Page 34 of High Seas

“That’s not true,” Titus argued. “You’re as healthy as me and Abram. Probably healthier.”

“Unless Kael screwed something up with one of the upgrades and didn’t want anyone to find out. Victor thought I could make it back. He told me that if I couldn’t kill Enoch, not to bother coming back. But Kael is the one who set the data. If he wanted to cover up a mistake by blocking my return, he easily could do it without Victor knowing he was doing it.”

Eve’s skin was pale and her voice wasn’t husky from sleep, it was as tired as she looked and I felt inside. Maybe she was right about what was going on, and maybe she wasn’t. There were many theories and no way to tell which was true.

“As much as he liked to learn from his failures, a large enough one might ruin him. Maybe I’m that huge mistake.”

“You are no mistake,” I whispered to her. She can’t possibly be a mistake.

“Did you try to enter a return date into mine?” she asked.

“I tried, but I can’t. It won’t accept new data.”

Eve deflated even more.

Sensing her disappointment, Titus added, “But if we go back, we have the chance to jump again. We could go back weeks before we left and stop all this from happening.”

“You should leave me behind,” Eve proposed wearily. “Cut me loose. If my tech is the problem…”

Titus shook his head. “I have another theory. What if the three of us need to jump together, at the same time. We’re linked. Together, we’d make it home. It’s the best chance we have, and if you return, Kael will be forced to help you. Even if your theory is right – and I’m not saying it is – he’d have to fix you to save face, if nothing else.”

She looked from Titus to me. “Do you really think it would work?”

Titus nodded. “I do.”

She blew out an exhausted breath and worried the blanket’s edge at her stomach. “That means we really need to find Abram.”

“I must go into town and find the members of my crew. I’ll bring them here, and then we’ll leave to go find him. I’ll take you to Asa,” I told her.

She gave a weary grin. “I’ll stay here and guard the ship.”

A smile tugged at my lips. “You do that.”

She reached for me. My hand found hers and I brushed my thumb back and forth over her knuckles, watching as she slowly closed her eyes. She tried to pull her hand away, but I clasped onto it. “Will you promise to be here when I return?”

She glanced at Titus, who silently deflected the decision to her. “I promise I won’t leave without you knowing – unless there’s an emergency,” she added.

“He may hold the fact that I bit him against you,” I warned.

“You shouldn’t have done it for me.”

I squeezed her hand. “I didn’t bite him for you. I bit him because I wanted to.”

Her eyeballs rolled in a high arc. “Please,” she scoffed. “You bit him because he hurt me.”

“Which made me want to bite him…” I answered with a cheeky grin. “But he may blame you for it. He may be angry with you because of what I did.”

“He’s always angry with me, Enoch, and not because you bit him.”

I hated Abram. I wanted him to hurt the way she hurt because of him.

“Are the members of your crew as hot as you, Enoch?” she asked innocently, picking something off the blankets I’d layered over her.

“Hot?” I looked down at my clothing. I was never really hot in the autumn. Comfortable, maybe, but not hot.

Titus snickered. “She means handsome, dude.”

I shot Eve a wicked smile. “Not a chance.”

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