He looked up at the exploding sky, and in that moment he was eight years old again, standing on that beach, paralyzed. Staring wide-eyed at the dark horizon, the waves’ steady crash drowned by the missile’s explosive roar. He felt the tightness in his chest, the panic swelling. His fingers clinched as they had then, though this time there was no shell hidden in his fist. Get up, he told himself. You have to get up. Struggling for a good breath, he pulled himself to his hands and knees, the sky flashing above him, illuminating the body laid out beside him.

Rint. Curled up in the dust. The Orin’s eyes were shut.

Wheezing, Leo scrabbled over to Rint’s prone form and shook his shoulders. “Hey. Wake up,” he rasped. “Can you hear me?”

No response. He put his head on the alien’s chest, listening for a heartbeat, wondering if the Orin were built like humans, if they even had hearts at all. He couldn’t hear anything, until . . .

“Lark?”

Leo lifted his head to see Rint looking at him with his big black eyes.

“Right! It’s me. It’s Lark.” Leo swiped at his eyes. “Come on. Get to your feet. We’ve gotta move.” With a grunt, Leo pulled the Orin up. He took one of Rint’s furry paws and started dragging him, the two of them stumbling toward the closest building, the crack of the shattering sky chasing them. Leo’s head swam. He glanced up at two dark crescent clouds, like the eyes of a vengeful god. We are the vengeful spirits. Rint stumbled, but Leo refused to let go, the two of them almost going down again.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this one.”

There was Boo, suddenly beside them, hoisting the Orin up as if he weighed nothing at all, carrying him with two arms the same way he’d held Leo not long ago . . . the last time they ran for their lives. Something Leo was making a habit of.

Leo bolted for the open door as more lightning cracked around him and collapsed to the stone floor, still gasping for breath, grasping for his inhaler, bringing it to his lips. The press of a button, the slow hiss. Leo could feel the coils around his chest start to unwind.

Boo ducked in right behind him, setting Rint gently on a straw mat where he was immediately doted on by Shree and the others. The two robots followed, both of them struggling to fit through an entrance that wasn’t built for their kind, Nine folding his legs in tight and squeezing, Skits’s treads brushing against the jamb. Beyond the thick walls Leo could still hear the steady timpani roll of the spiteful sky echoing all around. Through the open windows he caught the flash of electricity brightening the horizon. It was almost like the armies of the Aykari and the Djarik were locked in battle right above them all over again.

Leo covered his ears and shut his eyes as the thunder shook the walls.