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The twins stared at the motionless body. “He is awake,” Jacen said. “He’s right there.” The little boy tilted his dark eyes up to gaze directly at Luke’s spirit.

With a jolt Luke stared back at Jacen. “You can see me, Jacen? Can you understand me?”

Both Jaina and Jacen nodded their heads.

Cilghal wrapped her hands around their shoulders and steered them away. “Of course he is, children.”

Thrilled and suddenly hopeful, Luke started to drift after them, but Streen came to the platform and threw himself to his knees, looking so stricken that waves of confusion rippled from him like a physical blow to Luke.

“Master Skywalker, I am deeply sorry!” Streen said. “I listened to the wrong voices in my head. The Dark Man tricked me. He will never do that again.” Streen looked up, his eyes unfocused, flicking from side to side. He seemed to stare at Luke as well.

“Can you see me too, Streen? Can you hear me?” Luke thought fast, wondering if his abilities had changed.

“The Dark Man came to me,” Streen said. “But I sense you’re here too, Master Skywalker. I will never doubt you.”

Kirana Ti squeezed Streen’s shoulder. Luke’s mind raced. Exar Kun could communicate with the others, if only in subtle ways—and now Luke knew that was possible for him too. He could already speak to the twins. Elation swept over him.

He began to make plans as the other Jedi candidates filed out of the echoing room. Now he was confident he could save himself, perhaps with the help of his Jedi students, his new generation of Jedi Knights.

From the stone walls behind him an otherworldly voice said, “How touching. Your clumsy students still imagine they can save you—but I know more than they do. My training wasn’t limited by cowardice, as yours was.”

Exar Kun stood black and wavering. “Gantoris was mine, and he is destroyed. Kyp Durron remains under my tutelage. Streen is already mine. The others will also begin to hear my voice.” He raised his spectral arms. “It is all falling into place.

“I shall resurrect the Brotherhood of the Sith, and with your Jedi trainees I shall form the core of an invincible Force-wielding army.”

Luke rounded on him, still not knowing how to fight this intangible enemy. Exar Kun laughed, as if an idea had just occurred to him. “I came to you first in a dream disguised as your fallen father, Skywalker … perhaps I should appear to them in your own form. They will certainly follow the teachings of the Sith if the words come from your mouth.”

“No!” Luke said. With his astral body he leaped to tackle the shimmering silhouette of the Sith lord. But though his sparkling body passed smoothly through the shadow, Exar Kun did seem to discorporate momentarily.

Luke felt a spear of ice plunge through his core as he touched Kun, but he stood firm while the Dark Lord reeled against the stone wall, seeping back into the cracks to escape.

“I’ve already been tempered by the dark side,” Luke said. “I came out stronger. You are weak because you know only the evil teachings. Your understanding is no greater than that of my apprentices.”

Before he vanished, Exar Kun called back, “We shall see who is stronger.”

• • •

The sun had set behind the giant ball of Yavin. With the onset of the moon’s half night, the sky was lit only by an orangish glow reflected from the gas giant, giving the jungle a ruddy appearance.

Colonies of jabbering woolamanders settled down in the high branches for the night. In the underbrush, predators and prey moved through dances of survival. Sapphire-blue piranha beetles buzzed low over the sluggish rivers in search of victims. Other insects hummed their mating songs.

Far deeper in the jungle, though, night creatures rose out of shadowy caves and flapped their jagged wings. Hissing and mindless, they followed a burning compulsion that drove them toward the Great Temple.…

The creatures’ wings made sounds like wet cloth striking stone as they flapped against downdrafts in the rapidly cooling air. Purplish veins pulsed as their