My shoulders hit the ground first, sending a streak of pain up to my skull as the force of the impact pushed me right through the cushioned layer of mud to the rock-hard surface beneath. I howled, but all breath had left me, and the only sound I could make was a gasping wheeze. My tailbone crashed next, rocketing sharp stabs through my hips, and the Novai slammed himself atop me in a primitive straddle. His deformed, ridged face hovered above mine by mere inches. Though he had no eyes to be seen, I could feel him staring at me as his carmine mouth split to wail a head-throbbing screech.

Isabelle’s voice cut through his, pricking the already encumbered air with a wordless and equally head-throbbing shriek of terror. I couldn’t see her, my view blocked entirely by the alien’s colorless head and mane of coal-black hair, but I heard her foot connect with a thunk against the Novai’s side. He spun on the spot, still pinning me with his tall frame. His back was to me now, and I noticed for the first time how abnormal the race was beyond their unnerving faces, despite their humanoid appearance. The muscles from his shoulder blades to his waistline were clear and defined, but they protruded in hard ridges just like the markings on his forehead and cheeks, and his moon-white skin was shiny and practically translucent even without light. The sight escalated my startled fear to uncontrolled panic, and I screamed.

The Novai matched my scream with another screech of his own. It was a sound I had grown familiar with since the camp had been established relatively close to the Polder Quarter, but it was infinitely more terrifying in the midst of an assault. My heart thrummed so rapidly in my chest it felt like a singular beat, and my head was so light and misty I was certain I was on the verge of fainting. At any moment, this nefarious creature could break my neck or tear my throat out with its teeth, and I was helpless beneath him.

“Get off of her!” Isabelle shouted. I caught a brief glimpse of her as she darted forward once more, and desperation seized me by the gut. As she jumped to tackle him from me, I sank my teeth into the Novai’s calf. Bitter earth and sour algae bloomed across my tongue, making me gag, but I refused to let go. The marsh-soaked fabric of his pant leg squelched between my lips as I bit harder and harder into marbled muscle until there was no more give.

With a roar surprisingly deep, the Novai wrenched his leg from my mouth and rolled to the side. I jolted upright at once and scrambled to my feet. He twisted onto all fours in a feral, predatory stance with his fingers splayed across the messy swamp floor and his feet nearly a wingspan apart. If he’d been scary before, he was straight out of a horror movie now. He rocked from side to side with alternating lunges, his eyeless face turned to me, and his head tilted to the left at an unnatural angle. The ends of his raven sheet of hair dragged across the soupy soil with each lunge. It was like he was waiting for my moment of utmost vulnerability to leap.

I wanted to run, but I wasn’t a fool. This beast could catch me in a second and take me down even faster. He was nothing shy of seven feet tall, his form lithe, limber and powerful, and his legs were long enough to match three of my strides with one. Even crouched as he was, he was nearly eye-level with me. I had no chance of escape, and I certainly wasn’t going to try. Besides, I could likely outrun Isabelle, and I wasn’t about to leave her as prey.

Before I could make a decision about my next move, however, there was a crash through the reeds behind us. A blast of cyan light slashed past me, and a sickening crack split the air. The Novai roared again. I didn’t realize he’d been shot until he fell back and clutched his leg to his chest. Rich strands of plum-colored blood spewed from a deep hole in his shin, showering him with dark droplets.

“Are you hurt?”

The A’li-uud stepped from the shadowed reeds into my radius of sight. Though it was the latest hour of night, I could see the delicate shimmering undertones beneath his bluish-teal skin. His eyes, as white as the Novai’s skin, pierced through the darkness and fixated on me—presumably because I was the one covered in mud and visibly shaken. He raised a bulky one-handed gun the Pentabans called a gaar’kon, and the aura from the aqua indicator lights upon it exposed the quiet rage on his face. I recognized him, but I couldn’t place who he was.

“I don’t think so,” I answered, a quake in my voice. It was the first time I’d spoken since the Novai made his appearance, and I noticed a change in octave.

His broad shoulders lifted and fell with his shallow, angry breaths, and he turned his gaze to the injured creature in the mud. His slender lips parted just as the Novai’s had, and he emitted a screech identical to those I heard from inside the camp. Isabelle grabbed my hand. Her fingers squeezed mine in alarm, but I was too overwhelmed to reciprocate or offer any semblance of reassurance.

My attacker yowled something back to the A’li-uud, who immediately retorted with another godawful sound. They conversed like that without paying attention to Isabelle or me, and we stood together, frozen. When the A’li-uud turned back to us, he spoke English once more.

“To which colony do you belong?” he asked. There was no inflection in his tone, only a sternness that left me feeling like I’d been rescued from a mugger by a police officer and I was now about to receive a lecture on the dangers of walking alone at night.

“The Polder Quarter,” I answered mechanically.

His creamy orbs flicked to Isabelle. “And you?”

“The same,” she said, lifting our adjoined hands to gesture between us. “We’re roommates.”

He ignored the explanation and addressed me again. “I will escort you home,” he said. “But the rogue must be returned to camp first.”

“Oh, you don’t have to take us home…” I faltered. My words dropped into nothingness under his flinty gaze.

“I was not asking,” he said testily.

My independent streak yielded to his dominance without further exchange. After what had happened, I wasn’t averse to the burly A’li-uud taking us home, and, even if I had been, I was too emotionally drained to argue.

“Follow me,” he commanded. “Stay close.”

He jerked the gun at the Novai, ordering him to take the lead. The white alien crawled onto all fours again, but, rather than heading our group as the A’li-uud gestured, he let out another shattering screech. The next thing I knew, he was flying through the air with ribbons of blood flowing out behind him, his fingers curled into talons and his body curved with graceful precision. His blank face was pointed at me, and I realized he was descending upon me like an eagle upon a rodent.

There was another zap of light followed instantly by a second crack, and the Novai dropped from midair to the mud with ragdoll limpness. What had been nothing but an ivory mask of ridges now hosted a small but gaping gash. Plummy blood dribbled down the featureless visage to the crimson mouth below, the only thing left moving on the assailant.

“Oh my God,” Isabelle breathed. Her whisper sounded like a shout after the bullet’s vocal impact, though the pandemonium from the Novai camp had not ceased in the slightest and still reigned supreme as the evening’s soundtrack.

The A’li-uud crossed the space between us and the fallen creature. His jaw had become rigid and defined, and he looked even angrier than he’d been when he’d first arrived at the scene. He pressed the sole of his boot against the Novai’s chin, tilting its head upward to better observe the wound, and emitted a sinister growl from the depths of his throat.

I realized I’d been holding my breath since the beast launched at me for the second time and let it out in a great whoosh. “Is he dead?”

“He better be, getting popped in the noggin like that, or else we’re dealing with some real supernatural crap,” Isabelle replied without giving the A’li-uud a chance to respond.

I gave her a look of disapproval. “Do you want us to go get someone?” I asked, specifically addressing the well-muscled alien. “Another warrior or…?”

His boot lifted from the Novai as he turned his wintery eyes to me. “No. You will not leave my side. You are in danger now.”