Inside Vestella's chamber, pink warning-lights flashed, and the alarms outside howled like a Fangborn's territorial roar. Idalia caught the scent of panic before she saw its shape—Rhaya barreling into the chamber so fast the door barely had time to slide open. She slammed her shoulder into Kelix and sent him stumbling aside, as if he were nothing more than a misplaced stool, her gaze locked hard on Vestella.

  "Are you okay? Vest, talk to me."

  "I am unharmed," Vestella said. She didn't even rise. A glowing, circular screen hovered in front of her face, filling her eyes with pale gold. Strange runes and shimmering shapes scrolled across it—magi-tech, ship diagnostics—but none of them showed what Idalia had seen. "But they are Orun Dominion riders. Their signal signatures match."

  She hadn't looked at Idalia once, but her voice shifted, sharpened. "Idalia. You can see them, can't you?" Indeed. Outside—hidden in the clouds, closing fast—moved the Camowyverns. Skeleton-shaped silhouettes under the shimmer. Their riders all identical. Their armor like spines and bones glued to metal.

  Idalia's tail lashed once. "Yes. Many. Too many." Her {Spatial Sight} widened again, pushing through the ship's hull. "All the wyverns wear the same strange thing on their backs. All the riders smell the same. They hide in the shimmer like bugs under leaves." Her {Oblivion Sight} locked onto the one pressed against the Luminous Pearl's side. The wyvern's limbs dug into the forcefield, its wings tucked hard, rider crouched low, spine-helmet gleaming with cold colorless magic. Then the creature's muscles bunched.

  Bam! Another brutal rumble slammed through the room. Idalia steadied herself with her claws. "That one is hurting your ship. It got through three layers already!"

  Rhaya went pale. "Three? That fast? Vestella, our barriers aren't—"

  "I know." Vestella's voice remained level. "They are using phase-breaching talismans. The Luminous Pearl's outer shields cannot repel repeated impacts of that kind."

  Another rumble hit the ship—harder, deeper—this one making the whole chamber lurch sideways. Idalia planted all four paws just to stay standing. Dust shook loose from the upper panels. Outside, through Idalia's {Sight}, several hundred wyverns glided closer—silent, shivering in and out of camouflage. Eight ships patrolled Vestella's fleet, circling in formation.

  Before anyone could reply, a blast of light flared through the room's window slot—a bright, sickening bloom. The sound followed a moment later, a deep boom that cracked through their bones. Kelix swore, lightning crackling around his hands again. "That was one of our ships!"

  A second didn't survive. A muffled flash lit the clouds beyond the walls, followed by a thick, tearing boom. Idalia's vision snapped to the left, her heart pounding. "Vest! Another ship is gone! It popped like fruit under a rock!"

  Rhaya froze, mouth open, shock stamped across her face. "Vestella—this is bad—"

  "Yes." Vestella stood at last, fan folding with a soft click. The golden screen before her dissolved into thin air. "We will land on the continent below."

  "What?!" Rhaya spun on her. "We can't land there. The surface is crawling with disaster-tier monsters. The air zone alone—"

  "Is preferable to being dismantled in the sky," Vestella said, still composed. "If we remain here, we will be struck next. And then another. And another. The Dominion intends to erase the fleet before we reach safe altitude."

  Idalia didn't get time to snarl a response. Because outside, through her {Sight}, she watched one of Vestella's escort ships shimmer—then bloom into fire—a silent explosion of petals and metal. Ten invisible wyverns tore through it like ripping open meat. The ship bent, split, and vanished in scattered embers. Another distant explosion thudded through the ship. The deck groaned.

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  Vestella tapped the command node at her wrist. A projection blossomed above the low table: four officers in pink-white Yae-Fae command uniforms flickered into view—three men and one woman, plus a younger aide standing rigidly behind them.

  "All ships," Vestella said, her voice turning sharp and commanding. "Prepare for immediate descent. We are landing. Ground combat formation."

  The officers reacted instantly and very differently.

  The older man stiffened in alarm. "My Lady, that terrain is unscouted—"

  The younger man frowned. "The beasts—"

  The one-eyed woman bowed her head fiercely. "If that is your order, we obey."

  The fourth looked like someone had just handed them their own funeral notice.

  Vestella lifted her chin. "You will obey not only me… but her." All eyes in the projection shifted as Vestella pointed directly at Idalia. One even mouthed, Her?

  "Me?"

  "Yes." Vestella met her gaze fully at last. "You can see our attackers. You can track them. While we descend, the commanders will follow your directions. Tell them where to fire. Tell them where not to fly. You will guide us through the blockade." Again, a thunderous impact tore through the chamber as the wyvern tethered to the ship shattered another barrier. Three layers left.

  Idalia felt heat rise in her chest—half excitement, half something like a growl. "I can do that. I can smell them through the light. I can see where they hide."

  "Good." Vestella nodded once. "Then navigate us to safety." Her voice spread across all five remaining ships, crisp and absolute.

  "All units, heed Idalia's targeting commands. Fire where she directs. Fly where she clears. We will break through the Orun Dominion line and descend to the surface." Outside, more wyverns stirred in the shimmering veil, preparing to dive.

  Idalia's teeth bared in a snarl. "Good," she growled. "I will lead the hunt. Let them come!"

  The officers jolted at that, each reacting. The eldest man swallowed hard. The one-eyed woman's brows shot up in disbelief. The youngest man muttered, "A… Liorex? Giving firing orders…?"

  Idalia straightened, heart pounding with fierce joy. A hunt. A real one. Enemies above. Monsters below. Danger everywhere. Perfect. She flexed her claws against the floor, pupils narrowing into slits of wildfire.

  "Yes, listen! I will get us through. But you all must move fast." Her {Spatial Sight} spread outward again, the sky full of camouflaged predators, the land below crawling with unknown beasts, and the fleet trembling between both.

  She bared her fangs in a feral grin. "Follow me! I see everything!"

  Vestella lifted her hand again, this time not in a command, but in a sweeping gesture that activated a device built into the low table. A sphere of pink light rose from it, expanding until it hung at chest height like a floating glass globe. The orb flickered, then clarified into a full three-dimensional map of the sky outside: the warship, the other five vessels, the clouds below—and faint, ghostly shadows marking where the sensors thought enemies might be.

  Idalia's {Sight}, however, filled in the blanks.

  "That one is wrong," Idalia said, pointing at a blurry shape on the globe. "There is no wyvern there. But over here—behind the Pearl's left wing—there is one. See? See the shimmer?" She went and gestured to where the other wyverns were positioned, poised to strike.

  Vestella nodded crisply and relayed: "Unit Three, adjust target twenty degrees starboard. Prepare to intercept hostile behind the Pearl's left wing."

  On the projection of the commanders, the woman officer acknowledged, "Adjusting course."

  The orb updated instantly, their ship models shifting positions based on Vestella's spoken commands. Everything was clear; everything was visible; everything finally made sense to Idalia.

  She felt powerful. She felt useful. But before she could enjoy that feeling, Vestella turned slightly and addressed her personal guardian.

  "Rhaya. Remove the nuisance attached to my hull."

  Rhaya rolled her shoulders and flashed an almost predatory grin. "Finally." Idalia assumed Rhaya would run to the door. Instead, Rhaya walked straight toward the wall. She didn't slow down.

  She phased through it. Her whole body slipped into the metal, rippling as if the wall were made of water instead of polished alloy.

  Idalia yelped. "She is eating the ship! No—passing—through—how is she doing that?!"

  Vestella snapped her fingers to regain Idalia's attention. "Vibrational phasing. She shifts her body's rhythm to match the frequency of solid matter. You cannot follow that. So stay focused."

  But Idalia's {Sight} was already focused. She chased the blur of Rhaya's presence through the ship—watching as Rhaya slipped through bulkheads, support beams, and cargo chambers without slowing. The woman moved like liquid given a humanoid shape, zigzagging straight toward the wyvern attached to the ship's outer barrier.

  The wyvern never saw her coming.