the main courtyard, and Alev appeared, his team behind him, leading out his cat bot.

  “We can’t get up the ramp,” Toren said. “It’s too heavily guarded.”

  Frustration chewed on her. She scanned the ship and knew he was doing the same. Then he went still.

  “What?” she demanded.

  “There.”

  She narrowed her gaze, peering to where he pointed. There was a small hatch at the back of the ship, near the engines. It was a shinier silver metal than the rest of the hull.

  “How do we get in?” she asked.

  “We need a distraction so we aren’t seen.”

  “Ideas?”

  He shook his head.

  Simone looked around, and then she smiled, thinking of her daughter. “Look there.”

  It was the small storage shed they’d used for shelter the night before.

  “It’s full of chemicals,” she said.

  Now Toren’s mouth curved. “Time for us to make some bombs.”

  They darted toward the shed, staying out of sight. As the large bot lumbered forward, all the attention was focused on it. Toren and Simone slipped unnoticed inside the storage building.

  The shelves were lined with bottles and containers. Simone grabbed some, and studied the colored fluids inside. She didn’t recognize many of them, but she figured some of them would go bang.

  “Let’s make a mess.” She started pouring random liquids together on the floor of the shed. Some started to foam and sizzle on contact.

  One of them ignited.

  “Time to go,” Toren said.

  They sprinted out of the building.

  They hadn’t gone far when an explosion ripped through the air. Toren slammed into her, taking her to the ground.

  Fireworks whizzed into the sky and she heard people shouting. As more violent explosions shook the ground, Toren curled his body around her.

  She glanced over her shoulder and saw the roof of the shed flying into the air.

  “Grace would be proud,” Toren said.

  Simone couldn’t hold back her smile.

  There was a commotion as Alev’s guards rushed toward the burning shed. Several Edull stood nearby, watching impassively.

  “Come on.” Toren tugged Simone toward the back of the ship.

  As they neared the door, a blast of heat coming from the rumbling engines hit. Once they stopped at the hatch, Toren pulled out a small tool. A flame ignited from the end, and he started cutting into the metal.

  The hatch swung open and he urged her inside. The small, compact space wasn’t big, and they stood pressed together. He closed the door, plunging them into darkness.

  The laser flared again, and this time, he used the tool to weld the door closed.

  They turned and headed quietly down a short corridor, to a circular opening that led into the main hold of the ship.

  They crept closer, and as she peered inside, she bit down on her tongue.

  Massive piles of cargo were stacked at the edges of the hold, but all her attention immediately centered on the bots in the center of the space.

  One was huge and bulky, with heavy-duty tracks. Another one almost brushed the ceiling, and looked like a giant, horned warrior.

  God. It was like something out of a nightmare.

  Toren’s hand pressed against her back, and the touch steadied her. “We’re going to stop them. Now, let’s find somewhere to stay out of sight.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Toren watched intently as the Edull inspected the bots in the hold.

  The large ship had taken off and they were now gliding over the desert.

  “Erroth might have a chance to win this time,” one of them rasped, studying the cat bot.

  “This is a much more inspired design than his last bot.” The Edull broke out in raspy chuckles. “The sandsucker driving his last one didn’t last long.”

  “Bastards,” Simone muttered.

  Toren squeezed her fingers. He touched the device on his harness, recording as many images as he could.

  “Where is Erroth?” one of the Edull said.

  “Bothering the captain. The man always demands the captain lavish him with attention. Wish we could stuff him in his own bot, sometimes.”

  There were quite a few Edull in the hold, moving around and checking the bots and inspecting parts. One of them walked closer toward Toren and Simone’s hiding place, searching through several boxes.

  Toren tensed. The Edull was getting too close. His raspy breathing echoed around them. Toren pulled Simone back deeper into the shadows. If they were discovered…

  She nudged him and pointed off to the side. He peered in that direction and saw a grate set into the wall. It looked like some sort of ventilation shaft.

  The Edull turned away, and Toren and Simone hurried over to the grate. He gripped it and yanked it off, then pushed Simone inside. He followed, setting the grate back in place.

  There wasn’t much room, and his shoulders brushed the sides as they crawled through the tight, horizontal tunnel. A dull light shone up through another grate set in the floor. He looked down and saw prisoners.

  “Cells.” Some people milled listlessly around, others sat slumped against the metal walls.

  “No,” she whispered.

  “We’ll get them all free.” He vowed they would. “Now, keep moving.”

  The next grate looked down into a room that appeared to be some sort of lab. They kept crawling, and ahead, he saw more light. The tunnel ended and opened into a small maintenance area. He slid out of the vent and lifted Simone down. He glanced around the space, taking in all the tools built into the walls. There was also one round window.

  They looked out onto the desert below.

  From this height, the sand appeared in colored bands of red, gold, and brown.

  “Look.” He stared down at the outpost that came into view.

  It was an Edull tower built of stacks of scrap metal. They’d rescued Sage from a similar tower, and then destroyed it. It floated above a deep hole, spearing into the faded blue sky.

  “We must be getting close to Bari Batu,” he said.

  He scanned ahead, hoping to see some sign of the city, but there was nothing visible, other than desert dunes.

  Then he heard a sound coming from the vent behind them. He turned and frowned.

  More strange sounds echoed—metal moving on metal.

  Simone backed up. “Toren.”

  Small, metallic balls rolled out of the vent, pouring down to the floor. Legs popped out of the balls, giving them the look of spiders.

  They circled around Toren and Simone.

  “Don’t move,” he warned. “They’re some sort of security bots. Probably set to roam the ship.”

  Suddenly, white lights on the balls blinked to life. Then they all turned red.

  Toren raised his hands, ready for anything. This didn’t look good.

  One of the balls flew off the ground, leaping at him. Simone screamed. All the other spider-like balls flew at them, as well.

  Several of the balls slammed into Toren’s chest. He felt the little legs clinging to his skin, cutting and stinging. He grabbed at them, but for each one he yanked off, another dug in.

  He glanced over and saw Simone batting at the small bots. They were pulling and tugging at her hair.

  Toren felt a slash on his ribs, and yanked a bot off. He felt skin rip away, and blood slide down his side. He smacked at several of the other bots.

  His weapon may have been gone, but he still had some implants he could use. He quickly rerouted power and directed an electric current through his system.

  Electricity crackled through him. Drak, that hurt. His body shuddered, and his teeth clicked together.

  The small bots all fried, the scent of burning wiring and circuits hitting his senses. The lights on the balls blinked off, and they dropped to the floor.

  He spun to Simone and started yanking the bots off her. He dropped them onto the floor, stomping them under his boot.

  “Get them off me!” She tore at the devices, her face panicked. “One’s under my shirt.”

  He yanked her shirt up and saw the bot on her smooth belly. He pulled it off and crunched it in his hand.

  He dropped it to the ground and glanced around. All the others bots were deactivated or destroyed.

  Simone pulled in a breath that was half sob. He yanked her close and she pressed her cheek to his chest. She had a bloody scratch down one cheek and he reached up, running his thumb along it to gently wipe the blood away.

  “Have I mentioned that I hate the Edull?” she said.

  “I’m not sure that you have,” he replied.

  That earned him a smile. “You’re joking with me. I like it.”

  “I do, too.” He pressed a quick kiss to her mouth.

  They pulled apart and she glanced at the window, then she went stiff. “Oh, my God. Toren, look.”

  He turned and frowned.

  Below the ship was a flat desert plain, pockmarked with large holes. His frown deepened. This wasn’t unusual; there were plenty of strange formations in Carthago’s deserts.

  Then he followed her gaze and sucked in a sharp breath.

  Towers were rising out of the holes.

  They were all different shapes and sizes—conical, pyramid, rectangular. But they all had one thing in common—they were made of scrap metal.

  “Drak. That outpost we destroyed, the Edull used some sort of magnetic field to levitate the tower above a huge hole. We thought it was simply a defense mechanism.”

  She shook her head. “They can raise and lower these towers at will.”

  Which meant they could hide them. They could hide an entire city in the desert. As he scanned the plain, towers were rising everywhere, forming a city.

  Bari Batu.

  Then he saw it.

  “God.” Simone pressed her hand to the glass.

  A huge, oval-shaped arena was rising up out of a giant hole. It was made of dark-gray metal, banded with rusted parts and brass-colored rivets. In the center of it was a huge track, and around the track lay row upon row of tiered seats. Curved metal sheets were extending that acted as a roof.

  The battle arena.

  They’d found it.

  * * *

  Simone couldn’t stand still. She wanted to shout, to scream, or to hit something.

  They’d found Bari Batu.

  Now, they had to find Bellamy, and then find a way to get the coordinates of the city back to Magnus and the House of Rone.

  Oh, and they had to survive long enough to do all of that.

  Dread filled her belly like cement. She was back in the heart of Edull territory.

  She looked at Toren, and instantly, her nerves settled. She wasn’t alone. This man, this cyborg, believed in her and was with her every step of the way.

  The ship tilted beneath their feet, and she realized that they were coming in to land. As they turned, she realized they were going to touch down directly beside the battle arena.

  She grabbed Toren’s hand and they braced themselves as the ship set down on a large landing pad. Outside, she watched several Edull leading lines of slaves toward the ship. Moments later, the slaves reappeared, carrying gear and boxes out of the cargo bay.

  Then she saw the first bot roll down the ramp, its tracks whirring beneath it.

  “Come on,” Toren said. “We need to get off this ship.”

  She pulled in a breath. She could do this. They crawled back into the ventilation tunnel and made their way back to the cargo bay.

  As they squeezed out of the grate, she saw the bay was a hive of activity. Toren rose, scanning the space with a sharp frown. A crowd of Edull holding tools stomped up the ramp.

  “Engineers,” he murmured. “They must have to repair any damage the desert does to the engines after each flight.”

  “How will we get off?” she asked.

  He moved toward one of the crates and pulled something from inside it.

  He held it out to her and she saw that it was a dark-brown Edull robe. He wrapped it around her, and the musty scent of sweat hit her. She wrinkled her nose and watched him pull another one around his body. He was too tall to pass as an Edull, but at first glance, it wasn’t a bad disguise.

  Next, he handed her a black mask. She hated pulling the thing over her face, but she settled it in place. Then she tugged the robe’s hood up over her hair.

  After Toren had done the same, they kept their heads down, and walked toward the ramp.

  Edull and slaves were everywhere, and her heart thumped hard against her ribs. She was certain someone would catch them. If anyone looked too closely, or tried to speak to them, they’d be busted.

  They followed a line of slaves down the ramp. Another one of the bots was being driven down the ramp.

  Ahead, the metal walls of the arena rose above them. Her gut churned as they moved under a huge archway.

  Then they were inside the battle arena itself.

  The seating was currently all empty. Toren pulled her away from the workers. A clunking sound reverberated behind them, and she glanced back to see Alev’s huge cat bot exiting the Edull ship.

  Alev walked beside it, shouting orders at everyone around him.

  Ahead, they watched as the large bots were led down a ramp into the bowels below the arena.

  Simone swallowed. The last time she’d been here, she’d been a captive. She watched the other poor people who were enslaved leading bots and carrying gear into the arena.

  She saw Alev and his bot disappear from view.

  “This way,” Toren murmured.

  He led her over to a railing, and they stared down at the track below.

  It wasn’t flat. It had undulations, jumps and obstacles, gaps and holes, and twisting bends. The metal sidewalls were all scratched and dented from crashes and accidents.

  So much suffering had occurred here. In her head, Simone imagined the cheering crowds.

  Why? Why did people take pleasure in hurting others? She thought of Michael. Her ex had done the same thing, just on a smaller scale.

  Suddenly, the sharp crack of a whip echoed around from the other side of the track. Her head shot up and she saw an Edull leading a ragged group of slaves. One woman fell, sobbing, her silver-white hair spilling around her face.

  “Get moving!” the Edull slave master yelled.

  Gunning engines sounded and Simone watched four-wheeled bots of all shapes and sizes whizz out onto the track. They zipped around, weaving in and out, then pulled up into a line beside the wall close to where the Edull and the slaves stood.