THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

friends, one of these two–or both–might gut me with a spear.
    Maybe I could move us in that direction. “Why aren’t you helping your friends with that monster?”  Neither one answered. “What are all of you doing here?”  I made sure they heard the lack of patience in my voice. “What is this place?”
    Still no answer.
    The little girl huddled in the same spot near my legs, eyes glazed over in shock, probably over how she got here since she wasn’t dressed like this bunch.
    I had a hunch that she’d gotten spit out of a pod, too.
    I could appreciate that scared, shaky feeling.
    More annoyed this time, Red Hair raised his voice. “Down on your knees. Now!”
    “No.”  I waited to see if either one would make a move. When all they did was exchange a look of confusion with each other, I angled my head around to see how the battle was going.
    Their tall leader had a club in one hand and something that could be a sword in the other, not giving the monster–croggle–an inch. Stab. Thwack. Stab. He had golden-brown hair and strange light purplish skin with aqua and dark-blue markings. Broad shoulders and muscled arms that swung a club the size of my leg with no more effort than if he held a thin stick.
    But spearing the thick-hided creature with sharp points and clubbing it just enraged the thing rather than scaring it off or killing the monster.
    In spite of now being stretched out on the ground, the croggle howled all of a sudden and lashed out with its giant tail, knocking two children out cold.
    Then it rolled onto its belly, trying to right itself.
    I could hear the boys behind me suck in their breaths.
    Things were not looking good for the humans–assuming anyone present was human–and here I stood being useless, pinned in place by two half-sized guards.
    No way.
    I twisted toward the boys once more, surprising them for the second time when I yanked away both spears. “I need these.”
    Mouths open, they stared at their empty hands.
    Nodding at the little girl at my feet, I shouted, “Take care of her.”
    And I was off.
    To commit suicide? Possibly, but I’d bet there were kids with spears standing behind Gabby and Tony, too. I couldn’t just hang around and wait for that croggle thing to kill the attackers then go after Gabby and Tony the minute it got tired of being beaten.
    And to be perfectly honest, charging toward a threat felt bone-deep right, as odd as that sounded. As natural as breathing, I knew I’d done this before...somewhere.
    I was almost upon the monster before the other kids noticed me. The guy in charge whipped around with shock riding his face then a fierce mask slipped into place. The younger ones seemed confused, as if trying to figure out if I was friend or foe.
    No time to explain .
    The leader kept his gaze on me, all the while roaring orders at the children, drawing them away from the croggle, and me.
    Tossing down one spear to free up a hand, I flipped the other spear over in my right hand into a natural position for attack. Energy swirled in my chest, like before, but faster and stronger. Power shot through my arms and legs until I thought it would consume me.
    Using my speed to run up the blunt scaly tail of the croggle, I pushed off and landed on its back. When my momentum slowed at the thing’s neck, I clenched a curved horn sticking out the back of its head to hold myself steady as it moved underneath me.  My muscles expanded and thickened with every blasting beat of my heart.
    The spear began to smolder under my fingers as if burning.
    That was new.
    I ignored everything except focusing on killing this threat, and trusting instincts I sensed were as much a part of me as the strange energy building inside me. I didn’t think I could reach the monster’s side eyes, or break through the skull to its brain. But I had to try.
    When I drew back with the spear, a row of scales around the neck flapped out and back, out and back. Breathing?
    Just as had happened in the jungle when I battled the vine, more energy rushed through me, but this time it was like molten lava.
    I held the spear poised above the neck flaps.
    The monster exhaled. Its scales flipped open.
    A shout of “ Tenadori ” burst from my throat. I thrust the spear downward between scales in the neck.
    The sharpened stick struck membrane that resisted.
    My muscles bunched. Heat exploded through my body and rocketed through my arms. I powered another shove deeper into the monster until something