Page 28 of Vicious
The ship’s telecom buzzed on. “On behalf of the Ring Guild, we wish you safe and happy travels,” a voice I’d never heard beforesaid.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Captain Glenn said, his words tight, over the telecom. “Can you repeat the reason why you won’t let usthrough?”
So the Ringers wouldn’t let us back through their rings. No surprisethere.
The shaft made a sharp right, so I slowed before I came to it, then eased the light around the corner with clammy fingers. Allclear.
“A member of your crew, Mason Ryan, has turned traitor to the human race. Unless you show all seven of the lifeforms on your ship and can prove that none of them are in fact Mason Ryan, then and only then, will we let you through, Captain. Traitors are deemed a security risk, and because of the devastation of the Black War, we cannot allow someone who has ultimately sided with the Saelis to come in contact with humans when we’re still recovering as aspecies.”
“Ad astra, per aspra,” Captain Glennmurmured.
To the stars through difficulties. The phrase was in honor of the millions of lives lost in the BlackWar.
My scalp prickled, drawing a shiver down the back of my neck, yet I couldn’t pinpoint why exactly. I saw nothing but titanium, dulled over the years, so I stilled my breaths and perked my ears. Nothing but my ownheartbeat.
I rounded the corner, and to the left was the elevator shaft. The smell of sour river beans permeated the air, evidence of Randolph’s week-long hideaway on top of the elevator. Ahead and straight up was another air vent only a ninja could climb. It was too steep for a regular human to scale, and no footholds or ladders lined the metal walls. If I somehow did make it up there, I bet I would be close to the engineroom.
“Seven lifeforms,” Captain Glenn said. “You’resure?”
Somewhere behind me, something crashed. I curled my fingers into the metal floor, the cold seeping up through my palms to chase a shiver up my shoulders. I flattened my lips to control my erratic breaths,listening.
Then a rustle of movement echoed down the shaft. Something was coming. Or moving away. Sound bounced in every direction in these vents. Either way, my time in ninja crazy shafts wasdone.
The vent dead-ended just past the impossible one that stretched straight up. I would have to go out the way I came. Toward the crashing sound. My musclestightened.
“Yes, we’re showing seven lifeforms on your ship, theVicio,” the voicesaid.
I pushed into a standing position in the ninja shaft, then turned and dropped into a crouch, my heart slamming against my knees, panic fueling my actions. I frantically dragged myself forward once again, around the corner, to the section of vent that led to the Viciousroom.
Something banged towardme.
Panic swelled through my chest. I lunged into the darkened Vicious room, dangling headfirst. My light swept the walls in wildarcs.
Seven lifeforms.Seven. But the ship only had six crewmembers.
Something tight curled around my ankles andyanked.
9
Terror flooded my body.I kicked out, my body bucking and banging in the confines of the air vent, my head smashing against the metal wall hard enough to see stars skate by. I flung my arms out to grab at the wall, the air vent ledge, anything to stop myself from sliding backward, but only managed to fling away my phone. It landed on the Vicious room’s floor with a splinteredcrack, choking my world in complete darkness. The overhead light must’vedied.
I lashed out with my feet until the thing released me, then I plummeted head first into the wooden chair that sat below. It buckled when I crashed into it. A piece stabbed into my chin. The metal floor smashed against the entire right side of my body. Pain erupted and flashed a darker shade of black across my vision. I blinked through it and slowly dragged in all the air that had whooshed from mylungs.
When I had enough breath, I said, “Comein.”
But there were seven lifeforms on this ship. Life, as in the opposite of dead. If whatever had grabbed me wasn’t a ghost, then I had no clue how to get rid of it. A pair of glowing green eyes didn’t float in the darkness either, which meant whatever it was didn’t thirst for my parasite-filledblood.
I gripped my ice pick tight in my fist as I searched the grooved floor for my phone. My fingers came up empty, and my phone had sounded like it’d broken anyway. I hauled myself through the darkness in the direction I thought the door would be. It must’ve swung closed, blocking out the light on the otherside.
My body throbbed. Blood leaking from one of my many pains slicked the floor underneath my forearms. Other than my pained grunts and hammering heartbeat, silence ambushed my ears. Nothing slinked after me, but in the dark, it was impossible to tell forsure.
When I hit a wall, I pushed to my feet and slid my hands along the cold metal for the lever. Once I found it, I threw myself into the hallway and charged toward the diningroom.
Ellison shot to her feet as soon as I entered, her gray eyes stricken with worry. “Absidy! What happened? Get me some towels, Randolph. Hurry!” She led me to a chair at the table, her touch soft and warm like her smock in the Viciousroom.
A full-body tremble shook through Randolph as he took in the state I was in before he hurried into the kitchen.Alone.
“Poh, help him,” I said betweenpants.
