Page 66 of Consume
Poh turned to me and leaned in to whisper, “I think I’ll go with hearts on the cookie.”
“Wise choice.”
The door rumbled open to The Black.
Chapter Nineteen
“Absidy, slow down!”
I heard Mase’s hiss, but I didn’t listen. Story of my life. The strange powdery earth on the Black sucked at my boots, but I plowed ahead as fast as I could.
I was ready. Over our heads, the ghosts swarmed in and out of the terraform bubble. There were so many of them that the sky had turned a roiling black not even the stars could penetrate. The ghosts pressed in closer and closer, stifling the air with their presence, but I had plenty of iron in my pocket for when I grew tired of sending them to the hereafter and needed to drive them away again.
From over a hill about twenty feet away, something approached. Tufts of white hair crested, then the rest of the largest Saelis I had ever seen.
I slowed, gripping Jezebel’s arms and legs draped around my shoulders, as Mase, Poh, Captain Glenn, and Josh skidded up next to me. My nerves curled inward, and I hoped I hadn’t made a grave mistake by bringing us here.
“He’s alone,” I murmured. “He wanted us to see him coming.”
Poh slipped a knife from one of her sheathes and held it behind her long brown coat, her yellow gaze narrowed on the horizon. “Him and not the others surrounding us?”
Fifteen feet.
“He’s alone,” I insisted.
“Let’s move,” Captain Glenn ordered.
“No.”
“Absidy,” Mase hissed.
“Hold. Look at Jezebel. She always senses a threat, and she’s half asleep.”
Ten feet.
I could sense my family’s worry, their need for survival telling them to run clawing at my back, but I held firm. If the Saelises wanted us dead, he would be charging already or ambushing us on all sides or capturing us to work in the iron mines. But he wasn’t. The Saelises’ ship had gone after I’d left, so whoever had been flying it knew to retreat. They had to know why, as well, and they would’ve spread the news about me far and wide among each other. Right?
