Halfway between the remains of the tent and the copter’s landing site with its net and candy-cane-shaped landing tube, Mara stood on the back lawn between the Pings facing west, squinting into the sun as it lowered toward the gabled roofline of the manor. The scene struck Mara as odd. Two men holding a plastic ball in one hand and a lightbulb in another. They didn’t look braced for battle.
Not taking her eyes from the sky, Mara said, “Of all the things that Mara could have spent months designing and building, why a mechanical dragon? Sam was right—a spaceship would have made a lot more sense.”
The other Ping, the one to her left, said, “Bruce told you about the dreams Mara had, the ones in which she could travel to the physical world?”
“Yes, where she crossed back over.”
“There were ot
