Tee had figured it out. The Harbingers were invisible. That’s why they didn’t have shadows. Her brows furrowed as the pieces of their evil plan fell into place.

  Her teammates would find her first, chained up like a helpless fool in an empty cavern. Then they’d rush toward her completely unaware the Harbingers were right there. She blinked, picturing Lilith’s sword slicing toward one of their necks.

  But wait. Wouldn’t her teammates notice the chains and realize the Harbingers were involved? She gasped and looked closely at her own shadow. It was smooth along her arm—meaning the chains were invisible too. Her brows loosened as she stared, helpless.

  Then came the bigger question. Why could she see the Harbingers and the chains if they were invisible? It didn’t make sense, but she knew one thing for sure. She had to warn her team. She scanned the cavern, trying to guess where they’d enter. Would she have time to yell before they charged in? Hopefully, Miko wouldn’t speed ahead before she could shout a warning. Curse those fast legs of hers!

  Still, something didn’t add up. Why hadn’t the Harbingers killed her yet? She gritted her teeth. The elders’ warnings about “unleashing the planet’s wrath” must’ve been nonsense. Killing a Sentinel didn’t unleash anything—the elders just hadn’t figured out how to kill her. Maybe that was Balance Seal’s true purpose.

  It clicked. The Harbingers were keeping her alive because she needed to look worth saving. Her teammates wouldn’t come back for a corpse. There’s no way the Harbingers knew about their ridiculous group teleportation link.

  Yes—that had to be it. The Harbingers were after the fragment, but finding her gave them a better plan. They’d risk losing the fragment to wipe out the Sentinels once and for all. With surprise on their side, her team didn’t stand a chance.

  But even their plan had a flaw. How could they resist hurting her while she was right there, defenseless? The temptation must’ve been too strong. So instead, they shut down—turned their backs to her—and waited, eager for the four fools to walk straight into their trap. Once they did, the Harbingers would awaken and unleash their bloodlust.

  Tee almost laughed. The thought of it made an evil chuckle bubble in her head—it was too fitting for the moment.

  Meanwhile, Saeda kept leading the way. She landed on floating rocks, leaping off each one before it could sink too low. Then came a long stretch of gliding dust that shimmered under their boots but never rose past their ankles, like walking across brown clouds.

  Kie suggested stabbing their swords into the ground before each step in case there were hidden ditches. Saeda stayed behind, concentrating on the pull she felt ahead, while the others moved forward to test the path.

  “I still find it weird nothing’s tried to eat us yet,” Zod muttered. “Something’s off.”

  “I don’t think so,” Saeda said. “This place is the defense—it traps you and makes you lose your way.”

  “I don’t mind that,” Miko grinned.

  Kie burst her mood. “You will—once we reach the fragment. That’s where all the monsters are probably gathered—”

  A low growl cut him off. All of them, except Saeda, froze.

  “What was that?” Zod whispered, scanning the fog.

  Miko raised her sword, eyes darting around. “Sounded like a monster.”

  Saeda didn’t want to stop walking, but her teammates in front blocked her path. There was no way to avoid the embarrassment.

  “Sorry about that,” she said. “That was my stomach. I didn’t eat dinner.”

  After hearing that, Kie kept testing the ground ahead so they could keep moving.

  Zod stabbed one sword into the ground and shoved a hand into his pocket. “Saeda, you should try this,” he said, handing her one of the tasteless, odorless nutri bars.

  Saeda remembered the training exams when Zod ate one to test it out—the way he spat it out couldn’t have meant it tasted pleasant.

  “I’m hungry, not starving,” she said, walking past him.

  They continued traveling through the unearthly sights, keeping any questions about what shouldn’t be possible to themselves. They passed through a forest where the ground and trees constantly shifted, making Saeda’s assumption about getting lost sound reasonable. Tracking their path would’ve been impossible without her.

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  “This is it.”

  Saeda stopped walking and dropped her hands. She stared at the object she’d spent three hours leading her teammates to. Kie couldn’t understand why she stood in the way, blocking their view. When he and the others moved around her, silence fell over them.

  “What is this?” Kie’s half-opened eyes twitched.

  “It’s some fruit,” Miko said, bending forward to inspect the pink ball on the ground. “Saeda, this whole time you were leading us to something you can eat?”

  Zod gasped as if it suddenly made sense. “That makes so much sense,” he said, his brows meeting.

  It was one of those moments Saeda wanted to disappear. All she could do was stare down at the object. She blinked three times as the fruit shifted into a green-themed watch with a green hourglass symbol on its face.

  “Hey, isn’t that the intergalactic peace symbol?” Zod blurted.

  None of them knew what he meant and waited for the object to change shape again. In an instant, it turned into a wooden stick with a decorated end.

  “Okay, maybe this is the fragment,” Zod said, stepping back. “Someone should grab it and see what happens.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Saeda said, also stepping away.

  That job belonged to the swiftest among them. Miko sensed Kie turning toward her but spoke first, serious-faced. “I’ll do it.”

  Kie nodded and stepped back with Saeda and Zod. Miko reached down and lifted the stick from the ground.

  Her super sense made her move fast enough to dodge the sudden fork of lightning. She didn’t see the ground where it struck as she sprinted toward her teammates, clutching the stick.

  “Run!”

  The four Sentinels raced ahead of the spreading darkness that oozed from the scorched ground. Tremors shook the earth, and a loud whoosh from behind made their hearts sink. But none dared look back to see the land breaking apart and being swallowed by pitch black.

  When they spotted the edge of a cliff, jumping off seemed like the only choice. They’d teleport mid-fall to escape the darkness. But after several frantic presses of their teleportation buttons, nothing worked. That’s when they remembered—they couldn’t teleport without Tee.

  Their eyes widened. A brown tsunami, laced with flashes of lightning, swept the lands below them. There was no escape. All they could do was hold their breath and hope they dodged the electric strikes.

  But instead of icy water crashing against them, they felt grains of sand and the rush of violent wind. Tumbling over steep ground, they rolled endlessly until they dug their fingers into the earth to stop.

  “Teeeee!” Zod roared the moment he pushed himself up.

  She was definitely on dish duty for the entire week.

  “Remember, we’re to eliminate the Harbingers. Luckily, the worst didn’t happen just now,” Kie said, standing.

  “Guys, look,” Miko said, pointing ahead.

  They turned to see the darkness spreading in the distance. Colorful chunks of land were being replaced by a starless void. The deep hum that reached them from miles away raised goosebumps. Staring into that vast emptiness made them feel small—insignificant—in a world filled with too many questions.

  A fruit falling from a tree snapped them out of their trance.

  Zod frowned at the bulge in Miko’s pouch. “Miko, what’s that?”

  Miko struggled to pull out a large metal glove studded with colored gems on the knuckles. But it liquefied in her hands and slipped through her fingers. She shrieked.

  “No!” Zod dropped to his knees, clawing at the damp soil. “Miko, why did you let it go?”

  Tears blurred his vision until he spotted the shiny object that had appeared on the ground. Wiping his eyes, he picked up the small, hand-held UFO the liquid had transformed into.

  Saeda rummaged through her pouch. “We need a plastic bag in case that happens again.” She dumped out her painkiller patches and stretched the wrapper open—then stopped before it tore. “This is wide enough to wrap around it.”

  They couldn’t take any chances. The others threw out their own patches, layering the plastic around the object until they felt safer. Saeda tucked the wrapped ball into her pouch, and they moved on.

  Kie activated his holo-map to track Tee’s location—but no matter how much he zoomed in, the distance between them never shrank.

  “She must be thousands of miles away,” Zod muttered.

  Kie shut off his map and spoke into his telecom. “Tee! Where the hell are you? We found the fragment—no Harbingers in sight. Did you forget our plan already?”

  Tee heard the faint voice through her telecom, hidden under the heavy layers of chain. The tallest statue moved, and the two fiery orbs at its head flickered. She froze, holding her breath. Whatever she was about to say vanished from her mind.

  Damn it. After all that time, Legion decided to turn toward her then. It was a warning—if she said anything that revealed the Harbingers’ presence, she’d be done for. But she had to say something. If Kie waited too long without a reply, the minute-long window for two-way communication would close. With her hands bound, she couldn’t contact them again.

  Panic set in as she felt the seconds slip away. “Kie, wait—I hear you!”

  Her teammates’ eyes widened at the sound of her voice. They pressed their telecoms closer to listen.

  Kie’s anger melted away instantly. “Tee, where are you?” he asked softly, touching his telecom as if it were her.

  “I’m trapped… after the Harbingers left me here to die. I’m inside a wide cavern in a mountain, but I can’t move.”

  Zod sighed and pulled his telecom away. “See, Tee? This is why you shouldn’t go solo. We’re a team. I hope you’ve learned your lesson now—”

  Zod’s voice was the last thing Tee needed to hear. Clearly, they hadn’t picked up that something was terribly wrong. She needed to say something—something wild enough to make them think.

  She screamed into the telecom for them to hear, loud and clear:

  “Kie, I love you—please come and get me!”