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did—he stabbed her in the heart, withdrew the blade andis slyly stuffing it back inside of his black coat as the Selellcollapses to the cement floor.

Without taking a pause or creating a stir,he pushes the door open. He immediately spreads his arms and with aflick of his thumb releases objects out of his hands. Then heswiftly discharges daggers which fly quickly but smoothly throughthe air. My eyes can hardly keep up with him, but two tiny objectshit two Selells on opposite sides of the room, both in the chest,and the daggers, four in total, have sliced the heads clean off offour other Selells. One is left standing and Chex has him pinnedagainst the wall with a forearm against his chest and the tip ofthe dagger aimed at his neck.

“You’re human,” Chex growls.

It’s a male and he is so frightened that hecan only nod frantically in reply.

“What are you? A mule or…” Then Chex takes asniff. He turns to look over his shoulder at a table that holdsblue powder, glass jugs of liquid, scales, and a sleek mechanizedapparatus. “Shit. You’re making zombies?” He sounds disgusted bythat.

The guy just gulps. He’s visiblyshaking.

“I should kill you,” Chex declares as hetightens his grip on the human’s neck. The man struggles tobreathe. My heart is thumping out of my chest. I don’t want him tokill the human. That would be iniquitous.

“He should kill him,” Na’ta mutters. I whipmy face around to assess her and she’s looking on, wearing animpressed sneer.

How could she feel such a thing? Isn’t itagainst our nature to crave the death of another? But then Iremember Cl’auta and how she desires the death of Lario Exgesis.Either my sisters have developed a trait that I do not possess orthey have lost a sensibility I still have.

“But I’m not going to,” Chex says and I sighwith relief. “I’ll see you soon” are Chex’s last words to the humanbefore he loses consciousness and collapses to the floor.

As he stands over the human, Chex quicklyturns to face another door. His eyes are focused on the metal dooras if he can see through it. He waits. Suddenly the door opens,revealing a Selell, and Chex hits him in the heart with one of thetiny objects. Just for a moment, I take my eyes off of Chex tostudy the face of the dead Selell lying by his feet. His skin hasturned thin and chalky and clings to the bones of his face. Thecreature has aged many, many years since his death just secondsago.

Chex is now skulking down a slanted hallway,making his way deeper into the Earth.

“He has two minutes,” Magnificent Starannounces and I can hear the tension in her voice.

Suddenly, Chex spins around on his heels andtwo, then four, then six daggers spin down the corridor, slicingthe heads off of their intended targets.

“Holy shit,” Na’ta mutters, even moreimpressed than before.

Killing does come quite naturally to Chex.I’m not sure how I feel about it. I will not allow myself to judgehim as a barbarian. His actions are necessary. But why can’t alluniverses and their creatures exist in peace like in Enu?

He turns down another corner, but there’s nolong hallway, only a short one, and this time Chex uses the heel ofhis boot to knock a door down. It’s clear he’s no longer concernedwith how much noise he’s making.

Suddenly the space beside me feels empty:Na’ta is no longer standing beside me. When I spot her in the roomwith Chex, I’m slammed by a host of emotions. I’m angry, afraid,hopeful, but mostly anxious. I can never count on her to follow theplan—she does what she wants, when she wants, and withoutconsidering the repercussions.

The room is far from empty. There arecreatures with sharp teeth, pointy ears, rubbery gray skin. Theyaren’t human but they have legs and arms, and the physical buildsof humans. I gasp and press a hand against my heart when my eyesfind Telman, lying on top of a thin, wooden platform. One of thosestrange creatures is sinking its teeth into one side of his neckand another has its teeth in the inside of his thigh. However,Telman is not the only Selell they’re feeding on. There are lots ofthem and now that Na’ta is there not only are the rodent-likecreatures riled up, but so are the weakened Selells. And, Chexisn’t happy to see her either.

For one long second, all eyes in the roomfocus intensely on her. The smell of her blood fuels their thirst.Then, all at once, almost every creature present - all but Telmanand Chex - make haste to pounce on her. But she’s quick and itchingto get in on the fight. All that I’m able to see of her is theglare of a long blade she’s wielding, slicing through the room. Thecreatures have gone insane in their quest to seize her, and with somuch vigor, they’re racing right into what is a certain death.

More Selells race into the dingy space. Itseems as if Chex and Na’ta are engaged in an endless battle withSelells because the rodent-like human creatures are all dead. Whata morbid sight - their bleeding bodies are wasted on theconcrete.

I locate Telman and he’s so weak that he’scrawling over the dead, heading toward the opened door. He doesn’tknow that he’s being rescued. Then the worst happens and I wish myeyes were deceiving me. A Selell has caught Na’ta in his grasp.He’s twice her size and his teeth are deep in her neck. Thenanother Selell kicks the first one in the head and tears Na’ta outof his arms. Now a new set of teeth are in her neck. She’swobbling, dazed and Chex is too preoccupied to get to her fastenough. When two Selells swipe Telman up off the ground in effortsto seize him, I know what I must do next.

“Thirty seconds,” Magnificent Starannounces. She’s looking at me nervously because, like me, she cansee that they’re not going to cross over any time soon and intwenty seconds my sister and Chex will be trapped. Even a warriorlike Chex can’t fight his way past all of those thirsty Selells whofeverishly crave