Its black-tar maw of a mouth opens, and it says, “Wherrrre you?”

If one of us is to die, it should be me, not Trey. I wasn’t even a candidate. “Here!” I yell. “Right here!” I can save Trey and Manny by buying them time. They can jump into the Tardis and jet away from here.

The creature seems to peer over the edge of the trough, right at me. Then it rises—no, floats—up and over the rail, into the trough itself. Its depthless maw hangs open, as though it’s scenting the air with its mouth.

It’s so close now I can smell it—lake water, and hot metal, and something like talcum powder—and I cease shoveling. There’s no point. This is the moment I die.

Tanq will take care of Emmaline. Maybe Mom was right. Maybe heaven is real, and I’ll see my family again.

I close my eyes and await the inevitable. Then I change my mind and open them. I’m a warrior. I don’t give up just because the scoreboard doesn’t look good.

So I glare daggers at this creature, this thing that has stolen my life, everything I loved, my planet. My fingers clutch handfuls of wet coal, readying to throw it in the creature’s face.

It cocks its head again, ghosting closer, closer—its cloak brushes my cheek, and it feels like a cloud of raw cotton. Then it moves beyond me, leaving me behind in my prison of coal.

What the hell?

One of my fingernails is broken and bleeding but I don’t care. I resume shoveling and shoveling until I’ve freed my left leg, which makes it easier to access my right ankle, the one that popped.

I free my ankle. Wiping coal onto my sweatpants, I launch to my feet, then wince at the pain. Quick as I can, I climb back over the rail and use it for support as I limp along the side of the barge after the creature.

I don’t know why that thing passed me over, but it’s going after Trey and Manny now, and I have to do something.

At the other end of the barge, relief floods Trey’s face when he sees me, but his expression snaps back to deadly serious as the enemy approaches, gliding in perfect silence, immune to waves and the sway of the barge.

“Run, Trey!” I yell.

He shakes his head, even as he stares down the alien creature. Trey won’t leave me behind.

Manny exits the bridge and scurries down the ladder. “Come on, Trey!” he hollers, pointing to the yacht parked alongside the tugboat. “We can escape in the Tardis. Pick up Paige and Wyatt on the way out of here.”

If Wyatt is even still alive. There’s no sign of him. He’s probably bobbing around Lake Erie right now. A blot of orange in angry gray water.