Page 68 of Vicious
Crispin dropped to his knees, tears streaming down hischeeks.
“Fiveseconds.”
Pop. Ellison. Mase. Moon Dragon. Jezebel. I would never see them again. I released a slow breath and bowed my head with my hand to mystomach.
“Sorry, little one,” I whispered. “I tried.” I closed my eyes and let my tearsfall.
“Initiatingself—”
My eyes burned while I waited for my fate. Silence. I cracked open aneye.
Crispin had turned a lovely shade of green. Poh let out a whoop, her shoulders heaving, and wiped her hand across her pale forehead, I didn’t dare move in case I jinxedsomething.
“Are we dead? Is this hell?” Crispin asked. “It’s been so hard to telltoday.”
Poh lifted her middle finger at the box. “Don’t all go thanking me atonce.”
My body began to crumple with sweet relief, springing fresh tears to my eyes, but I lodged an iron pole into my backbone and swiped at mycheeks.
“We need to find out what happened,” Isaid.
Crispin stood on wobbly legs. “If you show me where your ship’s main telecom is, I can look atit.”
“Your ship is jamming our telecom,” Poh remindedhim.
“Oh, that’s right.” He nodded. “Still, I can look at it. If you’ll letme.”
I led the way to the door, not wanting either of them to see the tears that wouldn’t stop coming, and muttered, “Followme.”
Had the Saelis boarded theViciousagain and taken everyone to the Black as their worker bees? What if I never saw Mase again, laughed with him, and slid my naked skin against his while we whispered how much we loved each other? What if I no longer had my sister drive me crazy with how much she cared about me? Even if I did, I didn’t see how they could ever forgive me for leaving them when Idid.
We quickly scoured the rest of the ship for everyone but came up empty. Thankfully. I didn’t want to find them if they were no longer lifeforms. My heart wouldn’t be able to takeit.
Then we hurried up to the third floor and the cockpit where the ship’s main telecom was located. The small space was saturated with Mase’s scent, and I breathed it into my soul even though I’d already housed it there a long timeago.
Crispin sat in his chair, then looked over his shoulder at me, and that picture was all wrong. This was Mase’s area, nothis.
“Should I steer our ships somewhere while I’m at it or…?” heasked.
Don had said that the Saelis had gone to the Ring Guild space station to force the ring open. They might already be at Mayvel and Wix and exacting their revenge on humanity. That was where we had to go, though it crushed my heart to leave this area in case everyone came back for somereason.
“Ring Guild Space Station 144,” I said. “Through the rings toMayvel.”
Crispin flipped the controls to guide both his ship and ours forward. The he settled back in his seat to prod at the telecom while Poh pulled her Mind-I from her pantspocket.
“If someone took them, then maybe they made a computer log on a ship that isn’t five thousand years old and is hooked in to a Mind-I,” Pohsaid.
“Two hundred,” I correctedabsently.
She lifted an eyebrow. “Whatever you say.” She directed the Mind-I’s screen to the star-filled expanse in front of us and begansearching.
While they tinkered, I did what I do best and collapsed onto Mase’s mattress tucked into a corner. His musky scent billowed up when my head hit the pillow, as did our combined scents when I folded the blankets over me. My heart clenched at how much I worried about my ship family, and I cried myself softly tosleep.
I didn’t know how long I was out, but at one point I overheard Poh explaining how she’d rigged the Mind-I to work outside of someone’s brain, while Crispin babbled all sorts of technical questions while he ate through some of the food basket I’d stolen off hisship.
When I finally woke, feeling almost as fuzzy as when I’d fallen asleep, the enormous iron ring floated in front of us. No ships flew through it right then, and we were the only ones nearing it as far as I couldtell.
“What’s happening?” I pushed myself into a sitting position and searched the stars. “Did you findsomething?”
