Page 67 of Until the Stars Fall

Summer went along the panel flipping switches. A short buzz accompanied by a small flash, and she yelped.

“What the hell was that?” she balked, shaking out her hands.

“What?” My attention was still pulled into the shield readings. The energy density seemed really high to me.

“This shouldn’t be able to shock me. It’s all coated in Abidi composite insulation. And I just switched these wires. Why are they back the way they were before?” Frustration coated Summer’s voice, edged with panic.

One tap would shatter the delicate shell holding me together, but I tried to bolster her. “I believe in you, Summer. Just take a breath.”

“I know that’s not how I left it,” she fussed. “Gemma, did y’all mess with the wiring?”

“No, not since the spacewalk.” I pulled my gaze away from the console. “What’s wrong?”

“It doesn’t make any sense. There’s no reason—”

A sharper, louder buzz, accompanied by a brighter flash. Summer yelped. A tiny flame leapt to life in the electrical equipment. Before I could grab an extinguisher, Summer pinched the fire out with her fingers.

“Can you hand me that tritonic driver over there?” She pointed to the tool chest where several tools sat on top.

I took two steps toward it, and the tritonic driver flew off the tool chest, barreling at my face. I threw my arms up on reflex, batting it aside, and the handle smacked Summer on the side of the head.

“Ouch!” She gripped her head and turned to me, her mouth and eyes wide. “Did you just throw that at me?”

“No! Why would I do that?”

A wrench flew out of the toolbox. It whirled over me and barreled at Summer. She ducked, and it hit the electrical panel.

Summer growled and slammed a panel shut. “When did y’all start keeping a poltergeist down here?”

My heart fell to my feet. “A what? Nothing like that’s happened the whole time I’ve been here,” I insisted.

“It might be afraid of Beck. I bet it never does it when he’s around. Misogynistic piece of shit ghost!” she shouted. She flipped a switch and turned the apparatus’s handle to push it back in. “That oughta—”

The apparatus she’d just pushed in shot out again. It smacked her dead center in the chest, throwing her backwards off the catwalk. She landed with a clatter below.

Hannah and I shrieked her name and sprinted down the steps.

The electrical panel rained sparks through the dim room against a backdrop of red lights flashing. Summer groaned and turned from her side to her back. She looked up at the electrical panel and screamed, her face twisted in terror. Amid the falling sparks, Hannah ran in at a slide on her knees and threw herself between Summer and whatever was scaring her.

“Trislof noeb!” she shouted. A bright light shot like a comet from her outstretched hand, and in its penumbra, a figure’s silhouette retreated toward the ceiling.

Summer sat up shakily, and Hannah wrapped her in her arms, kissing her head. “Baby, are you okay?”

She nodded and clung to Hannah.

All my magic felt moved to the outer layers of my skin like armor, prickling all over. “What was that?”

“Some kind of spirit,” Hannah answered. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I think so. I almost had everything ready,” she said, straining to speak and curling into a ball.

Hannah craned her neck up at the ceiling. “I think it’s gone now. Crap—not just sparks!”

She ran back up the steps, grabbed the extinguisher by the toolbox, and sprayed down the whole panel. “The whole thing’s melted together,” she lamented.

“The whole panel?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said, coming back down the stairs.

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