“Hundreds of thousands,” Gracie said, her chest rising and falling with her heavy breaths.
As they all recovered, William walked down the concrete stairs leading to the edge of the pitch. The echoes of dead dreams in his mind, thousands of spectators cheered him. He spoke beneath his breath. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, please be upstanding for the greatest protector Edin has ever seen. They thought Magma was good until this boy bested him as a teenager, exposing him for the fraud he was. Now you have a new hero. A protector worthy of the name and your trust. Someone who will do right by you and the city. Someone who loves Edin’s residents and will die for them. The people’s champion. The fiercest slayer the world has ever seen. Let me hear it for Spiiiiiiiiiiiiike—”
“Dreams don’t die easily, eh?”
William jumped and spun around.
Matilda grinned at him.
Heat flushed his cheeks, and his throat tightened. “Uh-uh-um …”
For the second time today, she smiled like she meant it. She reached out and held both of William’s hands in her own. “The life of a protector wasn’t for me, but I loved every ounce of your passion. I love your passion. What you’ve done to get us this far is greater than the work of any protector.”
“W-what I’ve done?” William pulled in a dry gulp.
“Whether you like it or not, you’ve led us through this mess. You might not be the fastest or strongest—”
William held on to his objections.
“But you’ve helped maintain an even keel. Your decision-making and authority have kept us alive. You’ve remained level-headed and made mostly rational choices.”
“Mostly?”
“Nobody’s perfect. We owe you a lot. You’re our protector.”
Time to let his old dreams die. Edin belonged to a different life. A mum and dad he’d never see again. He’d taken on an extra responsibility whether he wanted it or not. He’d had to make decisions unlike any before. Decisions that affected those he cared about most.
Matilda stepped closer to William, pressing her body against his. They kissed, and he tasted the salt of her sweat. He inhaled through his nose, drinking in every second of the experience.
When they parted, William said, “I used to dream of that much more than I did of being a protector.”
“Get down!”
Gracie’s shriek sent ice through William’s veins. “What?”
Her face red, her hands flapping with her words, Gracie said, “Get the fuck down. Now!”
A whining buzz in the distance. A thrumming hum, like the sound of a gigantic bee. It came from over their right shoulder, the stadium’s roof blocking their line of sight.
“For the last time,” Gracie yelled. “Get. Down.”
Matilda dropped and pulled William with her. They crawled beneath the seats and watched the world through the gaps in the bleached blue plastic.
The hum grew louder. Three lights flew overhead with a whoosh, each of them dragging trails behind them like comets.
The buzz ran away from them, the giant metal insects shooting off into the distance. Matilda let out a hard exhale. “What the hell were they?”
“Who knows?” William said. “But I’m sure we’ll find out.”
Chapter 10
“I’m going to ask Gracie,” William said.
But as he sat up, Matilda tugged him back down again. “Let her come over when it’s safe. She knows this place better than us. There might be more of those … things.”
It made sense. “But what are they? Where do they come from? How are they flying? Are they alive?”
“Let her come to us. I’m sure she can answer your questions.” Matilda held his hand, a slight tremble running through her. A stuttered burst came from the other side of the stadium, and she gripped harder. A series of metallic tings. A flash of white light. A roar. An orange glow of fire.
Gracie appeared over William and Matilda.
“What’s going on?” William said.
Her attention divided between him and the commotion in the distance, Gracie said, “Drones.”
“What?”
“Come on.” Gracie reached a hand down and helped William to his feet. “Come with me.”
They all ran through the seating area of the stadium. The closeness of the bleached blue chairs narrowed their paths. The pyrotechnics continued in the sky over to their right. The stuttered bursts. The roar of flames.
They headed for a jagged hole in the stadium’s far wall from where the sheet metal had been torn wide open, much like on the roof. Gracie leaped through and landed with a clang on the other side.
Where Olga had failed to trust Gracie before, she now leaped without missing a beat, mirroring Gracie’s movements and landing on the other side of the hole with the slamming of her feet against metal.
William leaped last, Jezebel out in front of him so he didn’t catch the axe on the sides of the gap. The metal platform belonged to a flight of zigzagged stairs, much like the ones on the other side that had led them to the stadium’s roof. Gracie had already made it down three flights.
The white glow and bursting of orange flames appeared brighter now they were out of the stadium. The stuttered bursts, followed by the tings of spraying metal. The whoosh of erupting flames.
Gracie crossed a wider road than many they’d seen, leading them closer to the chaos. She ran around the back of a large square building and came to a halt on the far corner. She grabbed Olga before she could pass her and dragged her back.
When the others had gathered, Gracie held up the index finger on her right hand. “You get one look each. When you’ve looked, pull your head back in. The last thing we need is for them to see us.”
Olga peered around the corner first. She pulled her head back almost instantly. The colour had drained from her face.
“Drones and robot dogs,” Gracie explained while Max looked next.
“Although we
