As the Hellean soldiers fired at us again, we ducked behind the toppled golems for cover.

“How many are there?” I asked.

Father peeked out. “Thirty at least.”

“Thirty-four.” Jason darted out in one quick movement, launching a knife. It hit a soldier square in the forehead. “Thirty-three now.”

Beside me, Marin was poking through the golem’s insides. “This is bad.”

“What is bad?” I asked her.

She showed me the wires and internal mess of parts. “Look familiar?”

“Not really. All machines kind of look the same to me.”

“This is Xenen tech,” she told me.

My stomach clenched up. “The demons.”

“Yes, but it’s recently made.” She gave me a pointed look. “Just like the bombs that destroyed Decia. And all the tech I’ve seen during our journey through the Hellean cities has been the same.”

“The Helleans are allies of the demons.”

‘Bad’ didn’t even begin to cover it.

I stole another look past the fallen golem that was shielding us. The Helleans were down another few soldiers. But that’s not what caught my attention. What drew my eye were Hayden and Ian Selpe, who were sneaking their way toward us. The Hellean soldiers were so busy fighting us that they’d left the princes unguarded.

I looked at Father and he nodded. I ran out, circling behind the Helleans. When two of the soldiers turned to follow me, Father shot them down, clearing my path to Hayden and Ian. I sprinted for the princes, then squatted down with them behind the broken golem they were using for cover.

“I’m Terra Cross.”

“We remember you,” Ian said with a tired smile, his eyes glowing jade. It seemed my aunt had passed along some of her magic to her sons.

I smiled back. “I’m going to get you out of here.”

“We know you will,” Hayden replied. His clothes were torn, his skin smudged, and his hair untidy, but it didn’t matter. Regal energy oozed off him, as though he’d been born to rule.

I hazarded a glance at the field. My team had taken out the first group of Hellean soldiers, but more were already here. I grabbed the princes’ hands and pulled them down, using the fallen golem as cover. We waited there as bullets beat against the machine’s metal body like rain on a rooftop. They turned their eyes to me, looking for guidance. Like I had the power to keep them alive. I couldn’t fail them.

Light footsteps approached—and ground to a halt. I heard a grunt, followed by two heavy thumps. I rose just high enough to peek over the barrier. Two bodies lay against the ground in a tangled heap of bloody limbs. My team was taking out the Helleans from behind.

Metal scraped against metal. A breeze ripped across the field, making the hairs on my arms stand on end. Phantom power. I ducked as a body was flung over our barrier. It hit the ground with a sickening crunch. Blood oozed down the Hellean soldier’s face, and an assortment of broken bones protruded from his chest. Beside me, Ian threw up on my boots. I turned my back on the broken man and tried to wipe the image of his broken body from my mind, struggling against the burn of bile rising in my throat.

Silas leapt around a golem, blood sprinkled across his face like warpaint. A soldier followed, launching a tiny disc at him. Silas dodged, and the bomb clinked against the golem behind him and exploded. Dodging raining metal shards, the Phantom thrust out with a fierce jagged-edged blade. The soldier blocked, but fell to his knees from the impact of Silas’s forceful strike. Without pause, Silas kicked the man hard in the stomach. The soldier fell flat on his back, and before he could stir, Silas cut his throat.

He shot me a feral grin, blood dripping from his blades. He waved the others forward. Leonidas and Ariella stepped around a metal golem head, stopping on either side of Silas. Their faces and clothes were stained with splotches of crimson.

Further down the field, Jason and Father were still battling Hellean soldiers. One of them was a Phantom. I could tell from the shockwave of broken debris swirling around him like angry crows.

“One of the mages the Helleans turned,” Keys commented as he and Marin joined us.

Metal screamed, and the golem we’d been hiding behind just a few moments ago exploded. I looked down at the broken, burning chunks strewn across the snowy field. Something whistled. I followed the sound to a new golem. It was running right at us.

Compared to the giant golems lying on the frozen field, this one was miniature, hardly larger than an average man. Silas was actually taller than it. But Silas’s eyes didn’t glow blood-red, and despite his many powers, he could not blow up golems.

The new golem turned its eyes my way now, and I could have sworn I saw the red fire rage hotter. Then something hit me, pushing me out of the way. A jet of flames shot over me. I looked up at Jason, who had me pinned to the ground, his body shielding me.

“Stay down,” he told me.

Then he jumped up and charged at the golem, dancing a crisp, efficient circle behind it. A colorful blur of skin and steel, he moved with inhuman speed, striking and evading—but his opponent was not human.

It matched Jason’s movements, raising an armored arm to block his attack. Metal rang like an old clock tower, and Jason hopped back to shake out his battered arm. His eyes glowing like a black inferno, he shot a menacing sneer at the golem. The deafening staccato of striking metal—Jason’s sword against the golem’s armored shell—sang out. It was so loud that I could hardly hear my own thoughts.

They continued their deadly dance, drifting further across the field. Jason might not have been doing much damage, but he’d managed to push the golem away from everyone else.

A pained grunt of expelled air broke Jason’s lips. The golem pounded his ribcage again, and he fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. His back rose and fell in erratic hiccups. He was alive, but he didn’t get up. His blood stained the white snow.

Stay down? Like hell I would. I rose to my feet.

I hadn’t thought anything could keep Jason down. A shiver crept down my spine. How badly was he hurt?

The golem was advancing slowly on him, taking its time. It oozed toward him as though it were savoring the anticipation of his death. It seemed to have already written him off, but it didn’t seek out a new threat. Jason needed a few minutes, just a few minutes and he’d be strong again. Phantoms healed fast.

I rushed forward. Ignited by fear and adrenaline—and a little of Jason’s lingering magic inside of me—I closed the hundred meters in seconds. I swung my burning sword, striking hard at the golem. My blade sliced across its armored chest. I quickly turned my sword, repeating the motion. Metal scraped against hard earth as the golem dropped to its knees. As it fell, it swung out its massive arm, backhanding me so hard that I flew past the princes and collided with Father. We both tumbled to the ground.

I disentangled myself from him and jumped back to my feet. I wiped the blood from my lip with the back of my hand and glared at the golem. My stare didn’t seem to have any more of an effect on it than Jason’s had. The machine rose to its feet, quickly closing the distance to Jason. Then it lifted its arm, readying itself to slam a metal fist into his head. It was planning to crack open his skull like a coconut.

Jason threw his head back and glowered at the golem with eyes of dark fury. His magic battered the machine from all sides. It stumbled, but before it fell, it shot back, colliding with a debris pile. Several seconds passed, and the golem stayed down.

Jason braced his hands against the ground and rose to his feet. He’d made it only two steps before the groan of abused metal signaled the rise of his foe.

“Damn thing doesn’t know when to die,” he grumbled, spinning around to fight again.

But the golem didn’t go for him this time. It turned and ran across the field, swooping up the Helleans’ fallen mage. It clamped a hand around the man’s waist, lifting him from the ground.

The Hellean’s Phantom soldier had a massive muscular form second only to Silas’s, the sort of body built to deal damage—and yet inside the golem’s iron clasp, he drooped as limply as a rag doll, his head flopping from one side to the other as the golem carried him toward Jason. The mage coughed, and blood trickled down his lips. I could only stare in horror. The man was still alive. Broken and bloody, but alive.

The golem lifted the mage up high and threw him over Jason’s head. I turned my eyes away, but that did not block out the telltale crunch of bone as a soft body met hard metal debris.

Jason looked from the dead mage to the golem. “Your aim sucks.”

Silas walked up beside him. Phantoms battled each other for dominance, but when it came to standing with their own team, they didn’t yield. Silas’s eyes pulsed. It was a startling effect. His blue irises shone white for a fraction of a second, then faded back to blue.

The golem remained motionless, its red eyes fixed.

“You can’t just toss bodies at me, you walking scrap pile,” Jason said. “Not even other Phantoms. I don’t break so easily.”

Jason thrust his hands forward, expelling a telekinetic blast that toppled the golem. The fire went out in its eyes. It must have been at its end.

“It’s not dead,” Father told me as he slapped handcuffs around the golem’s wrists.

A cold wind blew across the field, cutting through my body like a thousand glacial daggers. A subtle visual distortion appeared in the air behind the princes, cracking and sizzling.

Something shifted behind Father and the handcuffed golem. A bloody Hellean soldier jumped up and grabbed Hayden and Ian. Before anyone could stop him, he shoved the princes through the portal. Then he collapsed to the ground, dead.

“Another portal,” Ariella whispered.

The faint blue-silver glow of this distortion made it the most visible Hellean portal so far. It was also…different. Somehow. It was cold—not the temperature, the magic. It crawled across my skin like a colony of ants. I shivered.

“It’s a portal to another galaxy,” Keys said.

“How?” I gasped.

“They created one now, using the Phantom’s life force as he died,” Keys explained.

So that’s why the golem had killed the Phantom mage. And why he’d gone after Jason.

The portal began to flicker, the crackling buzz becoming more erratic.

“It’s going out,” Keys said.

Silas stared at the portal. He was going to follow the princes through it. I could read it in his eyes. He knew it was a one-way trip, and he was going anyway.

“Silas—”

“I have to go,” he told me. “I can’t leave them alone.” His gaze slid to Jason. “Take care of her.”

Jason nodded.

Silas ran into the closing portal, a steely smile on his face. His body seemed to freeze in time for a moment, then it slowly faded from sight. Silas was gone. He and the portal.

“We have to get out of here,” Jason said, setting his hand on my shoulder. “More soldiers are coming.”

“He’s right,” Father said. He grabbed the unconscious golem and swung it over his shoulder.

“Wow, your father is strong,” Ariella told me.

“It’s from hauling all those bail jumpers into our truck.” I looked at Father. “Why are you bringing it?”

“This is the person I came to save.”

“There’s a person in there?”

“Yes.”

Keys smiled. “Isn’t this exciting?” He extended his hand to Ariella, palm up. “Now, if you would just give our Phantom the potion you’ve been carrying around, we can all get out of hell.”