Page 74 of Choosing Jenny
“You don’t think they won’t be looking for your ship?” Sarah asked Jac, her worry palpable.
Jac reached out and placed his hand over Sarah’s, quietly reassuring her. “I’m going to borrow one from a friend. One I can blow up.”
“Huh?” Sam asked, looking thoroughly confused.
He started to explain his plan to the rest of us. Jacaranda Cozz had long been a smuggler and a thief, and listening to him mastermind a plan of this magnitude was fascinating.
“No!” Sam said, plugging her ears shut. “Please, don’t tell me.”
“Why not?” Jac asked.
She lowered her hands, the look in her eyes anguished. “If you tell me and I end up in custody, I don’t know that I can withstand—”
“You won’t,” I agreed, my tone sharp and deliberate.
I didn’t care how much she cried. Didn’t care how miserable she looked. My anger flared in my chest, for what had happened to Longshot, and for shooting Jenny.
“I’ve been interrogated by the palace magician before,” I continued in a tight voice. “And I also know what goes in to interrogating people. You won’t be able to handle it. I promise you.”
“That’swhy,” she said, nodding to Jac. “So please don’t tell me. I don’t want to know where you take them.”
Jac’s expression softened. “I’ll takeallof you there. You don’t deserve what happened to you, Sam. You did what you thought you had to do to protect your family. Youshouldhave told us what was happening, mind you, but I understand why you didn’t. I think most of us at this table understand it, too.”
Some of us nodded, but I couldn’t bring myself to join in.
“You made a bad decision,” Jac continued. “Don’t do it again. And stay clear of Longshot.”
She nodded, and worried on her bottom lip. “Wherever you take me and my family, it has to be someplace Justice would never think to look for us, in case your plan fails.”
“Trust me,” Jac said. “This is not the first prisoner relocation I’ve done.”
“What the fuck!” Abyss shouted from the other room.
Startled by the outburst, we all ran for the parlor next door. Inside, Abyss stood next to Surge, whose hands glowed red as he drifted them over the now levitating Vulaven Egg where it hovered a foot over them. The egg itself glowed intense bright white at the silver veining and the light made me wince. A loud humming sound vibrated my bones. Surge took a full breath and blew at the egg, then clapped his hands.
I watched in shock and fascination as Omen’s ghost body wriggled free of the top of the egg until she stood among us once again.
She grinned at Surge. “I want to go again!”
Surge seemed exhausted by what he’d just done, but managed a smile at the conduit he’d been practicing on. “You’re okay?”
“That was amazing,” Omen said, her voice full of wonder. “There’s a whole world inside that crystal. It’s astounding.”
Discord stepped forward, her eyes hopeful. “Does this mean what I think it does?”
Surge nodded. “I believe I’ll be able to use the eggs to help cure Aphonic. And collect the Illiapol ghosts.”
Jenny squealed happily then ran to the little man, hugging him. “You’re amazing, Surge!”
He laughed. “I haven’t done it yet.”
Behind the group, someone retched.
Jenny frowned and turned, “Sam, are you—”
“Not Sam,” Jac said, with an urgency to his voice as he scooped Sarah into his arms.
That’s when I saw that there was blood in the vomit on the floor.
