Aja tries to make them stay a day longer after they've found the formstone information, but at most she succeeds in making them wait until the next day to leave. They really need to get this to Mort, like ASAP, so they're packed and ready to go as early as they can the next morning.
"You always have a place here, little brother." Aja pulls her brother into a hug. She somehow looks sadder now than she did leaving him on Earth in the first place. "You know that, right?"
"I do," says Krel. "And… I miss you, too, Aja. But Earth is my home. Not Akiridion-5. Not anymore."
Aja pulls away and nods, lips pulled thin. "I – I know. I know. But – if anything happens, you need to come back. Okay?"
"Okay," says Krel. Aja can clearly tell it's a lie, because her face turns even sadder. Krel hugs her again, shorter this time, then walks to stand with Seamus and Toby by the wormhole.
"I'm going to come back and visit soon," says Steve. Krel makes a gagging motion when Steve kisses Aja, and Seamus makes mocking gestures at the two of them. Toby thinks they're kind of cute together.
"Take care of my little brother, my blond oaf," she says. Krel dramatically rolls his eyes. Seamus mouths "blond oaf" in amused disbelief. "Maybe I'll also come visit soon. Say hi to my friends on Earth."
"Good luck with your project, guys!" Eli offers. "Let us know if we can help more!"
"We will!" Toby says. It's not like they can help more with a non-existent project. He has no idea what else they could have told Aja and Eli besides that specific lie, so he's glad Krel thought it up.
The wormhole opens in front of Krel's house. To be safe, they dart straight inside, just in case BK or a new Knight is hanging around, and Steve pulls out his phone to call Mort to pick them up.
"Krel! Looks like you're feeling better!" Ricky – Mr. Blank? – exclaims, running forward and picking Krel up in a tight hug. Krel yelps. Lucy joins in a group hug, grinning in wide, creepy, Lucy fashion.
"How was your trip, kiddo?" she asks loudly.
Krel winces. "Fine, fine, put me down."
"You kids want breakfast?" Lucy offers. She and Lucy deposit Krel back on his feet. He shakes out his arms and
"Breakfast does sound nice," Toby admits. He does love Lucy's pancakes. Even off the ceiling they taste good.
"I don't think we have time," says Steve, pocketing his phone again. "Mort's on his way. It won't take him long."
"That's too bad," says Lucy.
"What's the plan for today, kiddos?" Ricky asks with more enthusiasm than Toby once would have thought possible from a robot. "Just a guys' day?"
"Yeah, something like that," says Seamus. He still seems kind of uneasy with the Blanks, but Toby understands. They're a lot to get used to, and he and Steve have had much more time to get used to them.
True to Steve's word, Mort arrives fairly quickly. They'd messaged him the night before so he'd probably been waiting nearby just in case they showed up here. It's a bit of a tight fit to pile all four of them into his truck, but they manage. Krel, the smallest and skinniest of all of them, is stuck in the middle seat between Toby and Seamus. Steve gets shotgun simply because of his leg.
"Krel, how are you?" Mort asks. "Adjusting alright?"
"I think so," says Krel. "It feels kind of weird. I have more energy now than I know what to do with."
"Well, it could be worse," says Mort. Toby mentally shudders. It could be much worse. He doesn't like to think of the moment when Krel collapsed, when none of them knew what was happening or if he was going to be okay. He especially didn't like to think of how the Akiridion doctors had near panicked, and how for a few hours none of them were sure if Krel was even still alive.
"We think we know what the evil wizard is after," says Steve. "So, Krel talked to Gaylen–"
"Sorry, sorry, Krel talked to Gaylen?" Mort repeats, glancing at Krel in the rear-view mirror. "Gaylen, the dead space god? Does anyone else see what's wrong with this picture?"
"Yeah, we know," says Krel. "He gave me a riddle because he's no help."
"Well, anyway, we figured out the riddle," says Steve. "Have you ever heard of formstones?"
Toby sees Mort's eyes widen in the mirror. "Heard of, yes. But only as a myth. And it doesn't make any sense according to science."
"Well, science is going to have to be thrown out the window for this," says Seamus. He grimaces. "And that physically hurt me to say."
"It physically hurt me to hear," agrees Krel.
"You break the laws of physics like they're piñatas, don't give me that," Seamus retorts.
"Piñata? What's a piñata?"
"So you think these formstones are real, then?" Mort says.
"Yeah," says Steve. "Earth only has one, and we think it's in Arcadia."
Mort sighs heavily. "I hate to say it, but I think you may be correct. It would explain… a lot. The magical power of the town. Trollmarket."
"This apocalypse," Toby adds. "We think the wizard wants to drain its powers."
"That would be very, very bad," Mort says. "But it makes sense. It at least explains why he wants Krel, if he has any suspicion about Krel and Gaylen's core."
"Only celestials can find hidden formstones," Krel murmurs. His brow lowers. "Then I played right into his hands. I shouldn't have integrated with Gaylen's core, after all. Then he'd never find it."
Mort shakes his head. "Gaylen's powers may still be essential. Sometimes, we have to play into the enemy's hands to gain our own advantage. No action comes without some form of consequence."
"How did Mordred–" Mort gives Seamus a deadpan glare in the rear-view mirror. "–sorry, fine, the evil wizard – how did he know about Krel and Gaylen's core?"
Mort's lips twist into a deep frown. "To be totally honest, even I suspected something of the like from the moment I met Krel. I told you your aura was… unearthly, but it's more than that. Any wizard worth his salt would recognise something off about you."
"I thought it was just because he's Akiridion," Steve says slowly.
"Did you look at any auras on Akiridion-5?" Mort prompts.
"I – well, yeah, but of course Krel's was different by then," Steve reasons. He shakes his head. "But… it's always been similar to Gaylen's core. You're right."
"I have no doubt our mystery wizard would be able to see auras," says Mort. "It would be easy to make an educated guess."
Krel turns his amulet-device-thing – yeah, Toby's gonna call it an amulet – over in his hands, staring at it with a worried frown. Toby knows the idea that he's always been… different… makes Krel pretty uncomfortable. He puts a hand on one of his friend's arms.
"Hey," he says, "doesn't change anything. So you're aura's wonky. We're all weird. You being weird too just means you fit in perfectly."
Krel offers him a weak smile. "Yeah. I guess."
Mort parks in front of his shop and ushers them all inside. Steve groans when he opens the trapdoor to the library. Toby sympathises, he really does. Mort grins at the younger blond.
"Watch this," he says. He pushes his hands out like he's splashing someone at the pool, and a bronze platform appears over the stairs. "Been working on this since you've been gone. We may not have a lift but this will do. Hop on."
Steve eyes the platform warily but crutches onto it anyway. Mort walks forward, hands still out, and the platform lowers down the stairs as he walks. Toby glances at his friends.
"Mort realises he could have just gotten, like, a wheelchair lift or something, right?" he says.
"I mean, adult wizards can be kind of weird," says Seamus. "My mom would rather do things with magic if she can help it. Says it saves money."
"Adults in general are weird," mutters Krel.
The three of them follow down the stairs. Douxie, Nimue, and Ikram are all also gathered in the library. It's tight, but they all fit. Douxie grins at them. "Good to see you're all okay."
"Mort told us what happened," says Ikram. Nimue stalks over specifically so she can whack Krel in the back of the head. Toby isn't sure if the slap if from her or Ikram or both, but the sentiment is received either way.
"Ow," Krel complains.
"You are entirely too reckless," ikram chides. "It's not a good trait. Unlearn it."
"Hey, my 'recklessness' might have gotten us an advantage," Krel protests. "With Gaylen's powers, I bet the Knights won't stand a chance."
By her expression, Ikram takes this as a personal challenge. "Alright, then. Spar me with your new powers, little Akiridion."
Krel's eyes widen. "Uh. No, thank you."
"Actually, I think that's a wonderful idea," Mort says. "It would give us a nice idea on how your new powers will affect combat and what advantage we might have."
Krel groans. Toby doesn't really feel bad. He dug himself into this particular hole. He can spar his way out of it. The group of them walk over to their usual training room at Nimue's. All but Krel and Ikram sit. Toby wishes he had popcorn. Krel stands on one side and holds up his amulet.
"What is that?" says Douxie, leaning forward with his hands on his thighs.
"Super awesome-sauce," Toby says smugly. That's right. He may not get a cool armour transformation, but two of his friends do.
"In the name of Gaylen!" Krel shouts. He's obviously trying to look cool, and as the armour flies on, Toby has to admit that it works. Krel materialises a sword as he lands on his feet. A second later, the helmet also appears. Yeah, he'll probably need that.
"Impressive," says Ikram. She brandishes her own sword. "But showy transformations don't say anything about your actual skill."
"Don't worry, Krel!" Seamus calls. "We'll come to your funeral!"
Krel turns back to them with an offended glare. "Have a little faith in me! I thought you said I was special!"
Steve chokes on a laugh.
"Dude," he mutters to Seamus.
"Shut up," Seamus mutters back.
Krel returns his attention to Ikram and the spar begins. At first, Krel sticks to his sword. It seems like it's a familiar weapon for him, so, hey, he should work with what he knows. Then the sword disappears on him. By his panicked face, that was not purposeful. He tries to re-materialise it. This fails, so he tries for the gun, or so Toby assumes. This also fails, so he just throws out his hands and manages to send poorly aimed energy charges in Ikram's general direction. They all miss.
"This is going well," Steve notes sarcastically.
"Work! Stupid! Sword!" Krel cries desperately as Ikram approaches. She's grinning like this is the most fun she's had in years. It might be. When she gets closer, Krel tries to jump out of the way. He jumps. He does not hit the ground. He shrieks and kicks at empty air.
"You're flying!" Seamus exclaims in shock.
Toby hops to his feet excitedly. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Krel can fly! Krel can fly!"
"I don't want to fly!" Krel wails. He tries and fails to navigate, until finally some extremely dumb part of him seems to think that jumping in mid-air will get him down. Instead, he shoots straight upward – and through the ceiling.
"Oh, no," mumbles Nimue in horror. Krel's lower half dangles from the newly-formed hole, legs still kicking urgently for solid ground. Toby's glad he has the helmet, because otherwise he bets the Akiridion would definitely be unconscious.
"Well," Ikram calls, "we learned you can fly. And you can't fight. Still."
"Yep," Krel's muffled voice replies. "Great. Can – someone get me down?"
Yeah. Toby wishes he'd had popcorn for that.
After they get Krel down from the ceiling, Mort orders pizza – he gets himself the blasphemous pineapple pizza much to Toby's horror – and they all gather upstairs to eat. It's kind of clear Mort wants to keep showing off his new spell. Steve humours him, so the rest of them do, too. Krel turns on his transduction. In some weird way, he looks refreshed to be back in human form. He keeps pushing the skin on his cheeks and arms around when he thinks the rest of them aren't looking. If Toby didn't know he didn't usually have a human body, he'd find this really, really strange, but since he does know, it's kind of funny.
"So how's Akiridion-5?" asks Douxie. He pauses. "Five is the right number, right?"
Krel laughs. "Yes, it's the right number. And it's fine. Aja's doing a good job."
"Is there more than one Akiridion?" Nimue asks.
"Sort of," says Krel. "Akiridions used to be a nomadic race. We aren't anymore, we've pretty much stuck to Akiridion-5. And me, here, I guess. But before that, thousands of years ago, we would kind of roam the galaxy for years until we found a planet to live on for a while. Up until Gaylen created Akiridion-5, though, none of the planets sustained our way of life for longer than a few centuries."
"So, what, there were four before Gaylen made Akiridion-5?" Toby asks.
"Yeah, and Akiridion Prime, which is where Akiridions originally came from." Krel pauses to take a bite of his pizza. He swallows, and continues speaking. "At least, that's what I remember learning. It's been a while."
"You know, I've been wondering," says Toby. "Do you think you could make a planet?"
Krel blinks. "I never thought of that."
"That sounds like the worst possible idea," says Ikram.
"I think it'd be pretty cool," Steve says.
"I bet you could," says Seamus. "But you'd have to do a lot of research on where to put it so it's habitable and you don't mess up an entire solar system."
"Gaylen didn't create Akiridions, did he?" Toby asks. He's been kind of wondering about that and the implications it might come with.
"Oh, no, no," says Krel. He's gotten good at reading Toby's expressions, because he tacks on, "And before you ask, I'm not even going to think about trying something like that."
"I would hate to see the result of that," mutters Mort.
"We don't actually know how Akiridions first formed," admits Krel. "There are theories but we don't have good evidence. Akiridion Prime was destroyed long before anyone knew real science stuff."
It's kind of nice to know that even Akiridions once didn't know anything about science. They're so far ahead of humans that it's intimidating, but even they started somewhere. From a strictly sci-fi fan perspective, Toby thinks all of it is really cool. From a more realistic perspective, he understands none of it. He likes science in theory but not always in practice. Geology is cool, though, and man, Toby'd love to learn more about astrogeology.
"Do you miss Akiridion-5?" Douxie asks. Krel blinks at him. "I mean – you were back for a little bit. Do you miss living there?"
"I miss Aja," says Krel. "And Varvatos and Zadra and Eli. And my parents. I guess I kind of miss my lab. But not Akiridion-5 in particular. At least here I have friends. I wouldn't trade you guys for the world."
"We're glad you stayed," Steve says. He reaches over and ruffles Krel's hair, much to Krel's annoyance. Seamus hits him lightly on the arm with a smile. Toby grins at him from across the table. "Don't know what we'd do without you, bud."
Krel seems to glow under the positive attention, or maybe he's actually glowing, that's also a possibility. Mort chuckles and takes a bite of his pizza before speaking. "After lunch, we'll need to split up. Steve, I want to work more with you on shields and maybe start some long-range offensive spells."
"Finally," Steve says.
"Krel, Nimue and I are going to work with you on your powers," says Ikram. Krel nods. "Hopefully within a few days we can have you – well, not getting stuck in the ceiling for starters."
"I could use a few extra hands in the shop, if either of you are interested," Douxie says, glancing between Toby and Seamus.
"Count me in," says Toby.
"Sure," Seamus agrees.
"We really do appreciate it, boys," says Mort. "It's hard to find employees. Can't just hire random kids like most businesses."
"You know, I bet having a job in high school looks good on college apps," says Toby.
Mort laughs. "Yes, yes, you can keep working here during the school year if you wish. You're all always welcome."
"If I tell my mom I work here she'll start asking for a discount," Seamus warns.
Mort rolls his eyes. "She already has one. Remind her she already has one so she'll stop asking."
"She won't," says Seamus. "You'll have to remind her again next time she comes in."
"Does your mom know about – all this?" Steve asks.
Seamus makes a so-so motion with his hand. "She knows something's up because Mort asked her to look into it. She doesn't know you're involved or, worse, that I'm involved."
"You might want to tell her, dude," Toby says.
"Eventually," says Seamus. He gives Krel a sideways look. "When Krel tells Aja."
"Ah, so never," Krel says.
Mort sighs and rubs his forehead. He glances at Ikram and Nimue. "Are either of you going to help me, or do I have to be the only responsible adult?"
"Don't look at me," says Nimue. "I'm still in college. By default I'm not a responsible adult."
"Yeah, I'm leaving this to you," says Ikram, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.
Mort points at Krel and Seamus as if he's going to start scolding them, but ultimately shakes his head. "We'll talk about this later."
Toby's just glad he was the responsible one – huh, look at that, he's the responsible one – and told Nana right away. At least he isn't on the wrong side of Mort's disapproval this time.
"Do you ever get customers who aren't my mom?" Seamus asks as he adjusts merchandise on one of the shelves this afternoon. Toby amuses himself messing with the cash register. There isn't much else to do in the shop. Seamus has a point that there are basically never any customers. Toby's worked in here several times over the past few weeks and only seen, like, three people, ever.
"We do, actually, although Mrs. J's probably one of our most common," says Douxie. "We get wizards from all over passing through Arcadia. Sometimes we get really curious mundanes who think it's a novelty shop, and the occasional conspiracy theorist of course. We've had the odd troll or two during late hours."
"Wait, really?" Toby asks.
"Yep," says Douxie. "I know the Trollmarket trolls were convinced trollkind was some well-kept secret from humans, but we wizards have been trading with trolls for centuries."
"Huh," says Toby.
"No one told me about trolls," Seamus grumbled. "I had to find out the hard way like everyone else. And extra-terrestrials! I get back from space camp and like, the next day, Arcadia's under attack."
"Quite a welcome home," says Douxie amusedly. "Extra-terrestrials, gotta admit, I wasn't expecting that one."
"Not even with your foresight or whatever?" Toby asks. Douxie chuckles and shakes his head. "Have you had any more visions of the future we should know about?"
"Nope," says Douxie. "I could do some scrying if you'd like, but that's just as likely to show us twenty years from now as it is to show us twenty hours from now."
"Future-sight is always sketchy at best," says Seamus.
Toby leans back in his chair and throws his hands behind his head. "Man, I'd kill to be able to see the future."
"It's mostly having dreams and then wondering which ones were future-sight and which ones were because you had too much soda before bed," says Douxie. "I thought the Eternal Night was a normal nightmare until I brought it up to Mort and he recognised it."
The lights flicker. Douxie frowns, but Toby doesn't think too much of it until they do it again and finally die, plunging the shop into what would be darkness if it weren't for the daylight through the window.
"That's odd," mutters Douxie. "Even the magical lights are out."
Seamus holds out his hands as if he's going to try a spell. His brow furrows. "Something blocking my magic."
"What?" says Douxie, eyes widening. He tries to cast a spell as well, to no avail. Toby stands and walks around to join Douxie and Seamus in front of the desk. "No magic. You're right."
"Wait," says Toby. "If the magic's down, then what about–"
On cue, the door flies open. Toby tries to activate his war-hammer. It activates, but hits the floor immediately afterwards. Right. No magic, no anti-gravity spell, no way Toby's going to be able to lift this thing. The Black Knight walks in first, followed by a second, stockier Knight dressed in red. Oh, great, there's two of them now. The Red Knight tosses something up and down in his hand. It takes Toby a few seconds too long to recognise it for what it is.
"I know what that is," he mumbles. He gives up his war-hammer in favour of grabbing his friends' hands and dragging them backwards. "Get down!"
They're not fast enough. The dwarkstone hits the ground and explodes behind them, sending all three of them flying into the back shelves, which crack and fall in large pieces with them. Toby's ears ring and his head pounds.
"Fire!" Seamus calls. Toby follows his gaze to note that, oh, yeah, the shop's caught fire. Oh, crap, the shop's caught fire! "Douxie, where's your fire extinguisher?"
"About that," says Douxie.
"You have got to be kidding me," Toby mutters. "You don't have a fire extinguisher? Almost everything in your shop is flammable!"
"Well, we thought we'd always have magic!" Douxie says, like that makes things better.
The Knights are blocking the door. They're so screwed. Toby pulls himself to his feet, then helps Seamus up. The taller boy has blood rapidly soaking the left side of his face, and he's holding his shoulder awkwardly, but he looks otherwise okay. Douxie is holding his head, but Toby can't see any other – wait – yikes.
"Douxie, don't panic," he starts with. This is the wrong thing to start with, because Douxie immediately looks concerned. "You've got – well…"
He's not sure how to tactfully say he's got a big ol' piece of wood jutting out of his shoulder, so instead he just gestures awkwardly. Seamus notices too and pales. "Nope, I don't do stab wounds. Big nope."
"Oh, that's not good," says Douxie faintly, eyes landing on the wood slowly saturating red. His hand twitches like he wants to pull it out, but even Toby knows better than to do that so Douxie doesn't bother.
The trapdoor flies open. Toby mentally begs his friends to not come in here, but Krel is the first to emerge, so Toby definitely doesn't have the gift of telepathy. He does have the gift of a major headache right now, which might actually be a concussion now that he thinks about it.
"Oh, kleb," Krel says. He darts to Toby and Seamus and Douxie, luckily in the opposite direction of the Knights. Ikram and Nimue emerge next and stand protectively between the Knights and the rest of them. "Are you okay? Douxie's been impaled – oh, that is not good, this is very not good."
"You're going to need to make a run for it," Ikram calls. "I'll stay and distract the Knights. The rest of you are useless without magic."
"Excuse me?" Nimue says, but she doesn't have a weapon or armour so against the Knights she probably doesn't stand a chance. She backs down at a glare from Ikram. Krel's face hardens. Toby recognises that expression. It's the Krel's-Got-A-Bad-Plan expression. Toby's seen it way too many times lately.
"I'm not," he says. Ikram frowns at him. "I'm not. Gaylen's powers – my powers aren't magic."
"No way, Krel," says Toby. "You barely know how to use your powers."
"Barely is better than not at all." He materialises a sword and walks forward. "Ikram can't hold them off alone, but maybe we can together."
"Krel's right," says Ikram. "Go. Quickly, I don't know how long we have."
Why haven't the Knights attacked yet? Were they just hoping the smoke and fire would kill Toby and the others so they wouldn't have to? He pushes these thoughts away as Krel and Ikram engage the Knights. It's obvious right away they're outmatched – Ikram could take one by herself, but not two, and Krel can't even take one alone. There's no part of Toby that's okay with leaving them, but he's also no help without his hammer.
"Go!" Krel yells, dodging sideways and just barely not getting skewered by the Red Knight's sword. Nimue helps a dizzy looking Seamus, and Toby and Douxie follow. Once outside, Toby coughs up smoke and blinks the burning out of his eyes. Parts of his clothing are charred, but aside from some minor burns, he's fine. They're out. He's certain that Krel and Ikram will be out as soon as they can.
Mort and Steve appear out of Nimue's shop. Archie bounds out after the two wizards, fur raised. Mort's eyes dart over them, hovering briefly on Douxie, and he shakes his head. "Where are Krel and Ikram?"
"They're still in there," Toby says numbly. Everyone's out. They need to get out too. Why haven't they come out, too?
"Still in there?" Steve repeats in disbelief.
"Magic is down," Douxie manages. "They were holding off the Knights so we could escape."
"Knights, plural!?" Steve squeaks.
Mort's face darkens into a glare. "Stay here. I'm going in."
"You don't have a weapon!" Douxie protests. He lurches forward towards his uncle, but Nimue restrains him so he doesn't mess up his injury too much. "There's no magic, you're as defenceless as Nimue."
"I don't need magic or a weapon to fight," Mort says. "Stay. Put. I mean it, all of you."
He starts towards the shop, just in time for a figure to be thrown through the window. Mort catches her – Ikram – and sets her down as quickly and respectfully as he can. She's holding her side where scarlet blossoms on the pale-yellow fabric of her shirt and she's coughing roughly, face stained with smoke, but she still lunges back towards the shop. She stumbles and falls to her knees. Toby and Nimue run to her, Nimue putting her hands on Ikram's shoulders. By now, fire trucks are pulling up on the street.
"Krel," Ikram gasps out. She coughs again. "Krel, he's alone in there – they'll kill him–"
"I'll get him," Mort says. He wastes no more time before running towards the flaming shop. Toby, with no one to stop him, darts after him. Krel could be hurt, and, even if he's not, he doesn't stand a chance in there by himself.
Before they can make it in, there's a loud crackling sound, and the shop collapses in on itself. Mort skids to a horrified stop, throwing an arm out to stop Toby as smouldering wood crashes down in the spot they would have been if they kept running.
"No, no, no," breathes Mort.
"Krel!" Toby screams. He hears Seamus echo him, but barely notices as the boy stumbles up beside him, face bloodier than it was before.
This can't be happening. This can't be happening. Krel's fine – Krel has Gaylen's core, so Krel has to be fine. He's – he's practically a god now, isn't he? Isn't that what Gaylen's core means? Maybe he made himself a shield or – or something. Maybe he escaped. Maybe he's hiding downstairs. The building hasn't collapsed that far.
Some of the debris falls away. Toby can just barely make out the figures of the two Knights – only the two Knights. Not Krel. They turn and walk away as water from the fire trucks rains down on the still flaming remains of Mort's shop. There's still no sign of Krel. Toby tells himself again that his friend is hiding. Under a shield. Maybe a bit beat up but he'll be fine with a few bandages and ice packs.
"Krel!" Mort calls. He shakes his head. "He might be unconscious. He usually is."
There's something uneasy in his tone. Toby's never heard Mort's voice tremble like it is now. It's not a good sign.
The EMTs have already gotten a hold of Douxie, but before they can grab Seamus, too, he stumbles into the still-smoking remains of the shop. Toby and Steve both follow before anyone can stop them. Toby digs through debris, ignoring how the charred wood burns his trembling hands.
"Krel, answer me!" Mort yells desperately. His voice breaks in a way Toby never imagined it could. He's joined them in the shop. The rest of them echo, calling for Krel, but Toby thinks that if Krel could have responded he would have by now. Krel gets knocked out all the time. This is nothing new. They'll find him. He'll be hurt, probably – probably pretty badly, but nothing they can't fix.
There's a small sound from behind him, a weak, choked sob, and Toby turns. Steve has stopped digging. He's hunched over, sitting on his cast in a way that can't be comfortable, hands out and cupped in front of him. Toby carefully walks over to him, to see why he would make that sound.
"No," Mort whispers, face pale. Toby falls to his knees.
Krel told him once that, as long as their cores remain intact, Akiridions can survive almost anything. At the time, Toby had thought it was kind of interesting but not something they'd have to worry too much about. They could protect Krel fine. They were prepared. Now, staring at the shards of Akiridion core cupped in Steve's blistered hands, Toby realises just how wrong he was.