“He lied to us,” Tash said.
“He-He’s a murderer.”
“Worse than a murderer,” Tash said. “A planet-killer.” She paused. “But he’s still our uncle.”
Zak nodded. “He’s done so much for us. And he’s still in there. They’re going to kill him! What do we do?”
Tash shook her head. “He didn’t seem to want to be saved. And I’m not sure we could save him. Maybe we should go back to the ships to find Deevee and Eppon. Then figure out what to do.”
Zak felt numb. “We can’t just leave him in there.”
“What choice do we have?” his sister replied.
Zak had no answer.
Together, they started back toward the Millennium Falcon. Neither of them spoke. Neither of them wanted to admit the horrible truth going through both their minds: they weren’t sure they wanted to save Hoole.
They reached the Falcon and the cargo ship. As they approached, two figures hurried toward them. One shone silvery in the gray light. The other looked like Eppon except…
“He’s bigger!” Zak groaned.
“It appears to be true,” Deevee agreed. “I found the boy again only a few minutes after you vanished. He had already grown to this size. Fortunately, I was able to locate a spare jumpsuit in the cargo ship. It fits him rather well.”
Zak stood next to the mysterious boy. “I’ll say. He’s bigger than me.”
It was true. Eppon had grown into a teenage boy. His hair now reached well past his shoulders. His face had lost all its baby fat, and he had started to develop strong muscles in his arms. Even his voice had changed.
“Eppon!” he said in a deep-throated bark.
“That mark is bigger, too,” Tash noticed. The purple bruise on his brow had spread. It covered most of his forehead now and looked like it was spreading down his face. “It looks bad. What do you think it is, Deevee?”
Deevee shook his head. “My knowledge of biology is limited. Also, based on his rapid rate of growth, I would say this boy is not entirely human, so I cannot say for sure what illness he might have.”
The only thing that hadn’t changed about Eppon was the twinkle in his eye for Zak and Tash. He smiled at them both and said again, “Eppon!”
Deevee was equally delighted to see them. “I thought I’d never see you two again! What happened?”
They hurried into the Falcon as Zak and Tash explained how the wraiths had captured them. When they got to the part about Hoole’s confession, Deevee did not seem surprised. “I must confess that I had my suspicions,” the droid said.
Zak’s eyes went wide. “What? How long have you-?”
“Not long,” the droid explained. “In fact, I had no idea until a few hours ago. It was the droid Artoo-Detoo who told me. Do you recall how he plugged into the fortress computer?”
“Yes,” Tash said. “He said he couldn’t find any files about Project Starscream.”
Deevee nodded. “That is true. But he did find some old files from twenty years ago. They revealed that two Shi’ido had been running the experiments that destroyed Kiva. After that, I put my highly efficient computer brain to work. However, I wasn’t completely sure until you told your story.”
Tash shook her head. “All this time. We were with him all this time, and we never knew that he had done such a terrible thing.”
Deevee’s photoreceptors focused on her. “You should know that there’s more to the story than that. In fact, Master Hoole-“
Deevee was interrupted by an ear-shattering screech of static. The Falcon’s comm system had suddenly activated. After a few seconds of electronic scratching, a voice poured through the speakers.
“Anybody there? Come in, somebody. Anyone copy?”
Zak recognized the voice. “That’s Han Solo!” He rushed to the control panel and flipped a switch.
“We read you, Han.”
There was a pause. “Is that you, kid? Let me talk to one of the commandos.”
“They’re all gone!” Tash yelled over her brother’s shoulder. “We’re the only ones left.”
They heard Han swear on the other end of the transmission. Then he said, “Look, you have to get out of there. The Imperials are headed right for you!”
“But why?” Deevee wondered. “I thought they were after Master Skywalker.”
“So did we,” Han said through the speakers. “We tried to lead them away, but the minute Vader realized you weren’t with us, he broke off the attack and headed for the ships. It looks like he’s after you!”
Cold panic gripped Zak and Tash. Darth Vader was after them.