Page 41 of Consume
“And the captain?” I demanded. “Did you tell him?”
“I don’t work for him. Besides, the ghosts said nothing about helping him.”
“You should’ve told someoneelse, then.”
“Who, Mase?” she hissed, her yellow eyes flashing. “His feet haven’t touched ground since he found out he’s going to be a dad. Your sister? Your dad? You are definitely not the only one in the Jones family who paces the ship in the middle of the night.”
My throat constricted. They were worried sick about me. Of course they were. I was too.
I turned away from the video of me, unable to look at the haunted version of myself any longer. “There are so many Saelis ghosts inside me. Red, too, the woman who used to work on this ship. But there’s only one Nesbit, only one Dr. Daryl. Why them? Why does it feel like I’m being controlled by them?”
“Aren’t they the ones who gave you the most trouble when they were alive?
“Yeah, they were hybrids who wanted me dead, but... If the Saelis females feel like they need to help me so bad, why aren’t they doing anything themselves?”
“Don’t you see?” Poh grasped my arm and shoved it under my nose. “They are. They’re shielding you with their scales in case you hurt yourself, or someone else does. They’re demanding I help you.”
I twisted out of her grip and turned my back on her. “What do I do?”
“You tell someone to repair the fuel lines and fuel the ships so Pretty Boy can get us out of here,” she said. “In the meantime, I can’t tell you not to fight the Saelises when the time comes.”
I huffed a humorless laugh. “I’ll forget even if you did.”
“Even if you didn’t forget, you wouldn’t listen.” The video of me cut out, and her footsteps trailed down the infirmary hallway.
I whirled. “Where are you going?”
“To make sure no one’s outside tracking the tracker key you just destroyed.”
Point taken. Reluctantly, I took the metal safety from my mouth, dropped it to the floor, and crushed it with my boot. Then I popped the necklace onto my tongue since that was the only other piece of metal on me. “Poh, I— I can’t be trusted.”
“Once upon a time, I couldn’t be trusted either,” she tossed over her shoulder. “Consider us even.”
My shoulders sagged. She wasn’t getting my meaning, or was choosing not to. No one could trust me. Not even me.
Chapter Eleven
