suits. Stand by.”
“Well, stand by is all I
can
do. When you said the trainwould be guarded, you weren’t kidding! Ant lions are everywhere—around the tunnel, and covering the tracks as far as I can see.”
There was a long pause, and then Felix said, “Madison’s ETA is sixty seconds. Hang tight.”
Ethan nodded. That was a dumb thing to do because no one could see him. “Got it,” he said.
Two of his cameras swiveled and focused on the horizon. They showed a magnified image.
A train.
It magnetically levitated over the tracks, a speeding blur that Ethan knew had a top speed (thanks to last Thursday’s science class) of 350 miles per hour.
“Train’s coming,” he said, and heard his voice waver. “It’ll be here in a lot less than a minute.”
“I’m kicking in my afterburners,” Madison said over her radio, and the channel filled with thunder. “Revised ETA thirty seconds.” In the distance a sonic boom echoed.
But the train was already halfway to the tunnel. Ethan guessed it’d be there in
ten
seconds.
“It’s safe once it’s in the tunnel,” Ethan whispered.
“Don’t panic,” Felix said. “If the train goes in, it’ll eventually come out. We have time. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“When it comes back, it’ll be full of students … and my sister. We can’t risk destroying it then.”
Ethan pushed off from his hiding place and took to the air.
“Sorry, Felix, I’ve got to do this, even if it is stupid.”
“Ethan, don’t!”
He flew as fast as he could.
Ethan had to destroy the train
before
it got to the tunnel—destroy it in such a way that the Ch’zar couldn’t just clear the tracks and send another.
The world around him blurred with speed.
The train rocketed toward the tunnel.
He had to time this just right. He’d get one, and only one, shot.
Of course, Ethan knew very well that he’d pay for this one shot.
His wasp wings clicked into place at a minimal angle, laid nearly flat back against the insect body. On either side jet engines popped out and roared with fire and power.
The train was seconds from the tunnel.
Drones banked toward Ethan’s wasp and opened fire.
Laser flashes filled the air and burned his side. He twisted into a barrel roll.
Dozens of ant lion turrets aimed at him. There were eruptions from the earth.
Thunder and black clouds blossomed around him.
Shrapnel slashed through the wasp. Half his view screens went dead. Something punctured his leg and sent a wave of white-hot pain through his body.
He kept going.
He was pure blinding speed, pointed at where he thought the train would be in a few seconds.
“Ethan!” Madison cried. “Pull back! I’m here.”
He smiled. “Thanks,” he whispered to her, “for finally using my first name.”
The engine entered the tunnel—the second car—the third, half of it anyway—until Ethan grabbed it.
His wasp latched on with all six hooked limbs, flared its wings, angled its jets up, pulled and strained and flew as hard as it could.
He ripped the train off the tracks and crashed it into the tunnel mouth—then released it and arced up into the sky.
Ethan caught a split-second flash view of the rest of the high-speed bullet train piling into the wreckage, fountaining sparks, ramming derailed cars farther into the tunnel, compacting metal, and then an explosion mushroomed out of the tunnel.
It was a complete and glorious mess!
He’d done it! It would take forever to clean up and clear the tracks and tunnel.
Emma would be safe … for a while.
But his happiness lasted only a fraction of a heartbeat—then an artillery shell hit him square in the thorax.
The world detonated into black stars.
ETHAN HADN’T EXPECTED TO WAKE UP … so when he did, he did so with a grin on his face.
He was alive—definitely alive, because when he shifted, the pain in his leg turned that grin into a grimace.
He’d slept facedown. His pillow was stained with drool and a little blood. As
“Well, stand by is all I
can
do. When you said the trainwould be guarded, you weren’t kidding! Ant lions are everywhere—around the tunnel, and covering the tracks as far as I can see.”
There was a long pause, and then Felix said, “Madison’s ETA is sixty seconds. Hang tight.”
Ethan nodded. That was a dumb thing to do because no one could see him. “Got it,” he said.
Two of his cameras swiveled and focused on the horizon. They showed a magnified image.
A train.
It magnetically levitated over the tracks, a speeding blur that Ethan knew had a top speed (thanks to last Thursday’s science class) of 350 miles per hour.
“Train’s coming,” he said, and heard his voice waver. “It’ll be here in a lot less than a minute.”
“I’m kicking in my afterburners,” Madison said over her radio, and the channel filled with thunder. “Revised ETA thirty seconds.” In the distance a sonic boom echoed.
But the train was already halfway to the tunnel. Ethan guessed it’d be there in
ten
seconds.
“It’s safe once it’s in the tunnel,” Ethan whispered.
“Don’t panic,” Felix said. “If the train goes in, it’ll eventually come out. We have time. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“When it comes back, it’ll be full of students … and my sister. We can’t risk destroying it then.”
Ethan pushed off from his hiding place and took to the air.
“Sorry, Felix, I’ve got to do this, even if it is stupid.”
“Ethan, don’t!”
He flew as fast as he could.
Ethan had to destroy the train
before
it got to the tunnel—destroy it in such a way that the Ch’zar couldn’t just clear the tracks and send another.
The world around him blurred with speed.
The train rocketed toward the tunnel.
He had to time this just right. He’d get one, and only one, shot.
Of course, Ethan knew very well that he’d pay for this one shot.
His wasp wings clicked into place at a minimal angle, laid nearly flat back against the insect body. On either side jet engines popped out and roared with fire and power.
The train was seconds from the tunnel.
Drones banked toward Ethan’s wasp and opened fire.
Laser flashes filled the air and burned his side. He twisted into a barrel roll.
Dozens of ant lion turrets aimed at him. There were eruptions from the earth.
Thunder and black clouds blossomed around him.
Shrapnel slashed through the wasp. Half his view screens went dead. Something punctured his leg and sent a wave of white-hot pain through his body.
He kept going.
He was pure blinding speed, pointed at where he thought the train would be in a few seconds.
“Ethan!” Madison cried. “Pull back! I’m here.”
He smiled. “Thanks,” he whispered to her, “for finally using my first name.”
The engine entered the tunnel—the second car—the third, half of it anyway—until Ethan grabbed it.
His wasp latched on with all six hooked limbs, flared its wings, angled its jets up, pulled and strained and flew as hard as it could.
He ripped the train off the tracks and crashed it into the tunnel mouth—then released it and arced up into the sky.
Ethan caught a split-second flash view of the rest of the high-speed bullet train piling into the wreckage, fountaining sparks, ramming derailed cars farther into the tunnel, compacting metal, and then an explosion mushroomed out of the tunnel.
It was a complete and glorious mess!
He’d done it! It would take forever to clean up and clear the tracks and tunnel.
Emma would be safe … for a while.
But his happiness lasted only a fraction of a heartbeat—then an artillery shell hit him square in the thorax.
The world detonated into black stars.
ETHAN HADN’T EXPECTED TO WAKE UP … so when he did, he did so with a grin on his face.
He was alive—definitely alive, because when he shifted, the pain in his leg turned that grin into a grimace.
He’d slept facedown. His pillow was stained with drool and a little blood. As
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