Loxo came up behind us and growled in English, “Hello earthers. It is I, Loxo. I escorted you here. Do you remember?” His eager gaze skated over Querida. “It is your turn, beautiful ones.”
He escorted Querida and Nieve to a room behind us. I lingered, trying to get the lay of the land. Far above, hoots and howls echoed through the mountain. I squinted and saw hundreds, nothousands, of fat little furballs.
They had four appendages, all lined with sharp claws. Their tiny paws should have looked deadly, but instead, they looked like baby hands. Their thick black fur streaked in gold was a perfect mirror to the stone walls they scaled. Moving in a synchronized wave, they flowed along the rocky mountain.
I instantly loved their huge eyes and how their pug noses smashed against their faces. They were so ugly that they were cute—a combination between a monkey and a dog. A dog-key, no. Aperroand achango: a pango.
My first brief moment of joy was ruined when Nime stormed out of the room. With each step closer, the pangos’ cries increased, and Nime shouted in his growly language, “Shut up, filthygreeeooowwllls!” The word roughly translated to pig-beasts.
Pig-beasts?That was what Freckles had called me when he tortured me. He and his stupid stoner friends had laughed and laughed. The word stood out because it was clearly uttered in the warriors’ tongue, as if they didn’t have a word for it in their ear-splitting language.
My blood boiled. That stupidhijo de la chingadaalien had been calling me a pig beast—a pango—this whole time?
I refocused my attention on the little guys above me because they were losing their shit. They swirled like molten lava over the walls, and I realized they had the tiniest wings attached to their roly-poly bodies. Even with their girth, they were fast.
Nime came up fast and grabbed my arm. He pulled me back just as I saw the pangos fly to the other side of the field above a squat, round-headed alien with dots splattered along his evil face.
Freckles!
Searing pain, agony as piercing as hot pokers, rushed through my body like a brushfire—an echo of everything I’d endured. Burning bone, liquefying organs. Never,nevershould a human being have to endure so much torture. Test tubes, the metallic air—dick-tongues!—it all came back with further clarity.
“Wait!No.What is that machine?” Nieve screamed from inside the room. “My hair? Thehell? You will not shave my head!”
I vaguely registered Nieve’s words, too intent on Freckles. I had vowed, had repeated on a never-ending loop, that if I ever saw Freckles again, I’d kill him. Murder him for the pain he’d put me through.
I yanked my arm out of Nime’s grasp and ran toward the balcony. Standing far below me, surrounded by people, the path became clear—as detailed as if I’d been racing at The Trials.
Jump the balcony. Land on the overhang. Dodge right, avoid the milling warriors at all costs…
Take. Freckles. Down.
“Touch my hair, and you die. You giant alien freak!” Nieve screeched and ran out of the room.
I grasped the rail, preparing to jump. Nieve smashed into me as she rushed down the pathway. Querida raced after her. Nime growled out a protest. I looked up and saw Loxo closing in fast, his red eye swirling menacingly. Without hesitation, I jumped. Flew over the side. I smashed into an overhang, almost overshooting the small ledge. We were still a good five stories above the floating stage, and I had minimal control over my body. My equilibrium wasn’tcien por cientoyet, but Iwoulddo this. They’d stripped me of my home. Left my sister alone or kidnapped her. Both were equally bad. Someone would pay.
The mantra,Live to fight another day, had been forgotten.Scorch the earth and take all these aliens with mebecame my new goal. All the while, the Oro sang in my veins, coming alive with the pursuit, thrilled by the chase. They wanted to kill Freckles as much as I did, and they fed my fury.
I scrambled the rest of the way down and landed beside a handful of spiked warriors. They turned toward me as one.Mierda!They were as massive as Nime, with their signature spikes lining their heads and backs. Most of the onlookers hadn’t noticed anything so far. I darted forward, and, by some miracle, my vision cleared. My steps were sure and precise. My legs moved faster than ever before.
Correle, mija.My abuela’s words reverberated in my head. The same she used during every race she watched.Run.
The path lit up in my mind as I zigged and zagged through the milling patrons. Nothing would deter me. A warrior threw his staff to the side and lunged, but I dodged before his arms could touch me. He spun in confusion. I planted my hands on his broad shoulders and launched myself over his spiked head.
I’d never moved this fast in my entire life. It felt… glorious.
Feet from Freckles and close enough to perceive the exact moment he recognized me, I grinned. I was seconds from gouging out his eyes. The plan had been set in stone as I lay dying and in pain, a lifetime spent envisioning this moment. A pact between the Oro and I. No one could suffer that kind of transformation and remain the same.
A golden phoenix rising from the ashes.
If they took my sister, my freedom, and according to Nieve… my hair, then Freckles would die.
I swung back, ready to bitch slap that rounded pile of goo, when I saw a small black bundle in his arms. A baby pango. Freckles was choking the life out of it, holding it as a tiny shield in front of him.Coward.If I took the kill shot, I’d have to go through the little beastie.
Both Freckles and the baby’s eyes widened as my hand swung down.
CHAPTER 7
Time slowed. Allsounds muted. I existed from one millisecond to the next. I gritted my teeth as my hand came down and shifted at the last second, aiming for Freckles’ ropy arm rather than his damp eye. Not a killing shot but it would do some damage. I knocked the baby pango out of his hands, and the furball collapsed to the floor. Its tiny chest rose and fell far too slowly.
