Lissa held Reneé’s hand, towing her up the slope “Hurry, over the top!” The three leapt over the lip of the cliff. The girls raced for the clearing in the forest.
Richard turned for one last look at the pirate ship, shimmering, half-transparent in the growing light of dawn.
“Fire!” Another roar and flash of fire. Scott could see the black iron sphere arcing in the sky, thundering straight toward him. He stood rooted to the ground, hypnotized by the sight of death racing toward him.
A sliver of sun shimmered on the eastern horizon, transporting reality from the past into the present. The cannon ball mutated into an insubstantial, transparent bubble as it flew through Scott’s naked torso. He clutched his hands to his belly, feeling for the jagged shreds of bloody flesh. He was whole, unha
