Star League 8 Read Online Free Page B

databases and find that lightning travels at around a hundred and twenty kilometres per second, which is a lot faster than me! I won’t be able to keep this up for much longer.
    The next lightning bolt strikes the ground nextto me and sends me flying. I land with a splash into a puddle. The incredibly hot lightning bolts must be melting the snow. I start to get an idea but I’m distracted by a strange kind of tickling in my circuits.
    â€˜Oh great,’ I mutter. I wonder if it’s a virus? That’s the last thing I need! I quickly run a diagnostic scan.
    â€˜Alert!’ says my internal virus monitor. ‘New power found! Hyper Celeritas detected!’
    New power? It confuses me at first, but then I realise that being close to the Shadow Shards must have magnified my powers. And as for Hyper Celeritas, well that means …
    â€˜I’m getting bored, robot!’ yells Zeke. ‘Time to finish you off!’ He sends a lightning bolt arcing towards me, just as I activate my new power.
    â€˜Super speed.’ I glance above my head where the lightning bolt is slowly making its way through the air. It’s like I’m watching the whole thing inslow motion. Zeke is practically motionless. I run over and grab him, dragging him towards a pool of melted snow. I’ve got plenty of time to get out of the way of the lightning bolt’s path before I deactivate my new power.
    As the world speeds up again, the lightning hits the edge of the puddle. But rather than disappearing into the ground, the lightning crackles along the surface of the water.
    â€˜Huh?’ Zeke glances down at the puddle around his feet. Before he can get away the lightning streaks through the water and blows him off his feet.
    I race over to him and check his vital signs. Thanks to his lightning powers the blast didn’t turn him to ashes like it would have most people, but he’s not going to be waking up in a hurry. Just to be on the safe side, I take Zeke’s crystal shard and hold it to his chest.
    â€˜Absorb powers!’ I shout.

Rach tries to escape through a portal but I’m not far behind.
    â€˜Hold on!’ I tell Chu. He grips my shoulder with his little paws as we race through the portal and come out the other side.
    I look around and all I can see is the lush greenery of plants. Chu jumps down from my shoulder and sniffs a large flower. ‘Where on earth are we?’ I ask.
    â€˜You’re in the rainforests of Indonesia,’ says Rach, stepping out of the trees. ‘Looking for this?’ She holds up her wrist with the Shadow Shard bracelet. ‘Well, you can forget it!’ Rach clicks her fingers and I can hear scuttling through the undergrowth. Suddenly the ground is alive withthousands of spiders.
    I close my eyes and speak to the spiders using my animancer powers. They freeze in their tracks.
    â€˜I can control your spiders too,’ I tell Rach. ‘They won’t hurt me.’
    â€˜Then I guess this will become a battle of wills!’ Rach screws up her face and the spiders begin to advance on me again. I psychically speak to the spiders and they try to scuttle away, but Rach sends them right back. The spiders race back and forth between us, not knowing who to obey.
    I’m wondering how long we can both keep this up when Rach screeches. Neither of us noticed Chu as he crept up and bit her on the leg. The moment her concentration is broken, the spiders take the opportunity to run for it and disappear into the forest.
    â€˜Looks like you’re all out of ammunition,’ I say.
    â€˜Not quite. I’ve still got one last trick up my sleeve.’ Rach’s two legs start to morph into eightspindly spider legs. ‘Never send a spider to do a spider queen’s job!’
    She lunges forward and grabs me with her powerful legs, wrapping me up in the silk from her spinnerets. I try to fight back, but in a couple of seconds my lower half is