The air just vanished, like someone had sucked it right out of the street. Maya gasped, grabbing at her throat, eyes wide as she stared up. The thing above them wasn’t a ship. It was a hole—a piece of darkness that swallowed up the morning sun until nothing was left but shadow.
“Julian, I can’t… I can’t breathe,” Maya choked out.
Julian’s face drained of color. He grabbed her around the waist to steady her. The ground started trembling, but not like any earthquake they’d ever felt. Pebbles lifted off the road, spinning and floating like tiny gray birds caught in a strange wind.
“Stay with me, Maya! Don’t look at it!” Julian yelled, but his own gaze stayed glued to the sky.
From the heart of that enormous shadow, a gray beam slashed down—no sound, no crash, just silent destruction. Wher
