The more crystals I hit, the worse the pain got, and I knew I should stop, but I couldn’t make myself stop. I couldn’t get this far only to fail. So I kept hitting crystal after crystal. The thwump-thwump in my head grew and grew. Just like when I’d been here earlier. Even if I felt better after the pod, I knew what Lorne had said. I needed another healing session, which meant I was going to be in bad shape before this was done, and I couldn’t even begin to worry about the fuel we needed to get away.

I jumped down another level and slipped. My back hit the ground, and I wanted to stop, but I thought of Audrey. Of how she saved my life. Of how she held my hand in the med bay, telling me her life story. I had to help her.

I’m a di Aetes. Di Aetes never quit. Not ever.

I got moving again, slower this time. The one I needed had a unique formation. One of the crystals in the group had arced instead of spiking out of the bedrock. The ones around it grew out of the arc. It looked like a spiky, black-and-white rainbow. The fat arc crystal. It nearly killed me the first time I hit it.

Two more taps and Apollyon would be dust.

Shots rang out around me, but I trusted Lorne to do what he said. To protect me. And I knew that he was going to keep me safe. So I kept running, hoping that my vision wasn’t too messed up to actually find the right one.

There.

I blinked a few times, making sure I actually saw it.

Yes. There.

Right freaking there.

I spotted the one I wanted, but I was on the wrong level. Not surprising since the mining had been hard and every level looked the same, but I found it.

I jumped down to the sixth level, and my knees ached with the impact.

“Stop! Don’t! You’ll blow the whole moon!” A SpaceTech officer held a gun, pointed straight at me. He was one level above me.

That was exactly the point.

“I’ve got him.” Lorne fired from the ship, and the man fell to the ground. “Do what you need to do.”

I didn’t look back to check on the officer who would’ve killed me. I did what I had to do. I brought the hammer end down on the crystal with a loud thwack.

The high-pitched tone felt like a spike being dug into my head. I moaned as hot blood ran down my cheeks, and it felt as if one of my molars had cracked in two.

“Are you okay?” Lorne said. “We’re about to have more company.”