Page 78 of Between Earth and Eternity
“Not here. It’s an exclusive behind-the-scenes surprise,” he says, flicking her nose. She falls into a fit of giggles.
Yeah. It’s time to go.
“That’s our cue. Come on, Ori.” I grab her hand.
“Skyler, you forgot something.” I turn to find Kol with my StarComm. I must have left it on the bar top. I reach for it, but he pulls it back. “I’ll give it back if you come along.”
Everyone watches me, and I know I have two options. I doubt I could get it back from him by force, so I can either walk away right now and likely lose my StarComm forever or go with them and bolt as soon as I can grab it. I sigh, defeated.
“You’ll enjoy this,” he says with a wink.
“Follow me,” Slade announces triumphantly, and against our will, we follow him out of the club.
I could possibly be fading
Or have something more to gain
“Into Dust,” Mazzy Star
“Where are we?” one of the women in the group asks nervously. It’s clear that passengers are not allowed in this part of the ship. We’ve passed several reminders and locked doors that Slade’s thumbprint got us through.
“I told you. Exclusive behind the scenes,” Slade calls out over his shoulder, and his wicked grin grows wider.
Something isn’t right.
“We need to leave,” I whisper harshly into Ori’s ears. My heart sinks thinking about leaving my Starcomm behind, but if I have to go months without music, then so be it.
“How? Could you find your way back?” she replies, keeping her wide eyes forward.
She’s not wrong. I haven’t been keeping track of how many turns we’ve taken or doors we’ve wandered through.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” My heartrate elevates, my body warning me that we’re walking into something dangerous. We should have left the second we saw Slade and Kol in the bar.
“Stay close to me,” Ori whispers. “We don’t go anywhere without each other.”
I nod, grateful for her brave heart.
“Seriously, Slade. What are we doing down here? I thought you said it was something special,” Gemma whines.
“Patience. It will be worth it,” he says, easily charming her to agree. Even some of the guys in the group are looking bored. They seem to have no idea what this “special treat” is either, but I catch Kol giving Slade a bemused look. Clearly, he’s in on it.
Something is definitely wrong. The group comes to stop as Slade turns to face us.
“Does anyone know what these are for?” he asks, gesturing to what look like large cargo holds. When no one answers, he happily continues, “This is where all goods are loaded onto Zenith.” One of the men actually lets out a yawn. “And it’s where the trash gets pulled out into space. Crazy, right?”
Not even Gemma pretends to be impressed, but he goes on, “The crew has to be very careful when they operate these doors. You have to make sure no one is trapped on the other side before you push the extraction button.” He demonstrates, opening oneof the doors to the cargo hold. There’s a small porthole window looking out into space, and the hold itself is quite compact.
“If anyone got stuck on the other side and the button was pushed, they’d be dragged into space with the rest of the trash.” He looks pleased, even as we all stare at him wordlessly.
The group looks at each other, confused. I dread not being able to read his face to guess what the purpose of this escapade is, but the air fills with a tension that is about to snap.
I don’t notice Kol coming up behind me until it’s too late. He shoves me hard in the back as Slade gracefully steps aside so I fall into the cargo hold.
Before I can get to my feet, Slade seals the door. It makes a horrifying hiss, locking into place. I press against the small window.
Ori is screaming, but I can’t hear a single thing. She continues to hit Kol anywhere she can as another man drags her away from him, restraining her.
Slade steps in front of the window so I can see only him.
