Page 59 of Vicious
“This is not good.” Crispin bounced his gaze around the station as if looking for an opportunity to bolt. “So not good. Do you know how many warrants are out for myarrest?”
“I wish I cared. I really do. Now, let’s go.” Poh pushed me left, but I dug in my heels and stared at the bots rolling among thedoors.
“No,” I said. “Wewait.”
She was shaking her head before I’d even finished. “You’rewearingmetal, Absidy. Can’t you just stick a chain in your mouth? Aren’t they made ofiron?”
“They’re alloys. Probably less than 10 percentiron.”
“So, yes? That stillcounts?”
“Yeah.” I glanced again at the bots, their blinking lights swirling my unease into a cyclone. “It stillcounts.”
“This won’t take long.” She led us left underneath the rings, through the throng of happy families, businesspeople in suits, and lone travelers clinging to their luggage. All of their gazes locked onto their destinations or on the marked path along the floor, their breaths curling from theirlips.
Ahead, a large sign attached to the wall readRing GuildPolicein blue letters. My shoulders bunched around my ears. I balled my fists tight and cast a sideways glance at Poh. If she made a move toward it, I would run. I would rather take my chances trapped in a space station than go to the prison planet any day. Especially while pregnant. Especially while the fate of humanity hung in thebalance.
We were almost upon the sign. A pair of glass doors underneath led inside. If an officer stood behind the doors and had been paying attention to the most-wanted list, they might see me, even if I did manage to slip away fromPoh.
Rustedballs.
Five feetaway.
Four.
My muscles clenched. My eyes bugged, searching for the slightest twitch from Poh. I angled one boot away. Just incase.
Three…Two.
She swept us past. My stomach cramped with shaky relief, and I allowed myself a slow exhale. Maybe one day I would learn to trust her. Today was not thatday.
Near the middle of the hall, another sign readAdministrative Officesover a frosted glass door. We headed towardit.
“Absidy,” Poh hissed, low so only I could hear. “You’re a fugitive. Your face has been plastered all over the newsfeeds.”
“These are both things I already know,” I hissedback.
“So why isn’t anyone looking atyou?”
I stopped just before the frosted glass door that led to the administrative offices. She was right, and she wasn’t touching me to make me invisible, either. There I stood, decked out in my murderous garb, an astronomically high bounty on my head, and no one seemed to notice. Their eyes were aware, not programmed with a Mind-I glaze, unless everyone had theirs turned off. Or they were Saelis/human hybrids who were instructed to ignore me until given a signal or something. Or until I started bleeding out my parasites, which I had a tendency to do, though not by choice. Whatever the cause, it was as if my supposed crimes had been wiped from everyone’s memories. But why? The only person that would benefit was me, and I was through hoping for a little luck thrown myway.
“Uh, here’s another question.” Crispin tapped my shoulder and pointed at a bot rolling out from the administrative door. It headed in the same direction we were, hugging the wall, and streaking a bright red trail behind it across the gleaming floor. Blood. Thick tracks of it behind all four wheels. Impossible to miss “Why isn’t anyone looking atthat?”
A teeth-cracking shudder ripped from my head to my toes. The metallic taste in the air fused with a burst of tobacco scent from within me, both of which stuck my lungs together with sludgy dread. That was Red, likely a warning that this was my last chance to turn back, away from…whatever had happenedhere.
But I did know what happened here. Oh my Feozva, Iknew. Saelis. Here. This close to the ring and the rest of humanity they sought todestroy.
“Now we know where we have to go,” Poh muttered, then looked at me, her big yellow eyes mirroring myhorror.
“Yeah, out of here.” Crispin swallowed. “Rightnow.”
I opened my mouth to agree with him because we couldn’t. Wecouldn’tdo this up against the Saelis. Not the three of us. Not even a whole army. They’d already won if they werealreadyhere.
Yet even as I thought this, everyone I loved flashed in front of my eyes. I’d already come so far for them, and them alone. What was a few more steps? How was dying in a few moments at the hands of the Saelis any different than dying a little bit later when they brought about the end of the Black War? Either way, I was dead. My baby was dead. But if we died, my baby and I, we would go out fighting for one more day, together, and maybe save a slice of humanity in theprocess.
And maybe not. But I had totry.
I jerked my head in neither a nod nor a shake, spilling out a choking sound from the back of my throat. “We have tohurry.”
