Fear pushing goosebumps to the surface of her exposed skin in the rapidly cooling air, Didi slips toward the open window at the far end of the shack and tucks close to listen even as her mind spins through possibilities. What used to pass for paint chips flakes against her left shoulder, as dull now as the dust. It cascades to her feet and she stares at its powdered destruction, not seeing it, not really, lost in fear and the past.
She last saw Jackus on Trash Heaven in the underground bunker run by the Underlord, Murta. She assumed he'd died in the failure of the lair's energy field, Bo's fault when he triggered explosives in an effort to rescue her. The thief's actions allowed the giant boles-massive, power hungry creatures with wriggling maws like red worms and hides thicker than a car
