Defiant (Skyward, #4)

by Brandon Sanderson

“Rig,” I declared to him, “I need science.” “You need therapy.” “You need better jokes.” “You need a better sense of humor.”

I was barely listening. Fifteen-centimeter-tall. Furry. Ninjas. Scud. The universe was awesome after all.

Doomslug sent an image to us in response: Chet and me with yellow skin and blue tinges. She’d realized we weren’t frightening. Not even delvers were. We were just very strange slugs.

I clutched Doomslug for support, but she fluted at me and immediately teleported away. How had she known? She was a slug! The little traitor.

“do you know the one thing an emperor always has trouble finding?” “A good rat sandwich?”

Nearby, Arturo was still staring, slack-jawed. As if he’d found out that his mother had secretly been a ninja all his life. “You,” he said, “have memorized quotes from Shakespeare.”

Scud. “You’ve been thinking the same thing I have!” I said, pointing to her. “Furry copilots?” she asked. “Furry copilots.”