Page 34 of Consume
The captain stopped and stared at Mase. “It doesn’t look like I need to shoot the drugs out of you again,” he shouted over the wind. “But I will shoot you if you don’t let me on my ship.”
Just like he’d shot Mase before. When we’d landed on Orin a month ago, Captain Glenn had shot Mase after Parker infected him with She so most of it would leak out of the gunshot wound. I hadn’t been particularly thrilled when he’d done that, but if it helped, it helped.
Mase held out his hand stiffly. “I don’t blame you for making a deal with Parker to pay off medical bills, Captain. You did what you had to do. I’d do the same in your position, but I’d probably do it a little better.”
Captain Glenn laughed and hugged Mase to him, clapping him hard on the back in a fatherly embrace. When they parted, the captain nodded at me. “Thank you for rescuing our pilot.”
I blinked. “But you were there too. Why didn’t you come in after us when thirty minutes passed? Did something happen?”
The captain stared at me. “I did what we planned.”
Of course we did. But what had that been exactly? How could I have missed any detail about what our plan was? Unless that detail had disappeared from my mind as easily as the iron in my pockets had. I pinched my mouth shut, unwilling to bare the obvious holes in my memory during what should’ve been a happy reunion.
Mase grinned. “Between rescues, she’s also found time to make me a baby.”
“I heard,” the captain said, his dark eyes warming as he took in Mase’s reaction. “Congratulations.”
“You already know? Am I the last to know?”
“Yeah.” I took his hand absently and squeezed. “You are.”
We started toward theVicious’s dining room, the captain and Mase discussing the captain’s wife and daughter’s health, and Josh and Ellison on my other side clinging together and talking quietly. Ellison sniffed and wiped her cheeks, and under my watchful stare, she nodded. I took her hand in my free one, taking strength that I finally had everyone I cared about safe and in one location.
The chatter inside the dining room stopped when we entered, and I noticed right away Poh was missing again—or still missing. I ground my teeth together.
Jezebel, who perched on Moon’s shoulder, reached toward Mase in the doorway. I tensed, fearing what she might do to him if he didn’t pass her test. She clambered into his arms, and in the next second, began purring.
“Um...hi?” he said. “Who is this?”
I breathed out a chuckle. “That’s Jezebel. She likes you.”
“A lot.” Moon tilted her head, turning around farther in her chair. “I’ve only ever seen her wrap herself around Franco like that.”
I gently pushed Mase deeper into the dining room. “She has great taste.”
Jezebel plopped down from Mase’s arms and climbed up Josh, who stood frozen.
“Nice, uh, pet you got there.” Josh swallowed loudly as Jezebel touched her claws to his face. “Aren’t slothcats really wild and really illegal?”
“She keeps out the riffraff from my life,” Moon said. “Other than my mom who doesn’t know about her. Let her do her thing to see if you’re qualified to be here.”
Ellison opened her mouth as if to argue with Moon for Josh’s sake, but then snapped it closed.
After close, careful inspection, Jezebel moved on to the captain and instantly patted him on the cheek.
He chuckled nervously. “You’re a good little creature to have during times like these, I suppose.”
“What if she’d eaten my face off?” Josh muttered to Ellison. “What then?”
She smacked his arm lightly and shook her head. “Don’t be weird.”
I smiled at how natural they seemed together, at how firmly they gripped each other. Maybe I needed to trust my big sister’s judgement as well as I did Jezebel’s regarding Josh. Pop smiled at them too.
Chairs scooted and feet shuffled as everyone tried to make room for everyone else. Introductions were made to Moon and Franco. There were nine of us, not including Randolph and Jezebel, crammed into a room meant for six. Nine people who’d taken it on themselves to save humanity. Yet I couldn’t think of a more qualified group.
“So.” Mase cleared his throat. “How bad is it out there?”
“Mass panic in the streets,” the captain said, his voice dark and grave. “People turning on each other, accusing their neighbors of being hybrids. Forced Mind-I removals and botched self-removals. All of the clones we hired to look like you, Absidy, have been violently murdered. Rumors are flying everywhere, some about you, and some conspiracy theories so out there, they’re beyond deep space. I wasn’t around during the Black War two hundred years ago, but this seems worse. Mind-Is didn’t exist. Hybrids didn’t exist. Humanity saw the Saelises coming back then, but now they’re already here. In different forms, but still. And when we do see them coming with weapons aimed, it might already be too late.”
