Once her eyes adjusted, she saw it—Gelata, long and spindly like some kind of terrible snake, its skull birdlike, spinal bones visible through its red translucent flesh. It wasn’t as terrifying as some of the sea monsters Wynona had heard of. It looked like it would fall apart easily, sliced through like gelatin. It was some kind of ghost, is what Loch had said, half-dead and dependent on the life that surrounded it. Wynona figured that half-dead meant that half their job was done for them. But this was the creature that had been giving them trouble all these weeks. 

Pushing it backward was Gwen’s mech, which looked much more imposing: Over fifty feet tall and thunderous, its shining surface reflected the lava beneath it, glowing red. Long, towering legs kept it mostly out of the liquid. It held a glowing spear in its four huge arms—two bulky for strength, two smaller for grip—and the spikes extending from its shoulders for balance made it look almost aerial. The waist was narrow and heavily articulated for flexibility. The mech’s face—the thick-paned, circular window toward its top, from which Gwen could see—shone red-black in the lava light.

Loch’s mech was a little older, a little less sleek, but no less impressive. It radiated the same sense of strength. There was no doubt in Wynona’s mind that that’s what she wanted. She knew that her own support mech was not large, but compared to these giants, it was nothing. She may as well not have been using one at all. 

“Over here, Wynona!” 

Trent’s face had appeared to her left. He smiled brightly. Through the windshield, she saw his mech just a few yards away. It was small and simple, identical to hers—a cylindrical helmet, narrowing toward its tip; bulky arms and legs, featuring no special attachments; two thin spears clutched in one hand, each cut from a single hunk of metal. The right arm of Trent’s mech had been bandaged with a stretch of bright green cloth. “Did you hear?” 

“Yeah, Rayani told me. Gwen’s still struggling to kill that thing. I’m thinking maybe—”

“No, I meant—”

A wave of lava splashed in their direction. It couldn’t hurt them, but Wynona stepped her mech backward instinctively. 

“Apparently,” Trent went on, “Headquarters is sending someone to take command from her. I guess the superior officers don’t like waiting around for anyone—not even Gwen.” 

And with that, the door slammed shut. They were going to outsource the mission before Wynona even got a chance to try. “Are you serious?” 

“They just want results. If she can’t end this soon, I think we’re all in deep water.” 

Trent’s mech turned to her and offered her one of the spears. Smiling in spite of the battle that raged just a few feet away, Trent said perkily, “It’s up to us to support her, right?” 

Wynona ran a hand over her face with a half-groan, half-sigh. Her mech snatched the spear from Trent’s and together, they turned toward the chaos ahead. 

Of course, their job had nothing to do with the chaos ahead, not really. Gelata was lashing out at Gwen’s mech like a whip, denting the metal, and all they could do was wander around the cave, using their spears to collect any jellyfish that floated on the surface of the lava. Gelata ostensibly used these jellies to help reform when it was wounded, but there were so many that it felt completely futile. Wouldn’t it be faster to just focus completely on their attack? 

Support was boring, stupid, useless work. Wynona tried to ignore the fighting, but she couldn’t help it—after just a few minutes, she found herself standing stock-still, watching as Gwen got a rare hit in with the tip of her enormous spear. 

That’s what Wynona wanted to be a part of. Fighting monsters. Doing something. And now she would never get to even try, whether Gwen failed or not. 

Disheartened, Wynona let her mech fall backward into the lava. The surface tension of the substance meant the mech wouldn’t sink, but it wasn’t really floating either, just—suspended. Which is how Wynona had been feeling for weeks now. Suspended in time, stuck on this inane island, unable to rise, unable to even fall. She closed her eyes. 

“Wynona!” 

Wynona’s eyes flew open. Loch’s screen had materialized again to her right, and he was glaring at her. She glared right back. 

“Keep your head in the game,” he scolded. “We’re counting on you to keep those jellies under control!”

“Don’t you already have enough to deal with?” asked Wynona bitterly. She directed her mech back into a standing position. “Quit worrying about me!” 

“Look, just keep the perimeter free of jellies. At this rate, things are about to get even uglier. We don’t need any more tendrils forming.” 

Angrily, Wynona stabbed a jelly floating innocuously near her mech. “Like this is going to change anything…” 

Even as she said the words, there was a deep rumbling beneath the surface of a lava.

She saw it happen as if in slow motion—Gelata shivering, dissembling, then the tendril shooting out toward her. Loch shouted something, but she was already ducking sideways. The tendril missed her by a mile. 

Hah. Her instincts won again. Really, what could Loch and Gwen do that she couldn’t? Wynona held down her mic, ready to brag—did you see that?—but when she looked up, Gelata had solidified once more, and the three of them were already engaged again in battle. 

Wynona stomped her foot. Without even thinking about it, she made her mech do the same, splashing lava nearly to her own helmet. 

It was the same old story. Somebody else out in the field, fighting monsters. Wynona, worthless, sulking in the background. 

Then something caught her eye. Somewhere between the mechs’ agile movements prodding weapons, she’d seen something small and solid trapped in Gelata’s transparent, wriggling mass. 

Finally.

“Guys… I think I can see the heart.” Of course, no one could hear her. She slammed the mic button, held it down so it wouldn’t turn off again. “I said I can see the heart!”

Loch’s voice crackled over the speakers. “Wynona, what—“

This was the most excitement she’d felt since they first landed on Tephra. Her mech took a few steps backward, gearing up for the slaughter. She only had a few seconds before she lost sight of the heart, and she was going to take advantage of every single one. “I have an opening! I’m going to kill it!”

“Wynona—”

Wynona charged forward, her mind racing. Gelata was moving so much, taking any algorithmic aim was impossible. She would have to do it manually. She would have to trust her instincts. Good, she thought. That was really all she’d ever known. 

Her fingers flew over the controls. She slid underneath one of Gelata’s writhing arches. And then her mech—her small, unassuming, humble support mech—leapt upward, spear in hand, and stabbed the sea monster right through the heart. 

Gelata trembled. It remained in place for a second, whipped like a sail in high wind. Then, with a wet and awful sound, it fell apart.

The creature’s bones collapsed into the lava. Its flesh dissolved back into the red and roiling pool. The lava bubbled, but nothing rose up from the surface. The creature was dead. Wynona had slain her first sea monster. 

“Hah!” Wynona shouted, triumphant. “Did you see that? Did you?!”

No response. She looked desperately toward Loch’s screen. He wasn’t looking at the camera, or his own screen, or anywhere nearby. From his expression, it looked like he was staring outward, right at—

Wynona looked down. The lava right beneath her feet was bubbling. Trent’s voice filled her ears, drowning out the sound: “Wynona, look out!” 

Wynona spun around. A red tendril was reaching out to grab her—and at this rate, she wouldn’t have time to dodge the blow. Great, she thought miserably. I’m going to die a failure.

Then the fist of Loch’s mech met the helmet of Wynona’s. A heavy clang rang clear throughout the cave. It was the last thing she heard before everything went dark.