In Manny’s sight, it had looked like flashes of red hot light came off of the meteor but only in one spot. Alex was willing to bet her life on that spot being the meteor’s weak point.
This was the same meteor Myrddin had shown Alex when she had first been recruited weeks ago. Alex and her parents had watched this meteor rocketing toward this realm. Myrddin had said it had the potential to turn the tides of the war. He’d said it was the most important campaign at the moment. There had to be a reason Myrddin had shown it to Alex.
Nothing the wizard ever did was without reason. Myrddin had made it a point to show that meteor to Alex. He had made it a point to choose Manny and his eyes to be paired up with this blind girl. And there had to be a reason Chine, with all of his psychic abilities, was bonded to Alex.
Alex raised her hand without thinking. It just felt like the right thing to do. And she slipped back into her mind, focusing on seeing through whatever eyes were within the meteor. She had to know this was more than just a hunch.
A sharp pain wracked Alex’s head. She felt nauseous and dizzy, and she stomped her foot down on Chine to make sure she was properly anchored. For a second, she had seen through eyes in the meteor. There was someone in there—someone who felt familiar. Someone who was waiting for something.
Alex pointed to the lower left quadrant of the meteor and shouted, “Concentrate all your fire on that spot on the left! All of it!”
Brath turned to Alex, his eyes wide with confusion. “Wait, you just want us to shoot at the rock? It’s too big! We’re not going to be able to make a dent in it. That thing could crush us!”
“Trust me, Brath! Please, just trust me.”
Brath stared at Alex as they approached the meteor. His beady eyes were hard to read. Alex couldn’t tell if he was thinking about cutting and running or something else. Finally, Brath turned back to the meteor, leaned forward, and went flying straight toward where Alex had been pointing.
Furi let out a tunnel of fire at the left section of the meteor. That fire was followed by Amber releasing lightning bolt after lightning bolt as Jim and Gill finally caught up. Timber fired as well, giant spires of rock flying from her mouth.
Jim hit the back thrusters on his mech and floated, completely stationary, as his mech’s missiles locked onto the corner of the meteor. He fired a volley of a dozen warheads that hit the rock, blowing off massive chunks that fell into the battle beneath them.
Chine shot a stream of ether fire as Alex held her breath, hoping she was right. All she knew was that there was something within the meteor.
The smoke began to clear. There was hardly a scratch on the surface of the meteor. No, Alex thought.
The dragonriders swooped back, putting more space between themselves and the meteor, which was still descending. “Was that it?” Brath asked. “We didn’t even put a dent in it!”
Jollies pointed at the meteor and squeaked, “No! We did! See?”
Alex’s eyes hyper-focused on the crust of the meteor. Jollies was right. The surface of the meteor was cracking. “Let’s hit it again!” Alex shouted. “This time with everything you got! And I mean everything!”
The dragonriders fired up their various offensive augments. “On my count,” Alex said. “One. Two. Three!”
The riders blasted out a hailstorm of flames, electricity, gravitational distortion, and missiles. The attacks landed, one after another, breaking into the crust of the meteor. Alex reached out, concentrating as hard as she could. She imagined the crust ripping apart, tearing open to show what was inside.
Alex felt some kind of force extend from her and grip the cracking mantle of the meteor. At first, she thought it was in her head, but then she felt that force grip the meteor hard. The force was coming from her and Chine—from their minds.
Chine and Alex telekinetically dug into the cracking meteor as the rest of the dragonriders continued to unleash hell on it. Alex screamed as her head started to pound, then the left section of the meteor ripped apart, completely separating from the rest.
The chunk of meteor fell through the sky, bursting into flames as if it were entering the atmosphere. Then it stopped falling, floating in the air before the dragonriders as the battle raged below. Intense heat shot out from it.
The dragonriders flew backward, putting more space between them and the piece of meteor. “Uh, was that part of the plan?” Brath asked shakily. “Is the meteor done now?”
Alex ignored Brath and concentrated on what was happening in front of her. Wave after wave of energy was flowing from the chunk. There was definitely something within it. They just had to wait and see what it was.
As if reading Alex’s mind, the meteor started to vibrate, shaking violently in the air. It cracked more, flashes of energy sparking beneath the cracks.
The top of the meteor began to bubble. Thick, black slime oozed from an opening hole like some sort of foul afterbirth. A pale hand pushed itself out from the hole, spreading the gap wider as another hand forced itself through.
As the hands touched the air, a black material appeared, wrapping them in shrouds. As more of the pale body forced itself from the meteor, the same material covered the thin, skeletal frame until Holmorth the Dark Wizard of Khaldor stood atop the meteor, his shifting face contorting as if he were only a memory in this reality.
Alex felt her blood boil as she tried to control her breath and stay calm. He was what was behind
