“This dried riverbed is thick with sand-snipers,” he declared.

Eva stared at Rovender for a beat. She put the Omnipod near his mouth. “Sand-what? Can you repeat that?” she asked.

Rovender pushed the device away. “Sand-snipers are vicious carnivores that live underground in deep tunnels. They mostly hunt at night and use surface vibration to capture their prey.”

“I saw a pit today. I wonder if one lived there?” Eva thought back to the mysterious hole, its entrance surrounded by unusual ivory-colored rocks and branches. . . . Perhaps they had not been rocks after all.

Tunnel biters. Yes. Look.

Otto’s words drifted into the girl’s head.

“Otto tells me there’s one out there now,” Eva said as she scanned the dark landscape. She saw nothing.

“Really? He tells you more things, does he?” Rovender cocked his head at the giant water bear. “Let us see if Otto, and you, are correct.” He threw his empty bottle out onto the dark plain. Eva could hear it ping as it bounced on the bumpy terrain. Suddenly a far-off pattern of wondrous blue lights emerged from the ground. The lights dashed across the open area toward the direction of the unseen bottle.

“Oeeah!” Rovender looked at Otto. “You tell the truth. Perhaps this Otto does speak to you after all.”

“I told you,” Eva said, crossing her arms.

The bioluminescent markings did little to reveal the shape of the sand-sniper, but Eva could see that the monster was big, possibly longer than Otto. Its lights shifted in color from blue to a brilliant green, and it clicked aloud as if speaking in code.

Eva aimed the Omnipod at the sand-sniper, recording its calls.

“Tell me, Eva Nine,” Rovender said with a chuckle, “what is this monster saying to you?”

“Ha, ha—very funny.” Eva bristled. “Let’s get a better look at this thing,” she said. With the Omnipod still aimed at the sand-sniper, she said, “Please enter lumen mode.”

The Omnipod’s central eye created a brilliant white beam of light that cut through the blackness straight toward the sand-sniper. Eva sucked in her breath as the light revealed the towering visage before her.

Multiple cordlike antennae crisscrossed in the center of the sand-sniper’s face. Orbiting above, two large bowl eyes scanned the night, moving independent of each other. Below the confluence of antennae an array of hooked claws and bristled graspers flexed in a steady rhythm. Its snapping maw spit out Rovender’s bottle and clicked in cadence.

“Eva!” Rovender scolded her. “Shut that light off!” He pushed the Omnipod down, forcing the beam to the ground.

Visibly shaken, Eva watched the sand-sniper’s glowing lights diminish.

“Are you trying to get us killed?” Rovender barked. “Thank the stars they don’t venture into the woods. We’d be done for.”

“I’m . . . I’m sorry.” Eva said, still in shock. “I had no idea.”