A cheek twitches.
I fling open the zembi blade and ignite it with a button on the handle. Then I pull my goggles onto my forehead and look my uncle in the eye. He’s several paces out of reach but close enough that I can see his lips part in shock.
“What?” I taunt. “Didn’t think I’d survive long enough to get vengeance for our camp, for your brother and my father, for Myria, and all the others whose lives you filled with the worst agony imaginable?”
“You’re a Gray?”
“Youwere. Father was. Yrais would’ve been if you hadn’t sold him out. Myria was a Creator. You had to know I’d follow in their steps as the last ofourfamily, the one you betrayed for your hide that I’m going to puncture and let bleed out all over this mutated planet.”
He shakes his head. “But you were so innocent, so quiet.”
I smirk. “You should always worry more about those of us who don’t often speak but just listen. We heareverything. We feel so much more because we have to bottle it inside. We see the play pieces on the board. And we are a force no one expects. That is the life of atrueGray.”
He takes a step toward me. “You shouldn’t be…”
“Here?” I yell, losing my temper. I have thought about this moment for over a decade and all the millions of ways I could end him. “I am here because of you! They turned my hero into a monster! She doesn’t even recognize me anymore!”
Veins swell in my face with the fury behind my words. “You gavethousandsof families the same pain!Youare the virus!” I spin the zembi into a ready position as I charge at him.
And I am the only remedy.
My uncle punches a button behind him, opening hatches in the sides of the vessel and creating a turbulent storm of air that pushes me around and makes reaching him nearly impossible. The magnets in my boots switch on, locking me in place through a backup battery.
I grab a support pillar and hold my ground as red alert lights glaze over the ship. My uncle watches me fight my way to him like he fully expects me to fail.
But he has no idea how strong the grip of vengeance can be. I strain for another step and another.
Metal clunks behind me. I look back.
A Titan boards.Stormgleams in dark blue on his chest. His eyes find mine. His body morphs into an array of spinning blades that calm the air.
Another Titan lands inside, dressed in a Starjumper’s suit. Karambit drops in with Menace, Mace, Diesel, Redline, Fury, and finally, the one I want to see more than anything.
Armor lands and folds his wings back. He moves to the front of the pack, finds me, and starts in my direction. “Esthielle—”
A CSP soldier swings a pulseblade in his direction. For a moment, my heart catches in my throat. But Armor is faster, disarming him and crushing him to the floor. Armor gets up, adjusts his wings back into position, and keeps moving toward us. Behind him, Titans pour into the gunners’ rails. Sounds of heavy hits and grunts fill the ship.
I look back at my uncle, whose eyes bear the wide realization that this ishisend. His superiority was only an illusion created by the shields and barriers he kept around him.
Today, I have my own shield.
“It makes me sad,” I tell my uncle.
“What?”
“That I have to kill you to save you.”
He chuckles once, nervously.
I shrug. “If I don’t, they will. Either way, this time, we win.”
My uncle squints at me like he’s got an idea of a way out.
I can’t wait. Whatever is on his mind is a threat to the ones I protect now.
My heart races as I sprint toward him with all the energy I can muster. I push my legs hard to get to him before he grabs whatever he’s reaching for. But it isn’t him who holds the gun.
His pilot, a soldier with green hexagonal scales, lifts a large rifle that he aims over my uncle’s shoulder. I dive like I remember Javelin doing, making myself as narrow as possible.
