Page 55 of Crossing Quinn

My father’s voice was soft and menacing, “I’ve never killed a Katanic shapeshifter, but if you don’t stop laughing, you will be the first.”

Adan morphed into a huge Gourman. They always reminded me of a prehistoric werewolf with six-inch fangs and talons. “Try it, old man.”

“Has everyone lost their drekking minds? We should be killing the Tai-Kok, not trying to kill each other!”I shouted.

The testosterone level dropped.

Adan switched back to his teenage wizard form. “My apologies. I get bad-tempered when I haven’t eaten.”

“You didn’t eat any of the Gur?”

“I was too busy digging Clio out to eat. The main herd was stampeding toward us, and we needed to move to a safer place,” Adan answered.

“Lucky for you, there are two ships full of yummy Tai-Koks to munch on,” I said.

Adan scowled. “The metal teeth give me indigestion.”

“Spit them out,” I replied without an ounce of sympathy.

Wulf announced, “The Tai-Kok warriors just transported back to their ship with five captives.”

Papa and I exchanged horrified looks.

“Is there something you’re not telling us?” Quinn’s eyes suddenly widened in alarm. “An obsidian sphere called the Shebu, which is a source of unfathomable power.”

The mind meld had given my warlord access to my memories. I nodded. “Dolon has my communication bracelet. If he broke the encryption, he knows everything about the Shebu and what it can do. They must think Nilus can tell them where to find it.”

My father cursed colorfully in several different languages. “We cannot allow the Tai-Kok to possess it.”

Wulf’s mouth tightened into a grim line. “Is the Shebu a weapon?”

“It powered and shielded the Nabateans’ cities for over ten thousand years,” I answered, showing him a mental image of a large obsidian sphere. “The Wadjet, a religious sect, wanted to use it as a weapon to destroy the infidels who refused to worship their gods. They stole the Shebu and left the Nabatean people to die.”

“From what we have deciphered, the Nabatean rulers sent their best hunters after the Wadjet,” Papa added.

I said bleakly, “The hunters killed the Wadjet and retrieved the Shebu.”

“But by then the damage had been done and millions had died,” Quinn finished, borrowing the information from my mind.

Papa rubbed his scruffy beard. “The Nabateans fled their world, taking the Shebu and their treasure with them. We were very close to discovering where they went when Nilus attacked.”

“It will take Nilus weeks if not longer to go through all our data. Hopefully, the Tai-Kok will eat them before he can decipher the glyphs,” I said.

Wulf asked, “How long will it take to finish the translations?”

“Mami had interpreted the last glyph when Dolon showed up,” I responded.

Everyone stared down at Mami thoughtfully. Had she found the location of the Nabateans’ new world?

“We cannot allow the Tai-Kok to take the Shebu. With its power, they would be unstoppable,” Papa declared.

My stomach roiled. With their insatiable hunger, the monsters would eat their way across the galaxy, leaving behind worlds emptied of life. If we didn’t stop them, billions would die. I pulled out the thermite grenade. “Feel like gifting this to one of the Tai-Kok destroyer’s engine room, Adan?”

“It would be my honor. The dead must be avenged,” Adan replied, taking it.

Quinn patted his pockets and grumbled on our private link, “You’re a sticky-fingered little thief.”

“I just took back what was mine.”

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