Page 24 of Consume
Mase and I exchanged looks, and something written across his face clenched my heart when his gaze returned to the scene in front of us. Understanding. Dark glee. Rage. Whoever this guard was, she’d put them through hell.
“Ellison...” I warned. “Put the gun down.”
“It needs to be done,” she barked. “She’ll come after us if I don’t. She’s cruel, Absidy. Unbelievably cruel.”
“You’re not a murderer.” She wasn’t even a suspected murderer like I was, and I intended to keep her far from any murderer category. “We can take her with us. See what she knows and use it against the Byrians.”
Mase stepped up next to me and stared down at the guard with disgust. “Some might call that kidnapping.”
Oh, wow. I really did need to catch him up. “We already kidnapped a pilot and converted him to our side,” I said as if that would explain the reasoning. “Plus, we feed him and gave him his own cockpit, so that makes it less...kidnappy.”
“Wait, I’m a pilot.” He pointed at himself. “You stole someone to replace me?”
“We took Parker’s pilot,” I said. “And Parker’s ship.”
A big grin broke out over his face, bright against the smudges under his eyes, the shadows lining his cheekbones. “Well, in that case, I’m not complaining.”
“There won’t be any feeding or converting this one to our side.” Ellison’s jaw bounced as a tear dripped down her cheek. “We can drop her off on the nearest prison planet, but that’s all she’ll get.”
I crossed toward my sister, feeling her hatred power the air around her. I could only imagine what she had suffered through at the hands of this woman, and I wished I could smother my sister with love and attention like she did me, but we were running out of time. Instead, I crushed her to me in a hug, grateful that some of those hate-filled layers seemed to melt away as she dropped the gun to her side and hugged me back.
Her fingertips found the scales on my neck, and a shiver passed through her. “I need you to tell me that everything’s going to be all right.”
If only I could. We were all so tired of fighting to stay alive, to be who we desperately wanted to be, it was a wonder we were still upright.
Sucking hard on the chandelier chain in my mouth, I pulled away from her and looked her in the eyes. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. No more lies. No more half-truths or keeping secrets.” I locked gazes with Mase. “To anyone. Because we’re woefully short of last chances to save us all.”
Mase carefully took the gun away from Ellison. “So what you’re saying is shit’s fucked out there, and we’re all going to die.”
I heaved a hysterical laugh. “Pretty much.”
“Figures.” He took two more guns from the crumpled guard and stashed all three into the back of his pants.
“Mase, help me with her.” Ellison pointed to the guard, and between the two of them, they heaved her up. They sweated and grunted as they made their way to the door the guard had come through. I wanted to tell them to just leave her, that she wasn’t worth it, but I kept my mouth shut. After all, I hadn’t had to deal with her for a whole month while in captivity. My chest ached for them as we wound through the maze-like corridors.
“Without Poh, we can’t get out through the front door without someone seeing us,” I said. “Do you two happen to know another way?”
“Where’s”—Mase grunted—“Poh?”
“I have no idea. She left me. She was right there, and then ...” I glanced back but stopped at Ellison and Mase’s disbelieving expressions. Feozva’s hell, I almost didn’t believe it either. Poh would never leave me. I couldn’t shake the feeling, though, that not only had she left, she’d left me to die as well. She’d left me with no iron, trapped in a room with not just one ghost but the dozens who were trapped inside me.
“And then?” Ellison prompted.
“I saw a ghost.”
The door we were passing by, with no touch or breeze prompting it, slid open into darkness as if to prove my point. Chilly air crawled out. As calmly as I could, I closed it again.
“And she left you with it?” Mase asked, dropping his voice.
“I-I don’t know where she is.” That didn’t answer his question, and it didn’t answer mine either.
It seemed to be enough for now, because he said, “We got here by chopper on the rooftop. I reckon that’s how we can get out. We can use the guard’s life as a bargaining chip.”
“The other guards like her,” Ellison muttered through gritted teeth. “They laugh at her cruelty. Threatening her will get their attention.”
My growing hatred for that guard festered and spread until my hands shook with it. Again, I clamped down on my tongue. For now, not knowing was better.
After the next turn, we found a pair of silver doors at the end of a long hallway. If it looked like an elevator, it must be an elevator. Or so I hoped.
