“Are they made of clay?” Risa asked.
“There are hundreds of them,” Katie observed, her voice hushed.
“Are they just going to stand there?” Cleon asked.
“Maybe they’re out of batteries,” Nate said wishfully.
The remark drew a few uneasy chuckles.
The ceramic host remained stationary.
“They have weapons,” Risa observed.
Most bore simple armaments—stone hammers, wooden clubs, stout rods, crude spears. A few carried primitive bows. Some lacked obvious weapons.
“Are they just for effect?” Chris asked.
“I’m a fairly lucky guy,” Cleon said. “But I can’t believe I’m that lucky.”
“Should I fly in there and look around?” Risa asked. “We can’t see the whole room. I could use my fastest speed.”
“If you’re volunteering, I won’t stop you,” Katie said.
“Wait,” Risa hedged. “You think it could be dangerous? Even flying?”
“It shouldn’t be too dangerous if you use your top speed,” Katie replied smoothly. Nate questioned how much she believed her words.
“All right,” Risa said with a trace of hesitation. “I’ll take a peek.”
Quick as a blink, Risa sped away, hardly even visible as a blur. Nate realized that, even under normal conditions, the kids could fly much faster than any person could run. If Risa was going around ten times her normal flight speed, she had to be moving at hundreds of miles per hour.
The instant the half-glimpsed blur of Risa’s speedy form passed through the gate, the ceramic warriors attacked. Brandishing their weapons, the figures sprang into action, flooding through the gate as if their petrified poses had been an elaborate hoax. They raised no voices, but arrows launched into the air, stones were propelled from slings, and countless ceramic feet trampled over the stone floor.
After his initial jolt of surprise, Nate realized that several of the archers were targeting him. Flying higher, he popped the stick of Peak Performance into his mouth and started vigorously chewing.
His perception of the oncoming threat was instantly clarified. His attention first went to the twenty-two warriors within his field of view armed with projectiles. Avoiding arrows and stones would be essential to surviving the battle. But survival alone would not suffice—he had to help the other Jets!
Ranks of soldiers descended on Chris and Lindy. Katie Sung sprang to aid Chris, probably because it would help guard the Protector. She joined the fray with jaw-dropping ferocity, shattering foes with explosive kicks and vicious blows from the pair of mallets she wielded.
Chris had a large bat, and he swung it recklessly. Spears jabbed him, stone axes chopped him, and clubs slammed against him. The strongest blows made him stumble a little. Otherwise, he absorbed each impact and kept on swinging. Stroke after stroke pulverized warrior after warrior.
Despite the fierce defense from Katie and Chris, the ceramic warriors pressed forward undaunted, showing no regard for their survival. None hesitated. None retreated. Unlike Chris, Katie could not afford to take blows. She danced wildly to avoid endless attacks, retaliating whenever possible. Given the overwhelming quantity of assailants, Nate wondered how long she could last.
Lindy was faring much worse than Chris. She got knocked off her feet, and a gang of ceramic figures surrounded her, issuing blows at will.
Cleon rushed to her aid. His body kept passing through ceramic figures, as if he had no substance. Their weapons swished through him as though he were a hologram.
A few feet to one side of Cleon, ceramic heads were bursting and limbs were getting bashed to pieces in time with his swings. With his heightened senses, Nate quickly recognized that Cleon had somehow projected an image of himself a short distance away from his actual position.
Cleon was making slow progress toward Lindy, so Nate flew to help. Since he was the lone target above the combat, stones and arrows kept streaking his way, but he dodged them with casual effort, twisting and curving to avoid the projectiles. Swooping down, using the speed of his flight to boost the force of his blow, Nate obliterated a ceramic head with his baseball bat. Staying low,
bobbing up and down just above the heads of the inhuman soldiers, Nate started thumping them with precise forehands and backhands. Whether time had decayed their ceramic forms and masks, or whether they had never been particularly sturdy to begin with, they crumbled beneath his swings.
A group of ten warriors suddenly rose twenty feet into the air, then fell back to the ground, shattering on impact. Another group of attackers flew skyward, and another.
Nate helped Lindy to her feet while Cleon covered them. “You okay?” Nate asked.
Lindy looked up at him gratefully. “I’m unhurt. A little freaked, though. I wish I had spent more time practicing baseball.”
Katie Sung and Chris fell back to them. Katie was breathing hard. Jeanine levitated more groups of warriors and sent them crashing down atop others. No matter how many ceramic figures they incapacitated, more kept streaming through the gate, swarming fearlessly.
“They break easily,” Nate commented.
“True,” Chris agreed.
“There are too many,” Katie gasped, sweat running down the sides of her face. “Jeanine will get worn down before long. So will I. Fragile or not, they’ll overwhelm us with sheer numbers.”
More soldiers poured into the room, spreading out to approach from all sides. Nate took to the air again, narrowly dodging weapons while issuing perfect blows. Katie fought with manic intensity, moving in measured bursts from one enemy to the next, smashing them to dust with stunning power. Chris fought methodically, absorbing blows so he could focus on offense.
Risa returned abruptly. When she slowed to normal speed, her face was flushed, and she was panting. “There’s an even larger room beyond the gate!” she called. “If you can get through it, there’s a pedestal in there, and a big statue just like the Protector.”
A rock glanced off her arm. Temporarily speeding up, she flew higher.
“Are you all right?” Nate asked, flying up to her. He used his bat to deflect a stone that would have struck her in the back.
“Going at top speed wore me out really quickly,” Risa said. “Much faster than Trevor described. Even after I slowed to race mode, I got so woozy that I almost passed out. Everybody was shooting at me. I got spooked, climbed high, and slowed down. I came back as soon as I felt I could handle race mode again. I still don’t feel great.”