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Calli’s throat. Squeezing. Calli’s eyes widened, and she clawed uselessly at the woman’s arm.
    “Stop!” Hoku yelled. “You’re killing her!”
    Aluna and Dash attacked. Aluna leaped behind the Human and pressed the blade of her knife to the woman’s throat. Dash tried to peel the woman’s fingers away from Calli’s throat with his powerful mechanical hand. He could bend iron bars with that tech, but the Human’s grip barely faltered.
    “She is too strong,” Dash said through gritted teeth.
    “Not strong enough to resist a slice to the throat,” Aluna said grimly. Hoku wondered if she could do it. If Aluna could actually cut someone’s throat with a whole crowd of people watching. Then he saw the panic on Calli’s face and knew the answer. He’d do it himself if he could. Aluna’s blade cut deeper into the Human’s neck, but the woman didn’t budge. Didn’t cry out. And not a single drop of blood slid down her throat.
    “She’s an Upgrader,” Hoku said. “Her tech is on the inside!”
    The woman’s mouth twisted. “Allow me to introduce myself.” She turned as if Aluna and Dash weren’t attacking her and threw Calli to the ground in front the High Khan. Calli propped herself up on an elbow and gasped for air. Hoku was at her side in an instant, itching to hug her close. He settled for helping her to sit up. If the Human attacked Calli again, she’d have to go through him.
    The Human swatted Dash and Aluna away as if they were guppies. Hoku watched Aluna stumble back, her expression shocked but her dark eyes still assessing.
    The woman wasn’t even breathing hard. “This winged harpy and her people killed my brother,” she said. “I demand the girl’s life in recompense.”
    Aluna crouched low and tucked her knife back in its sheath. “Ridiculous! Calli hasn’t killed anybody.” Hoku saw Aluna flick her wrists to ready her thin chain weapons.
    “My brother’s name was Tempest. Sky Master Tempest,” the woman said. “These flying rats killed him in cold blood at the SkyTek dome.”
    Suddenly, Hoku knew where he’d seen those glasses before. He’d seen them on an old photo of Sarah Jennings, the first Kampii, and her Above World family.
    “Karl Strand,” he croaked, even though he’d meant to only think it. “You’re Scorch. You’re one of Karl Strand’s clones.”
    Scorch smiled. “I am his daughter, yes. And you, Kampii, are exactly the sort of specimen my brother Fathom has been looking for. Perhaps I will send him you and the girl Kampii, wrapped up with a bow. I don’t agree with his experiments, but I do indulge them. We are family, after all.”
    Hoku clamped his mouth shut, afraid he might blurt out something that would get them killed. Scorch didn’t know what had happened at HydroTek. She didn’t know how they’d defeated her brother and taken back the dome. Fathom was in frozen sleep, not dead, but he doubted Scorch would see the distinction. It was only a matter of time before an Upgrader made it to Mirage and told her the news.
    “I don’t care who you are,” Aluna said. “You’re not killing Calli. You’re not even touching her. We’re here to see the High Khan, not you. And last time I checked, this city belonged to him.”
    “My father and I are allies of Red Sky,” Scorch said. She turned to the High Khan. “I ask for the life of the bird-girl, as is my right, and for the two small Kampii to send as gifts of goodwill to my brother. Only three inconsequential lives.”
    Hoku had almost forgotten about High Khan Onggur and the other Equians. Why had they done nothing when Scorch attacked? He saw the High Khan’s advisers stomping nervously and staring at their leader. A few fingered the hilts of their swords.
    High Khan Onggur’s face remained calm, but his words bit into the air. “No one is killed or attacked in my presence without my permission.” Scorch’s arrogant sneer faded slightly. Onggur held up his hand. “However, in light of